By all means, it is the scientist's job to doubt. Yet while science's greatest discoveries also seem to have been precipitated by imagination, the latter quality is…
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In 1862, skepticism among the educated was exemplified by the medical establishment, which ridiculed Joseph Lister's notion of "animals in the air." By contrast, the professional skeptic of 2012—yes, it's now possible to make a comfortable living in the field—finds himself inconvenienced by 150 years of discovery, and makes do with ridiculing Lister for his Quaker faith. I guess that passes for progress in some circles.
Dudley: And in an engineering endeavor that's not driven by empiricism, such a thing is really not going to be pursued . . .
Belt: Right.
Dudley: What do you make of something like the Acoustic Revive RR-77 [see Stereophile, November 2011, p.43]—which, by the way, is the one "anomalous" audio accessory of my experience that has made the biggest difference—
Belt: Yes!
Dudley: —what do you make of something like that? Do you suppose its effect is also purely on perception, or do you think a device such as that could have an effect on the hardware?
Belt: I don…
Sidebar: List of the Month
Ten tweaks that appear to have been abandoned by the reviewers who once hailed them as "indispensable" (* indicates my own culpability)
1. Bedini CD Clarifier
2. Symposium Acoustics Rollerblocks
3. CD Stoplight pen
4. Sumiko Tweak contact enhancer
5. StyLAST stylus treatment
6. Mod Squad TipToes
7. Shakti Stones
8. Mana Acoustics* and Sound Organisation* stands for the Linn LP12 turntable
9. WonderSolder
10. Anything made of Sorbothane
Norman Granz: The Man Who Used Jazz for Justice
By Tad Hershorn. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011. 470pp. Hardcover, $34.95.
By Tad Hershorn. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011. 470pp. Hardcover, $34.95.
One night in 1942, Billie Holiday was singing at a Los Angeles nightclub. Between sets, she crossed the street to have a drink with Norman Granz. She was in tears because some black friends who had come to hear her had been turned away.
Granz was then 23, on the cusp of a career that would make him one of the jazz world's most important concert promoters and record producers, as well as an effective advance man for racial integration. He…
"How many new records did you buy today, Stephen?"
It was New Year's Eve, and our large group of friends occupied the entire ground floor of our favorite restaurant, Jersey City's Satis Bistro. We had already been presented with a beautiful buffet of meats, cheeses, and breads, and now more appetizers were being served. A waiter placed before me the world's most delicious date, stuffed with gorgonzola, wrapped in bacon, and baked to perfection. I immediately stabbed it with my fork and popped it in my happy mouth. I chewed, savored, silently wished that I could make this moment last…
She handed me the record. It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen, and it was clearly awesome: Wilderness Road's Sold for Prevention of Disease Only, from 1972 (LP, Warner Bros. MS 2125). The cover shows four hairy men—the band, presumably—dressed in suits of metallic silver, black, and gold. They're standing at the counter of a futuristic pharmacy, I suppose, and I guess they're shopping for condoms. (As I write these words, I've got the album in front of me; it defies description.) I pulled the record from its gatefold jacket and noticed that it was a white-label promo. It was…
Sidebar: Contacts
Audio Intelligent Vinyl Solutions
Osage Audio Products LLC
PO Box 232
Hallsville, MO 65255
Tel: (573) 696-3551
Web: www.audiointelligent.com
Vinyl Flat LLC
PO Box 524
Rose City, TX 75189
Tel: (469) 426-8554
Web: www.vinylflat.com
Today is officially Record Store Day. Go out and visit your local record store. Here's a short film to get in the mood.
Stereophile is not all about reviewing hi-fi, and thanks to our all-knowing and thrill-seeking Music Editor, Robert Baird, we cover exciting new releases in each monthly issue for you to consider on your hi-fi escapades. In this post, I listen to all records we reviewed available on streaming services MOG and Spotify from our April 2012 issue, provide my own two-cents, and link to the playlists from the two services. With a premium account, one can stream at 320kbps Ogg Vorbis files from Spotify, and MOG users can stream 320kbps MP3s for free!
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Links:
The MOG April 2012…
I saw the Vijay Iyer trio at Birdland in midtown Manhattan two weeks ago. It was a great show. Most of the songs were from the band's new CD, Accelerando (which I raved about in my March 31 blog post), some were from earlier albums; all were riveting. The trio weaves in and out of patterns with a swinging agility. Iyer plays piano with precision yet gusto; he could have been a master interpreter of Liszt or Ligeti, had he chosen that direction. If you have a chance to hear this group live, take it.
But my main purpose here is to correct something I wrote in that earlier post about the…