Four years after their electrifying debut, Axl, Slash and co returned with not one, but two double albums – and it was all downhill from there, says Steve Sutherland
Back in the late 1960s there was a band hailing from San Francisco called Moby Grape. They had five talented members who could all sing, play and compose to an incredibly high standard incorporating pop, rock, country and blues styles. They looked pretty cool too, with a perfectly contemporary anti-authoritarian attitude that saw one of their number flipping a middle finger against the American flag on the cover of their self-titled debut LP in 1967 – naughtiness that was airbrushed out by their spooked record company.
For over 40 years and two generations, this family-run speaker specialist has epitomised the best of Danish design
Everything about the Audiovector R 8 Arreté is impressive, from the size and scale of the speaker – it stands 144cm tall and weighs over 72kg – to the seemingly fiendish complexity of the design, which appears to have drivers firing and venting in all directions. The piano-lacquered Italian Burl Walnut veneer, seen here, is gorgeous too, and offered alongside Italian Grey, black and white finish options.
For the follow-up to their debut record The Hurting, the philosophically inclined pop duo built a 24-track studio and battled their label's desire for a commercial synth sound. The eight-track album that resulted put them in a prime position to rule the world...
No pain, no gain may be a familiar mantra across the arts, but it's hard to imagine an act today weaving pop gold from the teachings of psychotherapy. Yet Tears For Fears managed to top the charts with not one but two collections of songs based around such themes.
If you're a fan of the legendary 300B triode, who better to produce an application for that valve? Western Electric's 91E integrated amplifier may be your dream come true
Pedigree? You want pedigree? How about the inventor of the 300B triode? Western Electric's provenance beats all comers, the company dating back to 1869, which kinda trumps any other manufacturer's claims for longevity. Here it is 154 years on with the Type 91E integrated amplifier to dazzle those wedded to single-ended triodes (SETs), yet with enough modern details, both sonic and functional, to ensure it is regarded as a 21st century tube amplifier.
This month we review and test releases from: Mette Henriette, Alina Ibragimova, Manfred Honeck/Pittsburgh SO, Vince Mendoza/Metropole Orkest and Art Ensemble Of Chicago.