Music Reviews

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Music Reviews
New Gear: Onkyo CS-445 and CS-V645 Stereo Systems
 |  Nov 08, 2010

The holidays are approaching, which means big box electronics stores are starting to dangle mostly-awful iPod dock speaker systems in front of would-be consumers like bait. Thankfully, Onkyo isn't taking that approach, instead they have announced two new stereo systems designed for small spaces or even your shelves.

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Music Reviews
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
Rob O'Connor  |  Jul 22, 2008
Anti-
Music ••• Sound ••••

At this point in Nick Cave's nearly 30-year career, there isn't any unclaimed territory for him to visit.

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Music Reviews
Nirvana: In Utero Super Deluxe Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Dec 05, 2013
Performance
Sound
When I saw Nirvana play Roseland Ballroom in New York City in July 1993, it was three months before the release of In Utero, the band’s explosive follow-up to the game-changing Nevermind. The balls-out, frenzied new songs I heard that night foreshadowed In Utero’s raw power. And this 20th anniversary Super Deluxe Edition not only reconfirms the depth of Kurt Cobain’s tragic genius, it also reminds our collective ear that alternative-rock icons could sound great too, despite the somewhat misleading lo-fi tag hung on the grunge movement.
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Music Reviews
NLE Choppa: “Crescent Moon” and “Can We Live?” in Dolby Atmos
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 15, 2025

Memphis rapper NLE Choppa is in the midst of celebrating Black History Month by releasing a new single each week here in February 2025. His first two BHM offerings— the hopeful confessional of “Crescent Moon,” and the anti-gun-violence hip-hop hymnal “Can We Live?”—both aspire to achieve loftier heights and goals in Dolby Atmos (albeit in slightly different ways). Read Mike Mettler’s review to find out if the Atmos mixes of these two uplifting tracks maximize their best 360-degree intentions. . .

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Music Reviews
Norah Jones Gone Wild!
Ken Richardson  |  Jun 09, 2006

Don't know why anyone should be surprised that Norah Jones is loosening her shirt more and more these days. After all, growing up, the ingénue liked Mötley Crüe! "My neighbor and I would go listen to Mötley Crüe all the time," she says of the boys at right. And in her concerts, she's been known to do a gritty cover of "Ride On" by the boys Down Under, AC/DC.

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Music Reviews
Northwest Passages
Ken Richardson  |  Feb 11, 2003

Click here for the article in PDF form.

Music ReviewsTest Tool Reviews
Our Favorite Test Material
Chris Lewis, Geoffrey Morrison  |  Oct 28, 2005  |  First Published: Aug 28, 2005
HT's audio and video editors share the test and demo discs they use to put a system through its paces.

Audio Test Discs

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Music Reviews
Panic at the Disco: Pretty. Odd.
Billy Altman  |  Jul 22, 2008
Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen
Music ••• Sound •••½

If nothing else, you certainly have to commend Panic at the Disco for deliberately choosing n

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Music Reviews
Paul McCartney: Flaming Pie - Archive Collection Deluxe Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Nov 20, 2020
Performance
Sound
I've always looked at Paul McCartney's post-Beatles career—now getting into its sixth decade—as being on a sine wave. When's he's at the top of his game, he's at the apex (Band on the Run, Flowers in the Dirt), and when he's off the mark, he's at the nadir (Give My Regards to Broad Street, Press to Play).
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Music Reviews
Paul McCartney: Flowers in the Dirt Super Deluxe Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 07, 2017
Performance
Sound
Paul McCartney was on quite the rollercoaster ride as an artist in the 1980s. He started the decade strong with the mostly one-man effort McCartney II and its on-the-mark hits like the pure pop perfection of “Coming Up” and the still influential electronica of “Temporary Secretary.” (I can also confirm firsthand that the latter track has been an early-set highlight of Sir Paul’s recent 2015-16 Out There! and One on One tour outings.)
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Music Reviews
Peter Gabriel: Back to Front – Live in London, Deluxe Limited Edition Blu-ray
Mike Mettler  |  Dec 17, 2014
Performance
Sound
Peter Gabriel has made a career out of being a restless chameleon, a man perpetually interested in pushing sonic boundaries rather than remaining in stasis. The roles he’s chosen to inhabit over the last five decades are as varied and forward-thinking as they come: art school rocker. Progressive pundit. Alternative icon. Video vanguard. Electronic interpreter. World music leader. If there are new musical frontiers to discover and master, Gabriel is consistently among the first to dig into the aural dirt.
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Music Reviews
PG or Not PG?
Ken Richardson  |  Dec 14, 2005

It's been nearly two years since the Janet Jackson Offense at the Super Bowl, so the music industry must be chaste by now. Not exactly! Check out THE LOVEMAKERS, who make rock/electronic dance music with "sexually charged fury," says the bio for their CD, Times of Romance.

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Music Reviews
Phil Collins: Take a Look at Me Now – Retrospective Reissue Series
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 15, 2016
Performance
Sound
Phil Collins required rehabilitation, and stat. Not only did the noted drummer/vocalist have to deal with a bout of sudden deafness, a lingering hand injury, and recover from back surgery, he also needed to tend to the state of his image. No one could fault the man’s acuity behind the drum kit—a reputation initially forged by his creative deployment of odd time signatures with progressive rock giants Genesis and the fusion improv collective Brand X—but his level of ubiquity on the charts as a solo artist in the ’80s and beyond ultimately served to tip his musical-reputation scales in a not-so-favorable direction.
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Audio Video NewsMusic Reviews
Picking Up Good Vibrations
Michael Berk  |  Aug 31, 2011

One of the most famous (and probably most bootlegged) unfinished albums in rock history is about to see the light of day in an offical release, authorized by the band, including Brian Wilson (who had in 2004 released - with Van Dyke Parks - his

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Music Reviews
Pink Floyd: P.U.L.S.E Restored & Re-Edited - Deluxe Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 10, 2022
Performances
Sound
I continue to feel blessed I was able to see Pink Floyd's Division Bell Tour, their last jaunt around the world, at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 17, 1994. Even though I was in the nosebleeds, way up near the top of the back of the stadium, I quite enjoyed the band's overall visual spectacle and the live quad sound system to their intended effects.
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