LATEST ADDITIONS

I have an article in the Arts & Leisure section of today’s <I>New York Times</I> about Andy Warhol’s album covers. Everyone’s seen the covers he designed for <I>The Velvet Underground & Nico</I>, with the banana that peels, and the Rolling Stones’ <I>Sticky Fingers</I>, with the zipper that unzips. But who knew that the pioneer of Pop art designed over 50 covers over the entire span of his career, and not just for pop albums but also for jazz, classical, and opera? His work, often signed, appeared on Blue Note, RCA, Columbia—all the giants—and echoed, or often anticipated, the style that he would cultivate not just as a commercial designer but as a gallery-and-museum artist (though he rarely distinguished between the two). A new, lavishly illustrated, fastidiously documented book, <I>Andy Warhol: The Record Covers, 1949-1987</I>, lays them all out. Read about it <A HREF= http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/arts/music/26kapl.html?ref=music >here</A>. Buy the book <A HREF= http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Warhol-1949-1987-Catalogue-Raisonne/dp/37913… >here</A>.

Even as Robert Harley was writing his <I>Stereophile</I> <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/solidpreamps/mark_levinson_no38_preamplifier…; of the $3995 Mark Levinson No.38 remote-controlled line preamplifier (it appeared in August '94, Vol.17 No.8, p.98), Madrigal Audio Laboratories announced an upgraded, cost-no-object version, the No.38S (footnote 1). At $6495, the 'S is significantly more expensive than the junior version; although it uses the same chassis, power supply, and circuit topology, it's in all other ways a different preamplifier.

At around this time last week, John Atkinson and I left the office and headed out to Bay Ridge to pack up the large and lovely <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/608revel/index.html">Revel Ultima Salon2</a>, voted our "<a href="http://www.stereophile.com/features/1208poty/index1.html">Joint Loudspeaker of the Year</a>" for 2008 and a speaker that JA absolutely <i>adores</i>. He selected it as his overall product of the year:

The May 2009 issue is now on newsstands. The cover's so bright, you gotta wear shades. See that orange LP sitting on the SME 20/12 turntable? That's my copy of Boris's awesome <i>Smile</i>.

Under the soft blue light: Grails' most awesome <i>Interpretations of Three Psychedelic Rock Songs from around the World</i> goes for the ride of its life on the massive SME 20/12 turntable.

After sticking my copy of Boris' <i>Smile</i> in the freezer for a few hours, Jenna thought it'd be a good idea to thaw it out in the microwave. Thanks, Jenna!

It was a glorious day. The Good Lord smiled upon our little blue world with clear skies, warm sunshine, and limited edition 7" singles. I strolled into Tunes at 11:30am, just a half-hour after the store had opened. A large crowd of happy shoppers was already huddled round the main display shelves. Radiohead singles from every era of the band's brilliant career and so many colorful 7" discs and samplers and posters and platter mats and they have already run out of the Sonic Youth/Beck splits. What? Figures! Oh well. I am not disappointed&#151not too terribly. Instead, I am happy for those who came before me, happy for the bands and happy for the labels and happy for the world.