Mike Mettler

The S&V Interview
Woodstock at 50: Back to the Garden
Mike Mettler  |  Aug 15, 2019  |  4 comments
Fifty years ago today, the Woodstock Music & Art Fair commenced at Max Yasgur’s Farm in Bethel, New York, at exactly 5:07 p.m. — the very moment rhythmic folk ’n’ soul singer/songwriter Richie Havens took to the stage. It’s quite the understatement to say that the world culture has never been quite the same ever since the very second Havens strummed the chords of “From the Prison” on his Guild D40 acoustic guitar, and the first sounds of Woodstock rang out into eternity.
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Stream OnThrowback Thursday
Flashback 1999: MP3-for-All
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 25, 2019  |  1 comments
Twenty years ago, Napster introduced the world to unlimited file-sharing — and the music business has never been the same since.
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The S&V Interview
Wayne Coyne, King Mouth of The Flaming Lips
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 24, 2019  |  0 comments
We talk with Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips about their current concept release, King’s Mouth: Music and Songs, incorporating stereo-friendly elements into a mix, mastering the lost art of the song transition, and why having a great drummer is crucial to a band’s long-term success.
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Music Disc Reviews
Bob Dylan: The Rolling Thunder Revue – The 1975 Live Recordings
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 17, 2019  |  0 comments
Performance
Sound
Bob Dylan has long seen the value in releasing extensive historical collections befitting his anointed artistic legacy. The latest entry in the Dylan archival canon is a massive 14-CD box set via Columbia/Legacy, The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings, a 148-song, 10-hour collection that focuses on the first, late-1975 leg of the touring Revue. The box contains all five of Dylan’s full first-leg sets that were professionally recorded between November 19 and December 4, 1975 as spread over 10 discs…
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The S&V Interview
The Alarm’s Mike Peters: A Soul Survivor Among Equals
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 10, 2019  |  0 comments
Mike Peters of The Alarm called us to discuss the band's deeply affecting new album Sigma, how the vinyl revival reconnects you with your music-seeking instincts, how a good producer acts as a creative compass, and how The Alarm’s approach to songwriting and song structure set them apart from the pack.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 05, 2019  |  0 comments
Picture
Sound
Extras
Capturing zeitgeist moments as they happen are a filmmaker's dream. Lucky for us, drummer/rhythmatist extraordinaire Stewart Copeland picked up a Super 8 film camera when The Police were but budding bleached-blonde young punks, and he filmed, well, practically everything they did both onstage and off.
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The S&V Interview
Dream Theater’s John Petrucci: Master of Time Signatures & Sonic Space
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 26, 2019  |  0 comments
Dream Theater guitarist/producer John Petrucci got on the line with us to discuss why the music on their fine new album Distance Over Time is so well-suited for surround sound, how new ideas spring from having a band work together in the same room, and why physical packaging remains critical to their success.
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The S&V Interview
Michael McDonald: Takin’ it to the Seats on a Co-Headlining Summer Tour With Chaka Khan
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 12, 2019  |  1 comments
Keyboardist/vocalist Michael McDonald called us to discuss his upcoming summer tour with Chaka Khan, the true secret to his well-respected background-vocal prowess, the compositionally related reason why he was genuinely surprised at the chart-topping success of The Doobie Brothers classic “What a Fool Believes,” and what his real-time reaction was when he watched Rick Moranis pay, er, homage to him on a vintage episode of SCTV.
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Music Disc Reviews
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers: The Best of Everything - The Definitive Career Spanning Hits Collection: 1976-2016
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 07, 2019  |  0 comments
Performance
Sound
When Tom Petty unexpectedly passed away in October 2017 following a triumphant 40th anniversary tour with The Heartbreakers that had wrapped up barely a week earlier in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, the outpouring of grief on an international scale was beyond palpable. Petty's loss at age 66 was a gut-punch, to be sure, especially considering the successive sonic triple threat of 2010's Mojo, 2014's Hypnotic Eye, and 2016's Mudcrutch 2.
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The S&V Interview
Keyboard Maestro Howard Jones Transforms Once Again
Mike Mettler  |  May 29, 2019  |  0 comments
Keyboard maestro Howard Jones got on the line with us from his homebase in Somerset, England to discuss the genesis and evolution of his new studio album Transform, his love of vintage gear and surround sound, and why he’s all-in when it comes to mastering his music for vinyl.
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