Music Reviews

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Mike Mettler  |  Oct 02, 2014
Performance
Sound
Which one’s Pink? It’s a debate that’s polarized fans ever since Pink Floyd principals David Gilmour and Roger Waters split up their creative partnership in the mid-’80s. Waters went on to build an unprecedented solo live Wall of epic visual and auditory proportions, while Gilmour retained the rights to the band name and constructed two diverse, divergent studio albums and subsequent tours with his other two Floydmates in tow, keyboardist Richard Wright and drummer Nick Mason. The latter of those two LPs, 1994’s admittedly divisive The Division Bell, now comes back to life with a 20th anniversary deluxe celebration in box set form, and thanks to a brilliantly stunning surround sound mix, material initially perceived as B-level reveals itself to have been A all the way.
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 21, 2020
Performace
Sound
Which one's Pink? It's a question the mighty members of Pink Floyd have answered more than once throughout their unmatched 50-plus-year career. No matter who's been at the helm—the wide-eyed lysergic-minded guitarist/vocalist Syd Barrett, the uncompromising iconoclast bassist/vocalist Roger Waters, or the melodic linchpin guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour — the mantra of delivering music that's always high fidelity, first class has been at the core of Pink Floyd's production values from the very beginning.
Ken Richardson  |  Jul 15, 2008
Porcupine Tree: Lightbulb Sun

Kscope/Snapper

Mike Mettler  |  Apr 17, 2020
Performance
Sound
Prince was determined. While he had made some inroads on both the sales charts and urban radio with his first four hot-button, mostly one-man-show albums of the late-'70s and early-'80s, an opening slot on The Rolling Stones' 1981 tour exposed the narrowmindedness of many concertgoers who outright booed and/or threw things at Prince and his band while they were onstage.
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 25, 2022
Performance
Sound
R.E.M. were the undisputed kings of American-bred alt-rock by the time the mid-1990s rolled around. Emerging from the college-town kudzu of Athens, Georgia, with the game-changing jangle of July 1981's "Radio Free Europe" single and August 1982's subsequent Chronic Town EP, the underground quartet perfected a more fully realized signature sound on their April 1983 full-length debut, Murmur.
Mark Fleischmann  |  Oct 04, 2005
Sergei Rachmaninov's second piano concerto demands both a virtuoso pianist and a huge, supple orchestral sound. It gets both in this multichannel recording from Deutsche Grammophon, which pairs Lang Lang with a venerable Russian orchestra.
 |  Jun 09, 2011

My current favorite all-format album is the Raveonettes' Raven in the Grave (Vice), which sounds smoky-fab whether I'm listening to it via CD, MP3, or LP. I asked Raveonettes co-founder Sune Rose Wagner, 38, how the band (Wagner and co-conspirator Sharin Foo) corrals the backbeat for its 21st-century-cool Wall of Sound. Read on for his answers (and for a listen to "Forget That You're Young," a track from the new album.)

Billy Altman  |  Jul 05, 2006
Stadium Arcadium Warner Bros.
Music •••• Sound ••••
Topping two hours, this double CD is almost too much of a good thing - espe
Rob O'Connor  |  Dec 03, 2007
Cease to Begin Sub Pop
Music •••• Sound •••••

By turning down the reverb, punching up the melodies, saying goodbye to co-fou

Andrew Nash  |  Apr 03, 2008
Sticks and Stones Fatboy
Music •••• Sound ••••½

After a couple of studio albums built from live rhythm tracks of

Ken Richardson  |  Dec 03, 2007
Obligatory Villagers Hungry Mouse/Vanguard
Music •••• Sound ••••½

She has made two double albums (Get Away fr

Parke Puterbaugh  |  Mar 03, 2008
Watch the Sky Vanguard
Music •••• Sound ••••

Watch the Sky is pleasurable to listen to and somewhat therapeutic, to

Ken Richardson  |  Apr 03, 2008
Raya Yarbrough Telarc
Music •••• Sound ••••½

In this Age of Norah, it's getting to the point where sultry jaz

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