Whether you choose to digest your individual favorite songs via 96kHz/24-bit high-resolution audio downloads, hi-res streaming services, and/or 7- or 10-inch 45s, this past year delivered a wonderfully wide swath of singular aural goodness. In reverse order, here are The SoundBard’s Top 21 individual tracks of 2016, along with an accompanying A/V clip. (Note: The hi-res […]
BY MIKE METTLER — DECEMBER 31, 2016
Whether you choose to digest your music via high-resolution audio downloads, 180-gram LPs, streaming services, and/or full-on 5.1 surround sound, this past year delivered a wonderfully wide spate of full-length aural goodness. In reverse order, here are The SoundBard’s Top 31 long-players of 2016.
31. MSTRKRFT: Operator. (Last Gang). Vintage Roland […]
BY MIKE METTLER
“Do you like good music?”
True, it’s a simple question with a fairly obvious answer, but when it’s posed by Michael “White Lightning” McDonald at the outset of “Sweet Soul Music,” you can’t help but wanna get up and testify a hearty “yeahhhh!” That’s but one of many call-and-response-worthy moments to be found […]
BY MIKE METTLER
“I felt the band, and myself as a composer, deserved one big, last splurge,” says Pete Townshend at the outset of The Who – Sensation – The Story of Tommy (Eagle Vision). And the key to getting there, he adds, was to do “an album as a piece of art.” Enter Tommy, the […]
BY MIKE METTLER
Could there be a more apt title for an album these days than High Hopes? While there are those who continue to loudly (and, well, annoyingly) ring the death knell for the album format, Bruce Springsteen once again proves the viability of the LP concept, making every song count on his 18th […]
BY MIKE METTLER
Just when you think Steven Wilson is at the surround sound pinnacle, he ratchets it up another level.
I first heard The Raven That Refused to Sing (and Other Stories) at a playback session in New York’s Avatar Studios back on January 15, 2013. And this is how you know I’m super-hardcore dedicated to […]
