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- Category: Blu-ray movies Blu-ray movies
“A Face in the Crowd”
May 2019
A Definitive Blu-ray Edition of Elia Kazan’s Cautionary Tale
The Criterion Collection 970
Format: Blu-ray
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In the summer of 1953, Andy Griffith was in Manteo, North Carolina, playing Sir Walter Raleigh in The Lost Colony, the longest-running outdoor production in the history of American theater. That same year, as Deacon Andy Griffith, he recorded the comedy monologue “What It Was, Was Football” for Colonial Records. It was only Colonial’s third recording, and when Capitol Records took it over and put their own label on it, the record became one of the most popular comedy singles of all time, with sales of almost 800,000. I was 12 years old, and Colonial was on a street in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, that made a T intersection with the tiny street on which I lived with my parents. My dad knew someone who had a connection, and took me down to meet Griffith. He was warm and friendly, pretty much like the character he later played on TV in The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968).I liked him a lot.
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- Category: Music Everywhere Music Everywhere
Audioengine 512 Portable Bluetooth Speaker
May 2019
Audioengine, based in Austin, Texas, specializes in computer, bookshelf, and wireless speakers that have been praised for their natural sound. The 512 is their first portable Bluetooth speaker. As Brady Bargenquast, a founder of Audioengine, put it to me: “The goal was to use familiar industrial design cues for the size and shape, but to best the competition with the sound. So we voiced the 512 as we’ve tuned other Audioengine products, with the main challenges being battery play time, the full-range micro driver designs, and cabinet acoustics (and cost of course).”
Ah, but does the 512 meet those goals?
Michael Gregory Jackson Clarity Quartet: "WHENUFINDITUWILLKNOW"
May 2019
Golden Records MGJCQ 004
Format: CD
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Just as the 1940s and ’50s are considered the most creative era in jazz, the late ’60s and ’70s are seen as the art form’s nadir. Record sales plunged, as buyers turned their attention to rock and singer-songwriters, and bars supplanted live acts with recorded music.
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- Category: Blu-ray movies Blu-ray movies
"To Sleep with Anger"
April 2019
Criterion Scores with a Brilliant Blu-ray of a Neglected Masterpiece
The Criterion Collection 963
Format: Blu-ray
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Although African-American writer and film director Charles Burnett has long been active as a filmmaker and is highly regarded by his peers, his work is not well known to the general public, especially white audiences. He’s mostly been involved in making documentaries and dramatic films for television that have seemed to fly under the radar. Now, having seen To Sleep with Anger (1990), I’m inclined to think he’s one of our greatest directors.
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- Category: SoundStage! Encore SoundStage! Encore
Recording Drums with Howard Bilerman, Part 2: Loel Campbell on Setting Up Drums
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- Category: Music Everywhere Music Everywhere
JBL Charge 4 Bluetooth Speaker
April 2019
JBL continues to upgrade and refine its Bluetooth speakers. The Charge 4 is very similar in outward appearance to its predecessor, the Charge 3, but with significant internal differences. At $149.95 USD, it’s a good bargain in a midsize Bluetooth speaker, while allowing the Charge 3 to be sold for two-thirds its cost at Amazon.com and other retailers.
Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea Reissued in Blue Note's Tone Poet Series
This year is the 80th anniversary of Blue Note Records, the venerable jazz label established by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis in 1939. While other record companies played important roles in documenting jazz, Blue Note’s presence in the marketplace overshadows them. It’s doubtful that any other jazz label is better known, or has more recordings currently available in various formats -- the number of Blue Note titles in circulation on CD, as downloads, or on recent vinyl pressings is staggering. Blue Note is also a favorite of audiophile reissue labels, several of which have licensed albums from its catalog to release as new LPs.
Van Morrison: "The Healing Game (Deluxe Edition)"
April 2019
Exile/Legacy Recordings 88985428402
Format: CD
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Curmudgeonly and unpredictable, at 73 Van Morrison has developed a late-career reputation that sadly overshadows his early triumphs. Like Bob Dylan, if you only judged him based on the man who shambles onstage and grumbles through an assortment of songs that are not necessarily among his best, you might well wonder why he’s considered one of the greatest singers and songwriters of the last 60 years.
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- Category: Music Everywhere Music Everywhere
Grace Digital Mondo+ Classic Wi-Fi Radio
March 2019
Grace Digital has built a well-earned reputation for giving great value for the dollar, and their latest product is no exception. The modestly priced Mondo+ Classic Wi-Fi radio ($249.99 USD) is built for the future, but can be enjoyed aplenty in the here and now.
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- Category: Blu-ray movies Blu-ray movies
"The Magnificent Ambersons"
March 2019
Orson Welles's Truncated Masterpiece Looks Great on Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 952
Format: Blu-ray
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RKO Radio Pictures cooked up this truncated version of Orson Welles’s The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) while the director was away in South America, filming his next (unfinished) film, It’s All True. At first Welles tried to communicate with RKO via long-distance calls, using fellow director Robert Wise as go-between, but to no avail: RKO made drastic cuts, rearranged the order of scenes, shot new scenes -- some directed by Wise -- and tacked on a sappy, happy ending.
