Burt Bacharach has passed away at 94. This hits especially hard. Bacharach was a hero to me and one of the greatest songwriters ever – along with lyricist Hal David, he brought elegance, unexpected yet perfect chord and time changes, and sublime melodies to pop music. Songs like “Walk On By,” “What the World Needs Now is Love,” “Alfie,” “The Look of Love,” “Make It Easy on Yourself,” “I Say a Little Prayer” and so many others can only be considered masterpieces. Copper’s Rudy Radelic covered his career extensively in Issues 146, 147, 148, 149, 151, 152, and 153.
Another lost icon was Tom Verlaine (73), whose incandescent guitar playing and songwriting in Television and elsewhere inspired legions of new wavers, indie rockers and guitarists. Listen to “Marquee Moon” for a dose of utterly unique brilliance.
In this issue: Anne E. Johnson looks at the music of Irish rock band the Cranberries, and the chamber music of Gabriel Fauré. J.I. Agnew builds a custom vacuum tube spring reverb unit. I talk with blues master Otis Taylor, who has just released Banjo… on Octave Records. Andrew Daly interviews up-and-coming rocker Lexii Lynn Frazier, who can be heard blazing on Top Gun: Maverick. Rudy Radelic continues his series on CTI Records with a focus on sax players. Stuart Marvin spins a tale of Don Leslie and his whirling speaker contraption. Larry Jaffee reports on the vinyl manufacturing industry’s resiliency.
Harris Fogel relates his audio journey and has more photos from Capital Audiofest 2022. John Seetoo concludes his interview with Grammy-winning engineers Jim Anderson and Ulrike Schwarz and how they were able to remotely record a live album with soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom. Russ Welton picks his favorite in-ear headphones. Tom Methans pays a visit to Treehaus Audio. Howard Kneller looks at cables from Hemingway Audio. Ray Chelstowski has a conversation with NRBQ founding member Terry Adams. The Copper A/V squad has an elevated response, does some plane listening, and goes on the road again.
Staff Writers:
J.I. Agnew, Ray Chelstowski, Andrew Daly, Harris Fogel, Jay Jay French, Tom Gibbs, Roy Hall, Rich Isaacs, Anne E. Johnson, Don Kaplan, Ken Kessler, Don Lindich, Stuart Marvin, Tom Methans, B. Jan Montana, Rudy Radelic, Tim Riley, Wayne Robins, Alón Sagee, Ken Sander, John Seetoo, Dan Schwartz, Russ Welton, Adrian Wu
Contributing Editors:
Ivan Berger, Steven Bryan Bieler, Jack Flory, Steve Kindig, Ed Kwok, Ted Shafran, David Snyder, Bob Wood
Cover:
“Cartoon Bob” D’Amico
Cartoons:
James Whitworth, Peter Xeni
Parting Shots:
James Schrimpf, B. Jan Montana, Rich Isaacs (and others)
Audio Anthropology Photos:
Howard Kneller, Steve Rowell
Editor:
Frank Doris
Publisher:
Paul McGowan
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– FD
