Copper


Mark Hollis

Issue 80HAND PICKED

On February 25th of this year, the music world lost one of its most influential, mercurial, obstinate, and singular voices. Mark Hollis, of the band Talk Talk, has made some of the...

Copper at 3: the Writers Speak!

Issue 80FEATURED

In the beginning, the idea that Copper would survive three issues seemed far-fetched. But three years? Inconceivable! The biggest joy of the whole process has been working with a remarkable group of writers, many of whom...

Vintage, Vintage Whine

Issue 80VINTAGE WHINE

There was a time in my life, not so long ago, when I spoke to longtime writers and editors who described the experience of cranking out an article in a...

How I Became an Audiophile

Issue 80TOO MUCH TCHAIKOVSKY

My earliest memories of listening to recorded music go back to when I was a child living in what seemed like an enormous house on an even more enormous farm...

June Millington, Part 2

Issue 80THE COPPER INTERVIEW

J.S.: This is for June Millington, the record producer. When making Fanny Hill, did you or Jean have any ideas that you weren’t able to try due to budget or time...

Issue 80

Issue 80Opening Salvo

Welcome to Copper #80, our Third Anniversary issue! Some investigations require more effort than others. We know that, say, the 25th anniversary is silver, but Googling, "what is the 3rd anniversary?", we find that...

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The Mikado

Issue 80QUIBBLES AND BITS

Our great Mikado, virtuous man,when he to rule our land beganresolved to try a planwhereby young men might best be steadied.So he decreed in words succinctthat all who flirted, leered,...

Johann Adolf Hasse

Issue 80SOMETHING OLD / SOMETHING NEW

When your wife is a famous soprano and your best friend is Europe’s most sought-after librettist, you’re likely to have one heck of an opera-writing career. That certainly held true...

Reaching Inside

AND OTHER ILLNESSESAUDIOIssue 80MUSIC

Bear with me; I’m going to talk about myself — again. I’ve been somewhat ill lately and in between bouts of sleep, left with a bit of time to think...

...And Now We Are Three

Issue 80FEATURED

Back in my younger days—say, the fall of 2015—Paul McGowan came to me and spoke six fateful words: “I want to do a magazine.” I don’t recall my exact response, but...

Mix A vs. Mix B, Redux

AND OTHER ILLNESSESAUDIOIssue 83MUSIC

In the dark, dim past, on a dark and stormy night, Bill Bottrell would rant to anyone who would listen (usually just me) about Mix A and Mix B. As...

Van Cliburn

Issue 81FEATURED

In 1958, the Soviet Union announced its “First International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition”. The idea was to showcase that, in addition to being superior to the west in technology and military...

Jackson Browne

Issue 80OFF THE CHARTS

From mourning dying love affairs to raging against the political machine, Jackson Browne has found countless ways to express his discontent in song. Given his huge popularity in the ʼ70s...

Any Way You Want It

Issue 79HAND PICKED

Arite…let’s get it out of the way, shall we? Journey is friggin’ AWESOME! That’s where we are going to start with this session of Hand Picked. If you think differently, then it...

From -6 to 86 and Back Again

Issue 79Opening Salvo

Welcome to Copper #79! This issue features my walkaround of the first-ever Florida Audio Expo . The turn-out was impressive, and both attendees and exhibitors were happy. I left Denver airport at -6 and frozen fuel...

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Did the Grammys Ever Matter?

Issue 79THE AUDIO CYNIC

Somewhere in the hazy past, I wrote that nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. The cynical part of me thinks that the rosy glow with which we surround many...

New Old Stock

Issue 79VINTAGE WHINE

Newbies to the audio world encounter a lot of puzzling terminology, some of which seems oxymoronic. One such term that took me a while to understand is NOS—New Old Stock....

June Millington, Part 1

Issue 79THE COPPER INTERVIEW

Before the Runaways, before the Go-Go’s, before the Bangles – there was Fanny. David Bowie was quoted in a 1999 Rolling Stone interview about Fanny: “They’re as important as anyone who’s ever...

The Florida Audio Expo

Issue 79FEATURED

I lived on the Gulf coast of Florida for 15 years, and even worked for an audio manufacturer there—VAC, in Sarasota. In spite of that—or perhaps because of that—when I...

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Issue 79OFF THE CHARTS

A bass player named Flea is the group’s most stable member. But, despite all their drug-related traumas and personnel turnover, Red Hot Chili Peppers endure, still heating up the airwaves...

Hong Kong

Issue 79MUSIC'AL NOTES

On my many visits to China, I always make a point of going through or leaving from Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a western sea of tranquility amongst the tumult...

I Hate...(Fill in the Blank)

Issue 79TWISTED SYSTEMS

When I’m introduced as Jay Jay French of Twisted Sister at parties or social events, the first question I’m asked is, “So what music are you listening to these days?”...

Purcell’s King Arthur

Issue 79TOO MUCH TCHAIKOVSKY

Merlin waves his Wand; the Scene changes, and discovers the British Ocean in a Storm, AEolus in a Cloud above: Four Winds hanging, &c. . . . AEolus ascends, and the four Winds fly off....

Audiophile Science

Issue 79QUIBBLES AND BITS

There is one consistent misconception that non-scientists have about science, and that is the Albert Einstein problem – the idea that major scientific problems can be solved by a lone...

Fairchild, Part 4

Issue 78VINTAGE WHINE

The last three Vintage Whine columns have looked at the pro and consumer audio companies owned by Sherman Fairchild, with a side-look at his many other holdings. We began in Copper #75 with Part 1; Copper#76...

Andrea Brinkmann, RIP

Issue 78INDUSTRY NEWS

Brinkmann Audio is a highly-regarded German manufacturer of turntables and electronics. From the Brinkmann USA newsletter— In Memoriam: Andrea Brinkmann 1977-2019 “It is with great sorrow that we report the passing...

Stay Hot!

Issue 78TOO MUCH TCHAIKOVSKY

Last week I finally signed up for a streaming service. First two albums I clicked on were Yuja Wang: The Berlin Recital and Nemanja Radulović: Baïka, both DG releases. Not sure why I chose them,...

The Most Remarkable Man, Redux

AND OTHER ILLNESSESAUDIOIssue 78MUSIC

I’ve discussed a few of the heavyweight characters I encountered in my initial years as a player. But I didn’t yet talk about the man whose influence on me is...

Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre

Issue 78SOMETHING OLD / SOMETHING NEW

There was never a more promising time than the late 17th century to be a musician in France. King Louis XIV, after all, loved music and dance as much as he...

Audio Love

Issue 78FEATURED

I know exactly when my love of audio began  ̶  maybe not the day, date, or hour, but the man who gave me the priceless gift. It wasn’t a salesman,...

Paradise by the Dashboard Light

Issue 78HAND PICKED

It was his High School football coach who christened Marvin Lee Aday “Meat Loaf” due to his weight and general physical attributes. Little did his coach know, he had created...

Eurythmics

Issue 78OFF THE CHARTS

Singer Annie Lennox and guitarist David A. Stewart began working together as members of a London-based punk band called The Catch (later The Tourists), which split in 1980. Soon thereafter,...

Motherwell

Issue 78MUSIC'AL NOTES

In the mid-sixties, I managed a furniture store in Motherwell, Scotland. Motherwell, in those days, was a steel town of about 37,000 people and when business was good, the Ravenscraig...

John Lennon: Come and Gone

Issue 78TWISTED SYSTEMS

[Portions of this story were originally published in Goldmine magazine—Ed.] February 7th was the 55th anniversary of the Beatles’ arriving in America. To commemorate this date in Beatles history, I present this true story of fate...

Quantum Theory

Issue 78QUIBBLES AND BITS

Quantum Theory troubles many people, even some of those who actually understand it. That would include such luminaries as one of its founders, Albert Einstein, who expressed serious concerns with...

Music is the Space Between the Notes

Issue 78THE AUDIO CYNIC

Depending upon whom you believe, that statement was made by either Claude Debussy or Miles Davis. I’m certainly no authority on Debussy, but it seems to me that his stuff...

Fairchild, Part 3

Issue 77VINTAGE WHINE

As I’ve indicated in the previous installments of Vintage Whine in Copper #75 and #76, the story of Sherman Fairchild goes far beyond the realm of audio, and at some point really should be detailed in...

Issue 77

Issue 77Opening Salvo

Welcome to Copper #77! I hope you had a better view of the much-hyped lunar-eclipse than I did---the combination of clouds and sleep made it a non-event for me. Full moon or...

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Vade’s Recommended Reviewer Guidelines

Issue 77FEATURED

Part of the fun of being an audiophile is reading reviews of audio gear. I’ve read audio reviews for 60 years, starting with Stereo Review, leading to Gordon Holt’s Stereophile and Harry Pearson’s The...

Arthur “Another Blind Guy” Blake

Issue 77MUSIC TO MY EARS

I’m not going to apologize for that. Think about it. I didn’t start this shit about blind guitar heroes. And the Lord said “So you got everything?” Moses. “Yes Lord.”...

Piano Man

Issue 77HAND PICKED

By 1972, William Martin Joel’s career was, pretty much, over. He had released his debut album, Cold Spring Harbor, to a crushing silence. The record had been mastered at the wrong speed, which...

An Interesting Day

Issue 77MUSIC'AL NOTES

“You should visit the Yakeshi Factory in Foshan,” my friend Richard said. “They make really good products, and after every one of my visits, they send me back to my...

Giles Martin Interview

Issue 77TWISTED SYSTEMS

[Originally published in Goldmine magazine—Ed.] While at the listening session for the new Giles Martin remixed White Album and associated demos, I experienced how much Giles sounds like his father, George. In manner, style,...

Stay Warm

Issue 77TOO MUCH TCHAIKOVSKY

It’s cold, it’s gray, it’s wet. Time for comfort food: Dvořák and German lieder and tuneful chamber music. No atonal scratching and heaving for a while! No earnest searches after our deepest,...