LP Reviews – Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs, Benny Goodman Orchestra, Mumford & Sons, The Band Stage Fright, Neil Young

If you like either of these two legends, if you like Dawg music, if you like mandolins, heck if you like music, run as fast as you can to your computer and order this LP. I have never and I mean never heard a more beautiful recording of a mandolin, and the guitar is right up there too. The interpretations of these songs is just fantastic. I was never a “Dead Head” but this LP is going to at least make me go back and listen to some of the Grateful Dead LPs.

The tones and flow of the music between these two instruments are simply amazing. The bass and the fiddle are also done well, but the star of this show is Grisman’s mandolin. Side 2 and 4 are my favorites on this recording. Every song on side 2 is just incredible and Arabia, the only song on side 4, is amazing.

I have not liked a lot of the MoFi recordings, but in this case the sound of the LP matches the sound of the music. Both are simply wonderful. To say highly recommended is an understatement. This is the best LP I have heard this year.

I love to hear a great jazzman playing a clarinet; I own nearly all of Pete Fountain’s records and almost every other jazz clarinet LP I can find. The problem is that most of my Benny Goodman LPs sound warn and noisy. The other thing I should mention upfront is I love to hear Anita O’Day sing and I have had equal problems finding her on NM LPs.

So, I was very excited to see this Jazz Haus release. My fellow vinyl loving, Dagogo Reviewer Philip Holmes has already brought to your attention the story of the new Jazz Haus label and their seemingly endless number of never before released great jazz performances.

This isn’t an audiophile recording, but it’s a more than acceptable recording of live radio recordings of the late 50s. The vinyl is quite, the sound has plenty of air, and best of all the music is just simply incredible. You get Benny Goodman on clarinet, Red Norvo on vibraphone, Jack Sheldon on trumpet, and several tracks of Anita O’Day singing her heart out. I’m in heaven as I sit here listening to this great music. As far as I’m concerned stuff like this is one of the real reasons I own a stereo.

Of course I had heard of Mumford & Sons, but somehow I had never listened to them. I got my daughter-in-law a turntable for Christmas and when she gets an LP she gives it to me to clean and of course I give them a listen if I don’t know the music. This was the case with this LP and I was shocked by how much I liked it.

It’s a great combination of English-folk and alternative rock music, much of it played on bluegrass instruments. The recording is good, the sound isn’t very compressed for a modern recording, and the vinyl was quiet. I found it a ton of fun to listen to. You should give it a try if you don’t already listen to them. If you do then you should surely have the LP.

My high school years were spent at San Marcos Academy in San Marcos, TX. Music was one of the most important things in my life. When I was 15 The Band released their self-titled album and then, when I was 16, they released this great LP, Stage Fright. I already had a copy but it was pretty beat up so I jumped at the chance to buy the MoFi reissu.

It wasn’t a disappointment; now I don’t have a NM copy of the original to compare it to, but compared to my worn copy it’s a no brainer. The tone is good, the surface is quiet and the music is great. The title cut and “Daniel and The Sacred Hearts sounds especially good.” If you like The Band and don’t own a NM original, you won’t be disappointed with this LP.

Just recently I reviewed the Neil Young & Crazy Horse LP “Americana” and told you how it had become one of if not my favorite Neil Young album. This is not the case with his newest release “A Letter Home.” This his latest release is a collaboration with Jack White. Neil Young has made the decided to release the lowest-fi album I have ever heard. This recording was made in a restored 1947 Voice-O-Graph booth. These were made as a fairground attraction that allowed users to take home a vinyl record of their voice.

The result is unacceptable as far as I’m concerned. Maybe it would have been fun to have one song, maybe even one on each side recorded this way and then the done to be really well recorded, unplugged music. A whole LP of muffled, with distortion, hiss; and snap, crackle and pop; it is just too much bad sound. I have heard that some think it adds a magical patina to the sound, but to me it just sounds bad. I went to the trouble of cleaning it before I played it, what a waste of time. The songs are good, but I just don’t get it. By the way, the video clip sounded better on my computer than the LP sounded. Buy at your own risk.