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Investigation
Strange inspirations
Johnny Black  |  Apr 05, 2021
Johnny Black uncovers the unlikely beginnings of celebrated songs

Many moons ago, raking around in a secondhand book emporium, I came across a dog-eared but irresistible tome called Inspirations. Written by Michael Randolfi, Mike Read and David Stark, it offered up the inspirations behind popular songs, including the taxi cab accident which inspired Leo Sayer to write his 1974 hit 'One Man Band' and the phone call behind The Cure's 1997 single 'Wrong Number'. As someone who loves to know what songs are about, I plunged in with delight but, fascinating though it undeniably was, very few of the inspirations really surprised me.

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Pre/Power Amplifiers
VAC Master Preamplifier/Signature 200iQ Pre & Power Amplifier
Review: Ken Kessler,  |  Apr 02, 2021
hfnoutstandingSteeped in valve lore, this iconic tube brand extends the 'voicing' of its products right down to the choice of passive components and hand-wiring. We test a stack of VAC!

With the Valve Amplification Company, aka VAC, now 30 years old, it qualifies as a stalwart of the 'third wave'. The first was, of course, the original golden age generation of Marantz, Quad, McIntosh and others of the 1940s and 1950s, while the second wave hit in the early 1970s with Audio Research, EAR and other tube revivalists. VAC arrived at the point when tubes were demonstrably here to stay, Kevin Hayes founding the company with his father in 1990. He was, and remains, resolutely focused on the high-end, as this pairing's £69,000 cost attests.

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Disc PlayersVintage
Sony CDP-C5M CD player
Review: Tim Jarman,  |  Apr 01, 2021
hfnvintageWe hear a midi-sized multi-CD player from 1987 boasting a digital filter on board, but does multi-play convenience mean there's a penalty to pay in terms of sound?

The word 'autochanger' strikes fear into the hearts of LP listeners, bringing thoughts of clanking levers, heavyweight arms and stacks of records slamming on top of each other. The situation is more favourable when it comes to CD. Most players handle discs mechanically anyway, and so only a relatively straightforward extension to the mechanism is needed to allow more than one disc to be loaded at a time.

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Hi-Res Downloads
Hi-Res Downloads, March 2021
Hi-Fi News Staff  |  Mar 30, 2021
This month we review and test releases from: Joachim Eijlander, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Monty Alexander, Sophia Loren, Russian National Orchestra/Kent Nagano and David Gerrard, Ewan Robertson, The Choir Of Paisley Abbey/George Mcphee.
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Audiophile Vinyl
Audiophile: Vinyl, March 2021
Ken Kessler  |  Mar 29, 2021
This month we review: Eric Clapton & Friends, Bob Dylan, Whitesnake and Jackie Wilson.
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Audiophile Digital
Audiophile: Digital, March 2021
Ken Kessler  |  Mar 29, 2021
This month, we review: The Replacements, Jimi Hendrix, A Chorus Line, and Headphone Heaven Volume 1.
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Rock
Rock, March 2021
Mike Barnes  |  Mar 29, 2021
This month we review: Tindersticks, The Besnard Lakes, The Notwist and James Yorkston and the Second Hand Orchestra.
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Jazz
Jazz, March 2021
Steve Harris  |  Mar 29, 2021
This month we review: Keith Jarrett, Emmet Cohen, Charles Mingus and Chris Potter.
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Classical
Classical, March 2021
Christopher Breunig  |  Mar 29, 2021
This month we review: Kremerata Baltica/Gidon Kremer, Mario Brunello, Bavarian RSO/Mariss Jansons, COE/Nikolaus Harnoncourt and .BBC SO/Martyn Brabbins
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Vinyl Release
The Specials: More Specials
Steve Sutherland  |  Mar 26, 2021
As the Coventry group prepare their second LP things are already starting to fall apart... Steve Sutherland listens to the half-speed-remastered 40th anniversary reissue

Here they are, Britain's most successful and influential breakthrough band, revered by the critics, adored by the fans, unashamedly copied by start-up bands… But Jerry Dammers, the geezer in charge, wants to mess with the magic and do something quite worryingly different.

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