Ry Cooder: Get Rhythm
Warner Bros. 25639 (LP). Ed Cherney, eng.; Ry Cooder, prod. TT: 40:43
John Hiatt: Bring the Family
A&M SP5158 (LP). Larry Hirsch, eng.; John Chelew, prod. TT: 45:26
There are a few white men in American music—Delbert McClinton, Jerry Jeff Walker, John Fogarty, Van Morrison, Joe Ely, and Steve Earle all come to mind—whose music is consistently true, believable, honorable, and unpretentious. Ry Cooder has been one of those names since his solo debut in 1970; with Bring the Family, John Hiatt's must now be added to the list.
Bring the Family is…
Tom Waits Bad As Me
Anti- 87151-1 (LP). 2011. Tom Waits, Kathleen Brennan, prods.; Julianne Deery, prod. coord.; Karl Derfler, eng.; Zack Summer, asst. eng. ADA? TT: 44:37
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
They only come out at night. Or when recession, wars, and gridlock rule. On Bad As Me, Tom Waits's first record of new material since 2004's Real Gone, things having gone bad all over gives his uniquely American narratives a fresh resonance: "Well we bailed out all the millionaires / they got the fruit, we got the rind / and everybody's talking at the same time / everybody's…
You know about them: audio products or tweaks that fall outside the standard definition of audio component. They're not source components like CD players, not amplifiers or preamplifiers, not loudspeakers, not power-line conditioners or cables—and, if aimed at modifying room acoustics, they're not the standard devices that absorb or disperse sound. Let's call them Unorthodox Audio Products (UAPs). They promise a kind of audio panacea: something that fixes whatever's wrong with the sound of your system.
The first such product to create a controversy among audiophiles was the Tice Clock, an…
High-end audio is in some ways a dynastic beast, though without as many "begats." One of the world's most successful loudspeaker manufacturers in the years following World War II was the Wharfedale company, from Yorkshire in the North of England. Wharfedale was founded by Gilbert Briggs in 1932, who in the 1950s handed over the reins of Technical Director to fellow Yorkshireman Raymond Cooke. Cooke left Wharfedale in 1961 to found KEF Electronics Ltd., where he subsequently appointed Goodmans designer Laurie Fincham as Chief Engineer in 1968. Fincham led a team of young engineers, including…
As well as Blues Dream, December's "Recording of the Month," All We Are Saying (CD, Savoy Jazz SVY17836), Frisell's collection of John Lennon arrangements, was in heavy rotation while I had the TADs. This album is notable for Kenny Wollesen's natural-sounding drums, the depth of Tony Scherr's double bass, and the telepathic interplay between Frisell's guitar and Greg Leisz's pedal steel guitar. The sense of musical flow in "Revolution" was superb for a ported design, there not being the sense you get with underdamped designs that the bass is chasing the higher regions, trying to keep up. In…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.375" (35mm) beryllium-dome tweeter concentrically mounted with 6.5" (160mm) beryllium-cone midrange driver, 8" (200mm) sandwich-cone woofer. Crossover frequencies: 250Hz, 2kHz. Frequency response: 40Hz–20kHz, ±3dB (frontal average response). Sensitivity: 86dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Maximum input power: 200W.
Dimensions: 24.7" (628mm) H (46.7"/1186mm H with stands) by 13.4" (341mm) W by 17.5" (444mm) D. Weight: 101.4 lbs (46kg).
Finish: Piano-gloss wood veneer,…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP & DX-5 universal players; Apple G4 Mac mini running OS10.5.8, iTunes 10, Pure Music 1.8; Shuttle PC with Lynx AES16 soundcard & dual-core AMD Athlon processor running Windows 7, Foobar 2000, Adobe Audition 3.0; dCS Debussy, Logitech Transporter, Bricasti M1 D/A converters; Halide S/PDIF Bridge, Empirical Audio Off-Ramp4 USB-S/PDIF converters.
Preamplifier: Ayre Acoustics K-5xeMP.
Power Amplifiers: Classé CT-M600, MBL Reference 9007 (both monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: BBC LS3/5a, Sonus Faber Amati Futura…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the TAD Compact Reference CR1's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and spatially averaged room responses. My estimate of the CR1's voltage sensitivity was 87.5dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is both about average and slightly above the specified 86dB. The CR1 is specified as being a 4 ohm load, but the speaker's impedance remains above 7.5 ohms throughout the upper midrange and treble, dropping to 4 ohms only between 40 and 225Hz (fig.1). Though there…
Gibson Guitar Corp., makers of some of the world’s most iconic electric guitars—the Flying V, SG, and, of course, the Les Paul come to mind—yesterday announced a strategic partnership with Onkyo Corporation, perhaps best known for their versatile multichannel A/V receivers and 2-channel power amplifiers. If approved, Gibson will purchase a stake in Onkyo Japan and acquire a majority interest in Onkyo USA, becoming the second largest shareholder in Onkyo Corporation. The agreements are subject to Japanese regulatory clearance, further negotiations, and financial considerations…
In theory, the pairing makes perfect sense. One imagines a young Nika Roza Danilova enchanted by the beautiful, haunting images of David Lynch’s films. And while music always played a major role in those films, Lynch has become increasingly active as a dedicated musician: His recent album, Crazy Clown Time has received enthusiastic, colorful reviews and his collaboration with Chrysta Bell [ay yai yai] sounds completely delicious.
The result is a lovely, gently moving piece with a decidedly dark, 1980s feel—some reverb on the guitars, a little chorus, a little flange, and a lot…
