New York, N.Y. / George Russell George Russell - New York, N.Y.

Reviewer Fred Kaplan's Revinylization column pick for Stereophile, April 2021!
"The most ambitious of (George) Russell's masterworks is New York, N.Y.. which was recorded in the fall of 1958 and released on Decca in 1959 — the same year as Miles' Kind of Blue and Trane's Giant Steps. So it is good to see it come back to life in this gorgeous gatefold-packaged reissue, mastered from the original analog tapes, and pressed on 180-gram QRP vinyl as part of Universal Music's joint venture with Chad Kassem's Acoustic Sounds. ... New York, N.Y. is a big band record — 13 topnotch musicians traversing Russell's scores, which are unlike any jazz orchestral scores of the time. ... The tapes were otherwise fine to begin with, the mastering by Ryan Smith of Sterling Sound is probably as good as possible — this LP sounds much better than previous reissues — and the music overwhelms any flaws." — Revinylization, Fred Kaplan, Stereophile, April 2021. Read the full review here.


Are You Experienced? / The Jimi Hendrix Experience The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?

Rated 5/5 Music, 5/5 Sonics in the April 21, 2021 issue of The Absolute Sound!
"Are You Experienced appeared in the U.K. in May of 1967, one week before Sgt. Pepper hit the charts. This U.S. version dropped four months later. The game-changing debut spawned the hits 'Purple Haze' and 'Hey Joe' and shook up the pop world. Raw and rowdy, this visionary blast of rock ecstasy, rife with fantastical lyrics and futuristic fretwork unrivaled even today, commanded respect. The spacey 'Third Stone from the Sun' threw down the gauntlet with the declaration 'And you'll never hear surf music again.' 'Fire' delivered incendiary proto-funk. And the backward guitar solos of the title track, the innovative guitar-doubling on 'Purple Haze,' the rhythmic turmoil of 'Manic Depression,' the feedback-laced 'I Don't Live Today,' and the anti-hippie anthem 'Love or Confusion' were harbingers of hard rock. Newly remastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analog master tapes, the much-anticipated hybrid SACD has a 36-page booklet, and both stereo and mono mixes. This gem brilliantly captures the detailed layers of Hendrix's mind-bending soundscapes. Are You Experienced in pure DSD (or high def PCM, depending on your system)? It doesn't get any better." — Music = 5/5; Sonics = 5/5 — Greg Cahill, The Absolute Sound, April 2021.

 


Newvelle Presents: The New Orleans Collection / Various Artists Various Artists - Newvelle Presents: The New Orleans Collection

Reviews for Going Upstairs (Little Freddie King) and Love is the Foundation (Irma Thomas) from The New Orleans Collection vinyl bundle from Newvelle Records. 180-gram 4LP collection pressed at Quality Record Pressings! — Performance = 4/5; Sonics = 4.5/5 — Fred Kaplan, Stereophile, April 2021

"Little Freddie King, pioneer of electric blues, and Irma Thomas, 'soul queen of New Orleans' were around 80 years old (she just past, he just shy of) when they recorded these albums in early 2020 at Esplanade Studios, once a vast Gothic church, renovated and acoustically treated, in the Crescent City's vibrant Treme neighborhood. They're both in fine, bracing form, their years apparent only in the honed crackle in his voice and the surefooted pace of hers; these characteristics lend the music a grand yet intimate authenticity.

"The King album is pure Delta blues — 'real, real blues' as King puts it in the liner notes ... There's not much to these songs, which have titles like 'Pocket Full of Money,' 'I Used To Be Down,' 'Bad News,' 'Standing at Your Door.' and 'Can't Do Nothing Baby' — the stuff of life and nothing more. King, the cousin of Lightnin' Hopkins and a highlight of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for four decades, sings the songs — and picks their accents and refrains — with a storyteller's zest. The backup musicians, most of them denizens of the NoLa music scene, are stellar in their idiom. It's a spirited delight.

"Irma Thomas is a storyteller too, more in the R&B vein. A contemporary of Aretha Franklin and Etta James, Thomas, like them, came up through the church. In a long career, Thomas had moments of near-breakthrough (a Grammy in 2007 for After the Rain; songs featured in Black Mirror and Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law), but she never quite crossed over for reasons I don't understand (Her cover of James' 'Don't Go to Strangers' could easily hold its own.) Her voice spans the registers, but she lingers in the lower-mid, her cadence conversational, her way with a lyric familiar and thorough as if she were singing about her own sagas of love, ache, loss and triumph.

"Both albums sound superb. The musicians — and the room — are right there, every guitar lick, bass pluck and snare sizzle  lifelike in detail and dynamics. The Thomas album in particular tosses up a soundstage as 3D as any I've heard on a record of this sort: The horns and back-up singers are way back there; the air between the players, front to back and side to side, is palpable. The recording isn't "purist." Misha Kachhachishlivi, the engineer and studio owner, told me he used a tube compressor on Hopkins' voice (to avoid overload) and a Roland Space Echo on Thomas's (to give it a touch of early-'60s reverb). But he recorded the session on a set of vintage microphones, added the artificial effects discreetly, and processed it all through a Rupert Neve 5088 analog console. The result sounds natural."


Newvelle Season 5 Box Set / Various Artists Various Artists - Newvelle Season 5 Box Set

Stereophile Editor's Pick Recording Of The Month!

"If Newvelle Records is any indication, jazz's future looks bright. Since 2015, the New York label has produced four series of artist-curated, all-analog, subscription-only box sets of vinyl records with superb fidelity and top-tier musicians performing original material. ... Newvelle Records Season Five is an unqualified success. $400 for a box set that may become a collector's item, featuring remarkable musicians and brilliant performances, recorded and pressed to the highest standards, should be an easy purchase for fans of soulful, swinging, captivating jazz." — Performance = 4/5; Sonics = 4.5/5 — Ken Micallef, Stereophile, Editor's Pick Recording Of The Month, February 2021


Light and Dark / Tim Weed Tim Weed - Light and Dark

"I want to compliment you on the mastering and pressing for Tim Weed's Light and Dark album. Tim and I are very happy with the sound of the test pressings...I have been recording, mixing, and mastering music since the early '70s, first in LA where I built my first recording studio, Spectrum Studios, Venice Beach in 1973 and in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1988 at my studio The Plant Studios in Sausalito...I have worked with many labels and with many mastering engineers such as Bernie Grundman, Doug Sax...Some of the 'audiophile' labels I worked for were Telarc, Mobile Fidelity, Varese-Sarabande, Wyndham Hill, Pablo, Discovery, Concord Jazz, and a few others...I've been fortunate to work as a recording/mix engineer on many large orchestral works for pop artists such as Prince and Paul McCartney, and also many big band jazz records (Count Basie, Gerald Wilson, Bob Florence) during my career. In all the symphonic works I've recorded, I have never heard an album like Light and Dark and your team did it justice." — Arne Frager, owner of The Plant Studios (http://plantstudios.com/)


Newvelle Presents: The New Orleans Collection / Various Artists Various Artists - Newvelle Presents: The New Orleans Collection

"Yes, this was digitally recorded but if you still insist that means it can't sound great and can't produce three dimensional images, well after hearing this if you're still in that camp, you've got some loose bits. Great microphones, skilled engineering and of course a big beautiful former church are key to the uniformly excellent sound here. ... Alex DeTurk at The Bunker cut the lacquers and QRP in Salina, KS pressed on 180g vinyl. While I’m reviewing this using test pressings, I bought this set without hearing a note and I’m glad I did! It’s well-worth the asking price." — "The New Orleans Collection — Newvelle's Crescent City Excent Adventure" Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com. Read the entire review here.


Soul Journey / Michael Weiss Michael Weiss - Soul Journey

"Hi Gary, The pressings are perfect. I couldn’t be happier. Thanks so much for your care and attention to this recording. Best regards, Michael"

Michael Weiss, pianist/composer Soul Journey on 180-gram vinyl, pressed at Quality Record Pressings


Let's Be Frank / Trisha Yearwood Trisha Yearwood - Let's Be Frank

"I am so incredibly pleased with everything you and QRP did for Let's Be Frank. The vinyl is stunning, and sounds amazing. THANK YOU!" — Trisha Yearwood, regarding her Frank Sinatra tribute album Let's Be Frank. Pressed at Quality Record Pressings on 150-gram vinyl.


Electric Ladyland / The Jimi Hendrix Experience The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland

"...this album is a joy to behold with its 'new' found nuances, through the multitude of differing musical shades on offer for the first time. There has been nothing like this before in relation to this pressing, it now has me wondering what I'm going to experience with the stereo and mono re-masterings from Bernie Grundman with the upcoming UHQR Axis. Bold As Love." — Electric Ladyland 50th Set review, Gordon Johnson, jmhvinyl.co.uk, Jan. 22, 2019. Read the entire review here.


The White Album / The Beatles The Beatles - The White Album

"'Happiness is a Warm Gun' and 'Martha My Dear' sounded fully present and accounted for. When the band fell in on '...take a good look around you' it gave me shivers! Get it." — Sasha Matson, Stereophile.com, Nov. 11, 2018. Read the entire review here.


Soul Journey / Gillian Welch Gillian Welch - Soul Journey

"It's a performance that I swear only an AAA vinyl record can produce. ... To my ears the recording is as perfect as the performances, so in my world this gets the rare 11 for music and sound. Maybe I'm wallowing. I guess I sure like wallow! Nice gatefold packaging and 'Tip on' jacket. A record you'll treasure." — Music = 11/11; Sound = 11/11 — Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com. Read the whole review here.


The Motel La Grange / The National Reserve The National Reserve - The Motel La Grange

"There are elements of the old Bob Seger in the vocal parts, of The Band in their roots Americana vibe, of Little Feat in sheer funk but it's nowise derivative of any of these; it stands on its own. ... It's well crafted, recorded in Brooklyn and a bunch of other studios and mastered by Sterling. Pressed at QRP, the copy is quiet and plays nicely." — Bill Hart, The Vinyl Press, August 2018. Read the whole review here.


Folksinger Vol. 2 / Willie Watson Willie Watson - Folksinger Vol. 2

"Watson covers versions of 'Gallows Pole,' 'Dry Bones,' 'John Henry,' 'When My Baby Left Me,' and 'Take This Hammer' among others, bringing to them an authenticity and honesty you might have thought couldn't possibly have survived the millennium, but you'll need no convincing listening to this record. ... The sonics here are 100% of what you like and hope every record you buy might sound like. The naturalness and transparency will slay you ... The record is well-pressed on standard weight vinyl at QRP and the paper on cardboard jacket befits what's inside." — Music = 10/11; Sound = 10/11 - Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com. Read the whole review here.



Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? / The Cranberries The Cranberries - Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?

"...this album is packed with powerful songs propelled by brothers Noel and Mike Hogan on guitar and bass and then there's (Dolores O'Riordan's) voice, so bold and forthright, yet vulnerable. ... You'll hear elements of Simple Minds, Modern English, U2 and of course The Smiths (the album was produced by The Smiths' producer Stephen Street) in the pleasingly icy guitar sound, bathed in reverb and the deep, full bass. ... $25 for this well-produced record strikes me as more than reasonable. Analog Spark issued this record before Ms. O'Riordan's sudden death after which it quickly sold out but now it's back in stock." Music = 9/11; Sound = 9/11 — Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com. Read the whole review here.


Chopin's Last Waltz / Robert Silverman Chopin's Last Waltz/Robert Silverman

"Silverman's Chopin is an unqualified success. Although every composition presented here is a familiar selection from Chopin's oeuvre, Silverman's conceptions of them delve deeply into the composer's inherent passions for his music and his love of melody. ... the recording presents a beautiful multidimensional sound image, with a wide dynamic range and gorgeously sharp, true tone colors." — Performance = 5/5; Sonics 5/5 — Robert Baird, Stereophile, February 2018. Editor's Pick – Recording of the Month


Folksinger Vol. 2 / Willie Watson Willie Watson - Folksinger Vol. 2

"Watson covers versions of 'Gallows Pole,' 'Dry Bones,' 'John Henry,' 'When My Baby Left Me,' and 'Take This Hammer' among others, bringing to them an authenticity and honesty you might have thought couldn't possibly have survived the millennium, but you'll need no convincing listening to this record. ... The sonics here are 100% of what you like and hope every record you buy might sound like. The naturalness and transparency will slay you ... The record is well-pressed on standard weight vinyl at QRP and the paper on cardboard jacket befits what's inside." — Music = 10/11; Sound = 10/11 - Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com. Read the whole review here.


The Harrow & The Harvest / Gillian Welch Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest

"These are rich guitar and banjo textures and harmonics that are almost orchestral in nature. ... The recorded sound here is everything you'd wish for on an album of acoustic instruments and vocals. It's artifact-free, harmonically and textually rich and complex and spatially three-dimensional. ... The QRP pressing is dead quiet too. (Note: the first pressing has sold out but do order now. It's worth the wait!)." — Music = 10/11; Sound = 10/11 — Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com. Read the whole review here.

"If you're a musician who cares passionately about the sonics of your first-ever vinyl release, what steps can you take to ensure that the record sounds as good as possible? Here's one option: record the music to tape, buy your own cutting lathe, master directly from the original tapes, actually participate in the cutting process, and plate and press the vinyl at Quality Record Pressings. Gillian Welch and musical partner David Rawlings took those steps, and the process, though fraught with delays and very expensive, ended up being worth it. On these duets that feature both Welch and Rawlings on guitar and vocals (with Welch singing lead), the songs resemble short stories where the singer is fully invested in the characters, and the unfiltered lyrics that cut close to the bone fit the stripped-down and intimate sound of this LP. A black noise floor allows the detail and timbre to come through fully, and the delicate interplay between the guitars on what are mostly first or second takes gives the music an in-the-moment feel. Kudos to Welch and Rawlings for sticking their necks out and taking the DIY approach all the way." — Music 4/5, Sonics 5/5, Jeff Wilson, The Absolute Sound, December 2017.


Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960 / Thelonious Monk Thelonious Monk - Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960

"This long-lost soundtrack to Roger Vadim’s film of the same title (spread out on two CDs, with alternate takes) isn’t the best Monk album from the period, but it’s not a mere novelty either. Monk’s piano work is drenched with playful energy, and the band—Charlie Rouse and Barney Wilen on tenor saxes, Sam Jones on bass, Art Taylor on drums—is in top form. * Bonus: The final track has Monk coaching Taylor through the drum part on 'Light Blue,' a fine illustration of the complexities of Monk’s music and how it comes out when the musicians get it down." — Fred Kaplan, Slate.com, December 2017


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