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It is hard to believe that 40 years have passed since Metallica released its debut LP, Kill 'Em All. The band is a Superbowl halftime show away from completing its transformation from subversive thrash-metal pioneer to American cultural icon. 72 Seasons, the latest studio album and 11th overall, may just get them on the field in Las Vegas in 2024, or at least a…

Eva Cassidy died of melanoma in 1996, age 33, almost completely unknown. She has since become a cult figure. The cult is large.

Cassidy left behind three self-released albums that…

Audio Tekne TEA-8695 PCS phono preamp: A really big show
How about a moving-coil-only, 100lb, tubed phono preamplifier costing $55,000? Audio Tekne's TEA-8695 PCS is the company's "midpriced" phono preamplifier. There's one that's more expensive, but it requires the accompanying preamplifier for its power.

I wish, for this much scratch, the company had invested in a competent English-speaking translator. Instead, it appears to have hired the same person who translates for Miyajima Laboratory. The translations are charming and humorous—until you really need to understand them…

"For its high level of transparency and vivid timbral colors, the Antal 40s have the spirit of a coral reef," wrote Robert Schryer in…

The Redskins produced one rather fine album, which attempted to marry left-wing politics with northern soul. Frankie was seen as outrageous in its day; "Relax" was banned on several radio shows, and some record shops refused to stock it. Now both appeared proudly in the window of a…

To win an EISA award all products undergo a comprehensive multi-step judging…

In the excellent My Back Pages essay that closes this issue, Londoner Phil Brett writes, "I bought my first albums in my teens for £2 then sold them off years later for 50p each."

Why did he sell his records? "[I]n those days, most vinyl had the thickness of a butterfly wing without the quality. As I grew older, I went through—ahem—several relationships hence several changes of residence. The hassle of carting boxes of records around grew wearisome; CDs were so much lighter, and often, they sounded better."

Phil predicted Stereophile readers would be…

At 79, Pulitzer Prize winner and NEA Jazz Master Henry Threadgill is one of the last men standing among the founding fathers of the jazz avant-garde. Because his output of recordings is not voluminous, every new Threadgill release is an event. The Other One is more of an event than most because of its ambition (it is an album-length suite) and its scale: It…

With so much ink already spilled, it seems wasteful of your time, the magazine's space, and my…