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Never in the history of our venerable "Records To Die For" feature has the word Die come to mean as much as it has in the past year. Merle Haggard, Phife Dawg, Rudy Van Gelder, Maurice White, Glenn Frey, Otis Clay, Blowfly, Bob Cranshaw, George Martin, Steve Young, Chips Moman, Lonnie Mack, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Sharon Jones, Leon Russell, Ralph Stanley, David Bowie—all died in the past year. So to drive away any evil spirits that may be hovering over this year's R2D4 extravaganza, we may need to think of this 2017 installment more as "Records to Live For."
David R. Adler
Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucía: Passion, Grace & Fire
Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucía, acoustic guitars
Columbia 38645 (LP). 1983. Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucía, prods.; Dennis MacKay, others, engs. AAA. TT: 31:49
Fusion guitar connotes amps cranked to 11, but John McLaughlin was deep into an all-acoustic phase when he partnered with Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucía for this studio session. It's more than just some of the most pyrotechnic playing you'll hear—there's a wondrous precision and nuance in…
Jana Dagdagan
Kidkanevil & Daisuke Tanabe: Kidsuke
Project Mooncircle PMC107 (2 LPs). 2012. Gerard Roberts, Daisuke Tanabe, Rod Buchanan-Dunlop, mix; Sven Friederichs, mastering. AAA. TT: 46:27
I first fell in love with the UK's Kidkanevil (Gerard Roberts) and Japan's Daisuke Tanabe separately, while scouring a massive list of Red Bull Music Academy artists. Discovering their collaborative project Kidsuke turned my entire world upside down. Combine Kidkanevil's driving hip-hop feel with Tanabe's supreme intricacy, and the result is an unparalleled beat-…
Jon Iverson
Yello: Toy
Polydor 4782160 (24/48 PCM download). 2016. Yello, prods.; Boris Blank, eng. DDD. TT: 61:04
This is the thick, frosty chocolate milkshake of your sonic dreams. Toy will light up any audiophile system (and your earbuds) with an aural sweetness and luxuriant flavor that push out the soundstage walls for miles and reach as deep down into dark-chocolate depths as recordings can go. All of which would be a terrible waste if there weren't so much rich, creamy songwriting at the heart of these frothily arranged tunes. And yes, there are…
Paul Messenger
The Incredible String Band: The 5000 Spirits or The Layers of the Onion
Elektra EKS 5287 (UK LP). 1967. Joe Boyd, prod.; John Wood, eng. AAA. TT: 50:10
All latter-day hippies ought to have a copy of this splendid album, which features psychedelic cover art by The Fool and brilliant recording quality, thanks to the excellent taste of producer Joe Boyd. Clive Palmer had left for India, and now on this, the ISB's second album, the duo of Robin Williamson and Mike Heron took center stage in songwriting, singing, and the playing of sitars, gimbris…
Robert Schryer
John Fogerty: Revival
Fantasy FCD-30001 (CD). 2007. John Fogerty, prod.; Robert Ludwig, Kevin Dean, Dave Colvin, engs. DDD.? TT: 40:41
This album's title works as both a nod to Creedence Clearwater Revival's legacy and to truth in advertising. Revival was a return to form for John Fogerty—to the sort of catchy, barroom-friendly tunes he became famous for but could no longer write. Add to its musical themes equal parts nostalgia and political outrage, and you've got a country-rock album to revitalize the troops. Revival reflects a comfortable…
With their matching wide, distinctly un-stylish yellow ties and dark blue suits, the men of the Sibelius Piano Trio hardly look like world-class musicians. But once you hear their two-CD set from Yarlung Records, best appreciated via stereo and multi-channel DSD downloads from NativeDSD.com—click here and here—you'll understand why their debut recording of trios by Sibelius and contemporary composers deserves a place in your collection.
I've actually heard the trio's pianist, Juho Pohjonen (b. 1981), perform live twice, at Music@Menlo in Northern California. While I wish I could convince…
Last week, we posted a video on AudioStream of a conversation between Juergen Reis (MBL's Chief Designer), Michael Lavorgna (AudioStream), and John Atkinson, which we filmed during CES 2017. During that same session, we also filmed a conversation between JA and Juergen that focuses more specifically on MBL's new N31 DAC, which JA will be reviewing in a future issue of Stereophile.
In this video, Juergen and JA discuss digital filters, aliasing, Nyquist ringing, USB inputs, inter-sample "overs," and many of the other arcane issues involved in DAC design.
Editor's Note:…
UK, 1976: Upon its release, Rega Research's original Planar 3 turntable became the poor man's Linn Sondek LP12. It opened a gateway of affordability to the exotic world of high-quality British record players. Forty years later, the new Planar 3 turntable and its "light and rigid" engineering aesthetic, as conceived by Rega founder Roy Gandy, still occupy an admirably working-class, pro-music position in an audio world increasingly populated by gold-plated tonearms and quarter-ton turntables.
Before Rega, the Linn Sondk LP12 was conspicuously rhythmic and musical in a way no other record…
I know that Rega turntables have been positively reviewed around the globe. I've enjoyed every system I've heard that has included one, and I've recommended Regas to countless music-loving, non-audiophile friends. But I've always wondered—what is the source of that "pacey," boogie-down Rega sound? Is it the AC motor? Is it simply that Rega platters tend to rotate a bit too fast, as some have found? Is it the player's lightness and rigidity, as Rega claims? Or something else? Curious, I decided that my review of the Planar 3 would be an investigation into what makes a Rega sound like a Rega…