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The previous evening, as part of an East Coast tour of small to medium-sized theaters, Summers had put on more of a multimedia show than a straight-on concert. Aside from solo instrumentals, including versions of "Roxanne" and "Message in a Bottle," the performance was augmented with some of the excellent photographs he's been taking since he bought his first film camera in New York in 1979. He'd also told stories from his life during and after the Police. A rock raconteur who combines depth and humor, Summers is the author of One Train Later, one of the best music-industry memoirs I've…

1. "Soma, Pt. 1 & 2," (from Chariot Rising, 1967)
Unreleased for decades, Chariot Rising is the only album by Dantalian's Chariot, a psychedelic band from the UK that included Summers and keyboard player Zoot Money. On "Soma, Pt. 1 & 2," Summers proves his versatility via both strummed and picked guitar work, plus a languid sitar part—plus a jazz-inflected guitar solo that's beautifully crystalline, forgoing the fuzztone fashion of the era. It all still sounds adventurous and fresh 58 years later.

2…

PBN Olympia-PXi: $22,000
"Yeah, she's ugly, but she sure can cook, baby!"—Jimmy Soul on the fade-out of his single "If You Wanna Be Happy (Get an Ugly Girl to Marry You)."

Yes, PBN's two-chassis Olympia-PXi is the butt-ugly phono preamp I mentioned at the beginning. If you don't think it's butt ugly, you have to admit that it's pretty damn homely—but it sure can cook!

Or, as the instruction manual proudly states, "We put the BLING inside the box as we feel that is where it belongs." Of course, you can have the bling inside and out, though that would probably raise the…

It would be an understatement to call Out Of/Into an all-star band. It contains the best alto saxophonist and vibraphonist to enter jazz in the 21st century, a top-five pianist, and an A-list bassist and drummer. (Read their names above.)

All-star bands are often three-ring circuses, high on individual…

The Cure aren't a band most people turn to when the party needs to get swinging. With an opening track called "Alone" with the refrain "This is the end of every song that we sing," their latest, Songs of the Lost World, isn't likely to change that. The theme of ending appears on many tracks, lending the album a fatalistic tone. On "A Fragile Thing," Smith sings, "this love is a fragile thing, this love is my everything, but…

I was rather hoping, given the Berlin Philharmonic, that this might improve on Barenboim's earlier Franck recording with the erratic Orchestre de Paris, which was afflicted by his faux-Furtwängler mannerisms. This one has a few ensemble problems characteristic of Barenboim's conducting, but the textures are consistently clear. Still, as Bernstein's Cunegonde sings, "Ah, 'twas not…

Source components included a VPI Industries Avenger Direct turntable ($36,000) mounted with a VPI Shyla MC cartridge ($2000), into a VPI Voyager phono stage ($2500), and an Esoteric N-01XD DAC/streamer ($22,000). Analog and digital signals fed a VAC Master preamplifier with phono option ($42,000), and VAC Master 300 iQ monoblocks ($42,000/each), driving Gershman Acoustics 30th Anniversary Black Swan speakers ($95,000/pair). A pair of Gershman Acoustics 30th Anniversary Grand Avant Garde speakers ($19,000/pair) also held court.…

In Brandon 1—presented in conjunction with Oz Turan of High End by Oz—the room was painted completely black. I kissed the floor, and it kissed back. Oops, wrong song, wrong venue.

A Wolf Audio Systems Alpha 3 SX Pure Digital Edition Music Server ($9295) was coupled to a Viva Audio Numerico DAC ($26,000), which fed a Viva Audio Linea preamplifier ($32,000), and a 10Wpc Viva Audio Solista MK III integrated…

This year at FLAX was no different. The room’s system consisted of a Studer A810 reel-to-reel with extended response heads, Doshi Evolution Series Tape Preamplifier ($22,000), Doshi Evolution Series Line Preamplifier ($22,000), and Doshi Evolution Series Monoblock amplifiers ($45,000/pair), driving Joseph Audio Pearl Graphene Ultras ($52,000/pair).

Digital got its due via an Aurender N30SA media…