<B>NEIL YOUNG: <I>Are You Passionate?</I></B><BR> Reprise 48111-2 (CD). 2002. Neil Young, Booker T. Jones, Duck Dunn, Poncho Sampedro, prods.; John Hanlon, eng.; Aaron Prellwitz, Alex Osborne, asst. engs.; Tim Mulligan, mix, mastering; John Hausmann, Denny Purcell, mastering; John Nowland, A/D transfer. AAD? TT: 65:29<BR> Performance <B>****?</B><BR> Sonics <B>****</B>
<I>People are wrong when they say the opera isn't what it used to be. It is what it used to be. That's what's wrong with it.</I>—Noël Coward
Reader John Pluta says it took him three years to finally read his preamp's manual, and he wishes he had gone through it sooner. Do you go through your manuals right away or not?
For <A HREF="http://www.vivendi.com">Vivendi Universal SA</A>, when it rains, it pours. Just two weeks after chief executive Jean-Marie Messier ousted Pierre Lescure, the president of France's <A HREF="http://www.canalplus.fr">Canal Plus</A> television company—an event that caused demonstrations in the streets of Paris and paroxysms of nationalistic fervor among France's 18 presidential candidates—a complicated stock deal got vastly more complicated, resulting in a $250 million payment due to A&M Records founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss.
At the start of his review of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/570/">Balanced Audio Technology VK-D5 CD player</A>, Jonathan Scull observes, "<I>Man</I>, has Balanced Audio Technology come a long way in a short time." Scull goes in-depth with the VK-D5 to explain just what he's found.
Where Pogs and Pokemon once ruled, <A HREF="http://www.tigertoys.com/newhitclips/">HitClips</A> have taken over. HitClips are hot. So hot, in fact, that <A HREF="http://www.hasbro.com">Hasbro Incorporated</A>'s Tiger Electronics division has sold more than 20 million of them at $3.99 each. That's $80 million gross on a single product, a figure that probably no high-end audio company has ever reached.
Last week's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/vote.shtml">online poll</A> indicates that many <I>Stereophile</I> readers have an ongoing affinity for the retro design style of older audio gear. Several respondents say they find the warm glow of tubes and backlit displays seductively attractive in a darkened room, while others pine for the days of analog dials and softly lit meters with gently bouncing needles.
The <A HREF="http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America</A> (RIAA) has requested increased federal funding for the ongoing struggle against the pirating of recorded music. On Tuesday, April 23, the organization's executives asked the US House of Representatives' Appropriations Committee for more money to pursue pirates. Such allocations come directly from tax revenues, according to reports from Washington.
Reader Robert Baum writes that he bought a new KA-7002 Kenwood amp in 1973, and though he's upgraded several times since then, "it's been living under our bed (yes, it's still alive!) for at least a dozen years.
By several common measures, the American economy appears to be emerging from its first recession in a decade. On Friday, April 26, the US Commerce Department reported economic growth of 5.8% (annual rate) for the first quarter. Gross domestic product (GDP), generally considered the broadest indicator of the economy's health, was the strongest since the final quarter of 1999. The 5.8% rate is especially encouraging in view of the 1.7% rate during the fourth quarter of 2001. The US Labor Department also reported a decline in first-time applications for unemployment benefits during the last week of April.