Brian Damkroger
LUCINDA WILLIAMS: Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Mercury 314 558 338-2 (CD). 1999. Lucinda Williams, Roy Bittan, The Twangtrust, prods.; Ed Thacker, Steve Churchyard, engs. AAD? TT: 51:50 Lucinda Williams has one of those unique voices that, once heard, can never be expunged from your mind. It sounds kind of like one part Carlene Carter, one part Warren Zevon, and maybe a bit of Chrissie Hynde and Tom Petty thrown in, but most of all it sounds like a direct connection between her soul and her vocal cords. In Car Wheels on a Gravel Road she's crafted a series of…
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Daniel Durchholz
NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND: Will the Circle Be Unbroken
EMI America CDPB 7 46589 2 (2 CDs). 1972. William E. McEuen, prod.; Rick Horton, Rex Collier, engs. AAD. TT: 119:30 When I was a high school student back in the late '70s, one of my part-time jobs was as a Saturday-night deejay at a country radio station in rural Missouri. Country's Top 40 was utter dreck then, as it pretty much is now, so every week I'd dig into the station's archives for a few things to play that would make it seem worthwhile coming in for another week. I was delighted when I discovered Will the…
NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND: Will the Circle Be Unbroken
EMI America CDPB 7 46589 2 (2 CDs). 1972. William E. McEuen, prod.; Rick Horton, Rex Collier, engs. AAD. TT: 119:30 When I was a high school student back in the late '70s, one of my part-time jobs was as a Saturday-night deejay at a country radio station in rural Missouri. Country's Top 40 was utter dreck then, as it pretty much is now, so every week I'd dig into the station's archives for a few things to play that would make it seem worthwhile coming in for another week. I was delighted when I discovered Will the…
Jon Iverson
JOHN LENNON: Anthology
Capitol C2 8 30614 2 (4 CDs). 1998. Yoko Ono, prod.; Rob Stevens, prod., eng.; Mike Rew, Chris Habeck, Mike Anzelowitz, asst. engs. AAD. TT: 4:27:40 There's no way a music lover can pick only two albums each year for the annual "R2D4," so I thought a four-CD boxed set might be a way of sneaking some extra notes under RB's radar. This monumental set appeared late in '98, but nothing I heard in '99 could dislodge it from the top spot. This is as much a sentimental choice as anything else, and by now most folks know whether they like John Lennon or…
JOHN LENNON: Anthology
Capitol C2 8 30614 2 (4 CDs). 1998. Yoko Ono, prod.; Rob Stevens, prod., eng.; Mike Rew, Chris Habeck, Mike Anzelowitz, asst. engs. AAD. TT: 4:27:40 There's no way a music lover can pick only two albums each year for the annual "R2D4," so I thought a four-CD boxed set might be a way of sneaking some extra notes under RB's radar. This monumental set appeared late in '98, but nothing I heard in '99 could dislodge it from the top spot. This is as much a sentimental choice as anything else, and by now most folks know whether they like John Lennon or…
Paul Messenger
MASSIVE ATTACK: Blue Lines
Wild Bunch WBRCD1, Virgin 7 86228 2 (CD, also originally released on LP). 1991. Massive Attack, Jonny Dollar, prods., mix. ADD TT: 45:09 Today's dance-music genres seem to be becoming increasingly ephemeral, disposable, and self-referential, but Massive Attack's handful of albums provide a soundtrack to the 1990s that stand out as beacons of class and originality. Usually referred too as "trip-hop," MA's music has only a passing resemblance to hip-hop, rap, big beat, drum'n'bass, and other dance styles. Smooth, subtle, and fundamentally…
MASSIVE ATTACK: Blue Lines
Wild Bunch WBRCD1, Virgin 7 86228 2 (CD, also originally released on LP). 1991. Massive Attack, Jonny Dollar, prods., mix. ADD TT: 45:09 Today's dance-music genres seem to be becoming increasingly ephemeral, disposable, and self-referential, but Massive Attack's handful of albums provide a soundtrack to the 1990s that stand out as beacons of class and originality. Usually referred too as "trip-hop," MA's music has only a passing resemblance to hip-hop, rap, big beat, drum'n'bass, and other dance styles. Smooth, subtle, and fundamentally…
Wes Phillips
IAN TYSON: Old Corrals and Sagebrush & Other Cowboy Culture Classics
Bear Family BCD 15437 (CD). 1989. Ian Tyson, prod.; Richard Harrow, eng. AAD. TT: 69:05 Ian Tyson has produced the classic cowboy record here. His renditions of "Leaving Cheyenne" and "Whoopie Ti Yi Yo" sound definitive, but the disc's true strength lies in Tyson's own songs about life as a working rancher in the West today (which he is), as well as some well-chosen covers on the same subject. The West Tyson sings of is defined by hard work and low wages, and his love of the land and of the lore…
IAN TYSON: Old Corrals and Sagebrush & Other Cowboy Culture Classics
Bear Family BCD 15437 (CD). 1989. Ian Tyson, prod.; Richard Harrow, eng. AAD. TT: 69:05 Ian Tyson has produced the classic cowboy record here. His renditions of "Leaving Cheyenne" and "Whoopie Ti Yi Yo" sound definitive, but the disc's true strength lies in Tyson's own songs about life as a working rancher in the West today (which he is), as well as some well-chosen covers on the same subject. The West Tyson sings of is defined by hard work and low wages, and his love of the land and of the lore…
Kalman Rubinson
MAHLER: Symphony 9
With Commentary Disc by Benjamin Zander
Benjamin Zander, Philharmonia Orchestra
Telarc 3CD-80527 (CD). 1999. Robert Woods, David St. George, prods.; Adam Philip, eng. DDD. TT: 87:02 (Commentary disc: 76:42) While there's still a lot of time left, this magnificent recording is an appropriate millennial nominee for "R2D4." First, the Ninth is Mahler's final completed symphonic statement on fate and human existence, and, at the end of his century, there is not yet a more trenchant musical commentary. Second, this recording represents the first…
MAHLER: Symphony 9
With Commentary Disc by Benjamin Zander
Benjamin Zander, Philharmonia Orchestra
Telarc 3CD-80527 (CD). 1999. Robert Woods, David St. George, prods.; Adam Philip, eng. DDD. TT: 87:02 (Commentary disc: 76:42) While there's still a lot of time left, this magnificent recording is an appropriate millennial nominee for "R2D4." First, the Ninth is Mahler's final completed symphonic statement on fate and human existence, and, at the end of his century, there is not yet a more trenchant musical commentary. Second, this recording represents the first…
"Art is the only political power," the artist Joseph Beuys once said. If only it were true. Often, when power is wielded against an entire people with enough brutality and efficiency, it reduces the culture to a sickening silence, leaving room only for state-sponsored propaganda. Think of the Soviet Union under Stalin, or Germany during the Third Reich. But in other, rarer cases, repression is met with an efflorescence of great art, like a charred field welling up in a riot of wildflowers. Consider what happened in Brazil.
In 1964, that country's armed forces overthrew the leftist…
Holst: The Planets
Cheetham Fraillon: Earth
Deborah Cheetham Fraillon, soprano; Upper Voices of the MSO Chorus; Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/Jaime Martín
Melbourne Symphony MSO0003 (CD). 2025. Ingo Petry, prod.; Alex Stinson, eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics *****
Cheetham Fraillon: Earth
Deborah Cheetham Fraillon, soprano; Upper Voices of the MSO Chorus; Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/Jaime Martín
Melbourne Symphony MSO0003 (CD). 2025. Ingo Petry, prod.; Alex Stinson, eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics *****
Years ago, Hyperion released a Planets that added Colin Matthews's "Pluto, " absent from Holst's suite. Since then, alas, Pluto was demoted. Now the Melbourne Symphony has issued its own Planets—distributed through a partnership with LSO Live—appending an "Earth" movement composed by Deborah Cheetham Fraillon…
Linda May Han Oh: Strange Heavens
Linda May Han Oh, bass; Ambrose Akinmusire, trumpet; Tyshawn Sorey, drums
Biophilia. 2025. Linda May Han Oh, prod.; Aaron Nevezie, Todd Carder, David Darlington, engs.
Performance **** Sonics *****
Linda May Han Oh, bass; Ambrose Akinmusire, trumpet; Tyshawn Sorey, drums
Biophilia. 2025. Linda May Han Oh, prod.; Aaron Nevezie, Todd Carder, David Darlington, engs.
Performance **** Sonics *****
It is no small accomplishment for a bassist to draw attention away from a trumpeter and a drummer, especially young luminaries like Ambrose Akinmusire and Tyshawn Sorey. But Linda May Han Oh is special. Her purposefulness imbues every note with magnitude, and her attack makes the instrument sound 10' tall, strung with tiger gut. Only a few bassists…
In 1976 Stereophile stablemate Hi-Fi News & Record Review released Quadrafile. Created by then deputy editor Mike Thorne, this limited edition, 2-LP set featured a selection of recordings encoded with the four rival Quadraphonic systems: SQ, QS, CD-4 and UD-4. For more information see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrafile and discogs.com/release/8335618-Various-Quadrafile-Four-Speakers-Four-Systems-Four-Sides.
As much as I love my stereo system and listening to music through two speakers, some recordings just can't be bound by the limits of stereophony. For instance, Carl Orff's epic…