On Sonic Youth's 1992 album, Dirty, there is a song called "Youth Against Fascism," in which Thurston Moore lists a series of difficult political themes (racial violence, a poor economy, a lousy president, etc.) and follows each item with the refrain:
It's the song I hate
It's the song I hate
Basically, our man Thurston is saying he hates political songs, but he obviously feels that they are necessary. Political songs are so necessary, in fact, that even he needs to sing one.
This is not a political post, but this is the post I hate. I hate explaining things…
Art Dudley:
The fact is, a loudspeaker must be more than just sonically pure: It must be musically competent as well, inasmuch as it should communicate the momentum, flow, and sheer rightness of pitch relationships that distinguish music from sound. A very good loudspeaker should also convey the drama, scale, and sense of touch that contribute to holding the listener's interest...
AD's complete review of the Harbeth M40.1 loudspeaker, along with some interesting comments from Harbeth designer Alan Shaw, can be found here.
Michael Fremer:
In the mythical land of perfect recordings and utterly neutral playback gear, no preamplifier has a "sound." Neither do amps or speakers or phono cartridges. But in the real world we live in, every sound recording is a flawed replica of a live or imagined event reproduced by equally flawed playback gear.
MF's complete review of the glitzy MBL 6010 D preamplifier can be found here.
How great was it to hear all the music at the inaugural. Maybe music and the arts will once again be valued in the country. Maybe someone else than right wing country singers can get a tune in edgewise. And how great was the rhinestone–trimmed bow on Aretha’s super tricked out, super swank hat!!!! She actually looked a little…ummm, thinner than I’ve seen her lately.
It was wonderful to hear “Simple Gifts,” though I did think that the John Williams arrangement could have made better use of the instrumental firepower that was present. Where was the soaring ending?
Best…
Hemispheres, the new two-CD album by guitarists Jim Hall and Bill Frisell, is the year’s first jazz masterpiece, a work of spontaneous lyricism as glittering and joyful as anything either has recorded (and, given their histories, that’s saying a lot). Hall, who’s 78, and Frisell, who’s 57 and something of a protg, both have a tendency toward doodling when they’re not anchored by a rhythm section. But Disc One—10 tracks of barebones duets (including Milt Jackson’s “Bags’ Groove,” Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War,” Hall’s anthemic “Bimini,” and several pure improvs)—are loose-limbered and air tight…
John Atkinson:
...no single aspect of the sound calls attention to itself, but there is instead a seamless presentation in which the acoustic objects representing instruments and voices are naturally embedded within the whole while retaining their individuality, just as happens in real life.
JA's complete review of the Cary CD 306 SACD Professional Version (whew!) can be found here.
The February 2009 issue of Stereophile is now on newsstands. On the cover, we feature the first CD player to come from Canadian manufacturer, Bryston. A company better known for their pro and consumer audio amplification, Bryston takes an interesting step into the digital playback arena at a time when compact discs seem to be going out of fashion. Nevertheless, they did it with style and grace: Larry Greenhill was impressed by the BCD-1's ability to "reveal the most subtle sonic details," and John Atkinson noted measured performance that was "close to the state of the art for a…
Be careful, the old saw has it, what you wish for. For a long time now, many of us boomers have wished that the mainstream record companies would rediscover the glories of the vinyl LP. Now, a few of them are doing just that. Sony has released new 33-1/3 rpm slabs of vinyl from Columbia’s classic jazz catalogue—Charles Mingus’ Ah Um and a bonus LP as part of the deluxe box commemorating the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. Blue Note has gone further still, reissuing a dozen of its old titles in vinyl, packing both a CD and an LP inside the 12” record jackets, presumably so you…
I am almost done with the "Recommended Components" blurbs. And it feels so good.
Me minus you is such a lonely ride, baby.
Seriously, though, how much does this song kill? Doesn't it just make you feel like slow-dancing 8th Grade-style?
At its best, there’s a quiet majesty to the music of Abdullah Ibrahim, the South African pianist-composer once known as Dollar Brand, and his new solo CD, Senzo (on the German WDR label’s Cologne Broadcasts series), is his most stirring album in years. He was discovered in 1963, at the age of 30, by no less than Duke Ellington, who produced his first recording, then lured him to the States, where he played with Elvin Jones before going on to form his own bands. In the ‘70s, he found his full voice—a swaying pastiche of jazz, spiritual and Capetown rhythms—and, over the course of a few years,…
