KEN KESSLER
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND: Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival
Epic/Legacy E2K 86909 (2 CDs). 2003. Ray Colcard, Harry Zerler, orig. recordists; Norbert Ward, Tim Geelan, Russ Payne, orig. engs.; Jerry Rappaport, prod. TT: 79:55/74:40
Call me crazy, but I think this double CD betters the acknowledged Allmans classic At Fillmore East, recorded eight months later. Whatever they did at Sony, the sound is better than I'd ever expect of a live festival recording from 1970, while the performances—the Allmans on home turf!—remind you what a devastating loss blues'n'…
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PAUL MESSENGER
THE WHITE STRIPES: Elephant
XL Recordings XLCD 162 (CD), XLLP 162 (LP). 2003. Jack White, prod.; Liam Watson, eng. AAD? TT: 49:56 Arguably the most exciting R&B disc since Nirvana's Nevermind, Elephant is the creation of Detroit brother-sister duo Jack and Meg White, who came to England to make the recording at Liam Watson's Toe Rag studios in Hackney, in London's East End. Defiantly anti-tech, Liam's studio deliberately uses "vintage" analog equipment from the 1960s and 1970s, which probably explains its rather "vintage" colorations as well its admirably direct…
THE WHITE STRIPES: Elephant
XL Recordings XLCD 162 (CD), XLLP 162 (LP). 2003. Jack White, prod.; Liam Watson, eng. AAD? TT: 49:56 Arguably the most exciting R&B disc since Nirvana's Nevermind, Elephant is the creation of Detroit brother-sister duo Jack and Meg White, who came to England to make the recording at Liam Watson's Toe Rag studios in Hackney, in London's East End. Defiantly anti-tech, Liam's studio deliberately uses "vintage" analog equipment from the 1960s and 1970s, which probably explains its rather "vintage" colorations as well its admirably direct…
ROBERT J. REINA
GARY WILSON: Mary Had Brown Hair
Gary Wilson (no catalog number) (CD). 2003. Gary Wilson prod., eng. AAD. TT: 44:40. Available at www.sixpointfour.com. In 2002, when now-defunct Motel Records tracked down eccentric jazz-pop composer and performance artist Gary Wilson after 20 years of seclusion, the result was a re-release of two CDs of his material from the mid- and late 1970s, a series of concerts, and a documentary film about his life. His resurgence inspired this new CD release of recent works, which follows the classic Wilson formula of quirky songs of…
GARY WILSON: Mary Had Brown Hair
Gary Wilson (no catalog number) (CD). 2003. Gary Wilson prod., eng. AAD. TT: 44:40. Available at www.sixpointfour.com. In 2002, when now-defunct Motel Records tracked down eccentric jazz-pop composer and performance artist Gary Wilson after 20 years of seclusion, the result was a re-release of two CDs of his material from the mid- and late 1970s, a series of concerts, and a documentary film about his life. His resurgence inspired this new CD release of recent works, which follows the classic Wilson formula of quirky songs of…
DAVID PATRICK STEARNS
RAVEL: Complete Works for Piano
Alexandre Tharaud, piano
Harmonia Mundi 901811.12 (2 CDs). 2003. Jean-Martial Golaz, prod., eng. DDD. TT: 2:00:18 Were Jean-Yves Thibaudet the best that the French piano school now has to offer, I'd require antidepressants that haven't yet been invented. Instead, there's Alexandre Tharaud, a name nearly unknown in the US aside from some Poulenc chamber-music CDs on Naxos and a Rameau disc on Harmonia Mundi. On the evidence of this newly released set, Tharaud is a major keyboard personality. His idol—suggested by both…
RAVEL: Complete Works for Piano
Alexandre Tharaud, piano
Harmonia Mundi 901811.12 (2 CDs). 2003. Jean-Martial Golaz, prod., eng. DDD. TT: 2:00:18 Were Jean-Yves Thibaudet the best that the French piano school now has to offer, I'd require antidepressants that haven't yet been invented. Instead, there's Alexandre Tharaud, a name nearly unknown in the US aside from some Poulenc chamber-music CDs on Naxos and a Rameau disc on Harmonia Mundi. On the evidence of this newly released set, Tharaud is a major keyboard personality. His idol—suggested by both…
Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised when I first spied the prototypes for Sonic Frontiers' luscious new digital combo, the Transport 3 CD transport and Processor 3 D/A processor, at HI-FI '97 in San Francisco. After all, this is the company whose meteoric rise from an electronic parts-supply outfit run out of president Chris Johnson's basement, to a large factory pumping out an impressive array of entry-level to crème de la crème tube electronic components, has elevated Sonic Frontiers to front-line status among high-end manufacturers.
In many ways, the Sonic Frontiers story defines…
Wrapping up the transport package is a 13W3-I2S cable and a very suave little round, flying-saucer-like remote control. This remote is a real gem; it rides nicely between one's thumb and middle finger, leaving the index finger free to operate the buttons. As a reviewer, my only complaint is the inability to select specific track numbers when jumping around a disc containing many tracks, something I do often when making A/B comparisons of different components. However, I doubt this will much inconvenience the average user. A generic plastic remote is also available if keypad functions are…
That the P-3 conveyed awesome transient delineation shouldn't be surprising in light of its world-class resolution of subtle contrast. Its stellar transient clarity and ultra-quiet background imbued music of all stripes with alluring tangibility and purity. This quality was revealed by the ease with which I could hear the full expression of both complex transients and the most delicate harmonic decays even in the very midst of a powerful crescendo, and without the slightest smearing or congestion between of the two. Time and again, percussive and stringed instruments struck a perfect…
Sidebar 1:Specifications
Transport 3: CD transport. Interface options: 110 ohms, ±5% AES/EBU; 75 ohms, ±5% BNC; RCA, S/PDIF, ST-Glass Optical, and I2S-Enhanced interface employing a 13W3 "d-sub" connector (13W3 cable included). Pro CDM12 top-loading Philips disc drive.
Dimensions: 19.125" (490mm) W by 4" (100mm) H by 16" (400mm) D. Weight: 31.5 lbs (14.3kg) net.
Serial number of units reviewed: 105982 (auditioning); 106649 (measuring).
Price: $6999, including I2S-E cable and remote control (1998); no longer available (2004).
Processor 3: 20-bit, fully balanced HDCD-capable…
Sidebar 2: I2S: Two Don't Always Tango
One of the key elements of Sonic Frontiers' new Series 3 digital components is the inclusion of an UltraAnalog-designed I2S-Enhanced interface. The original I2S (Inter-IC-Sound) bus found in nearly all CD players provides discrete pathways for the master, word, and bit clocks, as well as audio data signals as they travel between processing sections within a player, and eliminates the need for the transmission and receiver circuitry mandated by the AES/EBU or S/PDIF transmission schemes to connect two or more digital components, which is prone to…
Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment
Analog source: Immedia RPM-2 turntable and Immedia tonearm, Sounds of Silence Crown Jewel cartridge.
Digital sources: CD transports: Sonic Frontiers SFT-1 with I2S-E, Muse Model 5 with 13W3-I2S, modified Theta Data II; Muse Model 8 DVD/CD transport with 13W3-I2S, Pioneer DV-500 DVD/CD player.
Digital processors: Muse Model Two-Plus, CD only, with 13W3-I2S; Muse Model 296, 96kHz, with 13W3-I2S; Theta Gen.V-A.
Preamplification: Z-Systems rdp-1, BAT VK-3i, Muse Model 3 preamplifiers; Jeff Rowland Design Group Coherence II preamplifier, Cadence phono…