There is no shortage of interesting commentary on why vinyl record sales have made such a startling comeback. It’s quite a topic. It’s hard to think of another technology that already was firmly in the discount rack of history, so to speak, and reinvented itself. Records were done. Toast. Now they are flying high. Before describing the reasons for the resurrection of …
Clearly, when great guitarists talk about other great guitarists (and those that influenced them), Stevie Ray Vaughan’s name comes up quickly. A little research — including a video chat with a guy who has written three books about him — shows that Vaughan was respected. He also was liked as a person. Please check out the interview above with Craig Hopkins, …
The primary goal of HiFi & Vinyl Now is to provide information and advice to non-experts shopping for audio gear. The hobbyists and audiophiles – those who get great joy out of building their stereo setups – know far more than I do. Indeed, the fact that I am a neophyte myself is an advantage in researching and writing for non-experts because …
Shopping for a amplifier that will deliver the best sound quality is tricky because there are so many available. To the untrained (or lightly trained) eye they are complex and perhaps even mysterious pieces of equipment. Without a degree from MIT, it’s difficult to determine which is the best value for a set amount of money. In fact, it can even be …
YouTube is massive and indispensable. It is our collective memory. That goes for everything, including music. As dominant as it is, there is a rich online music world beyond YouTube. Some of these millions of music sites are well known, others are obscure. Some are sleek commercial undertakings, others are clunky products of an individual’s love of a particular performer or genre. …
Courtney Barnett’s lyrics are smart, self-effacing and ironic. Though Barnett has been on the scene since well before the pandemic, she seems the perfect musician for an age in which people can’t hug, must and wear a mask (or two) and generally are nervous and skidish. From Will Hermes’ review in Rolling Stone Barnett’s album, “Tell Me How You Really Feel,” …
Finding the best stereo speakers arguably is the most important things an individual interested in high fidelity in general and vinyl in particular can do. Of course, the same claim can be made for the amp, the turntable and the cartridge as well. So I guess it’s best to say that choosing speakers is an important step. Stereo speakers are a good …
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Art Blakey is one of the great jazz drummers as well as a founder of The Jazz Messengers, which had a 35 year run (from 1955 to 1990). Blakey worked with hard bop pianist Horace Silver, and they are credited as co-founders of the collective. The list of members is very long and illustrious. Above is a brief video about the great …
Les Paul is a giant both for his guitar playing and his contribution to music technology. Paul–Lester William Polsfuss–was born in Wisconsin in 1915. His Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bio points to his invention of overdubbing, multi-tracking and other techniques. His “crowning achievement,” the bio says, is the guitar that bears his name: As he told writer Jim O’Donnell, …
Finding the best phono preamp for your music setup is not necessarily difficult. It also doesn’t have to be too expensive. It’s ironic that one of the trickiest elements of dealing with phono preamps is simply deciding if you need one. The functionality can be located in several places and could simply be an element of something you already own. Click here …
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Album cover display products, while very inexpensive, are vital to a task many vinyl aficionados feel strongly about: Displaying covers with which they have an emotional attachment. Think about it for a moment: Today, a person’s entire music universe can fit in his or her pocket. The ability to squeeze transistors so closely together that functionality fits into devices that can fit …
Be a Show Off: Display Tech that Makes Your Great Albums Look Great Read More »
B.B. King, who died in 2015, is one of the most important musicians the U.S. has produced. King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Here is part of the very well written very well written bio at the Hall’s site: As a guitarist, King is best-known for his single-note solos, played on a hollowbody Gibson guitar. …
