About this time last year I reviewed the then new Sennheiser PXC 550 BTNC over-ear, noise canceling headphones in hopes that someone would manage to unseat the Bose Quiet Comfort 35. Didn't happen. The Sennheiser had some great features, but in the end it was just too bright for me.

Recently I got a few more Sennheiser wireless noise cancelers and I found they too seemed overly bright. Now I consider Sennheiser the world's best headphone manufacturer. They've got a lot of experience under their belt, so when I hear a batch of Sennheisers, from differing product lines, that all seem too bright and have a quite similar measured response, I've got to question myself. Maybe they know something that I don't.

Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and The Doors by John Densmore
319 pages, $19.95 hardcover. Published by Delacorte Press, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10103.

With at least six books on Jim Morrison and The Doors now on the shelves, five published within the last year to take advantage of tie-in sales on the flowing, copious coattails of Oliver Stone's powerful film, The Doors, you'd think one of them, at least, might approach "very good," "excellent," even "definitive."

Not so.

EMl/Angel have come up with demonstration quality sound on this one. The "Sea Interludes" have stood well on their own as a concert piece, and previous recordings have been by Britten (Decca/London) and Giulini (EMI/Angel). Previn's earlier Sinfonia da Requiem with the St. Louis Symphony has recently been reissued on Odyssey, but that version, good as it is, must defer to the new reading and sonics. There are timpani thumps on this disc that literally bolted me upright from my chair! The dynamic range is tremendous.

Special guest Thursday evening will be Stereophile's and AnalogPlanet.com's own Michael Fremer.