April 2026
Parlophone 5021732635679
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
The English band Talk Talk started as a synth-driven pop group in 1982 with The Party’s Over, but grew restless and moved into more layered, complex, and emotionally stirring music with its second LP, It’s My Life (1984). Two years later, The Colour of Spring was an even bolder step forward, with fewer synths and even greater lyrical and musical ambitions.
April 2026
Craft Recordings / Fantasy Records CR00962
Format: LP
Musical Performance
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Overall Enjoyment
Jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi died at 47, having released a surprisingly small number of recordings during his lifetime. He recorded 15 albums as leader or co-leader, three of them live. Many have slipped in and out of print over the years, but two, Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus (1962) and A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), have been available consistently since they were released.
March 2026
SoundStage! Recordings—SRMH001
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
Martin Verrall is a musician and painter based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. According to Discogs, Verrall has released two albums on physical media, Concrete Rivers (2003, on CD) and January Downs (2023, on vinyl). His Bandcamp page lists those albums for download, as well as three others, Escape Show (2009), Spears of Fate (2010), and Yesterday’s Tomorrow (2019).
February 2026
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab / Columbia Records—MFSL 2-567
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
I hadn’t bought a Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab LP since the 2022 dustup over the sources the label was using for its costly reissues. MoFi’s handling of the issue was imperfect, but in the end, it reached a settlement with disgruntled customers. At this point, the big takeaway from all the noise the scandal created is that it’s silly to assume an original analog tape is the best and only source for cutting an LP.
December 2025
Riverside Records / Craft Recordings—CR00727
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
The great jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery enjoyed commercial success in the last few years of his life after he signed with Verve Records in 1964, and gained even more popularity when he moved to A&M Records in 1967, a year before he died. Creed Taylor was his producer in those years and often matched him with various orchestral ensembles, from big bands to strings.
November 2025
Savoy Records / Craft Recordings—CR00867
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
Saxophonist Hank Mobley recorded so extensively as a bandleader for Blue Note Records that it’s easy to think he defined the label, or that it defined him. Considering that he also appeared as a sideman on many other Blue Note recordings, those are fair assumptions. However, he did record for other labels, especially at the beginning of his career. Two albums appeared on Prestige Records in 1957, and two on Savoy Records: one in 1956, and one in 1957.
September 2025
Blue Note Records BST 84223, 602455845917
Format: LP
Musical Performance
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Overall Enjoyment
A remarkable number of titles in the catalog of Blue Note Records were released well after their recording dates. In some cases, the delay was only a few years, but in others, the tapes sat in the vault for much longer. Saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded Jacknife in September 1965, but the album first appeared on vinyl in 1975. That release included a second LP of tunes recorded at another previously unreleased session from April 1966.
August 2025
Jem Records—PSL-1044
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
I’ve reviewed a few Grip Weeds albums over the years, beginning with the 2007 release House of Vibes Revisited, a remixed and expanded version of the band’s 1994 debut album. It was the first time I’d heard them, and I’ve been a fan ever since. The Grip Weeds make melodic rock’n’roll in the tradition of the great bands of the 1960s, but they cast a wide net stylistically. They’re such strong songwriters and musicians that their albums carry on in the tradition of the bands that inspired them while standing firmly on their own.
June 2025
Columbia Records—19802876231
Format: LP
Musical Performance
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Overall Enjoyment
When Pink Floyd performed at the ancient amphitheater in Pompeii in October 1971, they were getting ready to release their sixth album, Meddle, which would appear in shops a month later. The performance took place in front of a film crew, with no one else in attendance. Filmmaker Adrian Maben had several ideas for a movie that would feature Pink Floyd’s music, but a visit to Pompeii gave him the idea of filming the band there.
April 2025
Milestone Records / Craft Recordings—CR00845
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
Jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson made his name with Blue Note Records, where he recorded five LPs as a leader between 1963 and 1966 and appeared as a sideman on many other sessions. He moved to Milestone Records in 1967 and in the ten years that followed recorded 12 albums for them. His Milestone years offered a mixed bag of approaches to jazz, and there were some gems among them. One was Power to the People (1969), which Craft Recordings reissued last year on vinyl and hi-rez digital as part of its Jazz Dispensary series.
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