Johnny Sharp explores the perils and the payoffs of pop's paradigm shifts before bringing you 20 albums from artists whose bold, about-turns in musical style just have to be heard
If it ain't broke, so the maxim goes, don't fix it. But no artist worth their garlands ever paid much heed to that way of thinking - with a few honourable exceptions such as The Ramones. Nonetheless, most musicians prefer evolution to revolution, letting their approach to their work develop naturally as the muse dictates, sudden changes in style only running the risk of alienating fans.
This latest two-box MM/MC phono stage from Germany also includes a line input and preamp alongside a fully discrete headphone amp. It's the brand's first 'analogue hub'
Is it my imagination, or are more hi-fi products steadily adopting greater functionality? Now, it's highly unlikely that Germany's resolutely 'analogue' Lehmannaudio brand will succumb to networking its phono stages any time soon, but the new £2599 Phonolith does wrap a trio of roles into one - an MM/MC phono stage, line level preamplifier and headphone amplifier. That said, it's not quite strictly rolled into 'one' as it's a two-box design, with the second unit being the standalone, dedicated power supply.
The long-anticipated final piece in Exposure’s 3510 series has arrived – a CD player that leverages the 3010 S2 series electronics and XM CD’s top-loading transport mechanism
With a memory long enough to remember buying my first CD player, a Philips model, back in the mid-1980s, complete with a free copy of Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms, it feels a little strange to be considering the format, launched promising 'Perfect Sound Forever', as something of a niche proposition. Yes, CD has been a huge commercial success, with a 2007 press release marking 25 years of the format declaring that some 200 billion discs had been sold in that first quarter century, and many people having huge collections.
It was where Pink Floyd built their wall, Sade soothed her soul and a Bach pianist worked on soundtracks... So what does Brad Pitt have to do with it? Steve Sutherland explains
What's the weirdest drink you have ever had? I've guzzled a fair few strange ones in my time, including a gruesome concoction in New York involving what looked like Swarfega mixed with cream. But the one that topped the lot was something or other from a barnacled bottle salvaged from a galleon that had been part of the Spanish Armada sunk in battle in the English Channel in 1588.
Although a fixture of The Hollywood punk scene in The late '70S and early '80S, the all-female quintet also had a pop sensibility that would see their debut album topping the charts. First, however, they needed to find a label that would let them record it...
If women face all-too-familiar obstacles to achieving success in music these days, many of those barriers have at least been broken down over the years by trailblazing female artists. One such pioneering act is undoubtedly The Go-Go's, who burst out of the Los Angeles punk scene in the late 1970s and set a template for pop punk that still endures.
The slimmest of Canton’s new, five-strong Reference floorstanders blends style with established technologies
Calling your speakers ‘Reference’ is quite a bold statement, but then again making grand claims is not exactly unknown in the hi-fi industry! Canton’s Reference speakers – the top-tier of Germany’s largest loudspeaker manufacturer – is the product of a fierce R&D exercise and comes seven years after the previous flagship range, Reference K, was introduced. It’s a comprehensive series to boot, comprising six models of which only one is a standmount (the Reference 9) and all others are floorstanders.
From SL-1200GR to 'GR2, Technics' adherence to the theory of 'marginal gains' ensures its most popular direct-drive deck remains at least one step ahead of the competition
Following the debut of its first direct-drive models over 50 years ago [see PM's boxout, p75], many versions of Technics' iconic SL-1200 model have appeared, all able to trace their technical and industrial design back to the original. Neither have enthusiasts been short of choice - when the legendary spinner returned in 2016, after a six-year hiatus, the brand introduced four SL-1200 tiers. The 'GR' or 'Grand Class' occupied a middle position, with the apex SL-1200R version and heavier 'G/GAE' models catering to hardcore audiophiles, and the more affordable 'MK7/ M7' units aimed at budding DJs.
Jackson Browne For Everyman Featuring David Crosby, Glenn Frey, Joni Mitchell and more, Browne's second LP is a flagwaver for the 1970s Cali dream. Steve Sutherland hears the 180g reissue
Lana knows what I'm on about. In the song 'Brooklyn Baby' from her brilliant 2014 LP Ultraviolence, Ms Del Rey complains, 'They think I don't understand the freedom land of the '70s'. She was born, you see, in 1985 and Lana - known to her mum and dad as Elizabeth Grant - is deemed by those who should know better to be too young to appreciate the '70s aesthetic.
Project V1-L tops Japanese brand’s interconnect lineup
Cable specialist Furutech has a new flagship interconnect. Priced
at £4930 and £5060 for RCA- and XLR-terminated 1.2m lengths,
respectively, the Project V1-L features a ‘hybrid’ three-layer
configuration...