Audiophile Vinyl

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Audiophile Vinyl
Top Topham
Ken Kessler  |  Dec 10, 2010
This LP’s rarity value alone commands attention: Topham was the Yardbirds’ founder guitarist, who had to leave the band because he was only 15. By 1969, at the age of 22, he delivered this solo LP, a long-forgotten take on the blues, far removed from the Yardbirds. Despite its Blue Horizon pedigree, it’s not of the Brit Blues school per se and is a stylistic mish-mash, more akin to Andrew Loog Oldham’s covers of the Stones’ canon, but its worth to Yardbirds hard-core is unparalleled. If you could find a mint original, you’d have to part with £100+.
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Audiophile Vinyl
Various Artists
Ken Kessler  |  Dec 10, 2010
Christmas in July! Here, in glorious mono – but of course – is what many regard as the greatest rock ’n’ roll Christmas LP of all time: Phil Spector’s deliriously joyful showcase for his Philles Records stable of pop maestri, from 1963. You get the Ronettes, the Crystals, Darlene Love and Bob B Soxx and the Blue Jeans, backed by one of the finest assemblies of session players ever to enter a studio: the amazing Wrecking Crew, with Leon Russell, Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono in its ranks. The package offers 13 Christmas pop standards, and it’s unlikely you’ll ever hear a more uplifting take of ‘White Christmas’. The Wall of Sound rules, beyond prison walls.
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Audiophile Vinyl
Vinyl Deluxe
Ken Kessler  |  Oct 23, 2024
Indulge yourself with linen-wrapped slipcases, in-depth liner notes and heavy art-card covers as Ken Kessler brings you 20 of the best deluxe reissue LPs coming your way...

With the vinyl revival now so firmly established that new pressing plants are being built, the competition has heated up regarding mastering, pressing techniques, vinyl thickness, playback speed and, as seen here, presentation. Deluxe packaging and pressings cost more, so it is applied mainly to milestone albums.

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Audiophile Vinyl
What it says on the box!
Review: Ken Kessler  |  Mar 04, 2025  |  First Published: Feb 01, 2025
Are you a completist? Always hungry for rarities? Fellow sufferer Ken Kessler has you covered with a host of box sets offering everything from ’60s US rock to British folk

Despite streaming’s challenge to physical media, especially for the post-Boomer audience, CD box sets continue to proliferate. The most obvious benefit is diminutive size: all but two of the sets here will fit into your standard CD storage. This, of course, appeals to those who are tempted by space savings, which is why streaming and downloads have made such advances.

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