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Now Spinning: Grateful Dead – Olympia Theatre, Paris, France (5/3/72)
It’s been a long, cold, lonely winter, as George Harrison might say, with months of chilly gray skies finally giving way to warm spring temperatures about a month later than usual, which means the Grateful Dead are starting to pop into my listening rotation with an inevitable regularity (much like The Band do in the…
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Now Spinning: Robey, Falk & Bod – Kentucky Gambler
Sometimes I think we forget that Crosby, Stills & Nash were, for a moment at least, the closest thing to America’s answer to The Beatles – partially evidenced by the proliferation of imitators in the years immediately following their formation. While Woodstock served as only the second official public performance from Crosby, Stills and Nash,…
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Now Spinning: Sonny Rollins – Freedom Suite Plus
A quiet Monday feels like the right atmosphere for some classic jazz, and it doesn’t get more classic than Sonny Rollins. As one of the titans atop the pantheon of American jazz, Sonny Rollins career featured many high points – from 1956’s genre-defining, hard-bop classic Saxophone Colossus, to multiple, surprisingly effective comeback reinventions in the…
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Now Spinning: The Best Of Rod Stewart
A Rod Stewart compilation in the dollar bin might not catch your eye, but that would be quite the mistake here – as this, and the following Vol. II, are low-key two of the better damn rock and roll compilations out there. If you’ve made your way to this site, you’re probably well aware that…
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Now Spinning: Five Man Electrical Band
Between the band’s completely insane Five Man Electrical Band name and the British Invasion-inspired styling on the LP cover, it sure is clear that this one comes straight out of the 1960s. As someone with a soft spot for the era and open ears, especially for those lesser known bands that may not have made…
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Dust Cover Restoration
I spent a good chunk of time this past weekend restoring a turntable that arrived to me in grimy cosmetic shape, including a particularly nasty dust cover that featured decades-old decaying packing tape and its sticky residue covered in dirt and dust. But after an hour or or two of intensive scrubbing, we had it…
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A Diamond In The Rough: The Goldring G800 Phono Cartridge
Out of all the twists and turns on the long and winding road to audio nirvana, as a vinyl enthusiast, my favorite little corner to explore is the world of phono cartridges – particularly that of overlooked vintage cartridges that may be forgotten and easy to find on the cheap. The Goldring G800 certainly qualifies,…
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Now Spinning: Shawn Phillips – Second Contribution
‘I don’t wanna hear old sad bastard music, Barry, I just want something I can ignore!‘ A charming description, courtesy of the Rob Gordon character from High Fidelity (scene included in the film version only), used to describe an apparently forgettable if pleasant Belle & Sebastian album. A scene so memorable, that Belle & Sebastian,…
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Phono Cartridge Review: The Venerable Nagaoka MP-110
The Nagaoka MP-110 is a current phono cartridge offering from longtime Japanese stylus manufacturers, Nagaoka, and has become tremendously popular in recent years for providing an appetizing, warm and pleasant sound quality at a reasonable price point. HISTORY So what do we know about Nagaoka? Not much, I’m afraid, but enough to know that they…
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Now Spinning: The Allman Brothers Band – Cream Of The Crop 2003
Often times my favorite Record Store Day releases are the ones that I’m able to pick up after the ‘holiday’ at a discount. That was the case with this year’s Allman Brothers Band release, which turned up at my local used record store just days after Record Store Day, and still looks to be available…