SoundStage! Access | SoundStageAccess.com (GoodSound.com)

Reviews of Attainable Hi-Fi & Home-Theater Equipment

Most Popular Featured Releases

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Featured Releases; Created: 15 January 2015

Monuments to an Elegy Martha’s Music 81012450-2
Format: CD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment

Smashing Pumpkins’ first album, Gish (1991), made it easy to have high expectations for the band, and for the most part they met those expectations with their next two discs, Siamese Dream (1993) and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995). Bandleader Billy Corgan is a skilled guitarist whose memorable songs are good vehicles for his occasional forays into jamming. But after personnel changes, and two subsequent albums that received mixed notices, the group broke up in 2000.

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Featured Releases; Created: 01 January 2015

Live in Tokyo Eagle Vision EV306989
Format: DVD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Picture Quality
Overall Enjoyment

Jeff Beck probably has not sold as many records as Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton, the other two players in the Yardbirds’ guitar triumvirate, but he places nearly as high on lists of great guitarists and is arguably the most technically proficient of the three. His command of the instrument rivals Jimi Hendrix’s, and when he played jazz/rock fusion in the ’70s his rock sensibility kept his music accessible. Blow by Blow (1975) and Wired (1976), both produced by George Martin, hold up better than many fusion records because, even at his most experimental, Beck did not descend into mindless riffing.

Read more: Jeff Beck: "Live in Tokyo"

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Featured Releases; Created: 15 December 2014

Eclectic Heads Up International HUI-35768-02
Format: CD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment

Bill Milkowski’s liner notes for Eric Johnson and Mike Stern’s Eclectic call them “two guitar heroes from disparate worlds -- Mike Stern from jazz and Eric Johnson from rock.” The distinction is almost meaningless -- Johnson has always displayed the harmonic sophistication of a jazz player, and Stern has long shown a strong rock influence. But the word eclectic applies to both players, and this album is a thrilling collaboration. What could have been a mere guitar shoot-out -- and there’s plenty of flashy playing here -- ends up being a well-thought-out display of virtuosity that emphasizes memorable songwriting.

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Featured Releases; Created: 01 December 2014

Planes, Trains and Eric Eagle Vision EV306849
Format: DVD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Picture Quality
Overall Enjoyment

It is hard to think of a guitarist whose appeal is as broad as Eric Clapton’s, or one who has done well in so many styles. He has played blues with John Mayall, Southern soul with Delaney and Bonnie, and hard, blues-based rock with Cream. He is a generous enough player to share recording space with Duane Allman, on Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, under the moniker Derek and the Dominos. He has recorded a series of immensely popular albums that are sometimes too reserved for those of us who admire his most fiery playing, but he has written a lot of hits and sold more records than any guitarist I can think of.

As Planes, Trains and Eric demonstrates, Clapton’s popularity is international. The DVD chronicles his 2014 tour of Asia and the Middle East, and includes interviews with him and members of his band. Clapton’s February performance in Tokyo was his 200th in Japan in the 40 years he has toured there, and the suggestion that, nearing 70, he will probably be on the road less often gives his visit there poignancy.

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Featured Releases; Created: 15 November 2014

Popular Problems Columbia 88875014292
Format: CD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment

Popular Problems is Leonard Cohen’s 13th studio album, and in many ways is reminiscent of its predecessor, Old Ideas (2012).The accompaniment is somewhat relaxed, the lyrics are those of a man nearing the end of his journey, and they’re delivered in the same dry combination of singing and recitation. The backing singers, women with young and vibrant voices, again add notes of humor and sexiness to the arrangements. Yet Popular Problems doesn’t feel like a repeat of Old Ideas. A more pronounced blues strain runs through it, and Cohen never coasts or falls back on, well, old ideas.

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Featured Releases; Created: 01 November 2014

We Go Home Rezolute Music REZ008
Format: CD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment

Because of their parents’ connections, the children of famous musicians have advantages over the rest of us, including a better shot at becoming artists themselves. Sometimes, though, expectations are so high it is hard for them to establish a career that is not in the shadow of their parents. Jakob Dylan has been treated well by critics, but there is still a suspicion that while he may be a good songwriter, he is just not his dad.

Read more: Chick Corea Trio: "Trilogy"

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Featured Releases; Created: 01 October 2014

Hypnotic Eye Reprise Records 543243-2
Format: CD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment

It is easy to take Tom Petty for granted. His 13 studio albums with the Heartbreakers, along with his three solo releases, are remarkable for their consistency; he sometimes makes it seem too easy. Like John Mellencamp, he has the ability to write a hit song with seemingly little effort, and at first listen, his recordings can have a workmanlike quality to them. But, coming back to them reveals depth and attention to detail, as well as real emotional commitment.

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Featured Releases; Created: 15 September 2014

A Meeting of Minds Cellar Live CL070113
Format: CD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment

I’ve been following jazz guitarist Sheryl Bailey since I reviewed her second album, Reunion of Souls, in 2001. I’ve since reviewed three other discs by her, and wrote a feature in 2005. Bailey’s newest, A Meeting of Minds, has been out a few months, and I’m ashamed to admit that its release snuck by me -- I try to keep an eye on what’s going on with her.

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Featured Releases; Created: 01 September 2014

Live at Montreux 2013 Eagle Vision EV306789
Format: DVD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Picture Quality
Overall Enjoyment

ZZ Top’s approach to blues rock has varied little in more than 45 years, even with the addition of hi-tech electronics in the 1980s (well, what was then hi-tech): Take a simple boogie blues riff, add a straightforward beat, and hammer away. Their best records, including Tres Hombres (1973) and Degüello (1979), had good songwriting and a sense of humor. The band never pretended to be blues purists, and guitarist Billy Gibbons played with enough flash to keep things interesting.

Live at Montreux 2013, available on DVD and BD, documents the band’s 90-minute show at the venerable jazz festival. The set list deftly mixes the big hits with tracks only hardcore fans will know. The sound is big, too. Frank Beard’s snare drum is explosive, and Gibbons’s overdriven guitar sounds as if it’s pouring out of a hundred Marshall amps -- as it very well may have been.