LATEST ADDITIONS

Christopher Breunig | Dec 01, 2018

A child prodigy from Russia whose technical aplomb was miraculous, but whose persona many perceived as icy. Christopher Breunig names his favourite recordings

For the violinist Itzhak Perlman, and others of his generation, the subject of this month's Classical Companion was a deity – 'I can't believe it. I'm talking to God – to Heifetz' he said of first meeting him when he was 14. But as Jascha Heifetz died in 1987, perhaps he's just a name on a CD cover to today's aspiring young violinists.

Vinyl Release

Wilson Pickett: The Exciting...

Steve Sutherland | Dec 01, 2018

One-take, on-the-money thrills... Steve Sutherland listens to the recent 180g vinyl reissue of a 12-track LP that saw a 'steely figure' of a singer become a superstar

In three weeks short of two years' time, just along the hall from here, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, who is in town to support the Black Sanitary Public Works employees, who are striking over higher wages and greater equality with their white co-workers, will step out onto the balcony of Room 306 and be gunned down dead by an assassin later identified as James Earl Ray.

Vinyl Icons

Joe Cocker Mad Dogs & Englishmen

Johnny Black | Dec 01, 2018

When the singer agreed to make a live album he was obligated to tour, only to find the project dominated by American songwriter/producer Leon Russell as it was decided to film the events. Could a rock 'n' roll circus of excess be turned into commercial success?

Joe Cocker's legendary 1970 Mad Dogs & Englishmen double live album is not, let me make it absolutely clear, your regular run-of-the-mill, superbly recorded and immaculately produced Vinyl Icon. This is an artefact which has achieved Vinyl Icon status despite the ramshackle method by which it was recorded, and despite the chaos and drug-addled confusion of the 1970 tour for which it is named.

Meet the Producers

Jeff Lynne

Steve Sutherland | Dec 01, 2018

His clients have included the cream of rock royalty, so how come this British-born producer is one of the most divisive around? Steve Sutherland on the man who successfully collaborated with the band whose shadow, some say, he never escaped

It was a job you wouldn't wish on anyone, even your worst enemy. A deadly odds-on no-win nightmare. And Jeff Lynne had just been handed the gig.

'Every morning I would wake up with half dread, half exhilaration,' he remembered later. 'The idea of doing it was the most thrilling thing imaginable… but messing it up would be horrible.' The terrible task in hand? To reanimate The Beatles!

From the Vault

British pre-conceptions (August 1985)

Ken Kessler | Dec 01, 2018 | First Published: Aug 01, 1985

Ken Kessler investigates control units from Musical Fidelity and Deltec

By 1985 standards, preamps selling for between £500 and £1000 are thought of as 'upper mid-fi' and not really expected to match the standards of the Krell PAM-3/Audio Research SP-10 variety. But they should bring you close enough to the state-of-the-art that you have to think long and hard about justifying an expenditure of double their prices – or even more. Aah, diminishing returns...

Opinion

Opinion: Trouble in store?

Steve Harris | Dec 01, 2018

We have a hundred more record shops than we did in 2009, thanks to the efforts of those who run the stores and events like Record Store Day. But don’t celebrate just yet, warns Steve Harris

Opinion

Opinion: Let the past be the past

Barry Willis | Dec 01, 2018

An electric shock from an antique valve amp finally sends the rose-tinted glasses flying from the face of Barry Willis. Vintage gear? You can keep it, because the golden age of audio is happening now...

Investigation

Valves: ready to roll?

Steve Harris | Dec 01, 2018 | First Published: Feb 12, 2019

Thinking about tweaking your valve amp by swapping out the tubes? Steve Harris has the inside track on the payoffs and pitfalls of tube rolling…

Pre/Power Amplifiers Vintage

Myst TMA3 amplifier

Review: David Price, | Nov 01, 2018

Back in the '80s, several British 'cottage industry' companies made integrated amps for purist customers, but this is surely the most 'mysterious'. How will it sound today?

In hi-fi as in life, the 1980s was a transformative time. From speaker stands and audiophile speaker cable, to mini monitors and expensive, minimalist integrated amps – the 'go for it' decade of Filofaxes, red braces and VW Golf GTis showed us what was to come.

Investigation

Keeping it Simple

Barry Fox | Nov 01, 2018

Barry Fox takes the stress out of connecting your hi-fi to the Internet

My shiny new hi-fi has all the usual knobs, buttons and meters on the front, and all the usual analogue and digital input and output sockets on the rear. But there's also what looks like an overgrown telephone socket on the back, labelled 'Ethernet'.

I'm assuming that this is for service engineers or connecting the component to a PC, which I don't want to do. I just want to continue listening to my music from high quality sources, through my trusty big box speakers, without getting into the hassle of computing.

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LATEST ADDITIONS

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