Qobuz new release review, Sept. 2023 Over the course of their last few records, Teenage Fanclub has settled into a sound that has been nothing if not consistent. The midtempo gentility that has defined albums like Here could easily be ascribed to the onset of middle age and, in the…

Qobuz reissue review (Sept. 2023) An idea took hold in the mid-’70s that Pharoah Sanders had lost his way. After the spiritual fire of the late ’60s free jazz movement had burned to its embers and many of its most notable practitioners had either died or transformed their playing into…

Qobuz archival release review (Sept. 2023) Steve Miller’s segue from the late ’60s cosmic blues of Sailor and Children of the Future into his new role as a “space cowboy” was a gradual one that took place mostly out of the public eye and over a half dozen albums that…

Qobuz reissue review (Sept. 2023) Who’s Next is not an album lacking for reissues. In addition to a deluxe edition from 2003, there have also been multiple audiophile editions and remasters of the album since its 1971 release. So what could a “super deluxe edition” possibly contain? Quite a bit…

Qobuz reissue/archival release review (Sept. 2023) In the weird and wonderful era of the mid-to-late ’80s, as “college rock” was morphing into “alternative rock”–well before the Nevermind big bang and its after-effects–off-kilter rock bands on indie labels made their bones by making interesting records and then touring those records through…

Qobuz new release review (Sept. 2023) The gorgeous, chiming guitar figure of “Bewitched Reruns” opens Clear Pond Road on a deceptively placid note. Although the song itself — with its gentle string accompaniment and slow-burn vibe — is reminiscent of her earliest solo material on 1994’s Hips and Makers, its…

Qobuz archival release review (Sept. 2023) For all the slings and arrows retrospectively cast at the titans of ’70s rock, the notion that these bands were somehow callow opportunists who’d sacrifice their authenticity and musical spirit to climb a few more slots on the chart is one that never applied…

Qobuz archival release review (August 2023) In the promotional materials that accompany Live in Brooklyn 2011, Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo says “It was a pretty magical, if kinda weird day.” As far as understatements go, that one’s a pretty rich double whammy. When Sonic Youth took the stage at…

Qobuz reissue review (July 2023) Among the many prodigious and tragic talents in the Prestige Records stable of the mid-’50s, pianist Mal Waldron was one of the most prodigious and tragic. Waldron’s abilities on the piano made him an accompanist of choice (he was Billie Holiday’s from early 1957 until…