Music Reviews

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Music Reviews
Remaster Class: King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King
Mike Mettler  |  Mar 06, 2020  | 
Few artists have oh-so-quantifiably defined their own uncopiable sound as definitively as King Crimson did with their October 1969 debut, the full-title-mouthful In the Court of the Crimson King: An Observation by King Crimson. This five-track, beyond-progressive salvo brought together forward-thinking pastoral, orchestral, jazz, and blues-rock sounds into a distinctive blend that only served to widen the overall aural palette of the most formative decade in popular music.
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Music Reviews
Remaster Class: Moody Blues: In Search of the Lost Chord
Mike Mettler  |  Apr 16, 2019  | 
If the Moody Blues' most brazen, brave, and bold November 1967 mixture of conceptual rock and broad classical arrangements known as Days of Future Passed both saved their career and opened newer doors of sonic perception for them (and us) to walk through, then their mind-expanding July 1968 follow-up, In Search of the Lost Chord, truly cemented their position as purveyors of some of the headiest of mixes to essentially usher in a new era of progressive music. Indeed, the magnificent Moodies' late-'60s and early-'70s stereo mixes are often credited with helping to sell the true advantages the then-burgeoning FM format had over AM radio in the United States.
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Music Reviews
Remaster Class: Music From Big Pink
Mike Mettler  |  Dec 06, 2018  | 
2018 50th Anniversary Capitol CD

Right in the swirling midst and mists of psychedelia, hard rock, and acid rock, The Band’s July 1968 debut, Music From Big Pink, was a literal breath of rustic fresh air. In fact, Big Pink was seemingly dropped onto the music scene from out of nowhere—even though it was mostly born and bred in the basement of a cozy little rosy-hued house in upstate New York (one that frequently entertained a certain motorcycle-injury-recovering songbard by the name of B. Dylan as a regular creative contributor to the proceedings).

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Music Reviews
Remaster Class: Queen: A Night at the Opera
Mike Mettler  |  May 01, 2019  | 
Queen’s fourth studio effort, November 1975’s A Night at the Opera, was a masterstroke of mid-1970s multitrack recording. We dissect the ins and outs of the groundbreaking album's fair share of multiple-format releases over its 44-year lifespan (and counting).
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Music Reviews
Remaster Class: Steely Dan: Gaucho
Mike Mettler  |  Jan 14, 2022  | 
By the time November 1980's Gaucho rolled around, Steely Dan were more than ready to close up shop and take a self-imposed two-decade hiatus. Indeed, Gaucho's sparkly veneer was a fitting then-final coating on the acclaimed jazz-leaning but genre-defying band's first decade, fully encapsulating the dark-humored observational worldview of its principal creators—bassist/ guitarist Walter Becker and keyboardist/vocalist Donald Fagen—to a literal T.
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Music Reviews
Remaster Class: Supertramp: Crime of the Century
Mike Mettler  |  Nov 06, 2020  | 
The third time was truly the charm for Supertramp. After two middling misfires, the British quintet's third LP, September 1974's Crime of the Century, vaulted them into the big leagues where progressive-leaning tendencies met not-so-subversive pop sensibilities head-on. Over the course of eight songs, Supertramp took full advantage of the dynamic range of tracks like "School" (punctuated by multiple piano bursts and yelping schoolchildren), "Bloody Well Right" (its razor-sharp guitar line wafting from back- ground to foreground and back like a talkbox in a tsunami), and the ascendant, power-packed rage of the title track (with a final lyrical twist worthy of the last episode of The Prisoner).
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Music Reviews
Remaster Class: The Doors: Morrison Hotel
Mike Mettler  |  Jan 15, 2021  | 
The Doors needed a win. Badly. After the, shall we say, appendage-related kerfuffle at a chaotic March 1969 show in Miami, the band was sidelined with legal troubles and limited performance options. Solace was found within the friendly studio confines of Elektra Sound Recorders in Los Angeles, with February 1970's Morrison Hotel the ensuing vibrant result.
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Music Reviews
Remaster Class: The Who: Quadrophenia
Mike Mettler  |  May 21, 2021  | 
The Who had pioneered—and seemingly perfected—the art of the rock opera with May 1969's all-seeing Tommy, but the ever-provocative British quartet's chief visionary Pete Townshend wasn't done with his honing of the overarching story-arc concept just yet. October 1973's magnum opus Quadrophenia—the 81-minute, 17-song cycle chronicling angst-driven youth-culture clashes and a yearning to break free from a preordained societal rut—reinforced how guitarist/ vocalist Townshend was a musical architect of the highest order.
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Music Reviews
Remaster Class: Yes: Close to the Edge
Mike Mettler  |  Apr 24, 2020  | 
Yes may have hit the roundabout motherlode with November 1971's Fragile, but their true zenith came with the following album, September 1972's Close to the Edge. Edge was the perfect intersection of envelope-pushing, multi-movement compositions and beyond-heady lyrical mysticism, permanently cementing Yes' status as top-tier progressive rock progenitors.
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Music ReviewsAudio Video News
Retro Remixing: You're Gonna Love It, Too
Michael Berk  |  Aug 25, 2011  | 

To celebrate Buddy Holly's 75th birthday (coming up September 7th), online music creation marketplace Indaba Music has launched - oddly enough, though it is the business Indaba is in - a remix contest, inviting contestants to take on Jenny O's version of Holly's "I'm Gonna Love You Too."

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Other TechMusic Reviews
Review: Logitech Squeezebox Touch
Grant Clauser  |  Jun 18, 2010  | 

Logitech's latest addition to its Squeezebox family of network music players is the Touch, a small LCD touchpad that taps into your wired Ethernet or 802.11b/g Wi-Fi network and connects to your audio receiver. It resembles the company's Harmony 1100 remote and, like the remote, brings multiple systems, or in this case multiple services, easily under your control. 

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Music Reviews
Review: Sibelius' Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5 on SACD
Robert Ripps  |  Feb 15, 2012  | 

After becoming music director of the Minnesota Orchestra in 2003 Osmo Vänskä began recording an excellent multi-channel SACD set of Beethoven symphonies with his new group. The Finnish conductor has since returned to the work of his countryman Jean Sibelius (1865-1957), recording this multi-channel SACD of the composer's most popular symphonies, Nos. 2 & 5.

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Music Reviews
Review: The Beatles Remastered CDs
Ken Richardson  |  Nov 03, 2009  | 
Key Features
THE BEATLES IN MONO 13 discs, $300 • Includes every remastered CD from Please Please Me to The White A
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Music Reviews
Ringo Starr: 5.1 - The Surround Sound Collection; Paul McCartney: The McCartney Years
Ken Richardson  |  Jul 15, 2008  | 
Ringo Starr: 5.1 - The Surround Sound Collection

Koch

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Music Reviews
Robert Forster: The Evangelist
Billy Altman  |  Jul 22, 2008  | 
Yep Roc
Music •••½ Sound •••½

If you know who Robert Forster is, you no doubt were a fan of Australia's Go-Betweens, the vastl

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