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Thenew2121. Wit. Dolby*unders20a.Ever since the cassette deck steppedinto the spotlight with proven highfidelity performance, great advancesin tape and cassette deck technologyhave been made. Despite thisprogress, most of the high fidelityindustry was convinced that it wasvirtually impossible to build a reallysuperior front -loading, front -controlcassette deck equipped with Dolby -that could sell for less than twohundred dollars.

Pioneer thought it might beimpossible, too. But we figured it wasworth the try.

The engineers at Pioneer weregiven the 2121 project two years ago.They were asked to build a front -access, front -control cassette deckloaded with features. A deck thatwould outperform any unit in the twohundred dollar price range that hadever been built before.

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Switch from one mode to another, bypassingthe Stop lever.

Everything's up front foroptimum operating convenience.Pioneer's engineers have designedthe CT -F2121 to give you the highestdegree of flexibility in use. You canstack it easily with other componentsin your system because every controlfunction, as well as cassette loading,is operable from the front panel. Inaddition, the illuminated cassettecompartment permits rapid cassetteloading at an easy -to -see 30° angle.An LED indicator lets you know whenyou're in the recording mode. And,as all Pioneer components, thecontrols are simple to use andlogically arranged.

Improved sound reproductionwith built-in Dolby B system.The CT-F2121's selectable Dolby Bprovides as much as 10dB improve-ment in signal-to-noise ratio withstandard low noise tapes. There's aneven greater improvement withchromium dioxide tape. An indicatorlight tells you instantly when theDolby system is in operation. And toinsure better, interference -freerecordings of FM stereo broadcasts,Pioneer has built in a multiplex filter.

Outstanding performance withevery type of tape.Separate bias and equalizationswitches permit you to use any kindof cassette tape: standard low noise,chromium dioxide - and even thenewest ferrIeliturne formulations. TheCT -F2121 brings out the fullestcapabilities of each tape. And toProduce the best performance, theoperating manual of the CT -F2121gives you a chart listing the mostpopular cassette tape brands withtheir recommended bias andequalization control settings. There'snever any atiegcwork

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SterReFORMERLY HI FI/STEREO REVIIEW

view®OCTOBER 1976 VOLUME 37 NUMBER 4

To- `Equipment-AUDIO BASICS

The New Angel Cassettes

NEW PRODUCTSA roundup of the latest in high-fidelity equipment

AUDIO QUESTIONS AND ANSWERSAdvice on readers' technical problems

TAPE HORIZONSRecorded Response

AUDIO NEWSImproving TV Sound

EQUIPMENT TEST REPORTSHirsch -Houck Laboratory test results on the Onkyo TX -4500 AM/FM stereoreceiver, Jensen Model 24 speaker system, Empire 2000Z phono cartridge,Crown IC -150A stereo preamplifier, and a kit -builder's report onthe Heath AA -I640 stereo power amplifier

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A CASSETTE DECKA short course (with directory) to make you a better shopper

USiCBONNIE RAITT

". . . what could she know of the blues that wasn't secondhand?"

A BASIC LIBRARY OF MAHLER SYMPHONIESThe composer who made one of the three B's roll over

BILLY JOEL". . . perhaps the best keyboard technician on the pop scene"

BEST RECORDINGS OF THE MONTHVocal: Natalie Cole's second album: Rachmaninoff songs by

RALPH HODGES 12

17

LARRY KLEIN 22

CRAIG STARK 26

WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE 28

JULIAN D. HIRSCH 31

JULIAN D. HIRSCH 64

NOEL COPPAGE 74

IRVING KOLODIN 76

JOSH MILLS 82

Elisabeth Soderstrom; Gordon Lightfoot's "Summertime Dream"Instrumental: Bartok'sfirst and third piano concertosOperetta: Gilbert & Sullivan's Utopia Limited 85

POPULAR DISCS AND TAPES 90Billy Joel: too tough-minded? PETER REILLY 91

Bing and Fred: Once More, a Third Down HENRY PLEASANTS......... 96Waylon Jennings: retrospective on a stubborn survivor NOEL COPPAGE 104Happy Birthday, Ethel Waters HENRY PLEASANTS 119

CLASSICAL DISCS AND TAPES 120Emanuel Ax: an altogether distinguished Chopin recital RICHARD FREED 121Gottschalk by Eugene List (and others) ROBERT OFFERGELD 124Beeson's Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines PETER REILLY 130

WecitgularsEDITORIALLY SPEAKING WILLIAM ANDERSON 4LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 6TECHNICAL TALK JULIAN D. HIRSCH 30THE POP BEAT STEVE SIMELS 56GOING ON RECORD JAMES GOODFRIEND 60THE BASIC REPERTOIRE MARTIN BOOKSPAN 62CHOOSING SIDES IRVING KOLODIN 114ADVERTISERS' INDEX 141

COVER: Elcaset decks by (top to bottom) Sony, Teac, and Technics. Relative size of units is indicated by theportable cassette deck on the bottom step and by the reel-to-reel, cassette, and elcaset tapes on top. Design by BorysPatchowsky, photo by Bruce Pendleton.

COPYRIGHT C) 1976 BY ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANY. All rights reserved. Stereo Review, October 1976, Volume 37, Number 4. Publishedmonthly by Ziff -Davis Publishing Company: Editorial and Executive Offices at One Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016: Telephone: 212 725-3500. HershelB. Sarbin, President; Furman Hebb, Executive Vice President; John R. Emery, Senior Financial Vice President and Treasurer: Charles B. Seton, Secretary.Also the publishers of Boating, Car and Driver, Cycle, Flying, Modern Bride, Popular Electronics, Popular Photography, and Skiing. One-year subscriptionrate for U.S., $7.98; U.S. possessions and Canada, $10.98. All other countries, one-year subscription rate $12.98, cash orders only, payable in U.S. currency.Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y. and at additional mailing offices. Authorized as second-class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa,Canada, and for payment of postage in cash. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE: Forms 3579 and all subscription correspondence should be addressed to StereoReview, Circulation Department, P.O. Box 2771, Boulder, Colorado 80302. Please allow at least eight weeks for change of address. Include your old address,as well as new-enclosing if possible an address label from a recent issue. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form withoutpermission.Requests for permission should be directed to Jerry Schneider, Rights and Permissions, Ziff -Davis Publishing Company, One Park Avenue, New York, NewYork 10016.

Editorially Speaking

WILL THE TORTOISE WIN AGAIN?T least a half -dozen years ago, over lunch

at the (of course) Plaza, one of the re-cording industry's highly placed deep throatsprophesied that within ten years the tapecassette would be the principal format of mu-sic reproduction in these United States.Brown Meggs has just retired from his execu-tive aerie in Los Angeles' Capitol Tower todevote himself full-time to a detective -fictioncareer that has already produced two success-ful novels (Saturday Games and The Matterof Paradise, Fawcett Publications), so hewon't be on the scene in 1980 to say 'I toldyou so.' But it does begin to look as if he mayhave been right. For the past year and morethere has been a notable increase in the pub-lic's interest in cassette hardware and soft-ware, and the audio industry has been re-sponding with a flood of new tape decks, im-proved oxide formulations for the rapidly ex-panding and highly competitive blank -tapemarket, and better sound -processing tech-niques for prerecorded tape. Some kind of ac-celeration in the Meggs timetable is clearly

taking place, and a close look at the wholesubject is therefore indicated-hence thisspecial Cassette Issue.

I have been a cassette fancier ever since theappearance a decade or so ago of the first cutelittle Philips "Carrycorder." The reason?Simple convenience. The listening facilities inmy New York apartment and here in the officepermit me to deal with practically any record-ed format, but for travel and for weekends inthe country it is, by design, cassette or noth-ing. In the city, it is usually not possible torustle up the kind of settled, relaxed attentionI can lavish on a new release (or, especially, awhole bunch of them) over a weekend, and itis hardly reasonable to lug an armload ofheavy, bulky discs on and off the train twice aweek either. But a cassette-even several ofthem-weighs next to nothing, takes up al-most no space. If I have only a disc version athand, I can quickly run off a cassette copy onthe deck just behind my desk (as I am doingright now), drop it into my weekend bag, andlisten to it later with my sox off. (Interestingly

enough at this time, we have just received acassette copy of John Denver's new "Spirit"album ahead of the disc version.) Again, whenwe are lucky enough to get our hands on anadvance disc copy (it may be the only one intown) of something that begs for prompt at-tention, we rush it to the reviewer's turntablepronto-but not without first running off acopy on cassette for reference protection.

That the convenience aspect of the cassettehas lately been accompanied by the significantimprovements in sound quality made feasibleby better machines and better tapes is ofcourse no bad thing, and I have every confi-dence that the sound will get even better. I donot, however, see the cassette threatening thedisc just yet where quality sound is the firstconsideration-unless disc quality itself con-tinues to deteriorate. In that case I will richlyenjoy the irony of watching the lowly 1 1A-ipstortoise surpass the cocky 33 1A -rpm hare inthe sonic Olympics. And perhaps it's abouttime: the phonograph disc is (I find it hard tobelieve too) 75 years old this year, and nextyear it will be 100 years since Edison wasgranted a patent on his cylinder.

IT will not be lost on American readers thatthe cassette is taken with greater seriousnessabroad than it is here at home-which is as itshould be, for the concept was born in Eu-rope. Since Deutsche Grammophon's intro-duction about a year ago of a luxurious pack-aging system for multiple -cassette recordings,first London and now Angel have arrived onthe American market with a bundle of new re-leases stressing quality sound. This can bestbe described as a market challenge, andAmerican cassette producers (who are notdeaf to the jingle of the cash register) may beexpected to respond. If you strain very hardyou can just barely hear "Dolby" being whis-pered (discreetly, of course) down the echo-ing halls of RCA's Camden laboratories, andwe should begin to hear the results in RCAcassette product before the year is quite out.And now that Angel has dipped a toe into cas-sette quadraphonics without suffering eternaldamnation (see Ralph Hodges' Audio Basicsthis month), can Columbia be far behind?

Stereo ReviewPUBLISHEREDGAR W. HOPPER

EDITORWILLIAM ANDERSON

MANAGING EDITORWILLIAM LIVINGSTONE

EDITORIAL COORDINATORLOUISE GOOCH BOUNDAS

MUSIC EDITORJAMES GOODFRIEND

TECHNICAL EDITORLARRY KLEIN

ART DIRECTORBORYS PATCHOWSKYASSOCIATE TECHNICAL EDITORRALPH HODGES

POPULAR MUSIC EDITORSTEVE SIMELSASSISTANT MUSIC EDITORVIVIENNE WINTERRY GOODMAN

PRODUCTION EDITORPAULETTE WEISS

LONDON EDITORHENRY PLEASANTS

CONTRIBUTING EDITORSCHRIS ALBERTSON PAUL KRESHMARTIN BOOKSPAN STODDARD LINCOLNNOEL COPPAGE J MARKS-HIGHWATERRICHARD FREEDDAVID HALLROY HEMMINGJULIAN D. HIRSCHGEORGE JELLINEKIGOR KIPNISIRVING KOLODINADVERTISING DIRECTORJAMES J. SULLIVANADVERTISING SERVICE MANAGERLINDA BLUM

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTPEGI McENEANEY

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERSTANLEY NEUFELDEditorial and Executive OfficesZiff -Davis Publishing CompanyOne Park Avenue, New York, New York 10016212 725-3500Eastern Advertising Manager: Richard J. HalpernMidwestern Office: The Pattis Group4761 West Touhy Ave., Lincolnwood, Illinois 60646312 679-1100Arnold S. HoffmanWestern Office9025 Wilshire BoulevardBeverly Hills, California 90211213 273-8050; 272-1161Western Advertising Manager: Bud Dean

LINCOLN PERRYPETER REILLYCHARLES RODRIGUESERIC SALZMANCRAIG STARKJOEL VANCE

Japan: James YagiOji Palace Aoyama, 6-25, Minami Aoyama6-Chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo, JapanTelephone: 407-1930/6821, 582-2851

Circulation OfficeP.O. Box 2771, Boulder, Colorado 80302

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS must be accompaniedby return postage and will be handled with reasonablecare; however, publisher assumes no responsibilityfor the return or safety of art work, photography, ormanuscripts.

Member Audit Bureau of Circulations

ABC

ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANYHershel B. Sarbin, PresidentFurman Hebb, Executive Vice PresidentJohn R. Emery, Senior Vice President-Finance/TreasurerPhillip T. Heffernan, Senior Vice President, MarketingEdward D. Muhlfeld, Senior Vice President, Sports Div.Philip Sine, Senior Vice PresidentFrank Pomerantz, Vice President, Creative ServicesArthur W. Butzow, Vice President, ProductionLawrence Sporn, Vice President, CirculationGeorge Morrissey, Vice PresidentSydney H. Rogers, Vice PresidentSidney Holtz, Vice PresidentAl Trains, Vice PresidentPhilip Korsant, Vice PresidentCharles B. Seton, SecretaryEdgar W. Hopper, Vice President, Electronics Div.

William Ziff, ChairmanW. Bradford Briggs, Vice Chairman

4 STEREO REVIEW

The BestWayTo ShowYou

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CIRCLE NO. 21 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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LETTERS TOMuskrats in the White House Peter Reilly says of the Captain & Ten-nille's "Song of Joy" in the August issue:"It's obvious that they are both people oftaste and elegance." If that is so, how comethey sang Muskrat Love at an occasion whereit was most inappropriate-the White Housestate dinner for Queen Elizabeth II of Eng-land? In that case, Mr. and Mrs. Daryl Drag-on came out like Elizabeth and Broderick,their pet dogs.

CHARLES E. EVERETTSag Harbor, N.Y.

Audio Lib

complaint (August letters), and your answerthat 95 per cent of your readers are male corn-pletely misses the point. The unquestionedbelief that hi-fi is the domain of men is pre-cisely why women are not more involved in it.Only an exceptionally strong-willed womancould possibly overcome a lifetime of condi-tioning by subtle hints that she either cannotor should not be connected with anything re-quiring technical competence.

JOHN TAITSan Francisco, Calif.

Angry Jacqui Mac (August letters) failedto notice that the same opening paragraph (in"Clean Up and Tune Up Your Audio Sys-tem," June) which "implied that only MENcan clean/have the ability to clean their sys-tems" also relegated these same men to therole of housekeeper. What an arbitrary/insult-ing assignment of roles! The score is one toone, and let's not be ridiculous.

CLIFTON L. GANUS IIISearcy, Ark.

Classical Rip-offs James Goodfriend and Steve Simels bothtook time in August to grumble about popcomposers who plagiarize classical "notes,chords, and rhythms" for their own worksand profits. Mr. Goodfriend's disgust seemsto stem from his belief that pop listeners arenot taking even a passive interest in the clas-sics despite their unwitting introductions. Itwould be helpful if reviewers would reportthese "coincidental similarities" betweenpopular and classical works and tell us wherewe can get hold of the classical "coinci-dences." For example, Emerson, Lake &

THE EDITORPalmer's Knife -Edge occurs in Jangek's Sin-fonietta, available on London 10222 as per-formed by the London Symphony Orchestraunder Claudio Abbado. The grotesque sumsof money spent on sonic enemas of the likesof Chicago prove that there are pocketbookscapable of buying large quantities of classicaldiscs-if only they knew what they were lis-tening to and where to find them.

JAMES PARSONSPasadena, Calif.

I'd like to suggest Eric Carmen's Arista al-bum to James Goodfriend for mention in hisnext column on classical rip-offs (see "Cross-ing Over,"prised to find that no credit was given on thecover to the composer of the music to NeverGonna Fall in Love Again. This music, in-cluding bridge material, was taken almostnote for note from the adagio of Rachmani-noff's Second Symphony. Symphonic musichas been used as the basis of pop songs formany years, but when Mr. Carmen claimscreation of the words and the music, he is tak-ing more than his due credit.

LARRY. W. HOWETHSherman, Tex.

The Portable Butterfly A Bronx cheer to Vito D'Amato of Brook-lyn. He is wrong when he says in your letterscolumn in the August issue that the Met-ropolitan Opera played Yankee Stadium thispast summer. I distinctly remember readingthat the performance was canceled.

HAROLD CARLSONSan Francisco, Calif.

There was a great deal of advance publicityfor a performance of Madama Butterfly withAnna Moffo, which was scheduled to takeplace in the stadium in June. But when heavyrains were forecast for the weekend in ques-tion, the Yankees were afraid the Met's truckswould do great damage to their turf and with-drew permission for the use of the stadium.The performance was sung, but the venue waschanged to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.By then we had long since gone to press.

Kubiak on Disc In the August issue George Jellinek wroteof Teresa Kubiak's solo recital album: "Thisappears to be the first recorded appearance of

CIRCLE NO. 25 ON READER SERVICE CARD6 STEREO REVIEW

Teresa Kubiak." This record is the first onedevoted solely to the performance of MissKubiak. She was a principal artist on Solti'sEugene Onegin, reviewed in the January 1976issue, and she has recorded Jankek's Slavon-ic Mass. Both performances are available onLondon Records.

AMY R. SPERLINGNew York, N.Y.

Bo Diddley After rereading Joel Vance's appraisal ofBo Diddley's first release for RCA in the Juneissue, I came away with the satisfaction ofknowing that someone who writes for an au-thoritative publication thinks exactly as I do.The entire write-up hit the nail on the head-except for one small error: Bo's first name isnot Eugene but Elias.

I have been a life-long Diddley fan, but thelast few years have been rather fruitless onesfor anyone longing to hear the sound of theold master at work. When I last talked withBo during the summer of 1974, I asked whenwe could expect to hear the old Diddley soundagain and he replied, "Well, my old drummerFrank Kirkland is dead, Jerome Green ispunching a time clock in New York City, andthose days are gone . . . you ain't nevergonna hear that sound no more."

JAMES W. KALKABinghamton, N.Y.

Glaring Omissions Although James Goodfriend was carefulto provide a built-in, apologetic rationale forthe Calendar of American Music's structureand his choice of names to appear on it (July),he cannot be excused for several glaring omis-sions, most notably the composers TheodoreThomas, Benjamin J. Lang, Mrs. H. H. A.Beach, William W. Gilchrist, and H. Alexan-der Mathews. If a calendar, even on Mr.Goodfriedd's terms, is to have any relevancyat all to the influence on American music, itshould be as comprehensive as possible; how-ever, its real value lies not so much in howmany it includes but whom it includes. Thecontribution made by these composers cannotbe overestimated-or overlooked.

RALPH G. SWIFTVincentown, N.J.

Mr. Goodfriend replies: Sorry. I also left outHenry A. Lang, Charles Naginski, Dr. Ed-ward 0. Schaaf, Francesco B. DeLeone, andJ. Frank Frysinger! Incidentally, the Calendarof American Music is now available in reprintform; see page 106 for ordering instructions.

Boris the Unfinished The usually well-informed George Jellinekwas not quite on the mark with his commentsabout Moussorgsky's Khovantchina in theJuly issue. He states that Rimsky-Korsakov"has not been called to task" for his revisionand orchestration of this opera. On the con-trary, Rimsky's Khovantchina has receivedthe same heavy and justified criticism as hisversion of Boris Godounov and for preciselythe same reasons. One scholar (Oskar vonRiesemann, in his book Moussorgsky), hasheld that Rimsky's alterations of the vocalscore and harmonization are even more dras-tic in Khovantchina than in Boris.

Mr. Jellinek also states that "no orchestrat-ing sketches by Moussorgsky are known tohave survived." According to a recent studyof his scores, Moussorgsky orchestrated two

(Continued on page 10)

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numbers from Act III: Marfa's song and achorus of the streltsy. The first of these waspublished in the critical edition of Mous-sorgsky's works which appeared in the 1930'sunder the editorship of Pavel Lamm; the sec-ond survives in manuscript form (see EdwardR. Reilly, "Scorography: The Music of Mous-sorgsky, Part Two," Musical Newsletter,1976, Vol. V, No. 2, p. 15).

It is worth noting that Rimsky's is not theonly available performing version of theunfinished opera. Aside from the 1913 re-working by Stravinsky and Ravel, there is asplendidly effective orchestration by Shos-takovich, who restored all the music cut byRimsky and otherwise maintained a high de-gree of fidelity to Moussorgsky's nearly com-plete vocal score.

Mr. Jellinek labels one of the opera's char-acters, Prince Golitsin, as "the slippery re-gent," which he is not. The regent is TsarevnaSofia, the elder half-sister of Peter the Great.She ruled Russia from 1682 to 1689, with Go-litsyn as her chief collaborator and possiblyher lover.

Finally, Mr. Jellinek refers to Boris asunfinished. Surely the recent MetropolitanOpera production ought to have laid this mis-conception to rest forever. Moussorgskycompleted and orchestrated Boris in 1869,and in 1871-1872 he revised and expanded theopera. Then, in preparation for the 1874 pre-mière, he made additional minor revisions andsubstantial cuts.

DANIEL MORRISONAlbany, N.Y.

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STEREO REVIEW

1

George Jellinek unfortunately perpetuatesan old myth in his July review when he statesthat Moussorgsky's Boris Godounov was"left unfinished." In fact, it was finishedtwice-in 1869, in a seven -scene version, andin 1872-1874, in four acts with a prologue, thelatter being the basis for Rimsky-Korsakov's"version." This error was all the more unfor-tunate in that 1975 saw the Oxford UniversityPress publication of a newly edited, fullorchestral score of both of Moussorgsky'sversions of Boris-which, incidentally, issupposed to be recorded in Poland soon.

Mr. Jellinek was also not quite accurate inhis statements about Khovantchina, forMoussorgsky did orchestrate a few separatenumbers. The alternative to Rimsky-Kor-sakov's version is, of course, Shostakovich's,which is closer to the original material and in-cludes a number of scenes that Rimsky-Kor-sakov chose to omit.

NICHOLAS DEUTSCHBoston, Mass.

Mr. Jellinek replies: I should have limited myreview of Khovantchina to just that, withoutinserting a careless (and inaccurate) referenceto Boris Godounov. The latter was indeedfinished by Moussorgsky but, as is wellknown, did not take hold with the public inthat authentic version. Rimsky-Korsakov's re-vision may have been arbitrary and it mayhave been "wrong," but it was selfless and no-bly intended. Without it, the enjoyment of thismasterpiece would have been denied to twogenerations of opera lovers. This fact is gener-ally overlooked by commentators anxious tojoin the currently fashionable practice ofRimsky-baiting.

What I said about Khovantchina, however,is substantially accurate. That two isolatedscenes exist in Moussorgsky's own orchestra-tion does not alter the fact that the opera wasnot "finished" from a practical (performance)point of view. And if Rimsky's version wascriticized by "one scholar," it still does notalter the fact that, as I said in my review, "itwas Rimsky-Korsakov who saved it for pos-terity by orchestrating the vocal score withcertain condensations." That others havesubsequently also orchestrated the work hasno bearing on a review dealing with this partic-ular orchestration.

Webster defines "regent" as a person "act-ing in place of a king or ruler." This is precise-ly what Prince Golitsin does in the opera Ireviewed.

Poco and Warren Zevon Noel Coppage gave a rather cold review inJuly to "Poco Live," which I think is theirbest album yet. I feel that Ride the Country isone of the best rock-and-roll songs ever writ-ten-the melody, lyric imagery, playing, andsinging are all intense (but I'm in love, and Ithink of her when I hear it). Well, anyway,Mr. Coppage writes nicely. I'd like to addthat, having read my first issue of STEREO RE-VIEW only a few months ago, I'm alreadyhooked. After reading trash reviews foryears, I find the objectivity refreshing.

BILL MCMICHAELGreeley, Colo.

The problem with Steve Simels, like somany other "rock critics" (and who inventedthat aberration, I wonder?) is that he takes hispersonal opinion and inflicts it upon us as somuch gospel truth, as if having a by-line and atypewriter makes one an important observer

of music and/or talent. Case in point: reviewof Warren Zevon's Asylum album in your Au-gust issue. I have listened to the album oftenin the last ten days and, contrary to Simels'hailing of Zevon as the next big thing, I hear aman lucky enough to have found a forum forhis musical endeavors and not much more.

While Zevon makes a wry point or two, hehas hardly made an album worthy of suchpraise. Odd, isn't it, that most "bright newstars" put out albums that boast assistancefrom at least five other major stars? Exceptfor the fact that the tunes were "composed"by Zevon, it could just as easily have been en-titled "Jackson Browne and Friends Present aMusician Who Sings." The bottom line is thatthere are a million people walking the streetstoday who are not only wittier, but who prob-ably sing better and write better. The only tal-ent Zevon seems to exude is fortune.

While we're at it, I congratulate Simels onfinding a forum for his opinions-personal,and therefore not to be taken any more seri-ously than mine or yours. Other than that, Ilove the guy. And you might save this letterfor a souvenir, for sooner or later I'll get myforum as well.

SCOTT PHELPSNashville, Tenn.

The Editor replies: We are happy to be able togive reader Phelps his forum-while observingthat he is at least half right. Criticism in anyfield must face up, sooner or later, to a simplefact of our common humanity: subjectivity be-gins where silence ends. Is it not, however, along jump from that admission to Mr. Phelps'conclusion that all opinions are thereforecreated equal? Mr. Phelps perhaps proves thatthey are not, for he considers his opinion ofWarren Zevon's debut album superior to thatof Steve Simels. In any case, too early to tell.And don't downgrade fortune; it too, as Mr.Phelps points out, is a talent, and this is bestdemonstrated by the fact that some peopleseem to have more of it than others!

Imported Schnabel In the February issue, Irving Kolodin re-ferred to Schnabel's recording of the Schu-bert B -flat Sonata (D. 960) as "the-alas-dis-continued . . . performance." It is nowavailable, along with D. 850 and D. 959, in atwo -record DaCapo album obtainable fromimport dealers and distributed by Peters Inter-national, 619 West 54th Street, New York,N.Y. 10019 (their catalog costs one dollar andis well worth it).

DAVID PIERCEVero Beach, Fla.

Discs imported by Peters International are notlisted in the Schwann catalog, nor are they,with few exceptions, submitted to STEREO RE-VIEW for assessment.

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OCTOBER 1976CIRCLE NO. 47 ON READER SERVICE CARD

11

Audio Basics

THE NEW ANGEL CASSETTES

AT theclose of my discussion of the newLondon cassettes in this column in July,

I expressed my conviction that we have yet toexplore completely the technical possibilitiesof the cassette medium, that there is stillmuch room for improvement if only the pro-ducing companies would, like London, get inthere and try. I did not then think that I wouldbe coming back to this subject so soon, buthere we are, only a few months later, con-fronting the introduction of a new line of pre-recorded cassettes from Angel.

The Angel tapes go by the name XDR,which stands for "Xtended Dynamic Range."The literature describing the XDR processspeaks rather generally of "improved tapeformulations" and "radically new signal -processing electronics" in the duplicatingchain. More specific is the information thatthe cassettes have been recorded with theDolby -B noise -reduction system and that theequalization is based on the "standard" 120 -microsecond characteristic. The initial releaseconsists of thirteen cassettes, three of themtaken up by the Beverly Sills/Janet Baker ICapuleti e i Montecchi; a fourteenth cassette,for demonstration, contains excerpts frommany of the others. All of these have beenevaluated for this survey and compared withtheir corresponding disc versions.

I should admit right away that this projecthad its perplexing aspects from the start.There was, first of all, the fact that none ofthese recordings, tape or disc, was free ofwhat is, by the best modern standards, an un-characteristically high hiss level. Listening tothem all, one after another, was a little liketaking a trip back in time to the pre -Dolby era.In several instances the hiss level seemed tobe controlled by the signal-to-noise ratio ofthe original duplicating master tape, which isa bit hard to understand in view of moderntechnology's ability to keep even second- andthird -generation masters impressively quiet.Second, there were frequent instances inwhich a disc had more hiss than the cassette,which just shouldn't be, assuming that thecassette duplicating master was preparedfrom the same tape that was used to cut thedisc and that the disc processing was carriedout properly.

And there were more puzzles. I quicklylearned about the perils of excessive skepti-

cism when it became apparent that there is in-deed something strikingly exotic (see "radi-cally new signal -processing electronics"above) going on in the processing of thesecassettes. To begin with, all evidence indi-cates that they have been hit hard by somesort of peak limiter. It sounds like a compres-sor, since dynamic range has been sharplyabridged relative to the disc in most cases, butit looks (on an oscilloscope) like a limiter, anda "smart" limiter at that. The threshold levelat which the device "clamps down" seems todance around, perhaps in response to the fre-quency content of the material or maybe in re-sponse to some even more sophisticated"program." Creditably, it manages to give atleast some sense of dynamics even when thelimiter-if limiter it is-is constantly at work.(Incidentally, compressors and limiters bothreduce dynamic range. The difference be-tween them is that a compressor is always"on," while a limiter is only "on" intermit-tently to reduce peak levels.)

"...in no case could Idistinguish a disc from acassette on the basis ofthe four -channel effect."

And there is more. The average recordedlevel on a number of these tapes is only trivi-ally below standard Dolby level, which is 0 dBon the Advent cassette deck used for theseevaluations. This means that on high-levelpassages the meter needle spends awesomelylong periods of time "in the red." It is com-mon knowledge that you can't treat tape thisway when recording without winding up withan unspeakable mess, but with these Angeltapes . . . well, I can't really say that theysound fabulous when they get up there intocloud -cuckoo land, but they do sound betterthan you'd have any right to expect. I have noidea how this is accomplished, but I'm readyto consider the possibility that there is a pre -distorter in the Angel duplicating chain. A"predistorter" is designed to anticipate thetype and degree of distortion that will be en-countered under giyen circumstances (the on-

set of tape saturation in this case) and to applya complementary distortion to the recordingsignal, thereby undoing in advance some ofthe damage it "knows" will be done to the re-corded waveform. The existence of such adevice anywhere in the Angel/Capitol plant issheer speculation on my part, but it wouldoffer an explanation of sorts.

ALTOGETHER, then, we evidently havequite a show of technical ingenuity takingplace. How well it works we'll consider in de-tail in a moment, but first some notes on theconditions and objectives of the evaluations:The playback systems were basically thesame as the ones for the London project (seeJuly, page 30), and the efforts made in the in-terest of matching frequency responses grati-fyingly paid off in a statistically good scatter-ing of frequency balances. There were not toomany cassettes that were brighter (generallymore abundant in high frequencies) than thediscs, but there were enough to suggest thatthe test conditions were reasonably valid. Theone large change in the disc -playback systemwas the substitution of a very sophisticatedlow -mass tone arm which eliminated the flut-ter effects I encountered during the Londonproject. It also resulted in a substantiallyhigher arm -cartridge resonance which didmuch to reduce the audible effects of moldgrain, the pebbly texture imparted to the sur-face of some discs which plays back as a non-descript low -frequency noise.

A number of the cassettes and their corre-sponding discs have been encoded via the SQmatrix system for optional four -channel play-back. These were evaluated both as stereo re-cordings and through the CBS SQL -200 de-coder as quadraphonic recordings (though notcommercially available, the SQL -200 is saidto be a virtual equivalent of the more sophis-ticated consumer decoders of the full -logic,variable -blend type). Doubt has been ex-pressed for some time about the cassette'sability to accept and reproduce matrixed re-cordings because of the potential for inter -channel phase shift. While studying stereo os-cilloscope displays during the London projectI was struck by the remarkable similarity inthe waveforms derived from the cassettes andthe discs, and felt that this boded well for ma-trixed cassettes. Because of the unusualprocessing applied to the Angel cassettes,their waveforms resembled those from thediscs only intermittently; however, in no casecould I aurally distinguish a disc from a cas-sette on the basis of the four -channel effectyielded. Since all of the selections are classi-cal or light classical, the rear channels carryonly ambiance signals with no specific direc-tionality. But listening to the rear channelsalone produced a strikingly good match withthe disc in virtually every instance.

THE basic criteria applied in these evalua-tions are noise, distortion, wow and flutter,dynamic range, and frequency response(within the cassette's apparent limitations athigh levels). Whereas the London cassettesoften seemed a bit bass shy, the Angel cas-settes were a good match for the disc -playback system, possibly suggesting a differ-ence in recording equalization. Other anoma-lies will be mentioned in connection withspecific recordings.

1. Orchestral Music of Ravel-Album 5 (thetwo piano concertos), Angel 37151: One of the


12 STEREO REVIEW

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THE NEWANGEL CASSETTES

(Continued from page 12)

best recordings of the lot in both disc and cas-sette versions; bright and alive, although per-haps a bit too close up for some tastes. Thecassette is slightly hissier than the disc, slight-ly brighter, and compression is often heard.

2. Mozart: The Four Horn Concertos, An-gel 36840: Another good recording, with a finesense of space. The disc is slightly brighterthan the cassette and slightly hissier, suggest-ing that the hiss comes from the master. BarryTuckwell's horn is recorded at phenomenallyhigh levels at some points on the cassette, buttape -overload effects are only rarely evident(in a sort of "blaart" tone acquired by the in-strument) and compression effects do not re-ally stand out.

3. Resphigi: Ancient Airs and Dances, An-gel 37301: Not as distinguished an example ofthe recording arts as the above two, but pleas-ant enough. The disc is slightly brighter thanthe cassette, and occasionally the cassettesounds just a tad muffled on high-level pas-sages, although effects of gross compressionare not very often audible. This is an SQ re-cording, and during the stereo evaluations Iwas struck by a hole -in -the -middle discon-tinuity in the stereo image on both versions.

Listening through the SQ decoder seemed tocure this problem, and the whole thing cameoff very nicely.

4. Beethoven: The Favorite Piano Sonatas("Moonlight," "Pathetique," "Les Adieux"),Angel 36424: The tape jammed early in thiscomparison (my fault, I think) and there wasnot sufficient time to get a replacement. How-ever, initial impressions were that the cassettewas coming out ahead. Both versions exhibit-ed ample hiss, but the cassette seemed to

have somewhat less. Otherwise they ap-peared generally similar.

5. Pleasures of the Court (dances by Susatoand Morley), Angel 36851: Here was an in-stance in which running the cassette throughin fast wind and cleaning the machine's headshelped a little, although the cassette was still

significantly dimmer and more muffled thanthe disc. The terraced dynamics of the musickept any compression effects from being ob-noxiously apparent, although the recordedlevels on the cassette were quite high in someplaces.

6. Itzhak Perlman Plays Fritz Kreisler, An-gel 37171: Early twentieth-century works forviolin with piano accompaniment, in the ro-mantic and sometimes sentimental vein. Theviolin is generally too big and too close forcomfort, and compression is audible on thecassette. Otherwise, hiss levels and frequen-cy balances are similar to those of the disc.

7. Romantic Orchestral Music (works byAlbinoni, Holst, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff,and Ravel), Angel 37157: The disc is muchbrighter and much hissier. The average re-corded level on the cassette is high, and com-pression is distinctly audible on the excerptfrom Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.

8. Music for Silent Film Classics .(workscomposed to accompany films by D. W.Griffith), Angel 36092: These efforts on one ofthe better-known "mighty Wurlitzer" pipe or-gans do little to elevate either the cassette orthe disc, both being plagued with a seasickshudderiness that, while characteristic of theinstrument, sounds like a serious case of in-termodulation effects as well. The cassettemanages to equal the disc in low frequenciesmost of the time (they are not too demanding,but they are constant), but it is dim and mud-dy up above. The mighty Wurlitzer exhibits

14 STEREO REVIEW

620

The E20 Power Amplifier boasts harmonicand M distortions so low they cannot bereliably measured with the best test in-struments. It is, unconditionally stableunder any load, including a direct shortcircuit. The power supply packs morebunch than units several times itssize. A unique biasing circuit cutsidling current by 1/20 and keeps thebold heat sinkfins cool to the touch.Peak indicator lamps glow greenor red for each channel at pre-settable power output levels.

For complete information, writeNakamichi Research (U.S.A.),Inc., 220 Westbury Ave., Carle

lace. N.Y 11514 or see yourakamichi dealer soon and

for a demonstration of610 and 620 together

with the incredible 600Cassette Console (nowalso available in matteblack finish).

Power Output: 100 watts per channel min. R MS, 8 ohms, 5 Hz -20 kHz, with no more than 0.01% THDIM Distortion: Less than 0.002% at 100W/8 ohms (601-u: 7 kHz, 4:1); S/N Ratio: Better than 120 dB (I HF-A)

az:

little dynamic range to speak of, and audiblecompression is therefore not apparent.

9. Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Angel37061: Here we enter an area-large-scaleorchestral/operatic works-in which the cas-sette tends to be in over its head. Hiss seemedto be higher on the cassette (there was plentyon the disc too), but frequency balances werein general quite similar. The real trouble oc-curred with such things as big, hard cymbalcrashes-practically absent on the tape butdevastating on the disc. Nevertheless, if youcan accept the loss of percussion, Schehera-zade does not require a lot of dynamic rangeto be appreciated, and the cassette is probablyan acceptable substitute for the disc version.

10. Bellini: I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Angel3824: This is a lively, even violent recordingon disc and a disappointment on cassette. Aslevels increase during the overture, the cas-sette first loses the cymbal crashes (you cansense the "holes" where they should be with-out hearing them), then the triangle, and in theconclusion of the opening chorus the malevoices finally begin to drop out. Switchingback to the disc brings all of these back with avengeance. Compression on the cassette is se-vere-it ultimately begins to sound quite con-stipated. Yet overall frequency balance (atless than the higher levels) is similar to that ofthe disc, as is the noise level, although I foundthe disc slightly brighter and noisier.

11. Hoist: The Planets, Angel 36991: Thedisc copy sent by Angel to accompany the

cassette was so dim and murky in sound that Iquickly switched to the British pressing (EMIASD 3002) acquired for the evaluation ofgood disc recordings Arnis Balgalvis and I re-ported on in our April "Hot Platters" article.It proved to be a good match for the cassettein general frequency balance (it was apprecia-bly less hissy) and ridiculously superior in dy-namic range. Since I was quite familiar withthe basic recording, I decided to see if I couldunlimit the compression on the cassette to ap-proach something of the disc's character. Us-

ing a dbx Model 119 in its expansion modewith the threshold set so it began to expand atabout 0 dB on the cassette deck's meter (theModel 119 has a variable threshold, and thuscan undo some of the effects of peak limiting),I was just about able to equal some of thedisc's remarkable vigor. But it took literallyall the expansion the dbx device could pro-

vide (a rated two -to -one ratio) at the closingmoments of the "Jupiter" movement, and itstill entailed a "crunching" of cymbals andother high frequencies. However, the tapecan be impressive when so processed.

12. Introducing the Sound of Angel XDRCassette Tape: This is the demonstration tapeto which I referred earlier. Many of the ex-cerpts from the above recordings seem tohave been compressed even more severely,with the idea (I suppose) that if louder is bet-ter, constantly loud is better still. I considerthe tape nonmusical; fortunately it is alsononcommercial, so no one is going to beasked to buy it.

WHAT can be concluded from all this?Certainly that cassettes are getting better;they now actually bear being talked about inthe same breath as discs, which was hardlytrue a rather short time ago. Still, they cannotapproach the dynamic range of a good disc re-cording without serious losses in signal-to-noise ratio or high -frequency response.

Some people have suggested to me that Iam too hard on cassettes in comparing themdirectly with disc recordings, the idea beingthat they can stand on their own merits whenlistened to in isolation. I tentatively agree,and I think the above comments indicate whatis worthwhile listening fare in the cassette for-mat. But I am not yet convinced that the cas-sette can, in its present form, give us full sat-isfaction on heavy orchestral and operaticworks. That may soon change, for Angel (andothers) can be expected to go on trying.

OCTOBER 1976 15

Jensen Headphones.Concert halls foryour ears.Discover jazzier jazz. Earthier rock. Classier classical. And bluer blues.

Jensen headphones are your season tickets to stereo enjoyment. They're acompletely new dimension for your stereo system, with five decades of Jensen home andauto speaker technology behind them.

Choose from three models with features like patented acoustical driver cavities,liquid filled ear cushions, anti -tangle coil cords, and a moderate pricerange both you and your wallet can appreciate.

But don't listen to us...listen to our headphones.For more information and the name of your local Jensen

dealer, write Jensen Sound Laboratories, Dept. SR -106,4310 Trans World Road, Schiller Park, Illinois 60176.

JENSENSOUND LABORATORIES

Division of Pemcor, Inc.


flew Products the latest in high-fidelity equipment and accessories

JVC Model JA -S71IntegratedStereo AmplifierThe Model JA -S71 from JVC is the largest in-tegrated amplifier offered by the company,providing 80 watts per channel continuousinto 8 ohms over the full 20- to 20,000 -Hzrange with no more than 0.1 per cent harmon-ic or intermodulation distortion. The amplifierprovides inputs for two phono cartridges, twoauxiliary high-level sources, tuner, and threetape decks with complete tape -monitor facili-ties and dubbing capability from any one toany other(s). Inputs and outputs for one of thedecks are located on the front panel in theform of four standard phono jacks. Switch -able high- and low-cut filters act above 9,000Hz and below 18 Hz. The bass and treble con-trols can be switched in or out of the circuitby means of a separate switch. A mode selec-tor has positions for stereo, normal and re-versed, mono, and either channel alone. Twopairs of speakers are accommodated, withswitching to activate either pair alone, both atonce, or both off to facilitate headphone lis-tening through the adjacent front -panel phonejack. The large volume control rotatesthrough 22 detented steps, each of which iscalibrated in decibels, and its associated loud-ness compensation can be switched in or out.In an unusual feature, the JA -S71 provides forfront -panel switching of both the impedanceand the capacitance of the phono inputs, withpositions for 100,000, 47,000, and 33,000ohms, and 330 or 100 additional picofarads.

The signal-to-noise ratio for the amplifier'sphono inputs is 65 dB. The filters both haveslopes of 6 d13 per octave, and the bass andtreble controls provide an adjustment rangeof ±8 dB at 100 and 10,000 Hz. The phono in-puts have a headroom before overload of 210millivolts. The amplifier measures approxi-

mately 163/4 x 63/s x 151/2 inches; its weight isjust over 35 pounds. Approximate retail val-ue: $400.

Circle 115 on reader service card

ADS Model 910Speaker SystemThe Model 910 from Analog & Digital Sys-tems is the manufacturer's premium speaker,said to be suitable in its power -handling capa-bility and overall performance for profession-al as well as home applications. It is a three-

way system with a 1 -inch soft -dome tweeter,2 -inch soft -dome mid -range, and two 10 -inchwoofers working in a separate sealed sub=enclosure.. The 910's built-in crossover net-work divides the input frequencies at 450 and4,000 Hz with slopes of 12 dB per octave.However, the system can also be tri-amplified, and ADS plans to make available aplug-in amplifier module providing 200 wattsfor the woofers, 50 watts for the mid -range,and 25 watts for the tweeter.

The 910's frequency response is given as 28to 20,000 Hz ±3 dB. For an input of 1 watt,the output is a sound -pressure level of 94 dBat a distance of 1 meter. With the convention-al crossover network, power requirementsinto the system's 4 -ohm impedance rangefrom a minimum of 15 to a maximum of 300watts continuous. All drivers employ alumi-num voice -coil bobbins to enhance power -handling capability. The Model 910 is finishedin walnut with a black removable grille. Ex-ternal dimensions are 331/2 x 19 x 151/4 inches.;weight is 80 pounds. Price: approximately

$540 ($560 in the West). An optional swivelstand that attaches to threaded sleeves in thesides of the Model 910 costs about $70.


Bang & Olufsen1900 TurntableThe Beogram 1900 turntable is actually a com-plete integrated record player consisting ofturntable, tone arm, and phono cartridge. Thecartridge, B & O's Model MMC 4000, ismounted on the tone arm by means of a plug-in arrangement that greatly reduces effectivemass, resulting in an arm -cartridge resonancewell above 10 Hz. A lead counterweight isused to permit the center of mass to be locat-ed very close to the tone -arm pivots. The arm,which is not intended to accept any other car-tridge, has fixed skating compensation pre -adjusted for the cartridge's recommended 1 -gram tracking force. However, the trackingforce is adjustable by means of a weight thatslides along a scale calibrated in 0.1 -gramincrements.

The turntable itself is a belt -driven, two -speed (331/2 and 45 rpm) design with a fine-tuning speed adjustment that is variable overa range of ±3 per cent. The only control onthe turntable is a multifunction rocker switchthat is flush with the chassis surface. It turnson the unit, selects speed, and activates thefully automatic cycling of the tone arm whenrocked in the appropriate direction. Internally

the platter and tone arm share a common sub -frame that is acoustically isolated from theturntable's base and motorboard by means ofleaf springs. Rumble, unweighted, is betterthan -42 dB, and wow and flutter are lessthan ±0.035 per cent. The MMC 4000 car-tridge has a 0.2 x 0.7 -mil diamond ellipticalstylus and a frequency response of 20 to25,000 Hz ±1.5 dB. Output exceeds 0.6 mil-livolt for a recorded velocity of 1 centimeterper second.

The Beogram 1900 is supplied completewith wood base and a hinged, tinted dust cov-er. Overall dimensions are 3% x 17% x 13inches. Price: $325.


Advent Model 300Stereo FM ReceiverThe FM -only Model 300 is Advent's first re-ceiver. It provides continuous output of 15watts per channel into 8 ohms from 40 to20,000 Hz with less than 0.5 per cent harmon-ic distortion. Although outwardly simple inappearance, the receiver is said to have beenelectrically designed on the basis of newinvestigations into the behavior of audio cir-cuits under typical operating and signal condi-tions. For example, the phono inputs are im-mune to response -altering interaction withphono cartridges. Also, pains have been takento ensure that the amplifier section will deliverfull rated power to all loudspeaker loads.

The tuning mechanism of the Model 300 is arotary vernier knob that works with calibra-tions marked directly on the receiver's frontpanel. Associated with it are a stereo indica-tor light and a channel -center tuning indicatorthat consists of two LED's that glow withequal intensity when a station is properlytuned in. Knob controls adjust volume, bal-ance, bass, and treble and also select amongphono, tuner, or an auxiliary high-levelsource. There are slide switches for tape mon-


OCTOBER 1976 17

ectron soiledspeed selector ancpitli controls.

Built-ir stroboscope.

sl71ons.

Precision machinefinished aluminumplatter with speedmonitor magneticcoating.

Lateral Baia c mpensa

icons -dampedcueing lever.

Cartridge' not rncluded

Pioneer's publicized$200 direct drive

manual turntable hasjust been shot down

byour semi -automatic.Sorry, Pioneer. But all's fair in

love and product war.In that spirit, Sony unveils the

PS -3300. A $200 direct driveturntable that's semi -automatic.

So the contest between ourPS -3300 and their vauntedPL -510 is really no contest.Because in the crassest terms,we give you more: an automaticarm return and a reject button.

And that's a substantial differ-ence, for no difference in price.

What's more, we didn't shaveanything to make it possible.

The PS -3300 has a finelycrafted direct drive system witha brushless and slotless DCservo -controlled motor.

(C) 1976 Sony Corp. o

The PS -3300 innovates with aspeed monitoring system thatstate troopers would love to gettheir hands on: an electronicprocess using an 8 -pole mag-netic pick-up head and a pulsecoated platter rim.

Plus there's independent finespeed adjustments, a tonearmthat's so sensitive it's almostneurotic, and so on.

And to see the attention todetail that Sony stands for, notewhat the PS -3300 stands on.Bell -shaped rubber feet that arespecially constructed to preventboth acoustic and mechanicalfeedback. (When it comes tofeedback, we put our feet down.)

America. Sony, 9 W. 57 St., N.Y., N.Y. 10019. SONY is a trademark of Sony Corp.

They absorb vibrations-whether from footsteps bounc-ing on the floor or sound wavesbouncing off the wall. Otherwise,these vibrations would be trans-ferred to the stylus, amplified,and be transferred back to thestylus-creating a vicious cycle.

If you're wondering how wemanaged to do this-how oursemi -automatic shot downtheir high -flying manual -ourresponse is a brief one.

While Pioneer relied on itsreputation, Sony relied on itsengineers.

SONY

OCTOBER 1976 CIRCLE NO. 56 ON READER SERVICE CARD 19

RTRunveils

aestheticsound

with the EXP bookshelf systemIn a typical listening environ-ment, the bookshelf speaker isa perfect design entity. It fitslogically, aesthetically withina room. If only the sonic color-ation could be eliminated, itwould be an ideal loudspeaker.

Now RTR unveils audiophilebookshelf speakers for thosewho take their music seriously.

The EXP series delivers puremusical reproduction. Free ofcoloration, full of transparency,they reflect the most criticalRTR standards. Wide -bandtweeter exhibits the best tran-sient performance from 1,000to 15,000 Hz of any dynamictweeter. Woofers deliverhair -line delineation coupledwith natural boom -free bass.

All in a bookshelf package andprice. Hear a pair of EXP'sat your franchised RTR dealer.

For dealer list and specifications, writeRTR, Dept. SR, 8116 Deering Ave.,

Canoga Park, CA 91304.

flew Products the latest in high-fidelityequipment and accessories

itor, loudness compensation, mono/stereomode, interstation-noise muting, and speak-ers (two pairs accommodated). The front pan-el has a stereo headphone jack. The rear pan-el, aside from standard inputs and outputs,has phono jacks providing access to thepreamplifier outputs and power -amplifier in-puts plus an 18 -volt d.c. "supply" output thatcan be used to power such accessories as theAdvent microphone preamplifier.

The FM specifications of the Model 300 in-clude a usable sensitivity of 2.2 microvolts, a50 -dB quieting sensitivity of 5 microvolts, anda 1.4 -dB capture ratio. Harmonic distortion(mono) is less than 0.2 per cent; image and i.f.

I1111111111011111111111111111111111111111111111111\

10,a

rejection are 53 and 70 dB, respectively; spu-rious -response rejection is 75 dB; and AMsuppression is 55 dB. Frequency response is20 to 15,000 Hz ±0.5 dB. The signal-to-noiseratio for the phono inputs is 82 dB. The re-ceiver measures approximately 16 x 31/2 x 103/4inches overall. Price: $259.95. For a slight ad-ditional cost the Model 300 comes fitted with aswitching -mode power supply which enablesit to operate from a 12 -volt storage battery.


Micro -Acoustics 2002-eStereo Phono CartridgeThe electret transducer introduced to phonocartridges some years ago by Micro -Acous-tics has now been applied to a new pickup, the2002-e. Like previous models, the new car-tridge is tolerant of wide variations in loadingby preamplifier and interconnecting cables.According to the manufacturer, the 2002-ehas been designed for both maximum tracking

ability and maximum transient response. A0.2 x 0,7 -mil elliptical diamond stylus is em-ployed, mounted on a lightweight berylliumcantilever that is said to contribute greatly tolow tip mass. Frequency response is 5 to20,000 Hz ±1.5 dB, with an output of 3.5 mil-livolts for a recorded velocity of 3.54 centime-ters per second. Recommended stylus force is1 gram or less; the weight of the cartridge it-self, including mounting hardware, is 4 grams.Stereo separation is 30 dB at 1,000 Hz. Price:$115. User -replaceable styli cost $42.50 each.


B.I.C. Model 920Automatic TurntableAt $79.95, the Model 920 is the least expen-sive unit in the B.I.C. turntable line. It em-ploys a belt -drive system for its 101/2 -inchplatter and it has the B.I.C. "programming"control that sets the changer mechanism upfor automatic play of from one to six records.Speeds of 331/2 and 45 rpm are provided.

The 920's tone arm is initially balanced witha rotating counterweight, after which a smallsliding weight on the calibrated tone -armshaft is used to set tracking force. Anti -skat-ing compensation is independently adjustableby means of a calibrated knob beneath thearm base. A cueing mechanism, operated by alever near the tone -arm pivots, is damped inboth directions of travel.

Overall dimensions of the Model 920, withbase and dust cover, are 151/4 x 63/s x 133/8inches. The rumble level is -60 dB or less(DIN B weighting), and wow and flutter arebetter than 0.12 per cent. Bases and dust coy-

ers are optional at $14.95 for a wood base,$4.95 for a plastic base, and $7.95 for a dustcover.


Aiwa AX -7500AM/Stereo FM ReceiverAs its top -of -the -line receiver, Aiwa has intro-duced the AM/FM AX -7500, a unit providingat least 30 watts per channel (20 to 20,000 Hz)into 8 -ohm loads with a maximum of 0.2 percent harmonic or intermodulation distortion.Weighted signal-to-noise ratios are 80 dB forphono and the auxiliary high-level input, and90 dB for the two tape inputs. The amplifiersection has a frequency response of 10 to70,000 Hz +0, -1 dB for high-level sources;the phono preamplifier matches the RIAAcharacteristic within ±0.3 dB and the phonooverload level is 200 millivolts at a frequencyof 1,000 Hz.

On FM, the AX -7500 has a usable sensitiv-ity of 1.8 microvolts and a capture ratio of 1dB. Spurious -response rejection is 75 dB, AMsuppression is 50 dB, and stereo separation at1,000 Hz is 43 dB. Harmonic distortion is 0.25per cent for mono, 0.4 per cent for stereo, and


the tuner's ultimate signal-to-noise ratio is 70dB.

Distinguishing features of the AX -7500'scontrol panel are the separate narrow tuningdials for FM and AM, both of which extendthe full width of the receiver. Below the dials

are tuning meters for signal strength and cen-ter -of -channel, plus a row of pushbuttons toselect program source and tape -monitoringfunctions (dubbing from one of the tape decksto the other is possible) and to introduce FMinterstation-noise muting, loudness compen-sation, rumble filter, and AFC. The receiverhas knob controls for tuning, volume, bal-ance, and bass and treble (±10 dB at 100 and10,000 Hz, respectively), and a sixth knob ad-justs the level of the front -panel microphoneinput. Two pairs of speakers are accom-modated, and these can beplayed together,separately, or silenced completely by meansof a rotary selector. The front panel has aheadphone jack and a DIN connector for onetape deck. Approximate dimensions of theAX -7500: 1734 x 63/4 x 141/4 inches. Price:$360.


AKG MicrophoneApplication GuidesAKG has prepared six "application guides"to assist recordists and musicians in selectingmicrophones for their specific purposes. Thesituations covered are solo vocalist (witheither hand-held or stationary microphones),vocal groups, solo instruments, vocalist withinstrument, instrumental groups, and special-ized applications such as broadcast work orTV and film sound. The guides cover suchconsiderations as optimum frequency re-sponse for different instruments and voices,cardioid vs. omnidirectional microphone re-sponse, proximity effect, and microphoneplacement. The appropriate AKG micro-phones for each application are described,together with brief specifications, and suitablecables and adapters for various hook-ups arerecommended.

The AKG guides are available as a set of sixfastened into a blue 9 x 12 binder togetherwith notes on the understanding of technicalspecifications and a catalog of AKG micro-phone stands and accessories. Distribution ofthe guides is through local AKG dealers andrepresentatives.

Micro -Acoustics TT -2002.Test RecordTo evaluate the tracking ability, transient re-sponse, and stereo separation of phono car-tridges, Micro -Acoustics has prepared a testrecord employing both electronically generat-

ed test tones and natural musical sounds,some of which are said to have been recordedat the highest levels of which modern disc -cutting equipment is capable. Side one is de-voted principally to high- and low -frequencytest tones, separate and mixed, that are re-corded in stereo and shifted progressively be-tween channels, together with some demand-ing percussion sounds. Side two consists ofexcerpts from selected commercial record-ings, both classical and popular. The recordincludes complete instructions on how toevaluate the tests as well as advice on whatspecific things to listen for in the musical se-lections. It is available by mail from Micro -Acoustics Corp., Dept. SR, 8 WestchesterPlaza, Elmsford, N.Y. 10523. Price: $3.50,postpaid.

Metrosound DiscmasterRecord CleanerMetrosound, a company specializing in ad-justment and maintenance accessories forrecord players and tape machines, has intro-duced the Discmaster record -cleaning systemto be distributed by RNS Marketing in theU.S. The heart of the Discmaster system is apseudo "tone arm" that plays the record witheither of two attachments. One of the attach-ments is a "wet" cleaner that applies a clean-ing solution to the record by means of the ca-pillary action of a special brush -and -pad ar-rangement. Attachment number two plays therecord dry, removing surface dust with abrush and plush -pad assembly. The attach-ments are meant to be used separately, thedry cleaner for every record as it is played,and the wet system as required. They pluginto the arm proper by means of suitable con-nectors. A reservoir in the wet attachmentcontains a sufficient amount of fluid for anumber of cleanings.

The Discmaster arm has an aluminum coun-terweight and a weighted base that holds themechanism on the turntable motorboard; it

needs no adhesives or fasteners. A height ad-justment is provided to bring the arm parallelto the platter surface. Also included with thesystem are a bottle of cleaning solution, a spe-cial nozzle to fit the filling aperture of the fluidreservoir, and a brush to remove dust and de-posits from pads and brushes. Price: $23.49.Refill bottles of cleaning solution are $3.49.


PUBLISHERS NOTICE: Recent fluctuations in.thevalue of the dollar will have an effect on the price ofmerchandise imported into this country. So, pleasebe aware that the prices quoted in this issue may besubject to change.

SONUSPHONOGRAPHCARTRIDGES

In just a few minutesyour "subconscious"

tells you they're the best!

An insidious form of distortion you maynot even be aware of, is causing "listeningfatigue" as you play your records. Afterabout 15 minutes of a complex, musicallydemanding record, it shows up. You feelvaguely anxious, irritable, and ready to turnoff the music. -That's "listening fatigue"-virtually eliminated at last with the newSonus phono cartridges.

You can hear and feel the difference inthe lime it takes to play one side of a record.Sonus has reduced intermodulation and re-lated distortions to previously unachievedlevels, reducing these sources of "listeningfatigue" to the vanishing point. As you lis-ten, you discover that the emotional tensionformerly caused by this distortion is gone.The music comes through with an effortlessclarity and definition, as you listen withmore attention, more relaxation, and farmore pleasure than ever before.

The new Sonus cartridges take you closerto an actual performance than any othercartridges have been able to, until now.

"At one gram, the SONUS Blue Labelwas audibly superior . the sound wasexcellent In every respect."Stereo Review/Hirsch-Houck Laboratories

High Definition PhonoCartridges for The Most

Accurate Sound ReproductionPossible.

Write for further information

SONIC RESEARCH INC.27 Sugar Hollow Rd., Danbury, Ct. 06810

OCTOBER 1976 21CIRCLE NO. 55 ON READER SERVICE CARD

"I've got a 60minuterecording studio

in my pocket!

It's called theMICROCASSETTE°

PearlcorderC

A MICROCASSETTE recorder that's sounique, it's like having your own mini -studio in your pocket with remarkablygood fidelity for music as well as voice. It'ssmaller than a checkbook (51/4" from topto bottom, slightly thicker than a pack ofcards), and lightweight (12 ounces withbatteries), but it's packed with studio pre-cision and professional features:

60 minutes recording time. Capstan drive for constant tape speed,built-in electret condenser microphone,AC bias, record -warning light. All metal construction for yearsof dependable service. One -hand operation; instant loading. Fast forward and rapid rewind. Automatic level control. Connects to your stereo or full-sizerecorder with a Compaticord, for bothrecording and playback.

The Pearlcorder-S performs beautifully inan office, in your car, even on airplanes;and it's backed by the reputation of theOlympus Optical Co., Ltd., a companyfamous for fine cameras, medical andother precision scientific instruments.

The Pearlcorder-S. Carry one. And havea studio with you.

Available at fine photographic, audio,and A -V dealers everywhere. Or write forour brochure, "Pocket Full of Miracles."

OLYMPUS CORPORATION OF AMERICATWO NEVADA DRIVE/NEW HYDE PARK. NEW YORK 11040In Canada: W. Caret, Co., Ltd., Ont.60 minutes of sound in thisactual -size MICR OCASSETTE.a'


Recorders and DimmersrN I have found that a.c.-operated tape re-

corders will frequently not record whenpowered from outlets on a circuit with solid-state dimmers. Why is this so, and can the re-corder be damaged by the attempt?

MAURICE BULLARDCorvallis, Ore.

ASolid-state dimmers operate by, in. effect, suppressing a part of the a.c.

line's sinusoidal waveform. This works be-cause an incandescent lamp responds (bydimming) only to the lower effective voltagefed to it and doesn't care what the waveformlooks like. Such dimmers are popular becausethey run far cooler than equivalently effectivedimmers using resistors; they are also farmore compact and less expensive than trans-former -type dimmers. However, as said, sol-id-state dimmers do distort the a.c. wave-form, which could cause a motor to react pe-culiarly (run off -speed, lose torque), andcould also introduce considerable noise intosensitive circuits. I'm told that other some-what mysterious phenomena occur too; ev-erything seems to be normal during record-ing-except that nothing shows up on thetape. Offhand I can't see how a dimmer in theline could do that, but I guess strange thingscan happen objectively-as well as subjec-tively-in the wonderful world of audio.Therefore, in respect to potential damage, itwould probably be wise not to operate an a.c.recorder on a dimmer -controlled line.

Amplifier -Sound DifferencesAs one of those equipment reviewers re -r\

ferred to in your Q & A column of June1976 who is able consistently to hear differ-ences between different power amplifiers, I canassure you that "level differences," minute orotherwise, have nothing to do with it. Thematching of output levels when switching be-tween two amplifiers is irrelevant because I donot use fast -switching A -B comparisons. I testan amplifier by installing it in a system wherethe other components have known character-istics-and it need not be a "super"-system-and listening to it and it alone for anywherefrom a day to a month, reproducing a wide va-riety of recordings.

During that time, certain audible patternsusually emerge. The bass may sound deep andtaut in a few recordings and heavy, sodden,and loose in the vast majority of recordings,

leading to the conclusion that the amplifierwill under -damp most loudspeakers. The highsmay sound steely in most recordings and natu-ral in but a few, indicating that the amplifier it-self is "hot" at the top. The sound may be flatand lacking depth, or it may seem slightlyveiled rather than lucid and transparent.

There is no attempt to monitor listening lev-els other than to check periodically to see that,for instance, symphonic music is not exceed-ing the 95 -plus -dB levels of the real thing.Maximum levels are likely to range from 70 to98 dB during the course of the tests, yet thesonic "flavor" of each amplifier remains audi-ble at all reasonable levels. And if one of themhappens to be "compressing dynamics" bysliding into marginal overload at levels whichcomparably powered units can easily copewith, then that is just as much a "difference"as the other things I listen for.

If this all sounds too personally subjectivefor people who must cling to measurementslike some sort of security blanket, my only de-fense is that (1) my observations have provedto be consistently repeatable under these con-ditions, and (2) they have agreed with thefindings of other audiophiles who, having pur-chased the amplifiers in question, had nochoice but to form their own opinions in exact-ly the same manner-by prolonged listening.

J. GORDON HOLTStereophile Magazine

Elwyn, Pa.

AI have the utmost respect for J. Gordon. Holt's dedication and seriousness

about audio matters as reflected in his publi-cation. However. . . . What I understandhim to be saying is that instant A -B switchingcomparisons of power amplifiers may not dis-close some particular sonic characteristic thatwill nevertheless become audible with long-term listening. I can conceive of this beingtrue only when the program material is notvaried enough to cover all the areas of con-cern, such as frequency and transient re-sponse, distortion, etc. Obviously, if anamplifier has a "sodden" bass and it is audi-tioned only with the tester's favorite solo -flute recording, the bass problem may escapenotice. Of course, no reviewer would committhat gross an error, but it is possible that theremay be certain inadequacies in, say, a particu-lar amplifier's transient response to certainspecial combinations of signals that may slip


22 STEREO REVIEW

Technics introduces componentsdesigned for professional use only.The SE -9600P. Regulated stereo powe- amplifier with a lotmore than just power. Like 100% constant -current andvoltage power-suppl), regulation. Which means completefreedom from transient IM distortion. It also means high-level transients introduced in one channel won't affect theother. There's also only 0.08% IM distortion. A frequencyresponse of 5 Hz to 150kHz (+0dB -3dB).

A S/N ratio of 110 dB. A 4 -step damping factor control.And 110 watts per channel, minimum RMS, into 8 ohmsfrom 20 Hz to 20 kHz with no more than 0.08% totalharmonic distortion.

The SU-9600P. The stereo preamplifier that performsas well as it looks. Starting with an unheard of magneticphono overload tolerance of more than 11/3 volts (1350mVRMS at 3mV sensitivity). An equally impressive phono-2S/N ratio of 76 dB (referred to 3mV input). Virtually non-existent total harmonic distortion (0.02%). As well asbass and treble negative -feedback tone controls calibratedin 2.5 dB steps. With turnover pushbuttons at 125 Hzand 500 Hz as well as at 2kHz and 8kHz.

The SH-9090P. The Universal Frequency Equalizerthat has no equal. You get 12 dB of boost or attenuationfor 12 bands (10 Hz to 32 kHz). Plus the center frequencyof each band can be continuously shifted by as muchas -±-1 octave. In addition, the bandwidth (Q) for each of the12 bands is continuously variable from 0.7 to 7. Theresult: You have more control over response shaping thanwith any other single instrument. (Configuration: onein, one out.)

The SP-10MK II. In every respect, it's everything youwant in a professional turntable. So much torque itonly takes 0.25 of a second to reach the exact playing speedat 331 RPM. Our lowest wow and flutter (0.025% WRMS)and rumble (-70 dB DIN B). A quartz -locked frequencygenerator DC servo motor. And, of course, the reliability ofTechnics direct drive. The system that radio stations use.And discos abuse. Supplied without tone arm.

rPanasonic CompanyTechnics Dept. 010One Panasonic WaySecaucus, N.J. 07094

Attention: Sid Silver,Technical Service Specialist.

Technicsby Panasonic

Professional SeriesSend me technical information on the Technics Professional Series.Have a Technics audio specialist call for an appointment.

NAME TITLEPlease Print

COMPANY

ADDRESS

CITY STATE ZIP

LAREA CODE PHONE NUMBERI


Thephono cartridge

that doesn't compromiseany

modern record.AT15SaLuVisiTTRIEW

Choosing an AT15Sacan add more listen-ing pleasure per dollarthan almost anything elsein your hi-fi system. First, becauseit is one of our UNIVERSAL phonocartridges. Ideally suited for everyrecord of today: mono, stereo, ma-trix or discrete 4 -channel. And lookat what you get.Uniform response from 5 to 45,000Hz. Proof of audible performance ison an individually -run curve, packedwith every cartridge.

Stereo separation is outstanding. Notonly at 1 kHz (where everyone is prettygood) but also at 10kHz and above (whereothers fail). It's a resultof our exclusive DualMagnet* design that'uses an individual low -mass magnetfor each side of the record groove.Logical, simple and very effective.Now, add up the benefits of a genu-ine Shibata stylus. It's truly the stylusof the future, and a major improve-ment over any elliptical stylus. TheAT15Sa can track the highest record-ed frequencies with ease, works in

TM. U.S. Patent Nos. 3,720,796 and 3,761,647.

any good tone arm orplayer at reasonable

settings (1-2 grams),yet sharply reduces record

wear. Even compared to ellipticalstracking at a fraction of a gram. Yourrecords will last longer, sound better.

Stress analysis photos show concentrated high pres-sure with elliptical stylus (left), reduced pressure,less groove distortion with Shibata stylus (right).

The AT15Sa even helps improve thesound of old, worn records. Becausethe Shibata stylus uses parts of thegroove wall probably untouched byother elliptical or spherical styli. Andthe AT15Sa Shibata stylus is mount-ed on a thin -wall tapered tube, usinga nude square -shank mounting. Theresult is less mass and greater precisionthan with common round -shank styli.It all adds up to lower distortion andsmoother response. Differences youcan hear on every record you play.Don't choose a cartridge by name orprice alone. Listen. With all kinds ofrecords. Then choose. The AT15SaUNIVERSAL Audio-Technica car-tridge. Anything less is a compromise.

audio -technicsINNOVATION El PRECISION 0 INTEGRITY

AUDIO-TECHNICA U.S., INC., Dept. 106F, 33 Shiawassee Ave., Fairlawn, Ohio 44313

by unnoted during a brief A -B comparison.But once the music signal-however spe-cial-that discloses the problem is discov-ered, then it should be easy for anyone to usethat particular piece of music in an instantA -B comparison of the reference and testamplifier and hear the difference.

I suspect that two separate issues are beingconfused: (1) Is there. a difference that can beheard under any circumstance? (2) Givensuch a difference, which sound is closer to theoriginal? Mr. Holt attempts to resolve the sec-ond question by listening to a large number ofdiscs and tapes and concluding that if most ofthem sound a certain way with a given amplifi-er-the amplifier in and of itself is responsi-ble. However, it seems to me that when it ispossible to specify a gross sonic problem suchas "heavy" or "hot," it should be easy tomeasure the electrical factor that is responsi-ble for it. We all agree that it is frequentlydifficult to measure "transparency" or "lackof depth" since it is not clear which electricalperformance factors may be responsible. Butwith most of the less subtle phenomena it iseasy enough to postulate a cause and make ameasurement to detect its presence orabsence. Measurements, rather than being a"security blanket," can pin -point the electri-cal -effect responsible for the sonic effect andtell the design engineer what to fix or im-prove. For a tester, they can help confirm thatwhat he thinks he hears may, in truth, exist.

My approach can be summed up as: (1) Ifyou can hear an effect, it is possible to meas-ure it-which is not the same as saying weknow at the moment how to measure every-thing that can be heard. (2) On the other hand,everything that can be measured does notnecessarily have audible effects. (3) Equip-ment -interface phenomena frequently in-troduce random elements into a setup thatcareless observers ascribe to faults in thecomponents. (4) Any sonic phenomenon thatis rarely (and inconsistently) heard and cannotbe demonstrated to friend and foe alike ismore likely to be a product of the listener'sbiorhythmic cycles than of the equipment.

Finally, the problems of comparison listen-ing tests are obviously complex and certainlyrequire further investigation by all of us whoconsider both our ears-and our minds-to beopen. We welcome further comment.

Wire Recorder

Q. While cleaning up our basement, I founda wire recorder in good working order.

My father told me he paid $650 for it somethirty years ago. I would like to know: (1) Isthis an antique? (2) What would be its valuetoday? (3) Who would be looking for such a re-corder should I want to sell it?

RICHARD G. GRASSCote St. -Luc, Quebec, Can.

AA(I) I'm told that the legal definition of an. antique is an artifact over one hundred

years old. Therefore, even Valdemar Poul-sen's original 1897 wire recorder would notqualify. (2) Value, like beauty, is in the eye ofthe beholder. (3) If any of our readers expressinterest, we'll forward their inquiries.

Because the number of questionswe receive each month is greaterthan we can reply to individually,only those letters selected for use inthis column can be answered. Sorry!

24 STEREO REVIEW

The new S10C is a JVC professionalWhich means rc other

similarly prices stereo rece verapproaches its tota combinationof precision, power and features.So there's no way any other lowpriced high fidelity receiver cangive you the same performance.

Most manufacturers reservespecial features and circuitry fortheir higher priced receivers. ButJVC is completely unconventional.The S100 has an expensive phaselock loop circuit for better stereoseparation and less distortion. Adual -gate MOS FET and ceramicfilters in the FM tuner sectionprovide excellent selectivity andsensitivity. The S100 has twometers-one for signal strength,the other for center -of -channel.You can't get more precise tuning.

The 5100 reverses the "lowprice/low power" trend. It delivers'Approximate retail value

20 wat-s per channel minimumFMS, et 8 dhrns, f-om 40 tD20.000 Hz, with no n-cre than0.5% total earenonic iistortion.This is stable power from dualpower supplies.

From its extra wide lineartuning dial to its clean, laboratorystyling, the S100 has all the versa-tility you want in the control centerof a fine music system. It has con-nections for a turntable, tapedeck, two pairs of speakers, plusan auxiliary.

Everything is simply con-trolled with pushbutton selectorsand precision, linear slide controls


for bass, reb e and volume. TotallyHrct onal Totally p-ofessional

all toll--ree 800-221-7502or the name of your nearest JVC

dealer. He'll show you why hebelieves people who buy JVCreceivers can t get any better forthe money.

JVC America. Inc., 58-75Queens Midtown Expressway,Maspeth, N.Y 11378t212) 476-8300

COLLECTORITEM

A GREAT WAY TO STARTYOUR EXPANDABLE

CASSETTESTORAGE SYSTEM

It's Add 'N Stac,® the world'sonly expandable cassette and8 -track storage system. Expandablebecause it provides as much tapestorage as your collection calls for.Add 'N Stac® is a module, so youcan buy only one or a few at atime. Each module has a patentedinterlocking device on all foursides. As your collection growsyou simply lock one module intothe next and - Presto! - expansionspace.

Add 'N Stec® is available ineither cassette or 8 -track size.Both come in a selection of colorsto help you match your decor orcolor -code your collection bycategory. Pre -drilled mountingholes let you create a strikingwall unit, or if you prefer, stackan arrangement on a table orshelf.

Store, organize and protectyour expanding tape collectionwith the world's only expandablesystem. At under $2.00 a module,it's definitely ...

... a collector's item.

... all in all this is the best storage systemwe know of for the serious collector."

- HIGH FIDELITY

Add 'n Staca product of

ROYAL SOUNDCOMPANY, INC.

For information ask your dealer or write:Royal Sound Co., Inc.248 Buffalo Avenue

Freeport, N.Y. 11520 USAU.S. Patent Office

U.S. and Foreign Patents

e 0,rmions

RECORDED RESPONSE

N my June column, in discussing theIbass-boost/treble-cut nature of play-

back equalization (EQ), I noted that theofficial curves for NAB open -reel andPhilips cassettes produce a 3 -dB loss at50 Hz (100 Hz for older ferric -oxide cas-settes) and fall off below this at a 6 -dB -per -octave rate. Recorder manufacturerswho want to maintain flat response at thevery low end must therefore incorporatea small but specific bass boost in the re-cording -equalization circuitry of theirmachines. Some commercial duplicatorsomit this boost, but most high -qualitytape decks do provide it.

At all frequencies above this bottomoctave or so, however, there's nothingfixed or official about recording equaliza-tion curves per se. Playback EQ must bestandard so that tapes made on one deckcan be successfully played on another.But recording EQ, by contrast, can bedefined simply as whatever treble tinker-ing needs to be done in a specific ma-chine to achieve a flat playback responsethrough a regulation, standardized play-back section.

Even this broad way of putting itbrings up a point about what recordingequalization is supposed to do that some-times causes confusion. When youcheck the test reports in this or othermagazines you are primarily interestedin the graph showing a recorder's overallrecord -playback performance. And ifthe "playback -only" curves don't lookquite as impressive, don't you say toyourself, "Well, at least the machine'soverall response is flat"?

This is certainly a natural reaction, butlet me pose a problem by means of an ex-ample. Let's say that the high -frequencyplayback response of your open -reeldeck (measured using a standardized testtape) is ±1 dB from 400 to 10,000 Hz,with a gradual roll -off to -2.5 dB at15,000 Hz. This is within NAB standardsfor 71/2-ips operation. But if the samemachine has an overall record -playback

frequency response that is absolutely flat(±0 dB) from 400 to 15,000 Hz, it is notwithin NAB specifications. Why? Be-cause, in this case, the recording re-sponse of your machine is up 2.5 dB at15,000 Hz, which is 1.5 higher than thestandard permits. This has come aboutbecause the manufacturer has compen-sated for the slight but allowable trebleloss in playback by boosting his recordequalization a bit. The standard, on theother hand, calls upon him to adjust therecording EQ so thatAhe overall record-playback response matches the play-back -only curve. Any "improvement"on the playback response is the result ofintroducing an error in the recording re-sponse that would of course show up iftapes made on that machine were to beplayed on a perfectly flat reproducer.

To most audiophiles, of course, thismay seem a distinction without a differ-ence, for they never anticipate playingself-made tapes on any other deck thanthe one they own. But some among youdo record "demo" or "audition" tapesfor burgeoning music groups and/or oc-casionally have a tape aired on local FMstations. Further, nearly all of you will,at some point, be getting a new recorder,and you will have a library of tapes al-ready made on the old deck. So considerthis rather typical situation: your ma-chine's playback curve shows a gradual-ly rising response at the high end, but aflat record -playback response. In this sit-uation, all the tapes you're making noware actually treble -shy, lacking in properrecord equalization, and will thereforesound dull when you play them on anew, properly adjusted deck. So, whiletest reports almost never show it direct-ly, it's a good idea to investigate a deck'srecording response. To do so, simplytake the difference between the record -playback and the playback -only curves.

There are problems here, too, but atleast this simple comparison of curvesgives you something to go by.


KLH Research TenColumn Bookshelf Loudspeakers:

For people who caremore about music than money.

You are looking at three pairs oftruly unusual loudspeakers. From leftto right, they are the CB -10, CB -8, andthe CB -6. What makes them so un-usual is that each pair is capable ofreproducing an amount and qualityof sound that has heretofore beenimpossible to achieve from suchmodest sized devices. They areefficient and can be driven effec-tively by any reasonable powersource (the CB -6 and CB -8 need aslittle as 8 watts per channel; the CB -10will do quite nicely with as little as 10watts per side). Yet all three pairshave the ability to handle as much as100 watts RMS per channel! Theirperformance is perhaps best charac-terized as uncommonly open and airy,

OCTOBER 1976

with notably good bass response.Indeed, the CB -8 and CB -10 use ourfamous MegafluxWooferTm; the CB -6has a "special six"- a new woofer thatis easily among the best used intoday's smaller loudspeakers.The

CB -6, the smallest of the series,delivers about a third of anoctave less bottom than the

CB -8; the CB -8 about a third ofan octave less than the CB -10.

But all three models share excep-tional smoothness and perfect mu-sical balance.They also share some-thing else.They are incrediblyinexpensive.

Which can be a problem. Unfor-tunately there's a sizeable number ofpeople who believe that if a speaker

doesn't cost a lot of money, it can'tdeliver a lot of sound. But if you trustyour ears more than your checkbook,we suggest you listen to our CB loud-speakers soon. We think you'll lovethem and their sensible prices a lot.

For more technical information,visit your KLH Research Ten dealer.Or write to KLH Research &Development Corp., 30 Cross St.,Can-ibridge, Mass. 02139.(Distributed in Canada by ThePringle Group, Ontario, Canada.)

Ie ...°

KLH Research Ten DivisionKLH Research & Development Corp.30 Cross St.,Cambridge,Mass.02139

Audio flews Views and CommentBy William Livingstone

IMPROVING TV SOUND

THElatest official call for the improvement

of the quality of sound on television hascome not from the Federal CommunicationsCommission, the Institute of High Fidelity, orthe Audio Engineering Society, but ratherunexpectedly from an arts organization, theNational Council on the Arts. Appointed bythe President, the Council is a body of promi-nent Americans who advise the National En-dowment for the Arts on planning and policy.

In a recent statement the Council recom-mended that the National Endowment jointhe Public Broadcasting Service in developing,a new system for delivering greatly improvednetwork -television sound. The Council alsourged manufacturers, common carriers,broadcasters, and the FCC to cooperate in im-proving TV audio both in the studio and in thehome. The statement said, in part, "Improve-ment of sound is essential if the potentialof arts programming on television is to berealized."

The statement was issued after a meeting atwhich officials from the Public BroadcastingService briefed Council members on PBS'snew system known as Digital Audio for Tele-vision (DATE). According to representativesof PBS, the DATE system, a result of severalyears' research and experimentation, wouldenable networks to distribute to TV stationsstereophonic high fidelity audio along with thepicture or video portion of the program overmost of the present microwave circuits of thetelephone company. A system such as DATEcannot be activated at present, however, be-cause its use is not yet permitted on AT&Tvideo circuits, and there is no home TV equip-ment to receive stereo. But Hartford N.Gunn, Jr., vice-chairman of PBS, stated thatif some system such as DATE is implement-ed, "TV set manufacturers will realize thatthere is a sizable and growing market for TVsets with good sound built in."

The involvement of the National Endow-ment in this area of broadcasting was ex-plained by that institution's.deputy chairmanMichael Straight, who said, "The Endow-ment has long been committed to stimulatingthe use of television in making the fine artsavailable, to all Americans. It has lent its sup-port to such fine cultural programs on PBS asGreat Performances and Live from LincolnCenter. But however splendid these pro-grams, the full impact of a performance canonly be grasped when_ sound- matches videoquality."

The Great Performances that Straight re-ferred to are a continuing series of music,dance, and drama specials shown on PBS. Allare funded in part by Exxon, and some -re-ceive financial aid from the Ford Foundation,the National Endowment, the Corporation forPublic Broadcasting, or the Charles A. DanaFoundation. PBS has not waited for approvalof its DATE system, but for the present it isusing other means to provide good stereo

sound with the "fine music specials" in theGreat. Performances series and with the Livefrom Lincoln Center series. This is done bythe system of "simulcasting," broadcastingthe audio portion of the program in stereoover FM stations while the video portion andmono audio are transmitted by normal TVmethods. The telecast of the American BalletTheatre's performance of Swan Lake at Lin-coln Center this summer was distributed viathe largest live stereo network in broadcastinghistory, using microwave, land line, and satel-lite facilities.

To supervise the audio portion of such pro-grams PBS has generally sought the top pro-

ducers of classical recordings. One of these,Max Wilcox, commented recently that in re-cording the soundtrack of a musical TV pro-gram he applies the same philosophy of soundthat has guided him throughout his career inmaking records. Seated at a $121,000 consolein an RCA studio, he was editing the tape of aGreat Performances special featuring SirGeorg Solti and the Chicago Symphony to beaired next season, a special for which he wasthe audio producer. Wilcox said, "In Chicagowe made a sixteen -track tape, and it's of re-cording -session quality, in no way compro-mised because it's for TV. A soundtrackshould be valid by itself. It should certainlyreinforce the picture, but I do a minimum ofediting for that. I do not boost the sound of aparticular instrument when it is shown on thescreen, but try to maintain the integrity of thebalance the conductor gave us. This tape hasa very big dynamic range, which I will have tocompress as subtly as I can for a mono trackfor TV sets, but the mix -down for the simul-cast will have the full dynamic range. Really,the best thing that could happen to home TVwould be for sets to come equipped with de-cent sound."

Similar views were also expressed by AndySetos, Chief Engineer of Design and Quality

Control at PBS member station WNET/NewYork, and by producer David Griffiths (win-ner of this year's Emmy Award for the bestclassical program), who coordinates the Livefrom Lincoln Center shows and producesmany of the Great Performances specials. Se-tos explained that PBS's DATE system is amethod of "piggybacking" improved audioalong with the video signal, using existingvideo circuits. "PBS proposes that we coulddiplex or combine audio of high quality in theunused upper -spectrum space of the video cir-cuits, but such practice has not yet begun be-cause of AT&T's intent to increase its rates ifPBS implements DATE. PBS, the. Corpora-tion for Public Broadcasting, and WNET/New York are working separately and incooperation with Lincoln Center to provide aviable system for national distribution of TVaudio with a frequency range of up to, say,15,000 Hz instead of the normally available5,000 -Hz channels. I wish there were a TV setset manufacturer working with us, but thereisn't.

"The next big contribution to the art oftelevision sound must come from manufactur-ers. They've made tremendous strides in im-proving the quality of Video reception in thehome-their advertising claims are not emptystatements, but represent real advances. Butthey are not yet convinced that improving theaudio portion of their sets would be a market-able thing and therefore economically profita-ble for them.

"Public broadcasting is not alone in thisfield. The commercial networks all have theirlaboratories involved in audio improvement-ABC, for example, is working very hard toimprove the quality of TV sound fed to thecountry. We'd all now like to. see some com-mensurate effort on the part of the televisionset manufacturers."

Griffiths is convinced that transmission willbe made a great deal simpler when more com-munications satellites are available, and hethinks the audience for music on TV willforce the issue of improved sound. "Theviewers of our musical programming form aloyal and devoted minority audience. Theyare people already predisposed to pay atten-tion to music and other arts programming.This audience will demand better sound, andPBS will give it to them. If the various fac-tions could get together on the technical andlegal requirements of stereo broadcasts, wecould have it on the air next season."

THERE are also commercial interests hard atwork in the area of improved sound. One ofthese is Home Box Office, a subsidiary ofTime Inc. A pay -TV network that programsmostly current movies and major sportsevents, HBO has 450,000 subscribers inthirty-one states and expects to reach one mil-lion by the end of 1977. According to HBO'sDirector of Operations/Engineering, GeorgeGilbert, "HBO has had under considerationsince the inception of its satellite -transmittedsignal (that is, September 29, 1975) the deliv-ery of stereo audio with many live, recorded,and film features. Our operations/engineeringdepartment has been in conversation withHBO's satellite common carrier-RCAAmericom-as well as numerous suppliers ofhome terminal equipment to the cable -televi-sion industry. HBO plans a demonstration ofthe stereo audio capability, originating fromits network control studio in Manhattan to itssatellite -fed cable TV affiliates, by the fall ofthis year (October or November)."

28STEREO REVIEW

If you can see a difference,imagine what you'll hear.

Magnified, you can see record vinyl wearing away.

You're looking at the solu-tion to one of the oldest prob-lems in audio-how to protectrecords from wear, while atthe same time preserving fullfidelity.

It's called Sound Guard*,and it's remarkable.

Independenttests show that discstreated with Sound

SoundGuard.RecordPreservationKit

Guard preservative played100 times display the samefull amplitude at all frequen-cies and the same absence ofsurface noise and hal monic

With same magnification, record vinyl shows ro wear.

distortion as "mint condition"discs played once.

A by-product of dry lubri-cants developed for aerospaceapplications, Sound Guardpreservative is so smooth itreduces friction, yet so thin(less than 0.000003") it leaveseven the most fragile groovemodulations unaffected.

Len Feldman in RadioElectronics reports "At last!

The long awaizedrecord -care product

has arrived.It preservesfrequency

response

while reducing distortion andsurface noise:' It's effective andsafe for all discs, from preciousold 78's to the newest LP's.

Sound Guard preservative,

in a kit complete with a non -aerosol pump sprayer and

Test record played first time,.

After 100 plays witiout Sound Guard.

Identical test record after100 plays with Sound Guard..

velvet buffing pad, is avail-able in audio and recordoutlets.

Sound Guard' keeps your good sounds sounding good.*Sound Guard is Ball Corporation's trademark for its record preservative. Copyright © Ball Corporation, 1976.


ByJulian D. Hirsch

METERS IN AUDIO COMPONENTS:At one time, meters were rarely used inconsumer hi-fi products. To some ex-tent, this was an economic decision, forthey were expensive and relatively frag-ile, and perhaps it was felt that they im-parted a "professional" look that mightdiscourage laymen from buying a prod-uct. Today, the situation is reversed,with inexpensive, fairly rugged metersreadily available and with stylists striv-ing mightily to suggest that a product is"professional" (whatever that mightmean) in its design and performance.Not only is it commonplace for receiversto have as many as four meters (more ifthey are quadraphonic models), but wehave even seen a tuner with four metersadorning its front panel, and all of themuseful.

The most common-and probably themost important-use for a meter in ahigh-fidelity component is as an FM tun-ing aid. The most useful type is the chan-nel -center indicator whose pointer isnormally at rest in the center of its scale.This is also the condition of correct tun-ing, when the tuner is set exactly to thecenter of an FM channel-if the tuner iscorrectly aligned. Sometimes a circuitmisadjustment results in an off -centermeter reading when the station is cor-rectly tuned (or in incorrect tuning whenthe meter is centered). In case of such adiscrepancy, get your tuner adjusted-and meanwhile trust your ears.

More commonly seen on one -metertuners, though not as effective, is the sig-nal -strength indicator. This reads a max-imum when the station is tuned in, butsince the maximum reading is usually ob-tained over a wide tuning range, it is aless accurate indication of correct tun-ing. It can be useful for orienting an an-tenna for maximum signal strength, tothe extent that the meter reading contin-ues to rise in proportion to the signalstrength reaching the tuner's antennaterminals. Unfortunately, many metercircuits hit maximum at a relatively low

signal level and do not respond to furtherincreases.

Some FM tuners and receivers nowhave "multipath" meters that can bemore meaningful guides to correct anten-na orientation. In most cases, higher sig-nal strength per se is less important thanthe rejection of signals arriving fromdifferent directions, for these can causesevere distortion of the tuner's audiooutput. The distortion is associated withthe amplitude modulation (AM) the mul-tipath interference produces in the tun-er's circuits, so that a meter capable ofshowing the degree of AM is an excellentindicator of multipath distortion. Themeter pointer usually "kicks" with pro-gram modulation when AM is present,and the antenna should be adjusted forminimum meter movement. Often a but-ton or switch converts the signal -strength meter to a multipath indicator,but sometimes a separate meter is used.These, too, vary widely in their effec-tiveness, the best ones rivaling an oscil-loscope in sensitivity to multipath, andthe worst being virtually useless.

Outside of the tuner, meters are gener-ally used as indicators of audio level.Unlike tuning meters, which are relativereading devices, an audio -level meterusually carries some calibration that im-plies a reading of absolute program level.In tape recorders, for example, the

Tested This Month

Onkyo TX -4500 AM/FM ReceiverJensen Model 24 Speaker System

Empire 2000Z Phono CartridgeCrown IC -150A Stereo Preamp

Kit Report Addendum on theHeath AA -1640 Power Amplifier

"0 -dB" meter reading normally corre-sponds to the maximum recording levelthat should be used with that machine,though it is not necessarily equivalent toa similar reading on another recorder.An exception is the Dolby calibrationmark; it corresponds to a specific record-ed flux level on the tape and its accuracyis vital for interchangeability of Dolby-encoded tapes between recorders.

Most tape -recorder meters are lineardevices capable of displaying only abouta 10 to 1 ratio of signal levels (20 dB).Frequently, when the program peaksreach 0 dB, the quieter portions of theprogram barely register on the meters.Recently meters have become availablewith expanded logarithmic scales calf=brated over a range of 40 to 50 dB. Theseare much more informative than the lin-ear types, and in addition they are gener-ally fast -responding peak -reading instru-ments (about which more later).

Some power amplifiers (and integratedamplifiers) are equipped with output me-ters. Often the calibrations are in deci-bels relative to rated power, but some-times the scales are calibrated directly inwatts. In either case, the meters readonly the amplifier's output voltage, sothe power readings are accurate only for8 -ohm resistive loads (though for practi-cal purposes they are useful with speak-ers nominally rated at 8 ohms). The usermust remember to double the meterreadings with 4 -ohm speakers and tohalve them with 16 -ohm speakers.

The accuracy of the power meters onamplifiers is usually sufficient, on steady-state (continuous -tone) signals, to in-form the user of the approximate aver-age power output. The better ones, usedon some expensive amplifiers, are oftenwithin 5 to 10 per cent of the correctpower near their maximum readings.Bear in mind that any meter of the typewe are considering becomes progressive-ly less accurate at less than full scalereadings and may easily be in error by 15to 20 per cent or more at the power levels

30 STEREO REVIEW

commonly used for listening. This doesnot, of course, impair its usefulness as arough indicator of power output.

Finally, meters are used in a numberof accessory devices (such as CD -4 de-modulators, Dolby units, and dynamicexpanders) to indicate that the unit is be-ing operated with the proper input andoutput levels. Except for the Dolbyunits, these devices rarely have criticallevel requirements, so that one can as-sume that the meter indications are cor-rect in the absence of other evidence.

A very important aspect of audio levelmeters is their ballistic response. Thisrefers to the reaction and damping timesof the meter pointer when driven by atransient or other rapidly changing sig-nal. The fact that a meter is accuratelycalibrated for continuous steady-statesignals does not mean that it will givecorrect indications under dynamic signalconditions. A true VU meter representsan attempt to standardize the character-istics of meters used professionally tomonitor program levels. It is calibratedin decibels (though they are identified asVU or volume units), with 0 VU equal to1 milliwatt at a 600 -ohm impedance lev-el. VU meters have specific and stringentaccuracy, frequency -response, and bal-listic -response requirements. Practicallynone of the meters in consumer audioequipment carrying VU markings are re-ally VU meters; almost all should morecorrectly be called "dB meters."

Most audio -level meters respond rela-tively slowly to a transient signal andhave a correspondingly slow decay. Atone burst or some other signal with ashort duty cycle will read low on suchmeters, often by many decibels. This isone reason why "average" recordinglevels on many cassette machines, be-cause of their limited headroom, must bekept several decibels below the 0 -dB me-ter indications. Occasionally, a meter isunderdamped, with the result that itovershoots the steady-state reading andoscillates unpredictably on transientmaterial. This is an equally undesirablecondition.

The standard VU meter, however, isrequired to read within -±1 per cent ofthe steady-state value when driven witha 0.3 -second, 1,000 -Hz tone burst at arepetition rate of once per second. Thisspeed is not only faster than that ofmany audio meters, but it has the advan-tage of being standardized so that levelsmeasured on the same program with in-struments in different studios will corre-spond closely. Since the meters in manyconsumer audio products-especiallythe tape recorders-have been designedto have the ballistic response of VU me-ters (if not all their other properties), wenormally check them with the prescribedtone -burst signal.

In spite of its relatively fast response,a standard VU meter will not respondcompletely to peak program levels. A

much more useful indicator is the peak -responding meter, found on a growingnumber of home tape recorders (and inprofessional equipment as well). A typi-cal peak meter will respond to a pulse asshort as 100 microseconds with only amoderate error, and it will decay over aperiod of about 1 second. Its ability tofollow peaks and "hang" on them longenough to be read makes the peak meterinvaluable to the home recordist, who nolonger has to allow an uncertain safetymargin of 5 to 10 dB for tape overload.

Although it is a far less critical applica-tion, the peak -responding meter hasbeen used in at least one high -poweramplifier (the Heath AA -1640), where itindicates the actual power output onpeaks and makes it possible to operatethe amplifier close to its maximum capa-bility without undue risk of peak clip-ping. A similar result has been achievedin amplifiers by Bose, Harman-Kardon,Phase Linear, and others with a series oflight -emitting diodes (LED's) calibratedto act like a voltmeter with instantaneousresponse. Lux even has an add-on LEDaccessory for the same purpose.

It might seem that meters have beenoverapplied in modern consumer prod-ucts (a well-equipped four -channel setupcan confront its owner with as many aseighteen to twenty meters), but most ofthem are really informative and are wellworth the modest amount they add to thecost of a product.

Equipment Test ReportsBy Hirsch -Houck Laboratories

Onkyo TX -4500 AM/FM Stereo Receiver

THE Onkyo TX -4500 is a medium -pricestereo receiver featuring what the manufac-turer calls "Quartz -Locked" tuning. In its ba-sic receiver functions, the TX -4500 is a full -feature, handsomely styled product whoseperformance is typical of the highest stand-ards achieved in modern stereo receivers.

The FM tuner section has a rated usable

sensitivity of 1.8 microvolts (pN) or 10.3 dBfin mono and 19.2 dBf (5 pN) in stereo. Thetuner distortion is rated at 0.2 per cent inmono and 0.4 per cent in stereo, and the im-age rejection and alternate -channel selectivityare each rated at 70 dB.

The audio amplifiers are rated to drive 8 -ohm loads at 55 watts per channel, from 20 to

20,000 Hz, with less than 0.1 per cent totalharmonic distortion (THD). The TX -4500 hasprovision for two magnetic phono cartridgesand three tape decks. Any of the tape inputscan serve as an AUX (high-level) input sincethe input selector has no position designatedfor this purpose.

The bass and treble tone controls havetwenty-one click -stop positions, and the vol-ume control has forty-one. The balance con-trol has a center detent. A speaker -selectorswitch energizes any of three pairs of speak-ers or two combinations of two pairs at atime, plus shutting them all off for headphonelistening through an adjacent jack.

Completing the front -panel controls, whichoccupy the lower half of the satin -finish alu-minum panel, are a number of pushbuttonswitches. These activate the low and highfilters, loudness compensation, FM intersta-tion-noise muting (the Quartz -Lock circuitswitches on with the muting), and mono/stereo switching. A DOLBY FM ADAPTER but -


OCTOBER 1976 31

From the company that's broughtnew thinking to speakers,

come new speakers that think.In a field where most of the leading

brands have been established for decades,BIC VENTURI."' speaker systems haveachieved eminence overnight.

In sales, where we are rapidly closingin on first place.

But, more importantly, inspeaker technology.

At a time when mostbelieved the technical fron-tiers had been thoroughlyexplored, BIC VENTURIspeakers have been awardedtwo basic design patents inthe space of six months.

#3,892,288 for the appli-cation of the 'venturi' principleto acoustics, which revolu-tionized bass reproduction.

And #3,930,561 for theBICONEXT'' horn, which com-bined the virtues of conicaland exponential flare rates.

The resulting gains in efficiency, bassresponse and dynamic range have estab-lished new performance/value criteria.

And, already, many long-time leadersin speaker design are attempting to followour lead.

Thinking defined.Now BIC VENTURI introduces two

new high -efficiency speakers, that go onto do what no others have ever attempted.

They're called the Monitor Series.And, by any definition, they're the first

speakers that can think.Both the Formula 5 and Formula 7 are

equipped with electronic circuitry capableof taking measurements, displaying in-formation, even initiating specific action.

For example, they can tell when youramplifier is 'clipping, and signal you.

They can warn when they're beingoverloaded, and protect themselves.

They can automatically adjust theirfrequency response to match the aural re-sponse of the human ear.

And the Formula 7 can even let yousee what you're hearing.

These unique abilities elevate theloudspeaker to a new role in the stereosystem. That of a system monitor, whichcan literally help you hear better.

Get 'clipped' no more.Until now, there has been no way for

the user to accurately identify amplifierdistortion due to clipping, or the precisepoint at which it occured.

But the new BIC VENTURI MonitorSeries speakers come with a test record

that lets you pinpoint the output level atwhich your amplifier begins to clip thepeaks of the waveform.

Each speaker has a Clipping Indicatorlamp, and a control that adjusts lamp sen-

sitivity to your amplifier's maximumoutput.

Once matched to your amplifier, theindicator will stay lit when clipping occurs.Lowering your amplifier until the lamp justflickers will allow musical peaks to be per-fectly reproduced.

What's more, this circuit can be usedto indicate speaker overload in those fewinstances where an amplifier has a powerrating higher than the Formula 5 or 7 it'sbeing matched with.

And, if overloaded, the speakersprotect themselves by shutting off pow-er to the stressed component. Individualindicator lamps (left above) signal you,and can also help isolate the problem.

Improving on nature.One of the curious facts in acoustics is

that the ideal in musical reproduction haslong been 'flat' response.

Curious, because only at very highlevels can the human ear hear flat. As lis-tening levels decrease, the ear quicklyloses bass and treble tones.

That's why our exclusive DynamicTonal Balance Compensation circuit (pat-ent pending) was developed.

The idea is to improve on nature.And by automatically compen-

sating for what the ear can't nor-mally hear, today's BIC VENTURIspeakers bring you music that'smusic to the ears.

TM

'clean'

A balanced performance.The Formula 7 takes the monitor con-

cept an interesting step further.A bank of Sound Pressure Level Indi-

cators light in sequence, as speaker out-put increases. This visual dis-play covers the range from75db (normal speech) to117db (jet engine at 70 feet).

A reference chart on thedisplay panel further inter-prets the information.

Interesting in themselves,the SPL readings can alsohelp you fine-tune your sys-tem to room acoustics, andcompensate for imbalancedoutput levels in amplifier andtuner channels, tape headsand phono cartridges.

Tomorrow'stechnology today.

Once again, BIC VENTURI has ex-tended the limits previously envisionedfor speaker design.

These two new Monitor Series speak-ers take speaker technology an innovativestep into the future. They establish a new,and larger, role for the loudspeaker.

And we confidently predict thatthey presage the speakers of tomorrow.

B is VENT k1

BIC VENTURIWestbury, N.Y. 11590.B.I.C, BIC VENTURI andBICON EX are trademarks of BritishIndustries Co. Division of Avnet, Inc.In Canada, C.W. Pointon, Toronto.

BIC VENTURI SPEAKER SYSTEMSTOMORROW'S TECHNOLOGY TODAY


ton changes the FM de -emphasis to 25 mi-croseconds and connects an external Dolbyadapter into the circuit through special jacksin the rear of the receiver. Each of the tape -recorder circuits has its own monitor switch.

Across the upper half of the panel is a largetuning dial with linearly spaced FM markingsat 0.2 -MHz intervals, plus an AM tuningscale. Illuminated legends above the dial cali-brations show which input source has beenselected. To the left are two large tuning me-ters, a signal -strength indicator for AM andFM, and a channel -center FM meter. To theright is a large tuning knob that operates asmooth flywheel mechanism.

The rear apron of the TX -4500 carries allthe signal inputs and outputs, plus PRE OUTand MAIN IN jacks normally joined by jumperplugs. There is a 4cH FM OUT jack for usewith any future discrete quadraphonic FMadapter and a three -position slide switch con-trolling the sensitivity of the Quartz -Locktuning system. Antenna inputs provide for 75 -or 300 -ohm FM antennas and a wire AM an-tenna, and there is a hinged AM ferrite -rodantenna supplied. The speaker connectors areinsulated spring clips, and one of the threea.c. convenience outlets is switched.

Quartz -Locked tuning is a new system thatcompletely eliminates tuning errors in FM re-ception. To the user, its action is much likethat of an extremely effective AFC system.When an FM signal is tuned in (more or lessaccurately), a red LOCKED indication appearson the dial face above the calibrations. A sec-ond or so after the tuning knob is released, theword TUNED appears in green next toLOCKED. Touching the tuning knob disablesthe Quartz -Lock circuit and extinguishes theTUNED marking.

The difference between Quartz -Lockedtuning and AFC is that the latter merely re-duces the tuning error, usually by a factor ofonly two or three times. As anyone who hasmade distortion and stereo -separation meas-urements on FM tuners knows, the tuningpoint that provides optimum performance isoften very narrow and extremely critical. It isquite possible-even probable-that a tunerwill be "locked on" to a signal with AFC, orwith the meter indicating correct tuning, andyet be far from realizing its full performancecapabilities.

Quartz -Lock, on the other hand, comparesthe average frequency of a received FM sig-nal (converted to the receiver's 10.7 -MHz in -

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A touch on the tuning knob (or even bring-ing the hand within a few inches of the knob)disables the Quartz -Lock so that tuning in aweak signal adjacent to a strong one is nomore difficult than with any ordinary tuner. Aswitch in the rear of the receiver merely ad-justs the sensitivity of the disabling circuit; ithas no effect on the operation of the Quartz -Lock. When the FM muting is off, the Quartz -Lock is also switched out.

The Onkyo TX -4500 is supplied in a walnut -grain, vinyl -clad wood cabinet, and it meas-ures approximately 211/4 inches wide, 61/2

inches high, and 17 inches deep. Weight is36.5 pounds. Price: $450.

Laboratory Measurements. The FM tunersection of the TX -4500 matched its rated us-able sensitivity of 10.3 dBf (1.8 µV) in mono,

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and stereo sensitivity was 17 dBf (4 µV), asdetermined by the stereo/mono switchingthreshold. The 50 -dB quieting sensitivity wasconsiderably better than rated, measuring anexcellent 14 dBf (2.7 ji,V) in mono with only0.5 per cent THD. The stereo 50 -dB quietingsensitivity was 36 dBf (34 1.1,V) with 0.36 percent THD. The signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) at a65-dBf (1,000-µV) input was 69 dB in monoand 68 dB in stereo; the respective distortionlevels were 0.15 and 0.09 per cent.

It is interesting to note that the stereo dis-tortion, measured with a difference (L - R)signal, was different in the two channels. Thefigure given above was from the worst chan-nel, with the distortion in the other beingabout half as much (below the rated distortionof our Sound Technology signal generator).The stereo distortion was 0.44 per cent at 100Hz and 0.14 per cent at 6,000 Hz.

The FM frequency response was within ±1dB from 30 to 14,000 Hz (-1.5 dB at 15,000Hz), and the channel separation was out-standing both in its magnitude and in its uni-formity over the frequency range. It wasabout 46 dB through most of the mid -rangeand bass, and still an excellent 33 dB at 15,000Hz.

The capture ratio was about 1.8 dB, andAM rejection was 58 dB. The image rejectionand alternate -channel selectivity were almostidentical at about 74 dB. Adjacent -channel se -


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33 STEREO REVIEW

Only three turntables inthe world offerTrue Tangent Tracking.

Bang & Olufsen, Rabco,and the new Garrard GT55.

They play your recordsprecisely the way theoriginal masters were cut,with the stylus held at a90° tangent to the groove.They eliminate harmonicdistortion causedby tracking error.

One of the three isalso fully automatic inboth single and multipleplay. Its tonearm is low -mass magnesium, balancedon jewel pivots.

Yet it sells for the lowestprice of all three -as much as $400 lower!

The new GT55.

By Garrard .

The discount came off before theprice went on. But that's notthe only powerful reason for

buying the Realistic 2000 at thenationwide supermarket of sound.

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75 watts per channel min. RMS at 8 ohms from 20-20,000 Hz

Five More New -for -'77 Realistic Stereo Component Receivers

= ""-' **** ' = 3C c4

STA-16 119.95* STA-21 159.95* STA-52 199.95* STA-64 239.95* STA-235 399.95*

Built in our own factory, the Realistic STA-2000 will change quite a few notions aboutwhat an American company can do on its own. Even a 55 -year -old American company.Even a company that has been designing Realistic audio equipment for 22 years. Haveanother think if you've been thinking Realistic is great only in the middleweight division.We've printed a big picture so you can clearly see what we mean. And if your notion ofprice is something like $5 per watt per channel, kindly remember that Realistic's is $3.33We may not always have a rug on the floor. But we have taken the "hi" out of hi-fi. Andthe Realistic 2000 is thundering proof -positive of our attitude about watts, quality,features, cost, and credibility.

Realistic, Radio Shack, and Nationwide Supermarket of Sound are registered t-ademarks a.

STEREO

10.0 102 104 1011 108 MHz

1 1 1 1 1 SI 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 171 1 1 1 1 1 1 181 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 181 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1101 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

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with no more than 0.25% total harmonic distortion. Under $5oo*.

SOLD ONLY WHERE YOU SEE THIS SIGN

A TANDY COMPANY FORT WORTH, TEXAS 76107*Prices may vary at individual stores and dealers.


lectivity was 6.4 dB. The muting and stereoswitching thresholds were both 16 dBf (3.5ILV). The 19 -kHz pilot -carrier leakage was 66dB below full modulation. Only the frequencyresponse was measured on the AM section; itwas down 6 dB at 65 and 3,000 Hz.

All the FM measurements were made withthe Quartz -Lock (and muting) switched off.With it on, the tuner always matched the bestmeasured performance we were able to obtainby manual tuning. We found that the effectiveselectivity of the tuner was increased enor-mously by the use of Quartz -Lock. Even anadjacent -channel signal (200 kHz from the de-sired signal) produced absolutely no sign ofinterference at the maximum level of our sig-nal generator, which was about 80 dB greaterthan the signal to which the receiver wastuned. Unlike AFC systems, which are oftensubject to "pulling" by very strong adjacent-.channel signals, the Quartz -Lock makes theTX -4500 almost totally immune to off -channelinterference.

The audio amplifier section of the TX -4500was also outstanding. The output with a1,000 -Hz test signal clipped at 70.2 watts into8 ohms, 87.4 watts into 4 ohms, and 42.3 wattsinto 16 ohms. At 1,000 Hz, the total harmonicdistortion (THD) was under-and typicallywell under -0.01 per cent up to about 25 wattsoutput, reaching 0.02 per cent at 65 watts and0.11 per cent at 70 watts just before it clipped.

The intermodulation (IM) distortion was 0.06per cent at 0.1 watt, less than 0.03 per centfrom less than 1 watt to nearly 60 watts, and0.043 per cent at 70 watts.

At the rated 55 watts output, the THD wasless than 0.09 per cent from 20 to 20,000 Hzand less than 0.04 per cent from 170 to 20,000Hz. At lower power levels the distortion wasalways lower, typically measuring between0.003 and 0.02 per cent at most listening levelsand frequencies.

The tone controls had conventional charac-teristics, with a sliding bass turnover frequen-cy and a treble response hinged at about 2,000Hz. The loudness compensation boosted bothlow and high frequencies to a moderate de-gree. The filters had gradual 6 -dB -per -octaveslopes, with the -3 -dB frequencies beingabout 50 and 9,000 Hz. RIAA phono equaliza-tion (extended) was accurate within ±0.5 dBfrom 35 to 20,000 Hz. It was totally unaffect-ed by cartridge inductance.

The high-level input signal (through one ofthe tape -recorder circuits) required for a 10-watt reference output was 61 millivolts (mV),with a 76 -dB S/N. The phono sensitivity was 1mV, with a 75.5 -dB S/N, and the phono cir-cuits overloaded at a very high 225 -mV inputlevel.

Comment. Judged by its measured per-formance, the Onkyo TX -4500 is obviously

one of the finest receivers available today atany price. Both its FM tuner and audioamplifier performance are in almost every re-spect far above the norm for receivers, espe-cially in this price range, and in some areasthe performance rivals that of the most highlyregarded separate components.

The "feel" of the TX -4500's controls is aselegant as its performance. They are smooth,light, and completely positive, with none ofthe tactile anomalies that sometimes detractfrom one's enjoyment of an otherwise excel-lent product. We were also pleased to findthat the interstation-noise muting action is to-tally free of noise or transient effects.

Until now, the only way one could have anyassurance of optimum tuning was to use theexpensive frequency -synthesizing tuner or re-ceiver. Onkyo is to be congratulated for hav-ing achieved the same caliber of tuning preci-sion with a much less expensive technique.We were also pleased to find that the accu-rately calibrated dial, with its 200 -kHz mark-ing intervals, enabled us to tune to any de-sired channel without ambiguity.

Over the years, we have found that mostcompetitively priced receivers are fairly equalin their overall performance characteristics. Itappears to us that the Onkyo TX -4500 may bejust a little bit more equal than its peers, so tospeak.


Jensen Model 24 Speaker System

JENSEN'S Model 24 speaker is a three-wayfloor -standing system that includes a 12 -inch"Flexair" long -throw woofer in a sealed en-closure, a 3 -inch cone mid -range driver, and a11/2 -inch dome tweeter. The crossover fre-quencies are 1,000 and 5,000 Hz.

The Model 24, which weighs almost 50

pounds, stands 26 inches high, is 15 incheswide and 13 inches deep, and is covered inwood -grain vinyl veneer. The snap -in grille, intwo shades of brown, is formed of perforatedplastic. The upper and lower grille portionsare separated by an easily removable sectionof translucent brown plastic, through which

can be seen the mid -range and treble balancecontrol knobs. The insulated push -type bind-ing posts are recessed into the rear of the cab-inet. The Model 24, whose nominal imped-ance is 8 ohms, is designed to be driven byamplifiers delivering from 10 to 75 watts.Price: $179.

Laboratory Measurements. We measuredthe output of the Model 24 with both controlsset to maximum. Joining the semi -reverberantroom -response measurement of the high fre-quencies to the separately measured close-miked bass response revealed an unusuallywell-balanced, wide -range frequency re-sponse, uniform within ±4 dB from 20 to17,000 Hz. Because the balance controls areable to cut off their respective drivers com-pletely, this curve could easily be tailored tomeet almost any requirement.

The bass output of the Jensen Model 24,unlike that of most speakers, did not fall offrapidly below the point of maximum output,which occurred at about 60 to 70 Hz. In fact,the woofer output could be described as asmoothly decreasing response, droppingabout 4 dB from 500 Hz down to 20 Hz, butwith a broad peak of about 5 dB maximumamplitude lifting the response in the octavefrom 50 to 100 Hz. The low -frequency distor-tion at a 1 -watt nominal input was under 3 percent down to 32 Hz, reaching 5 per cent at 28Hz and 10 per cent at 24 Hz. At 10 watts in-


40STEREO REVIEW

Introducing an evolutionary idea.The New Empire 698 Turntable

Great ideas neverchange radically.

Instead, they are con-stantly being refined tobecome more relevant withtime.

So it has been withEmpire turntables. Ourlatest model, 698, is noexception. Basically, it's stillthe uncomplicated, belt -driven turntable we've beenmaking for 15 years. Aclassic.

What we're introducingis improved performance.

The lower mass tonearm, electronic cueing,quieting circuitry and auto-matic arm lift are all verynew.

The rest is history.The Tonearm

The new 698 armmoves effortlessly on 32jeweled, sapphire bearings.Vertical and horizontalbearing friction is a mere0.001 gram, 4 times lessthan it would be on conven-tional steel bearings. It isimpervious to drag. Onlythe calibrated anti -skatingand tracking force youselect control its movement.

The new aluminumtubular arm, dramaticallyreduced in mass, respondsinstantly to the slightestvariation of a record'smovement. Even the abruptchanges of a warped discare quickly absorbed.The Motor

A self -cooling, hys-teresis synchronous motordrives the platter with

enough torque to reach fullspeed in one third of a revo-lution. It contributes to thealmost immeasurable 0.04%average wow and fluttervalue in our specifications.More important, it's built tolast.The Drive Belt

Every turntable isapproved only when zeroerror is achieved in its speedaccuracy. To prevent anyvariations of speed we grindeach belt to within one tenthousandth of an inch thick-ness.The Platter

Every two piece, 7 lb., 3inch thick, die cast alumi-num platter is dynamicallybalanced. Once in motion, itacts as a massive flywheel toassure specified wowand fluttervalue evenwith thevoltagevaried from105 to 127volts AC.The Main Bearing

The stainlesssteel shaft extendingfrom the platter isaged, by alternateexposures to extremehigh and low tempera-tures preventing it fromever warping. The tip is

then precision ground andpolished before lapping itinto two oilite, self-lubricat-ing bearings, reducing fric-tion and reducing rumbleto one of the lowest figuresever measured in a profes-sional turntable; -68 dBCBS ARLL.The Controls

Electronic cueing hasbeen added to the 698 toraise and lower the tonearm at your slightest touch.Simple plug-in integratedcircuitry raises the tone armautomatically when poweris turned off.

A see-through antiskating adjustment pro-vides the necessary forcefor the horizontal plane. Itis micrometer calibrated to

eliminate channel im-balance and unnecessary

record wear.

The Empire 698 TurntableSuggested retail price $400.00

Stylus force is dialedusing a see-through cali-brated clock mainspringmore accurate than anycommercially availablestylus pressure gauge.

A new silicon photocellsensor has been added toautomatically lift the arm atthe end of a record.

New quieting circuitryhas also been added. Now,even with the amplifier vol-ume turned up, you canswitch the 698 on or offwithout a "pop" sound toblow out your woofers.

At Empire we makeonly one model turntable,the 698. With proper main-tenance and care thechances are very good it willbe the only one you'll everneed.

EMDIFE

re information write:E SCIENTIFIC CORP.

rcen City, New York, 11530.

CIRCLE NO. 99 ON R f ERVICE CARD

The power of your amplifier is one of the most important elements in theperformance of your high fidelity system. It gives your amplifier sufficient powerto drive your speakers, And you need well engineered power to give you theinstantaneous burst that music may require,

The pleasure of your tuner is fullest when properly matched with its power supply;when it is sensitive and highly selective, and offers noise- and distortion -free sound,In short, an instrument attuned to your musical pleasure.

Sansui Amplifiers and Tuners: Our newly expanded complete line of power-ful ampl fiers and beautifully designed tuners are engineered and matched to give

you the full pleasure of power. From thefabulous AU 20000 with a striking 170

watts per channel, min. RMS, bothchannels driven into 4 and

AU -11000 AU -20000

...with pleasure.8 ohms, from 20 to 20000 Hz with no more than 0,05% total harmonic distortionat about $1000* to the AU 3900 with 22 watts per channel, min. WAS, both channelsdriven into 8 ohms, from 40 Hz to 20 kHz, with no more than 0.15% totalharmonic distortion at less than $160*, every AU amplifier is loaded with featuresdesigned for creative listening. The fully matched TU tuners from less than $160*to about $450* all feature appropriately low distortion, fine sensitivityand high selectivity. For example, the TU 3900: sensitivity, 11.2 dBf 12.0 µV):selectivity better than 60 dB (at 400 kHz). TU 9900: sensitivity, 8.8 dBf(1.5 pV); selectivity from 20 dB at 200 kHz to 90 dB at 400 kHz. The TU 9900offers a choice of wide and narrow bandwidths for selection of individual stationseven in crowded areas.

Your nearest franchised Sansui dealer will be happy to demonstrate any inthis fine series to you. Your powerful pleasure awaits.

*Approximate nationally advertised value. The actual retail pricewill be set by the individual dealer at his option.

Buy Sansui.

SANSUI ELECTRONICS CORP. Woodside, New York 11377. Gardena, California 90247SANSUI ELECTRIC CO., LTD,,Tokyo, Japan . SANSUI AUDIO EUROPE S.A., Antwerp, Belgium . In Canada: Electronic Distributors

CIRCLE 32 ON READER -SERVICE CARL)

The tone -burst response ofthe Jensen Model 24 appears

in the upper traces forfrequencies of (left to right)100, 1,000, and 10,000 Hz.

put, the distortion was 5 per cent at 40 Hz and10 per cent at 23 Hz.

The system impedance was 8 ohms at theusual rating frequency (the first minimumabove the bass resonance) of 100 Hz. Theimpedance was about 5 ohms from 5,000 to15,000 Hz with the level controls at max-imum, but it increased considerably when thecontrol settings were reduced. The low -fre-quency resonant peak was at 50 Hz, wherethe impedance reached 25 ohms. The systemefficiency was unusually high for an acoustic -suspension design. A sound -pressure level of94 dB was measured at a distance of 1 meterfrom the speaker with a 1 -watt input in the oc-tave centered at 1,000 Hz.

The tone -burst response of the system wasgood throughout its range. Most of the slightmodifications of the burst waveform resulted

from crossover -network characteristics ex-cept at 10,000 Hz, where about 3 cycles wererequired for the burst to build up or decayfully.

Comment. With the mid -range and tweetercontrols at maximum (giving the flattest mea-sured frequency response), the Jensen Model24 proved to be a highly accurate reproducerin our simulated live -vs. -recorded test. It imi-tated the sound of the reference program withalmost perfect accuracy except for a trace of"forwardness" in the mid -range and a hint ofdulling of wire -brush sounds in the uppermostregister. In normal operation, depending uponthe listening -room acoustics, it may be neces-sary to reduce the mid -range and tweeter out-puts slightly for optimum balance.

Because of the large variations in response

that may be produced by the controls, it is notas easy to characterize the sound quality ofthe Jensen Model 24 as it is some other sys-tem whose frequency response is set at thefactory. Even a slight readjustment of the bal-ance controls made an appreciable change insound quality. If care is used in balancing thespeaker's response to that of the listening -room environment, it should be possible tomake it as accurate as any conventional three-way system of comparable size (and, in manycases, of considerably higher price).

As a bonus, the high efficiency of the Model24 makes it possible to enjoy the dynamicrange usually available only to users of super-power amplifiers while driving the speakerswith any good receivers in the 30- to 60 -wattrange.


Empire 2000Z Phono Cartridge

EMPIRE SCIENTIFIC CORPORATION'S new-est and finest stereo cartridge, the 2000Z, isnoteworthy both for what it does and for themanner in which its performance is specified.Empire's stated goal was to make a cartridgewhose frequency response was as flat as pos-sible and which possessed the channel separa-tion, channel balance, and tracking abilitynecessary to reduce its contribution to thefinal sound quality to a minimum. These areimpressive goals-all the more so becauseEmpire's advertised ratings are more com-plete than we have ever seen presented for astereo cartridge, going so far as to state thetest conditions and the specific test records.

Since the complete specification sheet hasbeen used by Empire in their advertisementsfor the 2000Z, we will not repeat the ratings indetail. In brief, the cartridge has a frequencyresponse of 20 to 20,000 Hz ±1 dB, based onthe CBS STR 100 record, a 47,000 -ohm load

44

resistance, and a circuit capacitance of 300 pi-cofarads. The output is 3.5 millivolts at a ve-locity of 3.54 centimeters per second (cm/sec), with channels balanced within 0.75 dB.The 0.2 x 0.7 -mil elliptical diamond stylus s

rated to track between 0.75 and 1.25 grams,with 1 gram being the recommended force.The stylus compliance is 30 x 10-6 cm/dyne,both laterally and vertically, and the effectivetip mass is 0.2 milligram.

Physically the cartridge resembles someother Empire models. It is finished in gold,with a hinged stylus guard on its replaceablestylus assembly. It is a moving -iron cartridgewith a newly designed laminated pole struc-ture that is largely responsible for its flat re-sponse. Its hum -canceling design employsfour coils and three magnets. Price: $99.95.

Laboratory Measurements. Measured withthe CBS STR 100 test record, the frequency

response of the Empire 2000Z was very near-ly a horizontal straight line, with a variationwell within ±1 dB from 40 to 20,000 Hz (theCBS record goes down only to 40 Hz, al-though Empire's ratings imply that it is useddown to 20 Hz). In the tone arm of the Dual510 we used for this test, the low -frequencyarm resonance was at 7 Hz with an amplitudeof 8 dB.

The channel separation was 26 dB atmid -frequencies, about 13 dB at 10,000 Hz,and '9 dB at 20,000 Hz. The vertical stylus an-gle was. exactly 20 degrees, the current indus-try standard, and the channel outputs wereidentical at 3.35 millivolts for a 3.54-cm/secvelocity. The square -wave response with theCBS STR 111 record was practically perfect,with a flat top and only a trace of overshoot.

At a 1 -gram vertical tracking force the2000Z tracked our Cook 60 and Fairchild 101records, although the 30-cm/sec, 1,000 -Hztones of the latter were clipped symmetrical-ly. The 60 -micron level of the German Hi-FiInstitute record was played without distortionat 1 gram. The intermodulation (IM) distor-tion with the Shure TTR-102 record was be-tween 1 and 2 per cent up to a velocity of 18cm/sec, and it rose sharply at higher velocitiesowing to mistracking. Increasing the force tothe rated maximum of 1.25 grams resulted in agradual increase of distortion with velocity, toa maximum of 5 per cent at 27.1 cm/sec. The80 -micron band of the German record was


STEREO REVIEW

Beauty in sound. By Fuji.Every Fuji cassette means beauty and purity in sound. No hiss, no dropouts. Widest frequency response and dynamicrange. Total reliability. Fuji high-fidelity cassettes such as the FX will give you the best performance possible on your taperecorder. Already widely recognized by experts as the finest cassette in the world. Fuji. The cassette of the pro.

1.14111 FILMS

Pure-FerrixLac I 'it( MUSK I \-4 lc >I I xt

211 1_>`2K_

:MENNEN'

E1 I

FUJI FILM

FUJIFuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc., The Empire State Building, New Yorl, N.Y. 10001

',NNN'0,NNNN!,:sNNNNNNNWNSN'NW.W'

,,\\NWN,,,N\WNSS\70.\\NNISW,:sN'W.SNV.SONINNWNNZ,NONV,..\\\\\\

The instruments in this advertise-ment are new and diverse. Theyare also selective, deliberately.This is consistent with our attitude-to make components onlywhere we feel we have somethingto contribute. Then, to give themthe finest expression of which weare capable.

Our 330c stereo receiver isthe most recent in a series thatopened the world of true high fidel-ity to the music lover with a modestbudget. Its predecessor. the 330Bearned extraordinary reviews andrecommendations from the leadingmagazines and the most respectedconsumer organizations. Neverthe-less when improvement was prac-tical, we replaced it.

harmanjkardon

The 330c has increased power,t ghter phase linearity and widerbandwidth than its immediate pred-ecessor Yet it is offered at virtuallytne same price as the original 330introduced sever years ago.

In its review of the HK1000stereo cassette deck High Fidelitysaid, "The HK1000 is the best sofar . A superb achievement

We ve gone beyond it.With the HK2000.Performance specifications of

the HK2000 are impressive. Forexample, wow and flutter: 0.07%(NAB) WRMS. The HK2000 is sosensitive to low frequencies thata subsonic filter has been incor-porated which can be used toremove unwanted signals fromwarped records. But just as in all

Harman Kardon amplifiers andreceivers, wide band design inthe HK2000 produces soundquality that transcends its im-pressive specifications.

When we introduced ourstraight line tracking turntable.the ST -7 it was recognized atonce as the definitive way ofplaying records. Precisely as themaster was recorded. Withouttracking error. Without skating.

The ST -7 was designed for themusic lover who had to have thevery best-and could afford it.

The ST -6 now joins the ST -7.Straight line tracking, with thedemonstrable benefits it offers,is now available to a wider audi-ence-without compromisingperformance.

The two turntables are virtuallyidentical in appearance and oper-ating capability. They use thesame tonearm and straight linetracking mechanism. They areboth belt driven and use :hesame platter and support bear-ing Yet the ST -6 is availaole forlittle more than the cost of a de-luxe record player of conven-tional desigin.

We'd like to tell you mcre aboutour new instruments and, equallyimportant. about the point of viewthey represent. Write to us directly-without impersonal reply cardsor coupons. We'll respond in kindwit full information.Harman Kardon, 55 Ames Court.Plainview. New York 11803.

harman/kardon

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FREQUENCY IN HZ (CYCLES PER SECOND)In the graph at left, the upper curve represents the smoothed, averagedfrequency response of the cartridge's right and left channels; the dis-tance (calibrated in decibels) between it and the lower curve representsthe separation between the two channels. The inset oscilloscope photoshows the cartridge's response to a recorded 1,000 -Hz square wave,which gives an indication of resonances and overall frequency re-sponse. At right is the cartridge's response to the intermodulation-dis-tortion (IM) and 10.8 -kHz tone -burst test bands of the 11R-102

played at 1.25 grams, and only a slight "buz-zing" marred the 90 -micron band. Thehigh -frequency tracking of the 10.8 -kHz tonebursts on the Shure TTR-103 record wasgood, with the distortion increasing slightlyfrom 0.8 to 1.5 per cent as the velocity in-creased from 15 to 30 cm/sec with a 1 -gramforce.

When we played the Shure "Audio Obsta-cle Course Era III" record 4t 1 gram we notedthe onset of mistracking at the highest levelsof the sibilance and bass -drum sections. Theimprovement at 1.25 grams was slight.

Comment. To the extent that available testrecords permitted, and with due allowance formanufacturing tolerances, our tests confirmedEmpire's claims for the 2000Z. We wouldagree that 1 gram is the best tracking force forthe cartridge, although it could not quite copewith some of our most severe tests (few car-tridges can handle all of them). The very smallimprovement when we increased the force to

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PEAK VELOCITY IN CM/SEC OF TEST DISCand FI R-103 test records. These high velocities provide a severe test ofa phono cartridge's performance. The intermodulation-distortion (IM)readings for any given cartridge can vary widely, depending on thepar-ticular IM test record used. The actual distortion figure measured isnot as important as the maximum velocity the, cartridge is able to trackbefore a sudden and radical increase in distortion takes place. Thereare very few commercial phonograph discs that embody musical audiosignals with recorded velocities any higher than about 15 cm/sec.

1.25 grams suggests that the cartridge is per-forming within its design limits at the lowerforce rather than operating on the "raggededge" as sometimes happens when a manu-facturer rates a cartridge's recommendedforce too optimistically. Considering the usu-al errors in setting the tracking force of a tonearm (errors of 0.1 to 0.2 gram are common)this is a distinct advantage.

Empire has certainly made the frequencyresponse of the 2000Z as flat as could behoped for, and the selection of 300 picofaradsas the load capacitance is a wise one. This isprobably close to the average circuit capaci-tance found in audio -system phono wiring, sothere is no need to "pad" the capacitance toobtain the 400 or 500 picofarads required bysome cartridges.

Phono-cartridge performance has come along way in recent years, as can be judgedfrom the 2000Z's measured frequency re-sponse. Including the effect of arm resonancein a typical tone arm, and combining the

measurements from a couple of records, theresponse could honestly be described as -..t1dB from 15 to 20,000 Hz. This is comparableto the flatness of most amplifiers, especially ifthe tone controls cannot be bypassed.

We did not really expect to hear any specialqualities in the sound of the 2000Z, since thatwould be inconsistent with the performancewe measured, to say nothing of Empire's rat-ings. We were not surprised, therefore, to findthat it is a totally neutral -sounding cartridge inevery sense. It is no easier to describe its"sound" than it is to describe the "sound" ofa good amplifier. Doubtless it has some quali-ties which could be interpreted as characteris-tic sound, but they are of such subtlety thatwe would not attempt to define them. Sufficeit to say that the Empire 2000Z is wellqualified to head the current Empire line, andit easily rates a place in the select group oftruly exceptional cartridges available to to-day's audiophile.


Crown IC -150A Stereo Preamplifier THE Crown IC -150A preamplifier/controlcenter is an updated version of the IC -150originally introduced in 1971. The basic fea-tures and styling of the IC -150 have been re-tained, with minor cosmetic changes and nu-merous internal circuit modifications.

The upper two-thirds of the front panel,finished in satin aluminum, contains the sixcontrol knobs. The input selector provides achoice of PHONO 1, PHONO 2, TUNER, AUX 1,AUX 2, AUX 3, TAPE 1, and TAPE 2 sources. Alarger volume -control knob operates a thirty-one -position step switch. The volume can beadjusted in precise 2 -dB steps down to -60


48STEREO REVIEW

Power and performance to equal the best, in a newstate-of-the-art tuner and amplifier from KENWOOD

Kt -7300 Stereo Tuner(Handles optional)

KA-7300 StereoAnnp:ifier (Handlesoptional' 65 wattsper channel min.RMS. 8 ohms.20-20k Hz with nomore than 0.1% totalhamonic distortion.

iT@YELf.

40 410

An AM/FM tuner so sophisticatedFM -stereo reception is brought to new

highs of high fidelity. A stereo amplifier soadvanced, a complete new concept of audio powerunveils the hidden beauty you never knew existed

in stereo reproduction. Together the newKT -7300 and the KA-7300 continue the

tradition of KENWOOD, bringingyou stereo at its finest.

Independent power supplies for eachchannel eliminate dynamic crosstalkdistortion in the superb KA-7300Amplifier.

For complete information visit yournearest KENWOOD Dealer, or write:

KENWOOD15777 S. Broadway, Gardena, CA 90248 72-02 Fifty-first Ave., Woodside, New York 11377 In Canacia: Magnasonic Canada, Ltd.

CIRCLE 30 ON READER -SERVICE CARD

Mustang II for 1977Sweet -handlingSuperCoupe

Everyone's got afavorite stretchof road. Onethat singsthrough thecountrysidewith sweepingbends, and

corners that require just that little extraconcentration. Mustang II is going to makethat special bit of road even more interest-ing in 1977. That's because this yearMustang II is even more driver responsive.You'll notice it the second you take off.Thanks to new carburetor linkage, thingshappen "right.now' Your right foot seemsto be directly connected to an overhead

cam, four -cylinder engine that revs like mad.If you want even more excitement, there'sa compact optional 2.8 liter V-6 or a verystrong optional 302 -cubic inch V-8.

To match these razor-sharp power plantsthere are two smoothtransmissions. A slickand quick do-it-your-self four -speeder, anda very crisp optionalthree -speed Select-Shift. Both are mountedon the floor right nextto your throttle leg.And be sure to givethe SelectShift a

try before you decide. It's put to-gether very much with the driverin mind. It not only shifts for

itself, you can over-ride the machinery

and shift for your-self. Anothermust -try optionis the four-wayadjustabledriver's seat. It

goes back andforth, plus up anddown. It's got a

position that's justright to keep you in touch with the road andall those gauges keeping track of amps,oil pressure, revs, fuel and speed Otherthings that make Mustang II very mucha driver's car are rack and pinion steering,front disc brakes, staggered rear shocks,close -ratio four -speed gearbox, no -slopthrottle linkage, and low -friction gearshift

linkage. Put them all together andthey spell Mustang II. A machinethat handles with great snap andprecision.Once you've decided onMustang II, your decisions havejust begun. Mustang IE's sweet handlingcomes in five flavors. There's the hardtop...sweet handling and low priced. The2+2. Which also gives you a fold -down

rear seat and wide -open-ing hatchback. There'sthe Mach 1 and itsstriking cousin: CobraII. Both with slipperylooks to match their

smooth performance.And the most formal of

the five.That's M ustanglifor 1977. Fun

to drive, comfort-able to ride in asa passenger, andbuilt to live a longtime. If you're adriver you'll love

Mustang II. if you're not, we can't thinkof a better way to learn what driving'sall about.Is that it? Not hardly. Because MustangII is the kind of car that invites customiz-ing ...that welcomes your personalizingtouch. Paint. Special wheels. Special equip-ment. Whatever it takes to make yourMustang II the car you've always wanted.Come on in and try a 1977 Mustang

FORDWhen America needsa better idea,Ford puts it on wheels.

Mustang IL Hardtop

ENGINE SPECIFICATIONSCylinders 4 In -Line V-6 V-8!Displacement 2.3 Liter

(140 cu. in.)2.8 Liter

(170.8 cu. in) 302 cu. in.Bore ' 3.78" 3.66" 4.00"Stroke 3.126" 2.70" 3.00"CarburetiDn 2 -Barrel 2 -Barrel 2 -BarrelExhaustValve Lifters Single Single SingleValve Lifters Hydraulic Mechanical HydraulicTRANSMISSIONSRear Axle Ratios 4 -Speed Manual SelectShift Auto.4 -Cylinder 3.18 3.18V-6 3.00 3.00V-8 3.00 3.00DIMENSIONS HARDTOP 3 -DOORWheelbase 96.2" 96.2"Overall Length 175.0" 175.0"Overall Height 50.3" 50.0"Overall Width 70.2" 70.2"Tread, FrontTread, Rear

55.6"55.8"

55.6"55.8"

Luggage Capacity (cu. ft.) 6.7 -Cargo Volume (cu. ft.)

w/Seat Folded Down - 22.8Fuel Capacity (gal.) w/302 V-8 16.5 16.5Curb Weight (lbs.) Base Vehicle 2,735 2,768

FORD MUSTANG II

FORD DIVISION


DPLer

-

TEAC

PHONES RECORD OUTPUT POWER

The component look.FLYWHEEL

PLAY IDLER

TAKE-UP REEL TABLE

CAPSTAN BELT

MOTOR

FAST WIND

IDLER ASSY.

SUPPLY REEL TABLE

Bydesign.

A-1100

0.08%

0.07%

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0.05%

0.04%

0.03%

0%

Rather than adapt one transport design to fit anotherneed, we produced a completely new, highlystreamlined mechanism. From the inside out. It'scalled the A-400.

Since the cassette loads vertically, the adverseeffect of gravity on the cassette itself is eliminated.Thus tape jams are prevented and smooth, even tape

packs arepredictable.

A completely newDC servo controlledmotor has beendesigned to keepwow and flutter to aminimum. It operates

on a frequency generated feedback principle and isunaffected by line voltage fluctuations. The result isquiet, smooth and precise movement of tape.

Twin rotary levers control the transport functionswith smooth, positive cam action. Which meansunnecessary mechanical linkages have beeneliminated. Fewer moving parts assure greaterreliability and long term dependability.

If new design concepts, superbly executed, appealto you, put an A-400 through its paces. Just call(800)447-4700* toll free for the name and location of yournearest TEAC retailer. You'll find that the A-400delivers definitive TEAC performance with theadded convenience of a front load component.All by design.*In Illinois, call (800) 322-4400.

==TYPICAL WOW & FLUTTER RESPONSE IN %IMOMNIMIIMII....n=133===1.21.11111111111111111M111011111M1 MIMIIIIMIMt MIIMMP1111111F 171fWVTIIIM Off =III IP MIMI1=Iff111011 1,111 WMIEf Cl n Tv' 'or 5 IiINV! 11 II fr 1 111'. l' ' I F` .1

I I,.. 'I MI .III J kWMir. L NS, MIMS . AM IL ILA

MS

ra=111111111111111111111111 MIMI 111111MOIMIIMMI1111110181111

ION 6MINI=II MME meawe En5 minutes

TE AC® The leader. Always has been.TEAC Corporation of America7733 Telegraph Road, Montebello, Calif. 90640©TEAC 1976

STEREO REVIEW

fAmeo tom.

O 0 0 0td0 oro

POWS/MOMann

The Crown IC -150A has a rear -panel shelf that accepts all the input and output connectors. Thejacks are identified by a diagram immediately above. Shorting plugs are shown inserted intosome of the unused inputs to eliminate noise. Note the sensitivity controls on the phono inputs.

dB, with the final position being fully off. Pre-cision resistors in the volume -control circuitsmaintain channel balance within 0.2 dB at allsettings. An adjacent pushbutton engages theloudness compensation.

The balance control is conventional, and isfollowed by the PANORAMA control, a featureof the original IC -150 preamplifier. This con-tinuously variable control gives full stereoseparation and normal left -right channelorientation when set to NORMAL (counter-clockwise), and it blends the channels tomono at its center position-which then elimi-nates the balance -control function. As thePANORAMA IS moved to the clockwise limit,the output returns to stereo with left and rightchannels interchanged. The control is aptlynamed, since it gives the user complete con-trol over the lateral distribution of the stereoimage.

The BASS and TREBLE controls, concentri-cally mounted for the two channels, can bebypassed entirely by pressing a FLAT buttonlocated between them. The charcoal -gray bot-tom third of the panel contains two monophone jacks for the left- and right -channelAux 3 high-level inputs and a single stereophone jack labeled MONITOR. This can beused to supply signals from the preamplifieroutputs (after the volume and tone controls)to a third tape recorder or to high -impedanceheadphones. Five pushbutton switches con-trol TAPE MONITOR functions for the twodecks connected to the rear of the IC -150A,switch in the Low and HIGH filters, and switchthe power to the preamplifier. A small orangepilot lamp glows when the unit is turned on.

The inputs and outputs are on a horizontalsection of the chassis and recessed into therear of the cabinet. A slide switch attenuatesthe preamplifier outputs (which are providedin duplicate) by 10 dB to accommodate poweramplifiers with high sensitivity and no input -level controls. Five of the six a.c. outlets areswitched and can handle a total of 1,200watts.

Like all Crown products, the IC -150Acomes with a very comprehensive spiral -bound instruction manual. Not only are allperformance specifications spelled out in de-tail, but the text could serve as a handbookfor high-fidelity amplifier installation. Tolighten its message, Crown has even inter-spersed welcome touches of humor.

The general caliber of the IC -150A per-formance specifications can be judged fromits distortion ratings (at the rated maximumoutput of 11 volts into a high -impedance

load): less than 0.002 per cent intermodulationdistortion (IM) and less than 0.0005 per centharmonic distortion (THD) at 1,000 Hz. Spe-cial test equipment would be needed to verifythese claims, especially the latter.

As the nomenclature of the EC -150A sug-gests, its design is based largely on the use ofintegrated circuits. This makes its circuitryseem deceptively simple, with a single IC (perchannel) supplying all the normal gain andtone -control functions. The phono preamplifi-er uses one IC coupled with a pair of comple-mentary -symmetry transistors. A relay mutesthe audio outputs for a few seconds afterpower is applied (and when the unit is shutoff) to prevent switching transients fromreaching the speakers.

The Crown IC -150A is furnished in a blackwrinkle -finish metal cabinet. It measures 17inches wide x 81/s inches deep x 51/4 incheshigh and weighs 10 pounds. Price: $399. Anoptional walnut cabinet is $45 additional.

Laboratory Measurements. The maximum1,000 -Hz output before clipping was 11.7volts into a standard IHF-specified load of

100,000 ohms in parallel with 1,000 picofa-rads, and 4.8 volts into a 600 -ohm load. Ahigh-level input of 0.18 volt drove thepreamplifier to a standard 1 -volt output, witha signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 80 dB (un-weighted).

The phono preamplifier gain can be variedover a 20 -dB range by means of screw -slotcontrols in the rear of the preamp. The fac-tory setting (recommended for normal use) re-quires 1 millivolt (mV) input for 1 volt outputand gave a very good 76.5 -dB S/N. The phonosensitivity can be varied from 0.27 mV to 3.1mV with relatively little effect on S/N. Thephono-overload level varied with sensitivityfrom 40 to 400 mV, with 140 mV being the val-ue at nominal settings. With this design, pho-no overload is highly unlikely.

Distortion measurements across the au-dio -frequency range were made with a 600 -ohm load (the worst -case condition) at the rat-ed maximum output of 2.5 volts. The THDwas 0.018 per cent at 20 Hz and 0.05 per centat 20,000 Hz and measured less than 0.01 percent from 100 to 10,000 Hz (over most of thatrange it was below our 0.003 per cent meas-urement capability). The IM distortion, meas-ured on a Crown IM analyzer, was less than0.005 per cent from rated output to -20 dB(250 mV) and was typically at the barely de-tectable value of 0.002 to 0.003 per cent. Itrose slightly, to 0.012 per cent, at the mini-mum measurable output level of 80 mV.

The frequency response varied less than±0.25 dB from 20 to 20,000 Hz. The trebletone -control response hinged at 1,000 to 1,500Hz, and the bass turnover frequency variedfrom below 50 Hz to about 300 Hz as the con-trol was varied. By design, the cut-off fre-quency of the LOW filter shifts upward as thevolume control is raised. At maximum, wherewe made our measurements, it was down 3 dBat 90 Hz and had a 6 -dB -per -octave slope. TheHIGH filter, which had a 12 -dB -per -octaveslope, was 3 dB down at 6,000 Hz. The loud-ness compensation produced only a mildboost of the frequencies below 100 Hz, and itdid not affect the highs. (Continued overleaf)

OCTOBER 1976 53

In aclass

byAse

The Phase Linear 400 PowerAmplifier has only one seriouscompetitor when it comes toadvanced design, superior perfor-mance, made -one -at -a -timecraftsmanship, proven reliability,elegant appearance . . . andincomparable value. And that'sthe Phase Linear 700B. Hearthem both at your dealer soon.

yr;yteefit

400THE POWERFUL DIFFERENCE

201 watts per channel, min. RMS at 8 ohmsfrom 20 Hz -20 kHz with no more than .25%total harmonic distortion.

PHASE LINEAR CORPORATION20121 - 48th Avenue S.W.Lynnwood, Washington 98036CIRCLE NO. 43 ON READER SERVICE CARD

54

The RIAA phono equalization was within±0.5 dB from 70 to 20,000 Hz, with a slightrise of about 1.5 dB in the 25- to 30 -Hz region.The equalization was affected only slightlywhen the measurement was made through theinductance of a phono cartridge, and it re-mained within the ±0.5 -dB limits up to 20,000Hz. The square -wave rise time was 2 mi-croseconds and the slew rate was 6 volts permicrosecond.

Comment. Our measurements show thatthe frequency response, distortion, and noisecharacteristics of the Crown IC -150A areabout as close to perfection as one can expectto find in today's audio components. It per-formed exactly as expected, with impressive-ly low noise levels, smooth and noise -freecontrol operation, and all the sonic virtuesone would expect of a really distortionless au-dio preamplifier.

The unit's few idiosyncrasies are all statedclearly in the instruction manual. For exam-

ple, when a tape recorder is connected to thepreamplifier, one must be careful not to leavethe tape recorder's monitor switch in its"source" position, for if the input SELECTORis then turned to the corresponding tape -inputposition, a violent oscillation results. For thesame reason, accessories such as graphicequalizers, noise reducers, speaker equaliz-ers, and the like should not be connected tothe IC-150A's tape -monitoring circuits in lieuof a recorder. They will work perfectly well,but one runs the risk of being sonicallyzapped if the input SELECTOR is inadvertentlyturned to one of the TAPE settings.

The many inputs and outputs suggest greatoperating versatility, and this the IC -150Acertainly has. Overall, the Crown IC -150A isan impressive example of the degree of refine-ment available in modern audio circuits. It isdifficult to imagine how its electronic per-formance could be improved in any significantrespect.


Kit Report Addendum on theHeath AA -1640 Stereo Power Amplifier

IN order to provide an evaluation of theHeath AA -1640 stereo power amplifier assoon as possible, STEREO REVIEW printed areport on a factory -assembled version of theunit in May 1975. Since then we have ac-quired a kit version of the amplifier and had itbuilt by a volunteer. The remarks below areabstracted from his comments.

The Heath AA -1640 kit went together beau-tifully in a little under thirty hours of methodi-cal work. The kit follows the Heath philoso-phy of having the kit builder assemble every-thing. None of the printed -circuit boards areprewired. The excellent kit manual is an ex-ample of how a fairly complex commercialproduct can be made manageable by a personwith average dexterity and soldering experi-ence. Large fold -out diagrams clarify thecarefully laid -out step-by-step instructions.After the kit is finished, the rest of the manualserves as a trouble -shooting guide shouldsomething malfunction. X -ray -view drawingsof all circuit boards, voltage charts, a parts -substitution list, a schematic, and a verbal de-scription of all circuits are included, togetherwith a troubleshooting chart.

Instructions are given for testing all electri-cal portions of the amplifier immediately uponcompletion. This is accomplished with a volt -ohmmeter tester that is part of the kit and asupplied earphone that permits the builder totrace signals within the amplifier by ear andthus to locate any problem area quickly.

Along with the AA -1640 amplifier, the op-tional peak -reading output -level meters (KitAAA -1640-1) for the front panel were also as-sembled and installed. This required just overan hour and a half, including calibration, andpresented no special difficulties.

All in all, the Heath AA -1640 is a well -designed if lengthy project very much in the

Heath tradition. It is obviously not intendedfor a complete novice, but anyone with amodicum of kit -building experience whothinks he is ready for bigger things should findit just about right.

If you missed the original test report on theAA -1640, copies of the May 1975 issue areavailable at $1.50 each from Ziff -Davis Ser-vice Division, Dept. BCSR, 595 Broadway,New York, N.Y. 10012. Space does not per-mit reprinting the entire report, but the fol-lowing excerpts will serve as a summary:

. In every respect it [the AA -1640]ranks with the finest high -power amplifiers onthe market. We were constantly impressedwith the conservatism of its construction andratings. This is one amplifier that simply can-not be overheated under home music -listeningconditions, as we verified by an afternoon ofauditioning with a pair of Ohm F speakerswhile the amplifier meters read almost con-stantly between 0 and -10 dB. After a fewhours of this sort of use, the AA -1640's heatsinks were cooler than the FM tuner and tapedeck we were using as signal sources!

". . . It is interesting to note that in ourlistening tests with the Ohm speakers we wereregularly delivering over 400 watts per chan-nel on peaks to their 4 -ohm impedance, andwe never had the sense that the amplifier wasnearing the end of its capability.

"The meters are by far the most useful wehave seen on an audio amplifier . . . sincethey constantly show how close the amplifieris coming to its real limits and readings areunencumbered by the sluggish indications ofaveraging -type meters."

The Heath AA -1640 kit is priced at $439.95;the optional meter kit is $69.95. Boughttogether, the two cost $489.95.


STEREO REVIEW

Dolby FM

What It's All About

Dolby FM is multi -faceted.It's about FM transmitting.It's about FM receiving.But more than that, it is about signal integrity.About the possibility of total recoverability, by thelistener at home, of the frequency response and dynamicrange of the source material used at the station.

Right now, listeners who really enjoy wide dynamic range -

high-fidelity sound are often pretty discouraged by what theyhear on FM. For instance, the sounds that are supposed tobe quiet are almost indistinguishable from those that aresupposed to be loud. Of course, these signal leveling practicesarise because of station "ratings" and the belief that a signalwhich always sounds loud or brilliant keeps ratings high.The Top Forty stations probably always will broadcast inthis way-and perhaps they should, if that's the sound theirparticular listening audience really prefers.

One station would be enoughWe think it's time for some improvements for morediscriminating radio listeners. Such individuals would beserved well if, in each geographic territory, they could havejust one quality conscious and embellishment -free station ineach of the format categories that people really listen to,such as classical, folk, jazz, and progressive rock. The foodbusiness learned long ago that every town needs at leastone gourmet restaurant.We know that in the long run we are talking about only afraction of all stations. But that would be enough. It wouldtake care of the quality oriented radio listeners we areinterested in. And those listeners are the ones who are mostlikely to buy receivers with built-in Dolby FM decoding.*

How you can help improve FMYou can help improve FM. First listen critically to the bestFM stations in your area. If the contrast between loud andsoft sounds is markedly less than you hear when playing yourown records, and this bothers you, then write to thesestations and offer your views. We'd appreciate it if you wouldpoint out that extra signal treatment is theoreticallyunnecessary when Dolby encoding is used (see explanationat right). You might even declare that you are as dismayed bythe use of traditional limiting, compression, and equalizationon these stations as you would be if the waiter in a finerestaurant poured ketchup and mustard all over your foodbefore serving it to you.If you know that your station is already Dolby encoding, andyou still hear disturbing manipulations of the signal, then weare especially concerned that you should write. We know wellthat some of the 140 Dolby FM stations carry on using varioustypes of conventional signal treatment in spite of the fact thatour encoder unit removes the basic problem of high frequencyovermodulation. But it's hard to change the habits of anindustry overnight. It would help if you could assure thesewell meaning-but fearful of "ratings"-stations of yourcontinued support if they would simply broadcast accuratelythe dynamic range and frequency response of the sourcematerial.If we all care, we can have better FM broadcasting. At leastfrom the stations we listen to. And that would be enough.

That's what Dolby FM is all about.

DolbyDolby Laboratories Inc'Dolby,' Dolbyized' and the double -D symbolare trade marks of Dolby Laboratories Inc.

OCTOBER 1976

The reason for Dolby FMWhy Dolby FM encoding and decoding anyway? Why notjust a high fidelity, wide dynamic range FM signal byitself? Because this is a technical and practicalimpossibility. If the FM station broadcasts at a reasonablyhigh signal level, then the high frequencies have to belimited (due to historical reasons relating to the standard75 microsecond boost employed at the transmitter). Thestation can reduce its level and use no signal treatment,but this wastes transmitting capability and reducesgeographical coverage. Therefore, practically all stationsemploy high frequency limiting,

The inevitability of signal degradation apparently affectsthe thinking of many station personnel. Since it is alreadynecessary to limit the signal somewhat, perhaps it seemsdefensible to experiment further with signal processing.This results not only in an effort to compensate for thesparkle lost in high frequency limiting, but also in anattempt to make the signal seem even more energetic andbrilliant than the original. There seems to be a generalbelief among many broadcasters that listeners reallyprefer this kind of altered sound.

In comparison with many of these signal modificationpractices, Dolby FM encoding is rather unexciting.Basically, it amounts to a gentle form of high frequencylimiting, but the difference is that it is done in a way whichpermits the listener at home to "un-limit" or to recoverthe signal. About half of the Dolby B -Type compressionand expansion capability is used, together with a 25microsecond boost, to solve the station's high frequencyovermodulation problem (which gives a distortion -freechannel between the transmitter and receiver); the otherhalf is used to improve the signal to noise ratio.

731 Sansome StreetSan Francisco CA 94111Telephone (415) 392-0300Telex 34409Cable Dolbylabs

*July 1976. Thirty-three different modelsare available from Dolby licensees.These products are tuners, receivers,and music centers with designed -inDolby decode circuits, requiring no extrawiring, adaptors, or calibrationprocedures. Write for the latest list.Technical information on Dolby FM isalso available.

346 Clapham RoadLondon SW9Telephone 01-720 1111Telex 919109Cable Dolbylabs London

55

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OFFER FOR READERSOF STEREO REVIEW

MAGAZINE

THE 1977STEREO DIRECTORY

& BUYING GUIDEis scheduled to go on salenationally October, 1976

This all -new edition will feature thelatest information on stereo systems andcomponents, including four-channel-more than 1500 products in all-listedby manufacturer, each with model num-ber, complete specifications, descrip-tions and prices.

YOU CAN RESERVEYOUR COPY NOW

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This offer is being made to readersof STEREO REVIEW Magazineonly. Regular price is $1.95; mailorder price $2.25. Reserve your copynow by completing the ReservationForm and returning it promptlyalong with your remittance.STEREO DIRECTORY & BUYINGGUIDE will be mailed to you fromfirst -off -the -press copies when pub-lished.

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The Pop Beat

A SHOT OF RHYTHM-AND-BLUES

WHEN I was going to school (at what Ihope soon to stop referring to as "an

unidentified college on Long Island") variousstudent organizations used to hold dances inthe Commuters Cafeteria, a place with an am-biance only slightly more appetizing than thatof a typical restroom at the Port AuthorityBus Terminal. Hippies like me were not sup-posed to attend these affairs, partly becauseof our then -fashionable distaste for folks whoconsumed alcoholic beverages (rememberthat?-if you do, you're showing your age)and partly because the music played at thosebacchanals had little in common with the kindplayed in darkened dorm rooms while the in-cense burned.

But I used to go anyway. The bands wereinvariably of two types-either ersatz VanillaFudges, heavy on Baroque organ stylings andlugubrious tempos, or interracial horn outfitsemulating Memphis soul groups. The firstdidn't interest me much except in a perversehow -awful -can -it -get sort of way, but the oth-ers (several were very good indeed) simplydelighted me. It was like seeing Otis Reddingor Sam and Dave in my own neighborhood,without the psychic unease that can comefrom realizing you're the only white person atthe Apollo.

Front man SouthsideJohnny Lyon in

beautiful downtownAsbury Park, N.J.

That particular kind of funky little band hasbeen pretty much an anachronism for years,and I'd almost forgotten they ever existed.But as the Seventies glittered their way every-where except into my heart, as the absence ofany discernible human emotion in 95 per centof the rock-and-roll being played today be-came obvious even to its most autistic ad-dicts, and as the computerized transmogrifi-cation of soul into disco created a backlashthat enabled a difficult -to -dance -to variant ofr -&-b called reggae to flourish (if only in a lessthan overwhelmingly commercial way) . . .

well, 'way out in the boondocks, in AsburyPark, New Jersey, they still remembered. Infact, they still have bands like those I used togroove to from a seat somewhere to the left ofthe coke machine. One of them, a collectionof former associates of Bruce Springsteencalled Southside Johnny and the AsburyJukes, has just emerged from the swamps,and they are the most compelling rockers tocome along in geological epochs-or at leastsince Bruce and the E Streeters.

The connection with Springsteen is, ofcourse, what made it possible for the Jukes tocome to national prominence initially, butbeyond the fact that they're all pals, there re -


56 STEREO REVIEW

Our new Powerhouse receiversoutpower the competition.

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Lafayette performance goes far beyond sound. We back you upwith warranties, in-store service and people who can talk stereo inplain, simple language.

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Speakers A, B, C A, B, C A, B, 4/ch A, B, 4/ch A, B, 4/ch

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For more information and a free catalog please write: Lafayette Radio Electronics, Box 120, 111 Jericho Tpke., Syosset, N.Y. 11791copyright 1976 Lafayette Radio Electronics

CIRCLE NO 52 ON READER SERVICE CARD

DSR. Finally, turntablesworth building your

whole system around.

around either the receiveror the speakers. But whenserious music loverschoose a system, theyshould think of theturntable first. Be-cause the turntabledictates what comesout of the speakers.And when it comes toturntables, BSR offersmore than Dual, BICor Garrard.

First of all, thenew BSR turntablesare belt -driven, sothey're engineered tobe smooth, quiet andvirtually trouble -free.They play automat-ically and manually.And to really turn thetables on our competitors,BSR includes the revolutionary a serious music lover who wantsADC induced magnetic cartridge, brilliant sound reproduction,the base and the dust cover in consider BSR first. For full de -the price of the turntable. tails see your dealer or write:

BSR gives you still more. Consumer Products Group, BSRLike a locking umbrella spindle (USA) Ltd., Blauvelt, N.Y. 10913.

*suggested manufacturer's retail prices including ADC induced magnet cartridge, base and dustcover.

When most people con- that holds up to six records. A ro-sider buying a stereo component tating single play spindle. A con-system, they usually build it tinuous repeat spindle so you can

play your favorite record overand over again. And a

viscous damped cueingmechanism that's smoothand precise to helpprotect your records.

What's more,BSR turntables arepre -tested and pre -assembled. So you canget down to the seriousbusiness of listeningto your favorite musicright away. And alsoenjoy another specialfeature; the price.'Under $140 for the200 BAX, $110 for the100 BAX and under$100 for the 20 BPXautomated single

play turntable.If you consider yourself

THE HEART OF YOUR SYSTEM.

ally isn't that much similarity between the twobands. I hope that fact will serve to shield theJukes from the anti-Springsteen cabal that de-veloped last year when some of the sniffierNew York critics reacted to what they consid-ered an unwarranted hype. True, many oftheir influences are shared, but Bruce is some-thing of an Anglophile (it's hard to imaginethe Jukes doing Searchers stuff), and John-ny's interests are more hard-core.

To put it simply, the Jukes are an r -&-bband in the old style: a four -piece horn sec-tion along with the standard instrumentalcomplement, plus Johnny, the front man,singing, dancing, and playing (extremely well)blues harp. Their repertoire consists of a feworiginals that draw without self-conscious-ness on older models and just about everygood soul song from 1954 to 1968. The pacingof the act is incredibly fast, and Johnny is amesmerically funny showman, but for alltheir professional polish I've rarely seen mu-sicians more passionately committed to whatthey're doing.

If you're going to make it in South Jerseyyou have to be-passionately committed, thatis. Asbury is hardly the media capital of theWestern world, and successful bar engage-ments down there are not likely to get yourapturous write-ups in the Village Voice or theSoho News, at least not without the conniv-ance of a big, fat record company. But thisrelative isolation does allow a band to developat its own speed and without any particularcompulsion to follow current trends. It alsokeeps you honest; you're playing for dancing,after all.

The Stone Pony, where the Jukes had a re-cent three -night -a -week residency (even afterthat fabulous album was released) is a joint inpoint: friends of mine who grew up in the areaand who have been back recently tell me thatit's a hangout for the kids at Monmouth Col-lege-who don't give a hoot whether theJukes are associated with the area's first su-perstar or not; they go to drink, have a goodtime, and dance. Contrast that with the auraof a fashionable gloom -trap such as NewYork's C.B.G.B., where any sort of spon-taneous gesture on the part of the audience isregarded as fatally unhip. At the Stone Pony,Johnny and the boys play from eight to threein the morning, and their success is measurednot by how many encores they get but by howlong they keep everybody on the floor.

WELL, perhaps sadly, the Jukes aren'tgoing to be playing that kind of place muchlonger; very shortly they are going to Belongto the World. They have already played theirfirst concerts, and I am happy to report thatthey are just as satisfying that way, somethingyou should shortly be able to verify for your-self. I am also heartened by this evidence thatso old-fashioned an approach to music -mak-ing can be successful in this day and age. Itwould not even surprise me if they were toturn out to be rather influential. In the Sixties,you'll remember, we got a long line of whiteblues bands that developed initially as a reac-tion to the vapidity of most commercial pop.Something similar may be happening now; ifJohnny and the boys are not the only musi-cians fed up with the soullessness of currentFM fodder and the depressing cookie -cuttersameness of disco, then perhaps more ofthem will begin turning to American rhythm-and-blues as an alternative. It's an enormousuntapped field, and I'll lay you odds it won'tstay that way for long.

58CIRCLE NO. 10 ON READER SERVICE CARD

STEREO REVIEW

The Sherwood HP 2000:It adds a new

high to performance.If power and versatility arethe essential elements cf highperformance, the HP 2000is unquestionably the highperformance amplifier you'vebeen waiting for.

This new top -of -the -lireSherwood amplifier puts youin full command of yoursound system.

Consider- the credentias:

Power: 120 watts per chan-nel {minimum RMS at 8ohms from 20-20,000 Hz]with no more than 0.08°%Total Harmonic Distortion.This rating is ensured bymassive 16,000 0 filtercapacitors. backed by azener regulated dual seccndary power supplyfull complementary drop: -coupled OCL output circuitryamploys output transis-o-swith the largest S 0.A is:_eff--hcpstating area] of any,surlier device currenttiable.. Dual bower metes[which featu-e seiectab

no'mal. or

-10dB] and LED dowerlimiting indicaors preciselymonitor bower output at alltimes. And rear -panel switch-ing perrni;:s the independentoceration of the pre -ampand power amplifier sections.

Precision: The fi.m resistorsep Loudness [Volume]control features 22 accu-rately calibrated positionsboth channels matched

0 5dB in all steps].Eleven position VariableLoudness ContouT. Bass,Treble and Miirange coTolls hare 11 detented posi-tions each. Resetting tojour exact acoustic prefer -e -Ices is rover a natter ofg...ESSWOrk

-ore Defeat, HignLov ill-ers, and ---20c B

Audio EV L.Ai are controlleda./ cony nient frort panelswitches.Operational Flexibility: The-P 2000 can aocc mmo date

turmables [Phono inputsa -e selected with IC analog

anti CONria,...

switchirK.1, and feature a frontpanel level control]; two tapedecks [tape -to -tape duplica-tion is accomplished withthe Tape -1, Tape -2 Monitor,cirouita and a pair of pro-fessional caliber micro-phones [mixing leveldetermined by a separatefront panel control]. Addi-tional source capabilitiesinclude a Tuner; twoAuxiliary components; anda 4 -Charnel Adaptor [whichalso serves as a third TapeMonitor if needed].

All Sources and Functionsare activated by front panelpush switches. On" pos-tion is irdicated by colorchange.]

The higlest quality carr-ponentry: The HP 200D I -asbeen miculously eng -neered or durability, con-s stent ceriormancestancards, and ease ofservicinT the mark ofSh.erwwd design for rvr,

vear3 All compone

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CIRCLE NO. 53 ON READER SERV CE CARD

has been selected to meetor exceed posted specifica-tions. The RC boards andinter -board ribbon cableconnectors plug into aThother-Ocard " for reliableoperation.The HP 2000 s the first in anew, highly-sophisticateo lineof tuners and amplifiersfrom Sherwood Electronics.Other units in this new HighPerformance Senes will`ccavailable soon.

See the HP 2000 soon, Andtreat yo :self to performancethat's as rt,ch as yourexpectations have alwayspeen.

OODEve c, hear is true

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Going on RecordByJames

Goodfriend

SECOND COMINGSTHE myth of eternal return is not something

that was created to explain the classicalrecord business, but there have been dayswhen you couldn't prove that around here.No sooner do you bid a grudging farewell to adisc whose availability can no longer be com-mercially rationalized than another one yousaid goodbye to some time ago comes parad-ing through the door in new dress, with a newnumber, and sometimes on a new label. Suchgoings on may raise hell with the collectors'cut-out market, but it's nice to be able to greetold friends again.

I remember distinctly when Erich Kleiber'srecording of Beethoven's Ninth was first re-leased. It came on the market at exactly thesame time as recordings of that work by Tos-canini and Scherchen, and for a while thecomparative critical assessments ran wildwith superlatives. Kleiber's set suffered com-mercially because it was spread over foursides (the other two versions gave an addi-tional symphony as bonus), but there werepeople who thought it was the best of the lot.

Now it has come back, all on a single disc(London R 23201), and its lineup of par-ticipants is still impressive: Hilde Gueden,Sieglinde Wagner, Anton Dermota, LudwigWeber, the Vienna Philharmonic, and theChorus of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde.On rehearing, it strikes me still as a sane andcivilized performance, eminently musical,and with excellent vocal contributions-butlacking fire. Interestingly, I still prefer it toboth the Toscanini and the Scherchen per-formances, but decidedly not, among per-formances of similar vintage, to the Walter orthe Furtwanglers.

In the early days of LP, the name ClemensKrauss was virtually synonymous with idealperformances of music by anybody namedStrauss. Through years of technical improve-ments in recording, I- have retained my oldmono Also Sprach Zarathustra as a prime ex-ample of state-of-the-art musical accomplish-ment. It is still state-of-the-art. And it is nowavailable once again (London R 23208) withthe added bonus of Krauss' equally fine TillEulenspiegel (of which I also still own theoriginal). Sound buffs will cringe at, the re-cording's technical crudities, but those whoare looking for music rather than sound -demonstration material will find it here.

Over the years, Columbia records found

numerous occasions and ample reasons torecord works as played or conducted by theircomposers. The Stravinsky documentation iswell known, as is that of Copland and Bern-stein, but many collectors may not rememberthat Columbia also recorded Francis Poulencas a pianist, Darius Milhaud as a conductorand as a pianist, and Paul Hindemith and Ar-nold Schoenberg as conductors. Columbiahas now embarked on an informal series ofreissues called "The Composer as Perform-er," and records by those four are among thefirst releases.

DARIUS MILHAUDA twentieth-century French Schumann

Certainly, -Milhaud's contribution (OdysseyY 33790) is more interesting for the music hepresents than for any special interpretive in-sights. The Cantate de l'Enfant et de la Merehas never been recorded elsewhere, and LaMuse Menagere (The Household Muse) hasonly recently appeared elsewhere. But the

music is really charming. It shows Milhaudvery much as a sort of twentieth-centuryFrench Schumann-rather than as enfant ter-rible of "modern music"-a fluent and spon-taneous writer with a natural and almost inex-haustible lyrical gift and a great sentiment forthe small, important things of life.

Granted, La Muse Minagere offers more toone who plays the music himself than to thosewho hear even the composer play it, but thereis pleasure to be gleaned from even passivelistening. The Cantate offers the wonderfullymusical voice of Madeleine Milhaud readingthe poems by Maurice Careme together withLeonid Hambro, pianist, and the JuilliardQuartet. It is and always has been, I suppose,a record for the few-but they are a luckyfew.

Poulenc's record (Odyssey Y 33792), on theother hand, is notable because it is Poulencplaying-both his own works and pieces byErik Satie. The music is all rather well knownnow, and justly appreciated or impatientlydismissed, as you please. But there is, in Pou-lenc's renditions, just a touch more of that pe-culiar Parisian perfume, just a bit more rich-ness of color in that tattered wisp of a streetsong, just a little more depth in the seeminglysurface emotions than in anyone else's per-formance. Strange, how close the feeling canget to Mahler.

Schoenberg was never really documentedas an interpreter of his own works, and that isa pity, for on the evidence of his Pierrot Lu-naire he might have given us different viewson his music than have been expressed byothers. Pierrot has achieved an almost Gallictradition of performance-clarity, color, verynearly charm. Schoenberg's own perform-ance (with Erika Stiedry-Wagner intoning theSprechstimme) is, on the contrary, an expres-sionist nightmare, grim, upsetting, almost ter-rifying. Perhaps not the recording to live with,it is still an almost vital counterbalance to thecurrent tradition.

THE Institute of American Music of theUniversity of Rochester has taken over distri-bution of most of the Mercury records thatfeatured Eastman -Rochester groups, andamong these are recordings of John AldenCarpenter's Adventures in a Perambulatorand Deems Taylor's Through the LookingGlass. Carpenter was once considered one ofthe big guns of American music (the other wasMacDowell), but today he would be more cor-rectly placed as a sort of American RogerQuilter (no disrespect intended). Adventuresin a Perambulator is a piece of American im-pressionism, pleasant, mildly whimsical, emi-nently listenable-light music. It gets a fineperformance here (ERA 1009).

Deems Taylor never really had to live up tothe reputation of being an important compos-er (even though he did have two operas pro-duced at the Met), but he was widely recog-nized as a critic and became world famous asthe commentator in Disney's Fantasia.Through the Looking Glass (ERA 1008) isprobably his best-known piece, and, though itis by no means important music and is prob-ably never heard outside the U.S.A., the Vic-torian conundrums of Lewis Carroll havenever found a more sympathetic musical part-ner. True, one might read the book while themusic was playing and not be distracted, buteven that implies a certain measure of worth.To me the disc is another old acquaintancenot forgot. Nice to- see you all again. Comeagain-and bring some friends.

60 STEREO REVIEW

Micro -Acoustics 2002-e cartridge.Because good tracking isn't enough.

Tracking is just the beginning.While good tracking ability is vital, it's only anindication of how well the stylus keeps contact withrecord grooves on louder, harder -to -follow passages,at stylus pressures low enough to minimize wear. Butsurprisingly, tracking ability tells almost nothing abouthow well a cartridge reproduces most musical sounds.

Transient ability is just as important.After all, transients are what music is made of:sudden start -and -stop bursts of sound at allfrequencies. From theattack of a low organnote to the bite ofa plucked string.Transient informa-tion is essential todifferentiate thesound of oneinstrument fromanother, and in stereo,to localize instruments in space. That's whywithout good transient ability, nocartridge can reproduce music with reallylifelike clarity.

Until now, it was simply one or the other.Tracking or transient ability. Popular high -compliancecartridges, on the one hand, offered good trackingability and low record/stylus wear, but sacrificedtransient ability. And low -compliance cartridgesprovided good transient ability at the expense oftracking ability and increased wear.

A new technology.Micro -Acoustics, the world's leading manufacturerof record -mastering styli, has combined for the firsttime superb transient and tracking ability. In theradical design of the 2002-e (patent pending), direct -coupled electrets and critical damping provideoptimized transient ability as shown in the graph.While an ultra -low -mass beryllium stylus bar andhigh -compliance dual -bearing suspension providemaximum tracking ability at 1 gram, for lowest'possible record and stylus wear.

© 1975 Micro -Acoustics Corp

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OCTOBER 1976 61

The $750alternative.

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00.05% IM into 4 or 8 OhmsD(signal to noise) greater than 100dBOplug-in board modulesDforced air coolingDonly 11" deepDweighs less than 42 lbs.Osuperb construction using only the

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The Basic Repertoire

SCHUBERT'S 'ROUT QUINTET

IHAVE had occasion previously in thesepages to remark that the pieces I consider

ideal introductions to the chamber -music lit-erature are not string quartets but works forpiano and strings or for clarinet, oboe, or fluteand strings. In this regard I have already dis-cussed Mozart's A Major Quintet for Clarinetand Strings. Another masterpiece that willprobably tilt the uninitiated toward small-ensemble music is Franz Schubert's TroutQuintet, scored for violin, viola, cello, doublebass, and piano.

.The circumstances that produced the TroutQuintet were extremely casual. Schubert,then twenty-two, was spending the summer of1819 on a walking tour of Upper Austria. Itwas only the second time he had been out ofVienna, the place of his birth, and his com-panion was Johann Vogl, the famous baritoneof Vienna's Imperial Opera. Everywhere theywent Schubert was enchanted-by the beautyof the countryside, the conviviality of thepeople, the challenge of discovery.

In the little town of Steyr, Vogl's birth-place, they decided to linger a while, and theyquickly became leading participants in thetown's intellectual life. Sylvester Paumgart-ner, the assistant manager of the local minesand an amateur cellist, held regular gatheringsof musicians at his home, and he askedSchubert to compose a work for such an occa-sion. His one specification was that one of themovements should be a set of variations onDie Forelle (The Trout), an ingratiating songSchubert had written two years earlier.

Soon after his return to Vienna in the au-tumn, Schubert set to work fulfilling Paum-gartner's commission. Still glowing from hispleasant summer, he proceeded to create awork that was the perfect mirror of his warmmemories. It is probable that he composed thequintet with specific performers from theSteyr circle in mind, for the only other workfor the same combination of instruments thatcomes readily to mind is a quintet by theBohemian -born composer, Johann NepomukHummel. At one time musicologists theorizedthat Schubert knew the Hummel piece, thatindeed it had been one of the works played atPaumgartner's house. More recent research,however, shows that the Hummel quintet wasnot published until 1821, and then in Vienna.The likelihood of a performance from manu-script two years earlier in the small town of

Steyr seems extremely unlikely. More prob-ably, Schubert's quintet served as a model forHummel rather than vice versa.

It is the fourth movement of the Trout, bythe way, that meets Paumgartner's stipula-tion: five variations and a coda based on theoriginal song give the quintet its name. By andlarge Schubert uses in this movement thetechnique of embellishment and decoration.

MANY excellent recordings of the TroutQuintet have been issued over the years, be-ginning with a classic performance from the1930's by pianist Artur Schnabel with mem-bers of the Pro Arte Quartet and bass playerClaude Hobday (once available as an LP reis-sue in Angel's Great Recordings of the Centu-ry series). Of all the presently available re-cordings, my favorite remains the perform-ance recorded more than a decade ago by pi-anist Peter Serkin, still a teenager then, withtwo members of the about -to -be -formedGuarneri Quartet (Michael Tree, viola, andDavid Soyer, cello), Alexander Schneider, vi-olin, and Julius Levine, double bass (Van-guard 71145, cassette M 51145). The playing isthe finest kind of ensemble collaboration: ev-ery one of the five instrumentalists is a vitalthread in a sensitively woven fabric, and thereis all about the performance a feeling of vital-ity and invention. The recorded sound is stillmint -fresh and vibrant.

Another admirable recording is the one byJorg Demus with the Collegium Aureum(BASF 20314). All the instruments used are ofSchubert's period, and the clarity of sound isremarkable. But the exuberance and extro-version of Peter Serkin and company still car-ry the day for me. RCA has in its vaults a newrecording, for imminent release, of the TroutQuintet with Peter Serkin and another distin-guished group of collaborators. It will have tobe really extraordinary to surpass the effort ofhis teens.

The 1976 UPDATING OF THE BASICREPERTOIRE is now available in con-venient pamphlet form. Send 254 and astamped, self-addressed No. 10 enve-lope (91/2 x 41/s in.) to Esther Maldonado,Stereo Review, 1 Park Avenue, NewYork, N.Y. 10016 for your copy.


The New AIWA AD -6500:

NOW YOU CAN GETLOADED AUTOMATICALLY.

Up to now loading a cassette into afront loading cassette deck was a little likeputting a square block into a round hole. Butnow there's the AIWA AD -6500. The world'sfirst cassette deck with automatic cassetteloading. So you can play any cassettequickly, easily and precisely.

But there's a lot more to the AD -6500than how you get a cassette into it. There'salso the music that comes out of it. Like afrequency response of 30Hz to 17kHz withFeCr tape. Musically speaking that meanshearing all the music-not just part of it.

And because weused Dolby* we also im-proved the S/N ratio to62 dB. So you can listen

to the music instead of tape hiss.You won't have to listen to speed

variations either. Because the AD -6500 hasa frequency controlled servo -motor as wellas inaudible wow ana flutter (0.07%).

And with the AID -6500 you can see aswell as hear what you're listening to. With 2VU meters complete with 2 -step peak levelindicator lights. There's also memory rewindand quick review/cue system for easy, effi-cient use. Three -step tape selector for the 3different kinds of tape. Fully automatic stop.

A Ferrite Guard Head(FGH) and more.

So get the AIWAAD -6500. Because theonly thing easier thanloading it is listening to it.

AIWA-Dolby is a Trademark of Dolby Laboratories. Inc

Distributed in the U.S. by: MERITON ELECTRONICS, INC., 35 Oxford Drive, Moonachie, N.J. 07074Distributed in Canada by: SHR IRO (CANADA) LTD, Canada


OCTOBER 1976 63

Julian Hirsch tells youwhat to look for in a

CASSETTE DECK

REAL LIVEVU METERS

METERBALLISTICS

FRONT LOAD

CUE MEMORY

PITCH

BIASLEVEL

EQUALIZATION

I

(I

HEADPHONES

MIKES (4)

DBX/DOLBYSWITCH

SOURCE/TAPEMONITOR

MULTIPLEXFILTER

LIMITING

TRANSPORTCONTROLS

4 -INPUTMIXER SECTION

The Teac 860 cassette deck: what $1,600 looks like

CASSETTEEJECT

IF YOU number yourself among_ thosewho are planning to add a cassettedeck to an existing setup or to in-

clude one in a brand-new system, youmay already have discovered that theycome in so bewildering a variety ofsizes, shapes, and prices that even themost experienced audio shopper caneasily find himself confused. To getright to the heart (which is to say thepocketbook) of the matter, what is oneto make of a component whose pricerange covers a spread from about $100to $1,600? Well, what one does first isto simplify: decide what you need in acassette deck so you will know roughlywhere within that broad range to con-centrate your shopping energies.

Cassette machines, like other audiocomponents, can be classified accord-ing to both their performance specifica-tions and their operating features. Thetwo are not necessarily related, al-though both can affect the price. Thekey performance specifications of a re-corder are its frequency response, sig-nal-to-noise ratio (S/N), and flutter.The first two of these are closely relat-ed to the machine's mechanical align-ment, the kind of tape being used, andhow closely the bias and equalizationcircuits have been adjusted to theneeds of that tape. Flutter, however, isprimarily a function of how well thetape -transport mechanism works.

As might be expected, all aspects ofcassette -deck performance tend to im-prove with increasing price. And, asusually happens with other compo-nents, once a certain level of perform-ance is achieved, the law of diminish-ing returns begins to assert itself andlarge cash outlays yield only small in-crements of performance improve-ment. The question, then, is how gooddoes a recorder have to be to satisfyyour needs? Suppose we look for theanswer to that question by examiningtypical performance specificationswithin the various price categories.

Frequency ResponseHome cassette recorders are often used to

tape radio broadcasts or to make copies ofphono discs. Even the least expensive decksusually have a frequency response of 50 to12,000 Hz ±3 dB with "standard" ferric ox-ide tape, and this is usually adequate formaking faithful copies of FM broadcasts orrecords. The upper frequency limit may beextended to about 14,000 or 15,000 Hz withchromium -dioxide (Cr02) tape or with a pre-mium tape that takes the same bias andequalization. Fortunately for the tightlybudgeted consumer, this level of perform-ance is found in virtually every deck pricedat $100 or more. The best tapes, however,cannot be used to full advantage on deckspriced under $150.

64 STEREO REVIEW

Recorders in the over -$300 price rangeusually have an extended high -frequency re-sponse, often reaching 15,000 Hz with ferrictapes and 16,000 to 18,000 Hz withchrome -bias tape. With the extended re-sponse, not too important in itself, comesimproved flatness at lower frequencies, andthis minimizes the slight sonic colorationcaused by small response variations withinthe audible range. Almost all recorders overthe $300 level (and many between $200 and$300) can, given the proper conditions, copya record or FM broadcast so faithfully that itwould be very difficult to hear a differencebetween the original program and the tapeplayback.

For those who are totally uncompromis-ing or who plan to do live music recording,the best machines have a frequency re-sponse up to 18,000 Hz with ferric tape andto 20,000 Hz or beyond with Cr02 or otherpremium tapes such as ferrichrome or thenew TDK Super Avilyn. This slightly widerrange is found in machines selling for $500or more.

FlutterFlutter, once a major limitation of cas-

sette mechanisms; arises from the difficultyof moving the tape smoothly past the heads.Improved tape -drive systems as well as bet-ter mechanical construction in the cassettesthemselves have reduced flutter in today'smachines to acceptable levels, even in somerelatively low -price models. In the $100class, machines tend to have a flutter speci-fication of 0.2 per cent or more. This may begood enough for most home -recording pur-poses, but its effect will be audible in musicwith sustained notes, such as strings, piano,or organ. In the range from $200 upwards,flutter is usually not more than 0.15 per cent,and above $400 it is generally 0.1 per cent orless. The best machines claim (and probablydeliver) flutter levels as low as 0.08 per centor less, rivaling the figures for open -reeldecks.

Considering the total electromechanicalperformance of a cassette recorder, it is rea-sonable to conclude that a machine pricedfrom $100 to $150 will be adequate for non-critical recording, while those in the rangefrom $150 to $400 will provide progressivelybetter quality for more demanding uses. Theaudible improvements with still more expen-sive machines may not always be so obvi-ous, but they are real and will prove theirworth in the most difficult recording tasks.

Signal-to-noise RatioIn general, the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N)

is probably a more important specificationthan frequency response, since a quiet re-cording is going to sound better overall thanone with an audible noise level regardless ofthe frequency response of the machine orthe program. The S/N is the difference be-tween the maximum recorded signal level(defined as that which produces distortion of3 per cent in playback) and the playbacknoise from a section of tape recorded withno input signal. It is expressed in decibels

(dB), and it generally involves a measure-ment that includes both hum and hiss.

The specific S/N of a cassette machine isa property of its electronic circuits and ofthe tape used, as well as the specific adjust-ment of the machine and, to a slight extent,the heads. Low -price decks ($100 to $150)may have a 48 -dB S/N, while 50- to 55 -dBspecifications are more usual at prices of$200 or more. A few of the finest recordershave S/N ratings as good as 60 dB with theirDolby circuits switched out (note that theaccompanying tabulations of selected avail-able cassette machines list S/N with theDolby circuits in). Since few records or FMtransmissions have an S/N exceeding 50 dB,most medium -price machines can do a fine"noise -free" job of recording from thesesources. In addition, most of them haveDolby noise -reduction circuits that can im-prove their basic S/N as much as 10 dB.

For serious recording of live music oncassettes, even the best machine is margin-al. Even so, one is more likely to be limitedby the quality of the microphones than thatof the recorder, and good microphones cancost more than the recorder itself-a whole'nother story! For live recording, the bestpossible S/N is a "must," and the 65 to 70dB achieved by a few very expensive ma-chines with the aid of Dolby circuits or othernoise -reduction devices may well justifytheir cost.

Features and FunctionsA recorder's features, whether standard

or special, are not necessarily related direct-ly to its sound, but they can be every bit asimportant as its electrical performance. Of-ten they account for a large percentage ofthe price, especially in the range from $500to $1,000 or more, but in terms of record/playback utility and performance it ismoney well spent. Let us examine the con-tributions of the most important of thesefeatures.

Noise Reduction. Noise-or, morespecifically, hiss-is one of the fundamentalproblems in cassette recording. The narrow-ness of the recorded tracks and the slownessof the tape speed are of course responsible.Fortunately, there are relatively inexpen-sive ways through which noise can be re-duced to a level acceptable to most users.

The circuits used to accomplish noise re-duction do not affect the noise that is pres-ent in the incoming signal; what they do is

reduce the noise that is normally added bythe recording and playback processes. Thebest known and most widely used system isthe Dolby "B" device (the "A" system isused in professional recording). Originallyfound only in the more expensive machines,the Dolby system is now built into almostevery deck priced at more than $150 or so.This advance has been facilitated by the de-velopment of inexpensive integrated circuits(IC's) that replace a large number of dis-crete components and transistors in theDolby circuits.

The Dolby technique involves using com-plementary compression and expansion(during recording and playback, respective-ly) that affect only the higher frequenciesand vary with the signal level. The recordingand playback characteristics and the operat-ing signal levels are standardized so thattapes made on one machine can be playedback on another with correct frequency re-sponse and a noise reduction of up to 10 dB(compared with the noise that would havebeen present without Dolby processing).

Some FM stations use Dolby encoding ontheir broadcasts, and when the output of anFM tuner is processed by the Dolby play-back system the SIN of the FM program isimproved just as it is with tape. A few cas-sette recorders (usually priced above $350)have Dolby circuits that can be switched infor use in decoding FM, with or without si-multaneous taping of the program.

Some cassette decks made by JVC em-ploy their proprietary Automatic Noise Re-duction System (ANRS). Its action is some-what similar to that of the Dolby system,and it is sufficiently compatible with Dolbythat tapes recorded with one system can beplayed back through the other with good re-sults. Another noise -reducing system, thePhilips Dynamic Noise Limiter (DNL) is asignal -controlled low-pass filter that reduceshiss already present in the program-unlikethe Dolby and ANRS systems. However, itis not as sophisticated a system as eitherDolby or ANRS. The DNL system is foundin a few cassette recorders. Both the dbxand Dolby systems are present in Teac's$1,600 machine.

Tape Compatibility. Early cassettedecks were designed to work with the avail-able ferric -oxide tape formulations, whichwere considerably inferior to the newertapes. Some time later, and almost simulta-neously. high-performance ferric -oxide andchromium -dioxide (Cr02) tapes appeared onthe market. The Cr02 tapes require about 30per cent more recording bias than other tap-es, and some of the premium ferric tapes

OCTOBER 1976 65

JULIAN HIRSCH'S0 to d 0GUIDE TO

-CASSETTE DECKS

also require more bias than the earlier"standard" tapes. As a result, cassettedecks almost immediately appeared featur-ing two -position bias switches to accommo-date ferric -oxide and chrome tapes (thesedays only the least expensive machines lackthis facility). However, a single bias adjust-ment was still expected to serve with widelyvarying ferric -oxide formulations. This situ-ation still exists to some extent, but manymanufacturers now have switch positionsfor "normal" and "low -noise" tapes, and agrowing number recommend specific tapesfor which their machine's bias -switch set-tings are useful. And in many cases, the"super" tapes of a few years ago have be-come today's "normal" tapes.

To exploit the full noise -level and fre-quency -response potential of Cr02 tapesand some other types, both the recordingand playback equalization (as well as thebias) should be changed from the valuesused with ferric -oxide tapes. After a fewyears without standard equalization charac-teristics, the industry situation became sta-bilized, and on most machines a singleswitch now optimizes both bias and equali-zation for the two major tape types. A fewmachines will even switch automatically toCr02 bias/equalization when a Cr02 cas-sette with the special coding notch is in-serted. On some older machines the bias orthe equalization could be switched, but notboth. Such machines can give fairly satis-factory results with tapes both recorded andplayed back on them, but the tapes will notbe fully compatible for playback on otherrecorders-and vice versa.

A couple of years ago a new tape formula-tion appeared with characteristics midwaybetween those of ferric oxide and Cr02.Called ferrichrome (FeCr for short), thistape is actually a two -layer product, withferric oxide next to the backing and a thinlayer of chromium dioxide on the outside.The tape was first introduced by Sony, andfor a time their recorders were the only oneswith the necessary bias switching for its use.A good many manufacturers now includeFeCr bias and/or equalization, principallyon decks selling for $250 or more. The 3M"Classic" cassette tape is also a ferri-chrome formulation, but it is not exactly thesame as the Sony FeCr. However, when thebias and equalization switches are separateon a machine, as they often are, it is fre-quently possible to find a combination ofsettings that will permit the machine to per-form at close to its optimum with almost anytype of tape. A few tape decks have user -adjustable bias controls (accessible throughholes in the case so they will not be inadver-tently disturbed) that make it possible to ad-just them for almost any tape.

Memory Rewind. A popular feature oncassette machines in the over -$300 class is amemory rewind. The index counter is set to000 at the beginning of a recording (or at anyother point on the tape). When the tape is re-wound, it stops automatically at the preSetpoint (more often just before it at the 999counter reading). Some recorders can be setto go automatically into the PLAY mode afterstopping. The memory feature is an obviousconvenience, for it returns the tape swiftlyto the beginning after recording for a play-back check.

Within this same utility area, a few decksare now beginning to appear that have theability to sense blank segments between mu-sical selections even in the fast -wind mode.Some can be programmed to play any se-quence of selections desired. As of this writ-ing, Optonica's APFS (Automatic ProgramFind System) is the only one to havereached the market.

Microphone Inputs. Most decks haveinput jacks for two microphones. Lower-price units have a switch to select either lineor microphone inputs, or in some casesplugging in a microphone disconnects theline input for that channel. On many ma-chines selling for $350 or more, mixing in-puts are provided so that both line and mi-crophone sources can be used simultaneous-ly with independent control of their levels.A few machines have an input for a third mi-crophone which feeds both channels, there-by providing a "center" channel signal. Anda couple of decks approach the complexityof semiprofessional mixers in their inputand level -control facilities.

Cassette -deck microphone inputs are usu-ally designed for medium -impedance dy-namic microphones, and microphones arenot included as standard equipment withany but the cheapest machines (too, suchmicrophones are always of low quality). Thequality of any "live" cassette recording(and of any open -reel recording, for thatmatter) is determined more by the micro-phones than by the recorder, and top-qualitymicrophones can easily cost more than therecorder itself. For this reason, machinemanufacturers have wisely left the choice ofa microphone to the user, who is thus notburdened with an extra expense if he doesnot plan to make live recordings.

A few deck manufacturers, recognizingthe limitations of a typical cassette record-er's microphone -amplifier circuits, do not

provide them on some of their machines. In-stead, they offer separate optional micro-phone preamplifiers with the low noise andfreedom from high-level overload that makefull use of the recorder's basically good per-formance when doing live recording.

Peak Limiters. Peak limiters go into ac-tion only when program levels exceed the0 -dB mark on the recorder's meters. If theaverage recording level is kept several deci-bels below that point (as it should be withmost machines), the limiter has no effect.However, an instantaneous and unexpectedpeak that would otherwise drive the record-er-or more likely the tape itself-into dis-tortion is limited by the circuit to an accept-able value. The limiter recovers almost im-mediately, and in situations where one doesnot have full control over the incoming sig-nal it can prevent distortion with no detect-able side effects. Peak limiters are found in anumber of cassette decks beginning at aboutthe $200 level, and they operate with vary-ing degrees of effectiveness. Those used inthe $400 class of machines are excellent,and all decks with this feature have a switchwith which it can be disabled.

Meters. One of the most important fac-tors in making good cassette recordings isclose control of the recording level. Virtual-ly all recorders have meters to monitor inputlevels on the two channels; the playbacklevel will also generally register on thesemeters. Most machines show the recordinglevel before the recording equalization is ap-plied, and this can be misleading if the pro-gram contains abnormally high levels ofhigh -frequency material. A couple of unitsconnect the meters after the equalization sothat they can show the true program levelreaching the recording head. Normally, 0 dBis the recommended maximum for a distor-tion -free recording, but there are exceptionsto this rule.

Recorder meters differ widely in their sizeand legibility. Not so visible, but perhapseven more important, are the great differ-ences between them in accuracy and speedof response time. Meters respond relativelyslowly to rapid changes in signal level, andat best can indicate only a rough averageprogram level. To make sure that programpeaks will rarely, if ever, exceed 0 dB, it is

66 STEREO REVIEW

best to record with maximum meter read-ings well below that level. Meters varywidely in their ballistic characteristics-how fast they rise and fall on transientwaveforms and how much their pointersovershoot the correct reading. As one be-comes familiar with the behavior of a givenmachine, however, it is easy to make goodrecordings with almost any type of metersystem.

Many cassette recorders have metersmarked "VU," but none meets the totalspecification for a true VU meter, which is aprofessional signal -monitoring device builtto stringent response and ballistic specifica-tions. On some of the better meters, how-ever, the ballistic characteristics do corre-spond closely to the VU specifications.

Recently, several decks, principally in theover -$400 range, have appeared with fast -acting meters driven by electronic circuitsthat can sense a transient as short as a mil-lisecond and "hold" it long enough for ameter to read its true value. The decay timeof these meters is an appreciable fraction ofa second, so they tend to follow the peaks ofa program without excessive pointer move-ment. On some machines, the meter re-sponse can be switched from average topeak reading.

One variation of the peak -reading meterfeatures an expanded scale covering 40 to 50dB instead of the usual 20 to 25 dB. Thistype of meter gives a very clear picture ofthe program dynamics, and it virtually gua-rantees a good recording when it is properlyused.

Sometimes one or two peak -indicatinglights (fast -responding light -emitting diodes)are used in conjunction with a meter thatreads the "average" levels of the program.The peak light flashes when a prograrn peakreaches a preset level, usually about 5 dBabove the meter's 0 -dB level. Some lightsare set to flash at too high a level (such as +7dB), so that distortion has already occurredby the time it flashes.

The Advent 201 and Nakamichi 350 ma-chines are unusual in having only a singlemeter to monitor the levels of both chan-nels, indicating the higher of the two at all

times. This gives a very easily interpreteddisplay that many people find more usefulthan trying to follow two independentlyswinging meter pointers. However, if onechannel is missing or becomes disconnect-ed, the meter will not warn the user of thefact (although on the Advent machine it canbe switched to read either channel individu-ally as well as both together).

Tape -drive Systems. No cassette re-corder can be any better than the mechani-cal "transport" system that moves the tape.Constant speed, with a minimum of short-term fluctuations (flutter) is a fundamentalrequirement. Since the tape speed is con-trolled by the capstan that presses against it,the capstan drive system is basic to the re-corder's performance.

Also important are the hub drives, whichcorrespond to the supply and takeup reels ofan open -reel deck. They must have suffi-cient torque to wind the tape smoothly un-der constant tension, but not so much as toplace an undue stress on the very thin tapeused in cassettes. The type of drive systemused on the hubs also determines haw fast acassette can be wound from one end to theother in fast -forward or rewind modes.

Cassette mechanisms, like those of open -reel recorders, can use one, two, or threemotors. The large majority of low- and me-dium -price decks use a single motor for alltransport functions. Mechanical clutches,idler wheels, and belts are used to reducethe motor speed to that required by the cap-stan and to drive the hubs at varying speedsand with constant torque. Many single -motor machines use a d.c. servo -controlledmotor whose speed is determined by a sta-ble reference voltage in the electronic cir-

cuits. Internal adjustments set the speed,and one or two models (principally in theover -$400 range) even have a user -adjusta-ble speed vernier that affects only playbackspeed. This type of recorder drive can alsobe designed to operate from a low -voltaged.c. source such as an automobile battery ora built-in battery pack; it is therefore foundin all recorders intended for use away fromcommercial power lines.

A different approach to single -motor driveuses a synchronous motor like the ones usedto power many record players. These mo-tors are usually more powerful than the d.c.servo motors, and their speed is fixed by thea.c. power frequency. The greater powerand torque of a.c. synchronous motors usu-ally enables them to move the tape morerapidly in fast -forward and rewind modes.

A two -motor drive system has a constant -speed motor for turning the capstan and aseparate "torque" motor for driving thehubs. Some two -motor machines use a di-rect -drive capstan motor similar to thosefound on some turntables. A few of themost advanced cassette decks use three mo-tors so that each hub is driven by its ownmotor. One of the more obvious characteris-tics of three -motor transports (but not ex-clusive to them) is their very fast windingspeed. Some models can wind a C-60 (60 -minute) cassette fully in under 40 seconds.

A growing number of machines in theover -$350 price range feature closed -loopdual -capstan drives. This system reducesflutter to a minimum by driving the tape withtwo capstans on opposite sides of the heads.The trailing capstan (nearest the supply hub)is driven at a slightly lower speed than theforward capstan, placing the tape under acontrolled tension as it passes over theheads.

Auto -reverse operation, which eliminatesthe need to turn the cassette over at the endof a side, is offered on a few machines, in-cluding models from Akai, Dual, and Uher.This often involves a dual -capstan drive,with the roles of leading and trailing cap-stans being interchanged when the tape re-verses. The reversal is initiated automatical-


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Fisher CR5110 200 173/4x6%x15 50-12k 0.1 50 F CrO, , FeCr K

CR5115 400 17%x6%x15 40-12k (15k, CrO, ) 0.07 58 F Cr.:3 , FeCr C,K

CR5120 na. 18%x6x15% 30-12k (16k, CrO, ) 0.07 58 F CrO, , FeCr A, C, K

Hitachi D/3500 450 17x5%x12 20-15k (20k, CrO, ) 0.05 63 T CrO, A, B, E, G, K

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Lenco C-2003 695 18%x3%x11% 30-18k 0.16 65 T Cr0,, FeCr B, D, H, 1,1_, N, 0

Nakamichi 700 850 20%x10%x5% 35-20k 0.1 65 F Cr0, A, B,D, E, G, H, I, L, M, 0,P, Q

1000 1,300 20%x11%x8% 35-20k 0.1 65 F Cr02 A, B, D, E, G, H, I, L, M, N, 0, P, Q,S

Sony TC-177SD 750 17%x614x12% 30-13k (17k, CrO, I 0.07 59 T Cr02 , FeCr A, B, C, D, E, G, H, L, M, P,

Tandberg TCD-330 1,000 18%x9%x4% 30-18k 0.12 65 F Cr0, A, B, C, D, H, J, L, M, N, P, 0

Teac 860 1,600 17%x14%x9% 31-16k (18k, CrO, ) 0.04 70 (tibx) F Cra, , FeCr A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K , P, Q, T

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,

A, W

Aiwa AD -1250 230. 15%xl1x5% 30-14k (16k, Cr°, )" 0.09 60 T CrO, , FeCr D, FAD -6300 250 168x11%x6% 30-14k (16k, Cr0, )' 0.09 60 F Cr0,, FeCr D, FAD -1600 360 16%x11%x6 30-14k (17k, CrO, )* 0.07 62 T CrO, , FeCr B, D, FAD -6500 370 17%x11%x6% 30-14k (17k, CrO, )' 0.07 62 F CrO, , FeCr B, D, F, VAD -1800 450 16%x11%x6 30-14k 117k, Cr0, 1" 0.05 65 T Cr0,, FeCr B, F,S

Akai CS -34D 200 15x9x4)4 40-13k (15k, CrO, I 0.13 62 T CrO,GXC-39D 275 17'/3x9 x4% 30-14k (17k, FeCr) 0.08 57 T CrO, , FeCr B

GXC-310D 375 17)/3x11%x5M 30-14k (17k, FeCr) 0.07 60 T Cra., FeCr A, B, RGXC-710D 395 17 li,x12x5,4 30-14k (17k, FeCr) 0.08 60 F CrO FeCr A, B, D, RGXC-75D 450 18x12x5% 30-14k (16k, CrO,) 0.1 58 T CrO FeCr A, B, R, U

Bigston BSD-300 170 14%x10%x5% 30-13k (16k, FeCr)' 0.12 55 F CrO, B, F, GBSD-230 210 13%x98:x4% 30-13k I16k, Cr0, 1* 0.15 58 T Cr0, B, C

Bang & Olufsen 2200 485 19%x9x3 30-14.5k' 0.12 61 T CrO, 8

Clarion MD -7800 595 8%x9x8%) 20-15k (18k, Cr0,)' 0.07 63 F CrO, . B, G, I, P, Q, S

Craig 2712 140 11%x9x3 40-12k' 025 50 T "Special"5201 250 17x11%x6% 35-14k (16k, Cr0,1 0.1 60 F CrO, B, C

Dokorder MK -610 250 17x12%x5% 30-15k' 0.1 60 F Cr0, B, FMK -550 260 16x11%x4 30-12k (14k, CrO, I 0.15 50 T Cr0,, FeCr A, C, D, F, G

Dual C919 450 17x10x5 20-16.5k (17k, FeCr) 0.07 61 T CrO,, FeCr A, B, C, GAuto Reverse 500 16%x11%x48. 20-16.5k (17k, FeCr) 0.07 61 T Cr0, E, U

Harman-Kardon HK2000 400 15x10%x58 20-16k 0.07 62 T CrO, A, B, D, E, FHeath AD -1530 280 (kit) 14x9%x5% 40-12k (14k, CrO, I 025 58 T Cr0, E (internal)

AD -110 130 (kit) 13%x11x3 30-12k 0.25 451 T Cr0,Hitachi D/2330 150 13%x8%x3% 40-12k (14k, CrO, I 0.18 58 T CrO,

D/410 200 16%x10x5% 30-13k (16k, Cra ) 0.08 60 F Cr0, A,CJVC CD -1740 200 17x9 x4 40-12k (14k, CrO, ) 0.13 60 T Cr0,

CD -1920 250 15%x12%x6 40-15k (16k, CrO, I 0.09 62 F Cr0,, FeCr XCD -1770 300 168x11 x38 40-15k (16k, CrO,) 0.05 62 T Cr0, A, G, XCD -S200 300 19%x12%x6 40-15k (16k, CrO,) 0.09 62 F CrO, , FeCr A, XCD -1970 400 168x11%x6% 40-15k 116k, CrO, I 0.09 62 F CrO, A, B, G, X

CD -1669-2 500 16%x12kix5% 30-13k (16k, Cr0,1 0.05 63 F CrO, A, B, E, I, XCD -1636 (port.) 350 14 %x9Y,x4 45-15k (16k, CrO,) 0.08 64 T CrO, X, V

Kenwood KX-620 220 17x11%x58 40-11k (12k, Cra ) 0.09 61 F Cra , FeCr BKX-720 260 16x10x5 40-13k (14k, CrO,) 0.08 62 T Ora , FeCr A, B, C, FK X -920 300 16x10x5 40.13k (14k, CrO,) 0.08 62 T Cr0,, FeCr A, B, C, F

Lafayette RK-0100 160 14x9%x3% 50-12k" 025 55 T "Special"RK-D200 200 17%x12x7 30-13k' 025 60 F CrO, - C

Marante 5020 270 17%x11 /x5/, 45-13k (16k, FeCr) 0.08 58 F Cr0,, FeCr C5120 330 16x11x5% 45-13k (16k, FeCr) 0.08 58 T Cr°, , FeCr A, C, G5220 370 16% x12%x5% 45-13k (16k, FeCr) 0.08 58 F Cr0,, FeCr A, B, C, G5420 430 17%x12%x6% 45-14k (17k, FeCr) 0.07 60 T Cr0,, FeCr A, B, C, G -

Menton HD -500 110 14x9%x3% 30-12k (15k, CrO,) 022 451 T CrO,HD -520 170 14x9%x38 30-10k (12.5k, Cr0,) 0.15 58.5 T Cr0, , FeCr D

Nakamichi 500 400 15x10x48 40-15k (17k, CrO, 1 0.13 63 T CrO, A, B, E, G600 500 15% x9 '13x6% 40-18k 0.12 68 T Cr0, A, B, D, E

350 (port.) 350 7'23)(9% x3% 40-15k 0.08 58 T CrO, W, Z550 (port.) 500 12%x33/4x38 40-17k 0.13 65 T CrO, A, E

Neal 103 600 133/4x914,5% 35-12k 0.09 64 T Cr0, A, E, GOlson (I nvicta) RA -294 120 12%x9%x4 60-9k )6 dB (14k, Cr0,1 0.3 42 T CrO,Optonica RT-2050U 300 18%x14x5% 30-13k (15k, CrO, I 0.058 62 F CrO, FeCr A, B, a

RT-3535 430 18%x14x5% 30-15k (17k, CrO,) 0.058 58 F CrO, , FeCr A, D, aPanasonic RS-268US 180 14%x9). x3% 30-13k" 0.12 57 T Cr°,

RS-260US 100 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.Pioneer CT -F2121 200 13%x11%x5% 40-11k (12k, Cr0,) 0.12 62.5 F Cra, D

CT-F4141A 250 15%x98x3% 63-10k (12k, Cr0,) 0.13 .62.5 T CrO, A, FCT -51$1 270 15%x9%x3% 63-12k (13k, CrO,) 0.13 62.5 T Cr0, A, B, F

CT -F7272 320 16x138 x7 40-13k (15k, CrO,) 02 66.5 F CrO, FeCr A, B, DCT -F8282 400 17%x13'hx7'h 30-13k (15k, CrO,) 0.07 67.5 F Cra, FeCr A, 13, I

CT -F9191 450 18x12%x8 35-13k (14k, CrO,) 0.07 66.5 F CrO, , FeCr A, B, D, G, IQuadraflex 307 370 16%x12).x5% 20-14k" 0.08 62 F CrO, , FeCr A, BRealistic SCT-10 100 15x8%x4 40-10k" 025 481 T CrO, A

SCT-14 150 11%x9x3% 40-13k' 02 55 T CrO,SCT-9 200 14%x98x4% 30-15k 0.14 54 T CrO, A, B

-SCT-11 230 15%x10%x5% 30-15k 02 58 F CrO, A,C

68 STEREO REVIEW

(Researched by Arnis Balgalvis

C.

se4"0* /1'Qa

4:, .6tbQ

Q

AZ`

4_?.'4,

4V.,s

RD -12FRD -20

340370

19%x9%x4%18x9%x3

30-14k (16k, COD,)30-15k (16k, Cr02)

0.090.07

6060

F

T

Cra,, FeCr,

Cr02

A, B, F, GA, B, F, G

Sankyo STD -1410 170 15x10x3 40-14k* 02 55 T Cr02

STD -1510 200 15x10x3 40-14k' 0.12 55 T Cr02 A

Sansui SC -636 280 16x111/2x4% 35-10k (13k, Cr02) 0.12 58 T Cr02

SC -2000 290 18%x11)4x6% 35-11k (12k, Cr02 I 0.1 60 F Cr02 A

SC -2002 300 18%x11 %x6% 35-11k (12k, CrO2) 0.1 60 F CrO2 A

SC -3000 360 17%x11 %x6% 35-11k (13k, Cr02) 0.09 60 F Cr02 A, B, G

SC -3003 370 17%x11%x6% 35-11k (13k, CrO2) 0.09 60 F CrO2 A, B, G

Sanyo RD 4135 130 11%x9x3% 50-12k' 02 451 F Cr02

RD 4553 170 13%x10%x4% 30-13k' 02 60 F Cr02

RD 5300 200 16%:x 10 % x6 30-14k* 0.1 63 F Cr02 A

RD 8400 200 21%x9%x6% 60-12k' 025 45t F Cr02 b

Sharp RT-1155 170 16x9%u6% 40-10k (12k, Cr02) 0.1 60 F Cr02 B, a

RT-2000U 180 16x10%x4% 45-10k (12k, CrO2) 0.15 60 T Cr02 A, B, a

RT-2500U 200 17x10%x4% 45-12k (14k, CrO2) 0.13 62 T Cr02 A

RT-3500U 260 17x10% x4% 45-13k (15k, Cr02) 0.13 62 T Cr02 A, B, a

Sonab C500 400 15x10x4 30-15k 116k, Cr02) 0.13 58 T Cr02 A, B

Sony TC-117 150 14%x9%,(4% 40-10k (13k, Cr02 ) 02 56 T CrO2, FeCr

TC-118SD 200 14%)(9%x4% 40-10k (13k, Cr02) 0.15 60 T Cr02 , FeCr C, E

TC-135S0 230 15%,x924,4% 50-14k 0.1 64 T CrO2, FeCr C, E

TC-136SD 300 15%x9% x5 40.15k 0.1 64 T Cr02, FeCr D, G

TC-186SD 300 16%x11%x6% 40-15k 0.09 67 F Cr02, FeCr C, D

TC-206SD 350 17x12%x6% 30.15k 0.08 65 F CrO2, FeCr A, C, D, E, G

TC-138SD 400 16%x11 %x5% 30-15k 0.07 65 T Cr02, FeCr A, B, D, G

T C-2095 D 500 17%x12%x6M 30-17k 0.07 65 F CrO2, FeCr A, B, D, G

TC-15380 (port.) 370 15x9% x4% 40-14k 0.15 65 T Cr02, FeCr D, Y

Superscope CD -301A 140 12%x9x3% 40-10k (14k, Cr02 ) 0.2 511 T Cr02

CD -302A 190 12%x9x3% 30-15k (18k, Cr02 I' 0.12 61 T Cr02 C

Tandberg TCD-310 500 17x9 x4% 40-13.5k (±2 dB) 0.15 63 T Cr02 H, J, P

Teac A-100 200 16%ix12x614 30-11k (14k, Cr02). 0.1 60 F Cr02

A-150 250 16%x12x6% 30-12k (15k, Cr02)* 0.09 60 F Cr02 B, G

A-170 250 17x10x5% 30-13k (16k, Cr02)* 0.09 60 T CrO2 A

A-400 300 17%x11%>(6% 30-13k (16k, Cr02)* 0.08 65 F Cr02 A

A-420 350 17%x11% x6% 30-13k 116k, Cr02)* 0.07 65 F CrO2, FeCr A, G

A-650 550 17%x12'/, x7 30-13k (16k, Cr02)* 0.06 67 F Cr02, FeCr A, B, C, D, G, I, P

PC -10 (port.) 500 11%0%0% 40-12.5k (14k, Cr021* 0.07 68 T CrO2 Y

Technics RS-263AUS 200 13%x9%x4% 30-13k (14k, Cr02 P. 0.15 57 T CrO2 A, B

RS-630US 250 17%x12%/c51, 30-14k (16k, Cr02)* 0.09 63 F Cr02. A

RS-625US 300 15%x11 x5 40-11k (12k, CrO2) 0.1 57 T Cr02 A, B

RS-640US 350 17x12x5A 30-14k (16k, Cr02 ) 0.08 64 T CrO2 A, B, D

RS-671US 400 17%x13x5% 30-15k (17k, Cr02)* 0.075 65 F CrO2 A, B, I, P

RS-677US 500 17%x13%x5% 30-15k (17k, Cr02 )' 0.07 65 F CrO2 A, C, D, E, I, P, Q (incl.)

Toshiba PC -3060 200 15%x11%x5% 40-12k (15k, Cr02 1* 0.09 67 F Cr02 C, F

PC -4030 230 15%x11%x5% 40-12k (15k, CrO2). 0.09 67 T Cr02 A, F

PC -5060 320 17%x13%x5% 40-12k (15k, CrO2 I* 0.08 68 F Cr02 A

PC -6030 750 16x7Mx10 20-15k (17.5k, Cr02)* 0.07 70 F Cr02 A, D, E, H, I, P

Transaudio 3500 150 n.a. 40-12k (14k, Cr02)* 0.18 57 T Cr02

4500 200 n.a. 40-12k (14k, CrO2 I* 0.18 58 T CrO2

Uher CG -320 505 16x11,41 30-16k' 0.1 60 T Cr02 A, B, I, S, Y

CG -362 1,065 154x11'/2x4 20-14k (18k, CrO, )* 0.15 68 F Cr02, FeCr D, J, P, Q,S

CR-210 (port.) 590 7x7x2 20-15k 12 dB-

0.12 56t F Cr02 A, B, U, Y, Z

Yamaha TC-511S 260 17'.4x13x6% 30-13k (15k, Cr02)* 0.07 58 T CrO2, FeCr

TC-800D 310 12%x12%x3% 30-13k (16k, Cr02 l 0.06 58 T CrO2, FeCr 13,0

TC-800GL 390 12%)(12)4,3% 30-13k (15k, Cr02)* 0.06 58 T CrO2, FeCr A, B, 0, Z

NOTES: All specifications are as reported by the manufacturer. Different standards are frequently and review; the machine will switch automatically nto play when fast -forward or rewind is disen-

used in deriving the flutter and noise figures, so these specifications may or may not be directly gaged. G-microphone/line mixing provided (some of these facilities are considerably more elabo-

comparable. All machines are compatible with low -noise ferric -oxide tapes. Other tapes for which rate than others). H-dual-capstan tape drive. I-two-motor transport.i-three-motor transport.

specific bias and equalization settings appear to be provided are shown in the Tapes accommodated K-three-head machine with record and play heads in a single housing. L-three-head machine

column. With many of the machines, the user is instructed to set up for ferrichrome (FeCr) tape by with record and play heads in separate housings. M-readily accessible record -head azimuth ad -

using chromium -dioxide (Cr02) bias and "normal" equalization. However, since this does not con- justment (found only on three -head machines with separately housed record and play heads and

stitute a specific and individual ferrichrome adjustment, FeCr generally does not appear in the col- generally accompanied by some sort of test system to assist the user in making the adjustment).

umn in such cases. A number of manufacturers providing Cr02 bias and equalization do not recom- N-separate Dolby circuits for recording and playback ("Double Dolby" on three -head machines

mend chromium -dioxide tape, usually preferring some ferric -oxide formulation designed to take only). 0-pitch control. P-solenoid-switched transport functions. 0-remote control possible.

chromium -dioxide adjustments (and sometimes labeling the appropriate switch positions on their R-Akai's "Automatic Distortion Reduction" system (ADR). S-Philips' "Dynamic Noise Limiter"

machines "Special" (or some other designation) instead of "CrCh". However, since these ma- system (DNL). T-the dbx II noise -reduction system. U-automatic reverse (may function in both

chines will work properly with chrome tape (as well as with the tapes specifically recommended for recording and playback or in playback only). V-automatic cassette loading. W-single meter nor -

them), note is taken of the fact in the tables. malty registers the higher of the two channels. X-JVC's ANRS noise -reduction system. Y-built-in speaker(s). Z-portable machine adaptable for car or other mobile installations (in which case it

A-output-level control(s), which may be on the front panel or elsewhere. B-memory rewind. C- can be powered from a 12 -volt storage battery). a-automatic program seeking, sometimes with

machine's Dolby circuits can be switched to decode Dolbyized FM broadcasts. D-FM multiplex III- switching to enable user to select any program in a sequence desired. b-machine records and

ter (to eliminate the 19 -kHz stereo pilot -carrier signal) can be switched in or out. E-user-adjusta- plays eight -track cartridges as well as cassettes. '-dB tolerances not specified. t -machine lacks

ble Dolby calibration controls, generally accompanied by a Dolby -level test -tone oscillator. F-cue Dolby circuits. n.a.-not available.

OCTOBER 1976 69

JULIAN HIRSCH'S0 bil 0GUIDE TO

CASSETTE DECKS

ly by a motion -sensing or optical system, orit can be made manually at any time. Since abidirectional mechanism is inherently moreexpensive than a conventional type, thisfeature is found only in recorders in the $400and higher price range.

Heads. The heads of a tape recordershare with the tape transport the major re-sponsibility for its overall quality. The cas-sette was originally designed to employ anerase head and a single combination record-ing/playback head contacting the tapethrough two small openings in the cassettecase. Most recorders currently manufac-tured employ a single record/playback head.However, the requirements for optimumperformance of a recording head and a play-back head are quite different, so a combina-tion head must involve some performancecompromises. Specifically, a recording headshould have a fairly wide gap to transfer themaximum amount of energy to the tape'smagnetic coating, while the playback headneeds a very narrow gap to respond to theextremely short high -frequency wave-lengths on the slow -moving cassette tape.

When a combination head is used, it isnecessary to employ greater amounts ofhigh -frequency boost (equalization) toachieve the required high -frequency re-sponse. This in turn hastens the onset oftape saturation, with the result that the im-pressively flat frequency response achievedby most cassette recorders can be realizedonly at lower recording levels such as -20dB. At higher signal levels the high -frequen-cy response drops off markedly.

If the head functions could be separated,each could be optimized for its function-erase, record, or playback-and the prob-lems considerably reduced. By the exerciseof a great deal of ingenuity, several manu-facturers have done just that, adapting thethree -head configuration of reel-to-reel tothe cassette format. The first to do so wasNakamichi in the very expensive models1000 and 700 ($1,300 and $850, respective-ly). These machines use completely sepa-rate recording and playback heads, with theformer contacting the tape through a narrowopening in the cassette somewhat ahead ofthe pressure pad. Because of the critical re-quirement for parallelism between the sepa-rate recording- and playback -head gaps, itwas necessary to make the record -head azi-

muth adjustable so that it could be preciselymatched (given the tape skew likely to occurbetween the two heads) to the actual azi-muth of the playback head.

Another solution to the azimuth problemis to be found in machines made by Akai,Fisher, Hitachi, and Teac. Separate record-and playback -head parts are permanentlybuilt into a single housing, their gaps opti-mized and permanently aligned to each oth-er at the time of manufacture. The combina-tion head fits through the normal head open-ing in the cassette and contacts the pressurepad in the conventional way. This is a muchless expensive technique than using physi-cally separate heads, and it is naturallyreflected in the modest prices of machinesusing "two -in -one" heads-they generallyrange from $200 to $600. Since the gaps areso close, tape skew between them is negligi-ble, and complex and expensive head -align-ment adjustment systems can be done awaywith.

With either approach to the head packag-ing, a three -head machine uses separateelectronic sections for recording and play-back so that the program can be monitoredfrom the tape an instant after being record-ed. When the heads are in a common hous-ing, the distance between their gaps is sosmall that no audible time lag is heard whenswitching from the incoming signal to theplayback -head output.

Not all three -head recorders have equalcapabilities, however. Aside from the nor-mal differences one would expect in trans-port quality and basic head performance,there is the matter of the Dolby circuits,which appear in all these machines. Even inIC form Dolby circuits cost money, so theless expensive three -head machines use asingle pair of Dolby circuits switched be-tween recording and playback functions justas in the case of a two -head machine. Themonitor output from the playback head isnot decoded and so does not have the cor-rect frequency response and noise level; it istherefore not fully effective as a check on arecording in progress. Machines selling formore than $400 use a "double Dolby" sys-tem with four separate Dolby circuits so thatsimultaneous encoding and decoding cantake place. The program can be monitoredand compared with the incoming programwith the assurance that any differences arecaused by the taping process (these differ-ences are usually very small in machines ofthis quality).

Miscellaneous Features. There are nu-merous operating features that can makeone machine preferable to another for aspecific application, even though they maynot have any significant effect on its sonicfidelity. For example, many (but not all) cas-sette decks have headphone outputs. Theyare found on machines at all price levels,and their presence or absence is not an indi-cation of quality but merely of the design-er's philosophy. Tape -recorder headphone

outputs are usually meant to drive low -impedance phones (8 to 16 ohms) and oftencannot give sufficient volume with the high-er -impedance (200 to 600 ohms) phones.Most machines with headphone outputs donot provide a separate volume control forheadphone listening, but excessive volumeis not likely to be a problem with them inany case.

A number of machines also do not offerany control over their output level in play-back. The output is generally matched to theinput recording level, so a 0 -dB recordinglevel will result in playback at a 0 -dB meterreading. This may be acceptable, but it isusually more desirable to be able to matchthe playback level to the incoming signallevel present at the tape -output jacks of anamplifier or receiver, and this is best donewith a separate playback -level control.

Portability, including battery operation, issometimes necessary for some cassette us-ers. There are several portable machines ofexcellent quality available from JVC, Naka-michi, Sony, Teac, Uher, and Yamaha, allof which can also be operated from an a.c.power source. They are not to be confused,however, with the small mono portables thatsell for $100 or less, for these are full -fea-ture stereo decks, usually with noise reduc-tion and full metering. Their prices (in the$300 to $600 range) reflect their quality.

Most cassette transports have mechanicalcontrols in the familiar "piano -key" con-figuration. Usually they are interlocked sothat the STOP lever must be pressed beforegoing from playing speed to one of the fastspeeds or vice versa. Sometimes a fairlyhigh finger pressure is required to operatethese controls, and remote control is notpossible. There is, however, a strong trendin higher -price machines to use electrome-chanical solenoids to operate the controls.These are actuated by light -touch pushbut-tons or similar controls, and internal logicsystems ensure that the tape won't be mis-treated when switching between operatingmodes. Many of these recorders can be con7trolled remotely through accessory devices.

Front vs. Top Loading. The locations ofthe cassette opening and of the machine'scontrols are probably its most obvious ex-ternal features. So-called "front -loading"decks have become very popular in recentyears, but most manufacturers of a broadline of recorders produce both front -loadingand top -loading models. There are no inher-ent performance advantages (or disadvan-tages) in either loading style; choice shouldbe made simply on the basis of where the re-corder is to be located and to some degreeon your own sense of "human engineering"efficiency. When the machine is to be in-stalled at waist level, the top -loading designis superior, since the cassette and all of itscontrols are visible from the operating posi-


70 STEREO REVIEW

ALTHOUGH it won't be available un-til well into 1977, you'll be hear-

ing more and more over the next sever-al months about a new tape formatcalled the elcaset. No, it was not de-signed in Mexico or in Spain; it origi-nated in Japan, and as of the moment ithas the support of Sony, Teac, Tech-nics, Akai, and JVC.* To appreciatewhere the elcaset is coming from-technically, rather than geographical-ly-you first have to understand somethings about the conventional cassetteformat.

At the time of the cassette's birth adozen or so years ago, its parents (Phi-lips of the Netherlands) never thoughtthat it would one day grow up to be ahigh -quality recording medium. As Iremember the early ads, there werefrequent references to a "sound -cam-era" concept. The "compact cassette"(as it was, and is, known formally) wasintended merely to duplicate the con-venience and simplicity of the Browniebox camera, to provide sonic "snap-shots" of a quality no higher than theBrownie's visual ones. The cassette'ssubsequent history proves that one canmake a sonic silk purse out of a sow'sear-if enough talented engineers areput on the job. However, from the pur-ist's point of view, the cassette stillsuffers, when compared to the reel-to-reel format, from a variety of inherenttechnical handicaps.

HE first of these is that there arejust too many mechanical tape func-tions built into the cassette itself.("Cassette" means, literally, "littlebox," but in the audio sense it refersnot to the container, but to the tapeunit contained.) Everything from thetape -to -head contact, through the fric-tion of the feed hubs, to the guidanceof the tape as it passes over the headsis determined, for better or worse, bythe individual cassette and not by themachine playing it. Thus each cassetteis a separate potential source of me-chanical (and therefore sonic) varia-bles. Other problems: the cassette'ssize and its single, slow playing speed(17/8 ips) are fixed: Philips has beenrather rigid in refusing to license anyvariations on their original patentedscheme. (As a matter of fact, there wasfor a time some question even aboutwhether the Dolby -B system was"compatible" enough for Philips.)

The 17/8-ips playing speed is thesource of a variety of interrelated tech-nical problems: low overload margin,high -frequency distortion, and inade-quate high -frequency response. These,together with the cassette's narrow*The three elcaset units on the cover were in-troduced at the June Consumer ElectronicsShow in Chicago (see September cover sto-ry). They are, top to bottom, Sony's ModelEL -5, the Teac prototype, and the new ma-chine from Technics.

f

tape and track width, also make a rela-tively high hiss level almost inevitable.

Nonetheless, it is clear that today'scassette machines work well, and,when tape of the highest quality is in-dividually and carefully recorded andplayed back on the best available ma-chine, it is frequently impossible to tella duplicated program from a high -qual-ity original. However, for optimum re-sults, everything has to be close to the

THS:LiftilECTOIITS

state of the art-including the user'srecording technique. There is very lit-tle margin for error, and the errors thatdo occur are not easilybetter cassette machines and tapes cer-tainly fulfill the recording needs of thevast majority of home tapesters, butfor the purist and the live recordist,open -reel is still the preferred formatfor the reasons mentioned above andfor several more as well.

The promoters of the elcaset formathave it as their intention to profit (inboth senses) from the shortcomings ofthe cassette by combining the conven-ience of the cassette with the technicaladvantages of open reel. How? First ofall, by increasing the tape width to 1/4inch and the tape speed to 33/4 ips. Thewider recording track and the fasterspeed are tremendously helpful in pro-viding greater recording -overloadheadroom and reducing both distortionand noise level. They do, however,make for a larger (see photo above)cartridge -6 inches wide, 41/8 inchesdeep, and 3/4 inch thick-and (for themoment, at least) a maximum playingtime of 45 minutes per side,

An additional, though not visible,benefit of the elcaset system is that thetape is actually drawn out of its shellduring play. This means not only thatthe tape is handled by the playing ma-chine in much the same way as openreel, but that it can be edited easily.There is also accurate tape guidance,precisely controllable tape -to -head"wrap," and full support to prevent

skewing and help provide a smoothwind. The same open -reel head con-figurations-and the same high -qualityheads-that have served with distinc-tion for many years can now be builtinto a cartridge -format machine. And,since the back of the tape is now ac-cessible, use of a crossfield-bias headbecomes feasible.

Almost all users are aware that thecompact cassette has knock -out tabson the rear to prevent accidentally re-recording over an already recordedtape. In addition, some cassette manu-facturers supply another notch thatprovides (on some machines) automat-ic switchmg to CrO, bias and equaliza-tion. Elcaset has these same codingslots and notches plus several more, in-cluding one with tabs that are labelednoise reduction.

Track arrangement on the elcaset isthe same as for the compact cassette(two adjacent parallel tracks in each di-rection), except that there is also provi-sion for a pair of novel "control"tracks running right down the middleof the tape, separating the two tracksof side one from those of side two.Each control track is less than half thewidth of an elcaset audio track. As ofthe moment, the projected purpose ofthe control tracks has not been madeexplicit, but they could serve for slidesynchronization, cueing, or even selec-tion finding if the appropriate sensingelectronics are built into the player.

As a prerecorded -music format, theelcaset appears to be.ideal. It should befar easier for a duplicator to turn outhigh -quality copies in elcaset form thanin cassettes. And, as mentioned above,some sort of automatic selection -cue-ing signal could be recorded on thecontrol tracks along with the music onthe other four tracks. The advantagesof the elcaset as a home -recording me-dium, however, are not quite thatclear-cut For example, at the momentthe elcaset has a 45 -minute maximumplaying time per side; a standard 1,800 -foot, 7 -inch open -reel tape operating at33/4 ips will provide 90 minutes perside. The question, then, is not wheth-er the elcaset can match open -reelquality (it is safe to assume it can), butwhether those tapesters who are reallyconcerned about recording quality arealso terribly bugged by the several in-conveniences of open reel.

It is clear that the designers of the el-caset have fulfilled their intention toprovide in one format both the techni-cal advantages of open reel and theconvenience advantages of the cas-sette. Now it is up to time and the tapeconsumer to determine whether the el-caset is a superbly designed solution toa nonexistent problem or whether it isthe format breakthrough the tapeworld has been waiting for. How doyou feel about it? -Larry Klein

OCTOBER 1976 71

JULIAN HIRSCH'SiM

GUIDE TO

CASSETTE DECKS

tion. On the other hand, if the machine is tobe stacked with other components on a shelfor placed near eye level, a front -loading de-sign is easier to use.

There are numerous variations on thefront -loading recorder. In some, the cas-sette winds up in a nearly horizontal posi-tion for play, and a mirror and internal il-lumination are needed to make the cassettevisible (this works with varying degrees ofsuccess). Others place the cassette at a moreupright angle or even vertically so that it canbe seen directly. Several decks (Dual, Tand-berg, Yamaha) are really top -loading types,but they are so designed that the entire deckcan be installed standing on its front edge,giving these decks some of the advantages(if needed) of true front -loading designs.However, these machines cannot be stackedwith other units or placed on a shelf withlimited vertical clearance.

Distortion Reduction. Although distor-tion in the recording process can be mini-mized by careful attention to biasing, equali-zation, and recording levels, it is still anever-present risk with cassettes, sometimesemerging in tapes of demanding musicalmaterial to a degree that would probably notbe encountered with a good open -reel ma-chine operating at 71/2 ips or faster.

Two cassette -deck manufacturers havetaken steps to reduce distortion in very dif-ferent ways. Hoping to prevent the distor-tion from being recorded on the tape in thefirst place, Akai has incorporated what theycall "Automatic Distortion Reduction"(ADR) in their cassette decks priced at $350and higher. Little information is given aboutthe feature's operating principles, but ap-parently the level of excessive high frequen-cies in the signal to be recorded (as indicatedby the overall signal level) is reduced toforestall tape saturation, the major cause ofdistortion in recording.

Nakamichi, in its new Model 600 record-er, features an "Intermodulation Suppres-sor" circuit that can be switched in duringplayback. Since the distortion characteris-tics of any tape can be predicted quite accu-rately, it is possible to create an equal andopposite nonlinearity in the playback proc-ess. In effect, this "straightens out" the cur-vature in the record signal caused by tapesaturation. Although this distortion correc-tion can be most effective only with certaintape types, it is at least partly effective withothers having similar magnetic properties.The effect of the Nakamichi Intermodula-tion Suppressor is to permit recording at alevel 4 dB higher for the same distortion per-centage on playback, or to reduce slightlythe playback distortion in a signal recordedat a more normal level.

What to Expect for Your Money

Our emphasis in the foregoing dis-cussion has been on what features areavailable and in what price ranges theyare most likely to be found. Obviously,there is an inexact relationship betweenmany features and the price of a cas-sette deck, for no machine has all ofthem and each manufacturer has elect-ed to provide some features in a givenprice class while omitting others.

One approach for the prospectivebuyer, therefore, is to discover whatoverall level of performance, in addi-tion to features, he can expect to find ineach of the major price ranges. Theleast expensive decks, priced between$100 and $150, are very few in numberand rather basic both as to operatingfeatures and technical specifications.They usually have bias switching forferric and chrome tapes, level meters,and perhaps microphone inputs, butrarely any noise -reducing circuits. Youcan expect an S/N rating of approxi-mately 45 to 50 dB and perhaps a fre-quency response from 50 to 12,000 Hz±3 dB (slightly wider with Cr02 tapes).The flutter is always higher on low -price machines, and whether or not it isacceptable depends on what kind of re-cording you plan to do. Even 0.25 percent flutter will not be noticeable onvoice and most popular or rock record-ings. If you plan to record (or play) pi-ano music, however, these machinesare not likely to prove satisfactory.

Between $150 and $200, expect tofind Dolby noise reduction, which mayimprove the S/N to 56 dB or better.Some machines in this price range havelimiters. Their frequency responseswill often not be much different fromthose of the lower -price recorders, butflutter should be in the 0.15 to 0.2 percent range-sometimes even lower.Specifications tend to vary considera-bly from manufacturer to manufacturerat this level, sometimes reflecting dif-fering priorities on the part of the de-signers, sometimes different ways ofrating the same specification. In anycase, many of these machines are quitesatisfactory for non -critical music re-cording and playback.

At higher prices you will find morefeatures-memory rewind, front load-ing, better heads (which sometimes ex-tend the upper frequency limit a bit),and facilities for using a greater varietyof tapes (frequently even ferrichrome).Again, lower flutter is the most audibleadvantage of these machines, with rat-ings as low as 0.15 or 0.1 per cent. Inthis price class ($200 to $300) there are

relatively few compromises with thestandards of true high-fidelity perform-ance. From $300 to $400, recordershave wider frequency response, reach-ing 15,000 to 16,000 Hz with standardtape and 18,000 Hz with better tape.Flutter is typically OA per cent or evensignificantly lower-figures that arecompletely negligible for most pur-poses. The noise level may also beslightly lower, thanks to better headsand electronics, with the S/N surpas-sing 60 dB (with Dolby). Solenoid -operated controls may be found in ma-chines near the upper end of this pricerange. Microphone/line input mixing iscommon, as are peak indicator lightsand memory rewind.

Above $400, the cassette recorderbecomes a very refined device indeed.Features, as such, may not differ muchfrom those offered in some lower pricecategories, but their performance willbe better by a small but definite margin.There is probably little advantage in acassette recorder's having a responseextending beyond 16,000 or 18,000 Hz(although some of the best recorderscan comfortably surpass these limits),but modest improvements in dynamicrange, distortion, and flutter figures arepossible-and they are achieved in themost expensive machines. Flutter, forexample, can be as low as 0.06 or 0.07per cent in a number of recorderspriced near $500.

Peak -reading wide -range meters,three heads, and three -motor tran-sports are available in a number of re-corders in the $500 -and -up bracket.Owing to the variety of special qualitiesoffered by some of these high -price ma-chines, it is fruitless to generalize. Ifyou are serious enough about cassetterecording to consider spending from$500 to $1,600, study the available ma-chines in this delightful neighborhoodand make your own choice. They areall beautiful products whose precisionof construction and overall perform-ance rivals many of the better homeopen -reel tape recorders.

KNOWING your budget limitations andyour performance requirements, youshould be in a position to pay yourmoney and make your choice-or viceversa. Given the speed at which thefield is expanding, that choice may besomewhat larger than the accompany-ing tables indicate, but the informationpresented will provide a uniquely use-ful understanding of a complicated sub-ject. Good shopping. 0

72 STEREO REVIEW

This is no way to nail downa hi-fi bargain.

Some stores think that one of their cost -cutters in assembling a "bargain"stereo system is to install a run-of-the-mill, inexpensive cartridge. After all,who's going to notice a tiny cartridge when surrounded by powerfulspeakers and a dynamite turntable? Unfortunately, some shoppers are reluc-tant to insist on a better cartridge when buying one of these package spe-cials. But you are made of sterner stuff! And if you insist on a Shure cartridge,"better" doesn't have to mean more expensive. Time and time again, con-sumer magazines have rated Shure cartridges the best in their price category.As the source of sound for the entire system, that tiny Shure cartridge andits critical stylus determine what you'll ultimately hear. And as bargains go,that's the best tip you'll hear today-or any day

Shure Brothers Inc.222 Hartrey Ave., Evanston, IL 60204In Canada: A. C. Simrnonds & Sons Limited rA

Manufacturers

OCTOBER 1976

of high fidelity components, microphones, sound systems and related circuitry.CIRCLE NO. 54 ON READER SERVICE CARD

73

WILL success spoil this person?That's a question always inthe back of the mind in this

quick -fame era, but with Bonnie Raittthe damned question slips away unno-ticed, sort of turns smoky and dissi-pates. Days pass before you even missit. Bonnie Raitt turned out to be one ofthe nicest famous persons I ever expectto meet, and of course it threw me off. Jhadn't expected her to be not nice, but.I wasn't prepared to have being niceseem so natural to her.

Most celebrities are at least civil tojournalists, and most celebrities ActThemselves nowadays-just look atthe four-letter words they utter in thepresence of Rolling Stone and Playboy-but most of the ones I've met weretrying a little too hard at both. A fewseemed as if they might be capable ofbringing off the acting part with somestyle if they'd study the role a littlemore, but several were being both Civiland Natural to the point of making ev-eryone in the room hyperconscious ofit. And few of them had what you'd callBonnie Raitt's "credibility problem"to start with: she was a privileged kid,daughter of famous and presumablyaffluent Broadway star John Raitt (Car-ousel, Pajama Game, and others), andshe was singing the blues, seeming toclaim a kinship with rheumy -eyed oldblack blues singers who had troubletheir whole lives rustling up even theprice of a bottle of cheap wine . . .

and what could she know of all thatthat wasn't secondhand? What couldshe know of a life like that of old BulletWilson, whose way of getting alcoholinto his head cheap was to drink shoepolish strained through bread? I liked,with a degree of fanaticism, her voice,but still one expected to retain someskepticism beyond her first smile andher first few words ("Do you wantsome coffee?"). It was to be a roughtime for skepticism.

'N the time it takes for three-quartersof a cup of forgotten coffee to turncold, she told me about how Mississip-pi Fred McDowell, dead and gone now,surprised her toward the end of his lifewith a birthday cake, which he broughtout on stage where she was playing andset down on top of her National guitar.

"That Kokomo on `Takin' My Time'album was supposed to be him andme," she said. "I still have trouble lis-tening to one of his records. It was along time before I could sing one of hissongs." And I thought she was going tocry, and I must have said something inbody language to change the subject.

I had come into this with consider-able respect for her as a musician. Ithink her voice is quite something,lovely and at the same time salty; I

knew she'd been interested enough inMcDowell and others to study theirguitar styles, and that she played apretty mean slide guitar, something fewwomen seem to try. I'd been a little dis-mayed to see her do a bit of Ms. Enter-tainment jumping up and down on

"The only time I ever took voice les-sons," Bonnie said, "was fairly recent-ly, when I had trouble with my throat-actually, I had walking pneumonia. Thevoice teacher said, 'Well, you mightlast another two years doing it thisway, but you've got to start using your

L BONNIE RAITT

... turned out to be one of the nicest famous persons

I ever expected to meet, and of course it threw me off."

stage recently-hers, I thought, was atalent of subtlety and ought to assumeit had, or would find, an audience thatappreciates nuance, not flash and bom-bast-but I was also trying to keep inperspective the good news, which wasthat at least eighty per cent of her actseemed at peace with the personalityher singing projected.

Technically, it turns out, the part Iwas so impressed with in the firstplace-the voice-is "all wrong."

"Bonnie's like me," her father said."We're both singing in lower rangesthan we should be. I should be a tenor,and she should be a soprano."

diaphragm or you're going to burn yourcords out.'

". . . It's funny. I'd gotten this farwithout thinking anything about thediaphragm, me the daughter of atrained singer and all. But I found whenI tried to do it the right way I didn'tsound like me-I sounded like VikkiCarr. Whatever I'm doing wrong iswhat gives me my sound."

She's keeping her sound.Where that really comes from, blues -

men have long suspected, is beyondanatomy anyway. "What comes out iswhat you feel," Sonny Terry once toldme. "You don't know what it's going

74 STEREO REVIEW

to be beforehand." A certain characterprobably started edging into the Raittvoice as long ago as her teenage years.Being, like all teenagers, reactionary tosome degree, she trained her earlyskepticism not so much on other gener-ations as on that middle-class wallow -

By Noel Coppoye

ing her peers were doing in, to use StanFreberg's word, Highschool!, and allthe manic irresponsibility that wordmeant in L.A. in the middle Sixties.

"Surfing," Bonnie says. "Surfingwas big in those days, and I never didlike that kind of music. Maybe living upin the hills away from the malt -shophangouts had something to do withit-I was the first kid to get on theschool bus in the morning and the lastone off in the afternoon. Anyway, I al-ways liked what turned out to be whatyou would call today the soul groups."

Her father's involvement in summertheater meant travel and separations,

and Bonnie spent several summers in aQuaker -run camp (the Raitts wereQuakers, she says, in a philosophicalrather than a passionately religiousway) in the Adirondack Mountains.Her political consciousness, a factorimplicit in her dislike of "all that L.A.plastic," was raised there in quick,long steps. "That camp," she said,"was really an uncompetitive, liberalplace. Civil rights had come along, andthe counselors there, mostly from Anti-och and Swarthmore, were into the civ-il-rights movement. They were peoplewho knew about freedom marches andsit-ins and all that."

A lot of her friends, she noticed,were older than she was. "I couldn'twait to get to Cambridge, but by thetime I could manage it the folk clubswere closing. I couldn't go to Selma. Icouldn't be Joan Baez. I was too latefor everything, and there were timeswhen I was bitter."

SHE is still political. Last year she wascoordinating a series of benefit con-certs to raise funds for Tom Hayden'sattempt to win a U.S. Senate seat in the1976 California election. Hayden, afigure in both the civil-rights movementand in the political spasm of the lateSixties., is a neighbor of hers in SantaMonica. But some who know her sayshe's mellower now (perhaps we allare); her father, for example, tells methat "Bonnie has become quite a grace-ful advocate of women's lib" [empha-sis his]. And, while she never seemsguarded in her opinions or about thefacts of her personal life, she does givethe impression of working on a certainamount of privacy; her relationshipwith Gary George, the tall, bearded fel-low from Texas who shares a homewith her-when they have time to be athome-is not a secret, but neither is itsomething she would have publicizedlike, say, the continuing public saga ofJohnandyoko.

And her way with music, when youreflect on it, listen to her albums, hasnot been to wag the blues around like apolitical weapon, or to burden it withattempts at sacred heaviness. Back in1973, she had to tell people through theNew York Times, "I'm not unhappy allthe time. I really like sad songs, butsometimes it's like getting paid to splityourself open, like people were payingto see me bleed." Now she has a back-log of albums that say for her that sheis not simply stuck on how hard life isfor some people in twelve measures inthe key of E. Each of those recordings,in fact, has a definite high-spiritedstreak in it. And in person she seems tohave considerable pep, flopping school-girl -on -the -phone style on a couch oneminute, bounding off somewhere the

next, but without restlessness. Shelooks good enough in still photographs,but they misrepresent how animatedshe is, and she looks better in person.

Bonnie Raitt is the sort who wouldfascinate you even if she were muteor you were deaf. "I'm just naturallyenergetic," she says, "like my dad.It's rare that I don't have enough ener-gy to do what I want to do. I don't thinkI could stand to take speed-it wouldbe just too much. Of course, I havebeen known to toke now andthen . . . and I'd never take a drink!"Wink, grin. Taking an occasional swigof the hard stuff and "telling a saltystory" are activities one finds reportedon in handouts publicizing her, but shedid not impress me as one likely to fol-low her folk heroes into a long-termreliance upon the demon painkiller.Her relationship with the blues, I think,is an example of how empathy canwork when it's clicking on all cylin-ders, which it rarely does; here is thisvoice with a certain Scotch -plaid bold-ness to it that may be connected to theself-assurance that comes with beingsecure amongst middle-class comfortsat an early age. But "lucky" kids havelife -facing to do too, and they may inmany cases have to face the "Am I aLoner?" question earlier than theirhard -scrabbling counterparts do, sothere is also in this voice some sadness.

And Bonnie Raitt, political in a High-school! ambiance, late for everything,seems to have taken up with music notbecause it represented pop stardom ora better life in terms of things it couldprovide, but because it represented in-volvement in changes she thought, orfelt, ought to be made.

"A big influence at a time when I wasripe to be influenced," she said, "wasthe album 'Blues at Newport, 1963,'with John Hurt, John Hammond, Son-ny and Brownie. . . . I sat down andtried to play all the stuff on that record.

"But I never really planned to do itfor a living. One time when I was aboutnineteen, I was in a club in Massachu-setts, I think it was, and there was a girlsinger there, and I suddenly realizedthat I could sing at least as well as shecould. And I thought, well, why notgive it a try? If she could get paidmoney for singing Five Hundred Miles,maybe I could make a living at it. I wasalways singing for myself anyway."

SHE'S making a living at it, only nowshe's singing for me-or so I am fre-quently able to feel. I also have a feel-ing that talking with her would be pret-ty much the same experience if shewere still playing small clubs in Cam-bridge and being paid with wallet -rot-ting beer -soggy currency. Those areboth good feelings.

OCTOBER 1976 75

Mak gLibriarSymp

91rving GICoiloolim

ci--ake it from one who saw and heard it happen: the rise from obscurity to prominenceof the nine complete-and one incomplete-symphonies of Mahler is the most remark-

able phenomenon of public musical life in America in the mid decades of the twentieth century.

76 STEREO REVIEW

MEASURED by any conceivablestandard-quantity of per-formances, number of record-

ings, or merely the abundance of hisinterpreters-the transformation ofGustav Mahler from one of the least fa-vored to one of the most favored ofsymphonic composers in the last thirtyyears is an event that even the compos-er himself could not have anticipated.He is famous for having said, "Mytime will come." But at the expense ofBrahms and Tchaikovsky? Who wouldhave thought so?

There were, to be sure, places whereMahler was a deity even while he wasalive and producing-Holland primari-ly, where the yearly crop of Mahlerperformances was as dependable as thetulip tonnage, but also in Munich and,to a lesser degree, Vienna. But in NewYork, the scene of the last act of Mah-ler's life (as a conductor at the Met-ropolitan and as music director of theNew York Philharmonic), the verdicton his music was swift and direct: agreat conductor, of course, but whoever heard of a great conductor whowas also a great composer? Certainlynot the much respected critic who in-sisted, in the mid -Twenties, that Mah-ler was a "conductor's composer"whose name was kept alive by such"imported conductors" as Stokowski,Muck, Bodanzky, Gabrilowitch, andparticularly that arch -villain WillemMengelberg of Amsterdam.

But the upheaval of the Thirties thatdislocated thousands from their famil-iar musical haunts and habits in CentralEurope had its effect world-wide.Many, having left everything else be-hind, brought at least their habits to theNew World. The First Citizen amongthem musically was certainly BrunoWalter, but the list included such otherMahlerites as Otto Klemperer, DimitriMitropoulos, William Steinberg, FritzStiedry, and Stiedry's close friend Ar-nold Schoenberg.

Walter's habits, as Mahler's oldestand most distinguished interpreter, be-came New York's. His haunt, no long-er Vienna's Musikverein but CarnegieHall, became the new "scene" for hun-dreds of the transplanted faithful, andtheir enthusiasm infected others.Among the converts was a young assis-tant conductor of the New York Phil-harmonic, and what Leonard Bernsteinadopted as his own in the later Fortiesand on into the Fifties became gospelfor the new generation of conductorsfor whom he was the prototype.

Concert -hall acceptance alone, how-ever, could hardly have established thismusic in American ears so quickly.

What can best be described as a risingtide of Mahler on disc was also enor-mously influential in creating a climateof understanding and appreciation. Theappearance, in the mid -Fifties, of Lied-er und Gesange aus der Jugendzeit onthe Vanguard label (in a sequence thathad already produced a substantialnumber of Wunderhorn songs) con-vinced me that Mahler was, at the veryleast, a great songwriter. Others willsurely remember with affection the fa-mous recording by Kathleen Ferrier ofthe Kindertotenlieder (last available. onSeraphim 60203). The subsequent ac-cumulation of recorded symphonies onLP demonstrated that there was both a

THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC

A Mahler Festivalat Carnegie Hall Sept 26 Od 25

One measure of Mahler's co-Icert-hall popularity: the New York Phil-harmonic honors him this fall with afestival devoted to his works. It isthe first t.me an American orchestrahas performed all nine symphonies,as well as the uncompleted Tenth,in such a short period of time. Thefestival performances will takeplace in Carnegie Hall, where Mah-ler conducted the Philharmonicfrom 1909 to 1911, when he wasthe orchestra's music director.Conductors are Pierre Boulez,Erich Leinsdorf, and James Levine.Participating vocal soloists includeFrederica von Stade, Jessye Nor-man, Teresa Zylis-Gara, Gwen-dolyn Killebrew, Yvonne Minton,

and Donald McIntyre.

background and a foreground for DasLied von der Erde, always esteemed amasterwork. Here was the long await-ed opportunity to savor the man'sunique art, to understand what he wasdoing, to appreciate why.

For today's listeners, much of that isacademic. Questions of what and whymay be readily resolved by recourse tothe extensive recorded literature. Someopinions on such questions may findtheir way into the symphonic survey Iam about to undertake, but my atten-tions will be largely centered on deter-mining who among the legion of Mahlerinterpreters best knows, in each case,how.

The first sizable object in the moun-tainous landscape of Mahler recordingsis a five -pointed promontory made upof the complete sets of Mahler sym-phonies under the baton of a singleconductor. In alphabetical order andwith labels appended they are: MauriceAbravanel (Vanguard), Leonard Bern-stein (Columbia), Bernard Haitink(Philips), Rafael Kubelik (DeutscheGrammophon), and Georg Solti (Lon-don). A stubby little bump to one sideof this geography denotes another ninefrom Everest, but it represents thework of a miscellany of conductors, in-cluding several members of the famousclan Anon.

FOR those seeking an inclusive an-swer to the question of which of thesefive (or six) complete sets is recom-mended for the greatest justice to allthe works, my answer is: none. Thereason relates less to the qualificationsof the conductors than to the magni-tude of the composer. Unlike Beethov-en, Schubert, and Brahms, who wereborn into a tradition (and, howevermuch they digressed from the art asthey found it, remained substantiallythe same kind of composers they start-ed out to be), Mahler evolved a tradi-tion of his own. Comprehended withinit, eventually, was a world of spiritual,philosophic, and aesthetic allusionranging from Nietzsche to the Bible,from Rembrandt to Moritz vonSchwind, from Goethe to Klopstock,conveyed through a musical languageas new as some still unexploited as-pects of the third act of Wagner's Tris-tan und Isolde and as old as the medie-val hymn Veni creator spiritus. Aboveand beyond all else, his achievementembodied a devotion to, and love for,the art of music that extorted from hima demanding double existence, a hun-dred years of work compressed intobut fifty-one years of life.

(Continued overleaf)

OCTOBER 1976 77

KUBELIK DG

Symphony No. 1,in D Major

Every music lover should own at least onerecording in which Mahler's musical es-sence is conveyed as closely as humanlypossible to his own precepts and practicesby the man who was so close to him as to be-come his physical and spiritual link to theworld. Bruno Walter's version of the First

MEHTA Scayullo/Landon

Symphony (Odyssey Y 30047) is a perfectpoint at which to begin, combining as it doesa maximum of pleasure with a minimum ofmisrepresentation. Walter's management ofstresses and subtleties, of the all-importanttempo modifications that became so impor-tant a part of the composer's musical vocab-ulary, of the proper weight for a glissando(as light as the fall of a flower petal), or theright stroke to use to make the timpani a me-lodic instrument are, in effect, an aural lexi-con of Mahlerian do's and don't's. Proper

attention to it will form taste, improve judg-ment, and enable the listener to distinguishthe truly stylistic from the merely stylized.

For those who already have Walter's No.I at hand and are eager to acquire a versionin which higher -fidelity sound does notmean lessened fidelity to the score, mychoice is the Kubelik/Bavarian Radio Or-chestra version (DG 139331, cassette 923-070). The work's content caters to Kubelik'sBohemian background, and his performanceincludes graceful adjustments to such unu-sual directions as Plotzlich Wel schneller(suddenly much faster) in the third move-ment. Taken together, the work is an Old(rather than a New) World symphony, and Ifeel that the American efforts of Bernstein(Columbia MS 7069) and James Levine(RCA ARL1-0894, quadraphonic CRD3-1040) tend to overpower rather than woo thecontent. The version by Sir Adrian Boultwith the London Philharmonic (Everest3005), a reminder of this conductor's broad-ly sympathetic sense of what is suitable forMahler, is better sounding than one wouldexpect at the price.

In a category all their own are those re-cordings of No. 1 that include the recentlyrediscovered "Blumine" movement deletedby Mahler from the published score. For mytaste, the movement belongs between move-ments I and 3, especially since it containsmaterial that reappears at a later point. Thebest of these recordings is the one by WynnMorris, a conductor with high Mahlerianqualifications, and the New Philharmonia onan English label (Virtuoso TPLS 13037). Ifthat one cannot be located, the "Blumine"movement is also beautifully played by the

BERNSTEIN Eavon

Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Or-mandy (RCA LSC 3107, cassette RK 1133),though the other movements there havemore the finish of fine silk than homespun_

Symphony No. 2,in C Minor

Mahler's great forward leap (between theyear 1888, when he rounded out the FirstSymphony, and 1894, when he finished theSecond) converted him from a pastoraldraughtsman with the talent to parallel inmusical imagery Moritz von Schwind's fa-mous woodcut "The Huntsman's Funeral"to a sophisticated muralist with the genius toevoke a Day of Judgment for which there isno adequate graphic counterpart. A conduc-tor who can combine the surging strengthnecessary to bring off the Day of Judg-

ment-and the Resurrection that follows-with the lightness to make Mahler's settingof St. Anthony Preaching to the Fishes suit-ably sardonic is among the elite of his time.

My eliminations from the candidates forthis select company include a superb earlyKlemperer set (last available on Turnabout34249/50) that is sonically inferior by to-day's standards; a Bruno Walter perform-ance (Odyssey Y2 30848) that also suffersfrom technical insufficiency; a Bernstein(Columbia M2 32681, quadraphonic M2Q32681) that contains so many highlighted"events" along the way that the thunderousResurrection comes as something of an anti-climax; a superbly recorded Stokowski ofrecent date (RCA ARL2-0852) that gets offto a rather slow-motion start and is beset byother inequalities on the way to a stunningclimax; and a generally overstated Kubelik(DG 2707043) with inadequate solo voices.

Among the honorable mentions are theperformance by Haitink (Philips 802884/5),especially for the playing of the AmsterdamConcertgebouw Orchestra and the rare vo-

MAAZEL Jacoby/DG

cal artistry in Aafje Heynis' Urlicht, and themore recent one by Zubin Mehta (LondonCSA 2242), more for the Vienna Philhar-monic's superb sound and Christa Ludwig'ssinging of Urlicht than for the conducting.Mehta strives constantly for effect ratherthan permitting Mahler's eloquence simplyto accumulate.

The prize of the lot among recordings ofthis work, still unsurpassed for its life-givingsense of forward movement, its unfailinggrasp of the symphony's huge dimensions,and (therefore) comprehension of its formand content, is Solti's interpretation (Lon-don CSA 2217, cassette H 10187) with theLondon Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

Symphony No. 3,in D Minor

Mahler's spiritual volatility is as much apart of his temperament as his disposition touse sudden alterations of tempo. In hisThird Symphony he turns his back on thefaith in the Resurrection proclaimed at theend of the Second and, continuing hisunending quest for an answer to the riddleof life and death, looks to God in Nature, topantheism. In the process he also turns his

78 STEREO REVIEW

back metaphorically on the many conduc-tors for whom pantheism is at least as mysti-fying a concept as the philosophy of Nietz-sche. That puts him face-to-face with Leon-ard Bernstein, however, who reveals (onColumbia M2S 675) a total sense of location,of artistic oneness with Mahler in this score.When the composer demands Schwung(propulsion), Bernstein's response is liftingbut not unruly; the amusement he discoversin the setting of Ablosung in Sommer iswholly appropriate; and Martha Lipton'swell -articulated 0 Mensch is entirely incharacter. Indeed, character is the distinc-tive trait of the performance, which attainsits greatest fulfillment in the long, intricate,and marvelously Beethovenian variations/adagio with which the work concludes.These variations are also well served in the

versions by Solti (London 2223), Kubelik(DG 2707036), Haitink (Philips 802711/2, inwhich Maureen Forrester is her unexcella-ble self in 0 Mensch), and Jascha Horen-stein (Nonesuch 73023, Advent cassette E1009). The reason? The variations aresquarely in the middle of a much -traveledmusical highway these conductors knowvery well-but none of them leads us soskillfully into the byways of Mahler'sdigressions, none has so sure a sense of di-rection and ultimate goal as Bernstein.

Symphony No. 4,in G Major

To judge from the dozen -plus versions ofthe Fourth Symphony currently available (Ihave recently heard and reheard more thanthirteen), one has to conclude that this is theMahler symphony par excellence for thenon -Mahler conductor. It is an attractionthat would appear to be based on a fallacy-that something so transparent cannot havehidden depths. But try looking sometime forthe bottom of a mountain lake in Canada.

Among those misled by this misconcep-tion of simplicity are the late David Oistrakh(Melodiya/Angel SR 40076, now with-drawn), who diligently follows all the print-ed instructions only to find that they takehim into, rather than out of, the labyrinth;and James Levine (RCA ARL1-0895),whose insertions of a pizzicato plink in thetopmost violin register or a percussive plunkin the bottom -most timpani range are clearly

out of place in a work in which euphony,fluidity, and homogeneity are an inseparabletrinity.

A kind of family affinity may be involvedin a sequence of Mahler Fourths performedover several decades by the ConcertgebouwOrchestra. The earliest was assembled (onPhilips 500 040, withdrawn) from "live"concerts under Mengelberg in his later(1939-1940), more wayward years. But,among the languishing ritards and statelyrather than sprightly tempos, it is absorbingto find a prime example of how to treat agroup of Mahler's multiple accelerations.The secret: each of the sudden leaps aheadis to be played, for the duration of thechange, in strict metronomical measure, asan island of stability in a sea of change.

Among the few to master this subtletywas Mengelberg's successor with the Con-certgebouw, Eduard van Beinum, who diedin 1961 at fifty-nine. Margaret Ritchie is notthe best of soprano soloists for the finale(that honor belongs to Reri Grist with Bern-

HORENSTEIN Nonesuch

stein on Columbia MS 6152), but overall therecently reissued performance on London23211 shows both Mahler's Fourth and VanBeinum at their most appealing. The addi-tional Concertgebouw versions are a ratherstiff, pre -Chicago Solti (London 6781) and ameticulous, cool. Haitink (Philips 802 888).The most congenial of the others (they in-clude a ponderous Klemperer on AngelS35829, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as soloist; afinicky Szell on Columbia MS 6833; and theover -intellectualized Bernstein previouslynoted) is a version by Lorin Maazel and theBerlin Radio Orchestra (Nonesuch 71259).

Symphony No. 5,in C -sharp Minor

Of the nine complete symphonies ofMahler, the Fifth is the most ambivalent,even schizoid. The first two funereal sec-tions and the only half -happy scherzo werewritten before the composer met AlmaSchindler; the blissful adagietto and the rio-tously exuberant finale were completed af-ter they were married. This new element inMahler's creativity is rather interestinglyparalleled by the appearance in this listing ofthe re -creative efforts of a new partnership:Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philhar-monic (DG 2707081).

On what Karajan's affinity with this workis based I have no knowledge, but the out-come of his involvement with it is as persua-

sive and satisfying as Bernstein's mastery ofthe Third. The extraordinary string bassesof the Berlin Philharmonic have neversounded weightier, and the ensemble ripsinto and out of Mahler's wild passage in thefirst movement in total fulfillment of its Ger-man meaning, which is something rathermore than our English "wild." At the otherextreme, Karajan knows exactly what to dowith that moment in the fifth movement inwhich Mahler tosses the serene theme of theadagietto into the air like an unresisting ragdoll: he makes it truly grazioso, as Mahlerdirects. Haitink reacts to the same momentwith a Dutch gravity (Philips 6700 048), andKubelik proceeds cautiously (DG 2707056),as if not quite sure whether Mahler was jok-ing or not.

Over the years, I have enjoyed the Soltirecording (London 2228), esteemed the Wal-ter (Odyssey 32260016E) even though it

SXTI Ugheoatitonclon

lacks e snarl Mahler wrote into the firstnovemmt, and respected the Bernstein(Columbia M2S 698). But Karajan's is on anew, higher plane of clear thinking, cleanensemble coordination, and evenly balancedreproduction.

Symphony No. 6,in A Minor

This is the work with the hammerblows offate, the soaring first -movement melodyofficially labeled the "Alma" motif, and thecross -currents that subsequently ensue. Itwas written during a harried time in Mah-ler's life; he lacked the leisure to write outthe repetition of the exposition in the firstmovement, and so risked a misunderstand-ing of his intentions. A conductor who takesthe view that the repetition is optional (asSir John Barbirolli does on Angel S 3725)cannot be said to understand a work inwhich it is a structural necessity.

All the work's necessities and problemsare thoroughly understood by Solti (London2227), however; he brings to it the physicaland intellectual energy needed to pick uploose threads and weave them into the tonalfabric. Bernstein comes close to this sameunderstanding (Columbia M3S-776), but heindulges himself with a third hammerblow inthe finale, one that Mahler himself had de-leted from the published score. Following atmore than a little distance from these is abrittle rendition by Szell, derived from a liveperformance (Columbia M2 31313); an ear-nest, rather plodding one by Kubelik (DG2707037); and a spirited effort by Horenstein

OCTOBER 1976 79

(Nonesuch 73029) that is let down by whatsounds to me like an undersized StockholmPhilharmonic.

Symphony No. 7,in E Minor

In any set of ten works, one is surely des-tined to be on a lower level of inspirationthan the others. To me, this is the fate of theSymphony No. 7, which tails off into non -conviction in the essays of even the mostdistinguished interpreters, those by Solti(London 2231, cassette H 10249) and Bern-stein (Columbia M2S 739) as well as the de-fiantly anti -Romantic one of Klemperer (An-gel S 3740).

In the interest of completeness, I investedsome listening time in an out -of -print ver-sion by the late Hans Rosbaud (Vox 2008)that I have long had on my shelves but hadnot previously heard. I found myself in-creasingly absorbed by it. Rather than look-ing for a conventional symphonic disciplinein the Seventh (which its two lightly scoredinner movements and three envelopingmovements for large orchestra clearly lack),Rosbaud searched for-and found-a whol-ly unconventional symphonic discoursewhose two participants are tempo and tex-ture. This does not make this weak workinto a strong one, but it does define it as aproductive and prophetic experiment ratherthan a bizarre and laborious failure.

Symphony No. 8,in Elicit Major

Mahler's musical regeneration onlymonths after the low point of creative effortmarked by the finale of the Seventh is evi-dent not only in the awesome flood of musicreleased in the Veni creator spiritus, but alsoin the sweeping away of conceptual barriersto the realization of a whole new symphonicscheme. Thus, though the symphony beginsand ends with choral sections in which a"cast" of solo voices is utilized, and thoughit follows a section in Latin with the conclu-sion of Goethe's Faust in German, it pur-sues a clear, four-part symphonic sequence.Here again I find. Solti's conception secondto none, the Chicago Symphony "on loca-tion" in Vienna (with local choral forces)representing the ultimate in ensemble sound(London 1295, cassette H 31211). A dreamteam of soloists (Martti Talvela at the bot-tom of the tonal scale, Lucia Popp andHeather Harper at the top, and Rene Kolloand John Shirley -Quirk in between) com-pletes a set that is the best money can buy.

The other inspiring performance (RCACRL2-0359, cassette CRK2-0359) has an en-tirely different kind of richness to recom-mend it: the apparently unwavering convic-tion of conductor Wynn Morris that Mahlerwas a prophet whose musical oratory de-mands an evangelical fervor. John Mitchin-son, who also appears as Doctor Marianusin the Bernstein recording (Columbia M2S751), sings with greater freedom and easefor Morris; Joyce Barker, Elisabeth Simon,and Norma Burrowes (wife of tenor Stuart)shine with the glitter of emerging stars.

There are other efforts of interest (ofwhich the Dimitri Mitropoulos on Everest3189E is a superheated affair, inadequatelyreproduced from a Vienna concert perform-ance), including those of Kubelik (DG2707062) and Haitink (Philips 6700049). But

WALTER Columtsa

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (in the forme-)and Hermann Prey (in the latter) contributemore to box-office appeal than to musicalsatisfaction: both voices are light for theneeds of Pater Ecstaticus.

Symphony No. 9,in D Major

Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9 are separatednot only by the passage of time, but by anartistic voyage through which Mahlerreached the safe haven of his perfect work,Das Lied von der Erde. For my taste, thegreatest interpreters of Das Lied are also themost successful with Symphony No. 9,which arises out of the repeated "ewig" atthe end of Das Lied. Performance of thefour -movement work (which ends, in themanner of No. 3, with a slow movement invariation form) still requires its measure ofintuition, perhaps even of divination. BothSolti (London 2220) and Bernstein (Co-lumbia M3S 776) do well with the outermovements, less well with the others, espe-cially the Rondo Burlesque.

Looking for guidance, I went back to oneof the first of all performances of a completeMahler Ninth perpetuated on discs: that de-rived from a concert conducted in Viennaby Bruno Walter on January 16, 1938 (tendays before the Nazis marched intoAustria). More than just a moment in histo-ry is captured in this recording, and in itsreappearance (on Turnabout THS 650008/9E) it is vastly superior in sound to the 7&'s(Victor M-726) on which it first circulated inAmerica thirty-five years ago. The sense of

enlightenment, of conviction, was so greatin that performance that only another ver-sion by Walter could extend it. That can befound in the latest reissue (Odyssey Y230308) of the Ninth as performed in Califor-nia in 1961, a year before Walter died. Is itpossible that a conductor of eighty-four stillhad something to say on this matter to hisjuniors? It is not merely possible; it is de-monstrable. In its incisiveness, its probingfor details, its arrangement of sound on lev-els of sonority in the orchestral matrix, themusical sense Walter's performance con-veys is unmistakable.

Postlude:Symphony No. 10

Mahler's next steps in the new directionset in the Ninth were sure and unfaltering:the textures of the Tenth are thinner, butthey are tightly stranded; melodic lines soar

SZELL

and plunge across wider intervals; inver-sions are curiously congruent with a theme'sfirst form, likewise its mirror (retrograde)image. The two movements most nearlycomplete in the score as Mahler left it (theadagio and Purgatorio) have gradually be-come established in the orchestral literature.They have yielded the most of what theycontain to the penetrating eye of GeorgeSzell (Columbia M2 31313, which also con-tains his version of Symphony No. 6).

And so we come, finally, to the much dis-cussed "performing version" of the othermovements of the Tenth as realized by Der-yck Cooke. I do not find that his treatmentsof the two scherzo movements have suffi-ciently either the shape or the sound ofMahler to be convincing. But I do find thatthe last of the five movements is one of thegreatest of all Mahler's slow movements,that the original short score (which can bestudied in facsimile) gave Cooke as much ashe needed to send those turbulent, an-guished, eventually consoling measuresstraight to the heart of the listener. Or-mandy throbs a little too agonizingly overthem in his version with the Philadelphia Or-chestra (Columbia M2S 735), but WynnMorris (using Cooke's revised text) scalesevery note of them exactly to the capacitiesof the New Philharmonia (Philips 6700067).Together, conductor and players give digni-ty and a heart-rending grace to the partingutterance of a man who still needs no morethan sympathetic fulfillment of his clearlystated musical purpose to assure its gratefulunderstanding.

80 STEREO REVIEW

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C RCLE NO. 63 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Mr_ ANEW_

BILLY JOEL IS A CUTIE PIE.... . . To see him in concert is to see theunder -thirty Paul Anka. But that's anunfair comparison in a way, becauseBilly Joel is also a marvelous pianist,perhaps the best keyboard technicianon the pop scene (fans of Rick Wake-man, Nicky Hopkins, and Leon Russellplease note). Still, what comes acrossmost of all when Billy Joel is perform-ing is his cuteness. And the boys andgirls respond.

"My fans cover all ages," Billy Joelsays, but the crowds on his last tourwere decidedly young, the type whosquee-ee-al. Billy Joel plays up to themand they love him. My, how they lovehim. During one show he was handedat least eighteen flowers, a hat, and twoembroidered pillows. The note withone pillow says: "We love you fromyour first visit here, Billy Joel, and wehope you remember us, we're the cou-ple that threw the chrysanthemum atyou." And it's signed, "Darlene (andlove from her boyfriend Rob) and Jeff(and love from his friend Debbie) andhello from Sandy who couldn't be heretonight cause she's sick, but she lovesyou."

Billy Joel gave a kitten away duringone concert, a kitten he had found wan-dering the streets of Manhattan, grimyand homeless. He took it with him tohis next gig and gave it away, makingthe announcement during the show andadmonishing his fans not to rush ontothe stage and tear the kitten apart, butto line up outside the stage door. Sureenough, some young'uns left to line up,even though it was only one-third ofthe way through the set. That's cute,you must admit. And the crowd lovesit. Billy Joel is playing ballads and thecrowd is dancing. They scream for thesongs they love.

When he's on, when he's entertain-ing the crowd with a genuinely funnystory, he is like Paul Anka or JimCroce-polished, charming, story -tel-ling entertainers who could make anybig hall feel like a small club. But occa-sionally, when he's not just right, hemay seem self-indulgent or stale, likethe time he said, "I've been playingthis song for a long time, and I may beplaying it for the rest of my life."

In a very noisy dressing room be-tween shows one night, Billy Joel said,"I don't really know what I'm doingwhen I'm on stage. I have this theorythat when I go on stage, I go into a spe-cial state, and when I come off, I go outof it. It's like a trance." When he drops

82 STEREO REVIEW

his defenses, it's clear that his cutenesson stage is essentially a cover for hisfear-it's effective as entertainment,but it's a kind of defense just the same.

"Whenever I've snapped out of thattrance, I just sat there on the stage andsaid to myself, 'What am I doing here?There are thousands of people outthere who've paid money to see me.' Ican't say I like the trance, but I can'tanalyze what I'm doing on stage or howit looks. I just do what I do." Hepaused, shrugged sheepishly, andflashed a (cute) grin. "It's like sex.When you make love, you go into awhole different trip. You're not youreveryday shmuck self, you become Su-perlover. It's like that at pretty muchevery performance."

But Billy Joel is not just an automa-ton making love to his audience eachnight. He knows-perhaps intuitivelyor perhaps through the experience oftouring for eighteen months in threeyears-how important it is to move theaudience. They're the folks who buythe records and tell their friends andcome back for more, and it's on thatkind of word-of-mouth that Billy feelshe's built what success he's had.

"Mostly I've got the strongest fol-lowings in places where I've played be-fore. Whatever I have in other places isprobably an FM audience because Idon't get much Top Forty airplay.

my 'following,'" he said, laughing atthe term. "I'm strong in Memphis-which seems weird because to meMemphis means Otis Redding and El-vis Presley-and in Vancouver, SaintLouis, Denver, and Birmingham, Ala-bama. And in New Jersey becausethere they can dig my New York roots,my 'Hey, how ya doin' man?' "

BILLY'S New York roots sprouted inOyster Bay, a snug, maybe even posh,upper -middle-class suburb on theNorth Shore of Long Island. "I didn'teven graduate from high school," hesaid. "I knew I was gonna be a musi-cian from the time I was eleven ortwelve, you know, so I thought, 'Whyget into school?' I moved away fromthe house when I was eighteen, but Istill lived in Oyster Bay, and I was stillliving there when I was recording stufffor my first album."

He was reticent and a little vagueabout his childhood. After fumblingwith a cigarette, he mumbled, "I started when I was four-both my parents

were musicians and that's why I had totake piano lessons. I took lessons onand off for about eleven years. When Iwas supposed to be playing Beethoven,I used to fool around with things likestride piano and boogie-woogie. Andmy old man didn't want to hear it.`What's that he's playing in there?' hewould yell."

LKE so many other young musicians,he was drawn to rock-and-roll by thesound of the Beatles on his radio. "Ifirst really got out of classical musicand into pop when the Beatles came. Iwas a Beatles freak. I loved them,"Billy said, sitting up and obviously ex-cited by the memory. "Everybody hada band, and since I could play the pi-ano, some guys asked me to be in theirband. I was about fourteen, and theband was called the Echoes. Then Iwas in a lot of local bands, one after theother. I even cut a couple of records.

"Paul McCartney was the one whoturned me around. He's my main man,by far my biggest influence-as a writ-er, as a singer, as a musician. I haven'tmodeled myself after him, but heopened the door. I admire him morethan anybody. I think he's great, justreally great, and when I think of him, Ithink more about what I can do withmy music.

"People don't know me all that well.I don't get the airplay. I'm not a super-star like McCartney, of course, andthat was never my intention. I intendedto be a writer. From there, the progres-sion for the young musician is to do analbum, then you have credibility. Andfrom that, well, the best way to pro-mote your album is to go on the road.So here I am!" He waved an arm half -contemptuously at the dim, dingy roomwhere he was sitting on an old couch.

A progression? It can also be like fal-ling into a laundry chute. The optionsexpire. One thing leads to another, andthere's less and less choice for the art-ist. Billy Joel nodded vigorously andsaid, "I signed a lot of stupid contractsa few years ago, particularly publishingcontracts. Fortunately, I wound upwith a good record company, Co-lumbia. But those other deals! Phew!But I don't know-I have a good time,I make a good living.

"I don't make money off writing be-cause of bad deals I made. But let'slook at that progreSsion thing again. Idon't make money off records, but Imake money from touring, and I'm

touring to publicize my albums, right?"He was trying hard to be nonchalant,

but Billy Joel was getting cranked up."I listen to AM radio a lot when I'm onthe road because we always get rent -a -cars, and that's all they've got, AM ra-dio. At home, though, I listen to certainrecords, and I put on the radio-FM-maybe two hours a day, but not asbackground music. I don't listen to mu-sic that way. I make time to listen tomusic each day, not to hear what's go-ing on, but because I like it!"

To put it all in perspective, Billy Joelis twenty-six years old and has releasedfour albums [the latest, "Turnstiles,"is reviewed in this issue] and a few sin-gles, one of which, Piano Man, soldvery well. He has to tour six months ayear to make a living, and he's marriedbut his wife doesn't tour with him. Soit's not by chance that his songs andmanner smack of vagabonding.

"I don't live anywhere right now,"he said. "I'm on the road again, andI've moved away from California. I'lllive back East, wherever a house turnsup. live in a Howard Johnson's.You know, the road is Disneyland. Ican't write when I'm on the road.There's nothing for me to write aboutunless I want to do 'another empty bot-tle, another empty bed,' and that's allbeen done before. I'd prefer to get offthe road and do a little living and thenwrite some. I don't have a concept inmind-it will be whatever it is.

"I've moved back East to look for adifferent type of vibe. I've written aCalifornia album, but I don't have thefeel for it like, say, Jackson Brownedoes. Those Southern California writ-ers, they've lived there all their lives,and they get more out of it than I can."

BILLY JOEL was restless in California(he was also on the road half the time).He tried North Hollywood, Malibu,Hollywood, and nothing worked. "Themyth off the L.A. music community isexaggerated. I couldn't get into hangingout or into the star scene, which is whatit was. I mean, I lived in Hollywood,but . . . I don't know . . . I wouldsay to myself, 'I'm a rock-and-roll starliving in Hollywood.' But I didn't feelit."

Perhaps that almost sums him up. Acomposer, a stylist, a perfectionist, anentertainer, a lonely young man, yes. ARock -And -Roll Star, no.

By Josh Mills

"I can't write on the road. There's nothing to write about unless I want todo 'another empty bottle, another empty bed,' and that's been done before."

OCTOBER 1976 83

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STEREO REVIEW'S SELECTION OF RECORDINGS OF SPECIAL MERIT

BEST OF THE MONTH

The Arrival of Singer Natalie Cole:In Every Way, Her Illustrious Father's Daughter

NATALIE COLE, daughter of the lateand very great Nat "King" Cole,

made one of the most impressive re-cording debuts in recent memory lastyear, and her new Capitol release "Nat-alie" is joyous proof that she is neithera fluke nor one of those carefully con-structed show -biz Olympias the enter-tainment industry likes to send outamong the general population every sooften to confirm their cynical view thatit is easy to manipulate a mass audi-ence. No, Natalie Cole is not just thebearer of a famous name, but a genuineand worthy singer of taste and talent.

What she seems to share innatelywith her illustrious father is an ease andelegance of approach and projection inher singing. As he was a born musicalgentleman, so she seems a born musi-cal lady-and a precocious one at that.It is to be hoped that her arrival signalsa new trend toward style and-to put itbluntly-class in the younger genera-tion. Just as Janis Ian's I Really WouldLike to Dance on her "Aftertones" al-bum, with its suave echoes of the workof Porter and Fields and Schwartz,gives me hope that elegance is no badthing for the under -thirty generation ofcomposers to aim for, so Natalie Cole'snew album reassures me that the thirstfor the sublime in performance cannever be quenched by mere camp.

Take, for instance, the satisfyingway she tackles her big hit here, So-phisticated Lady (She's a DifferentLady), with its doo-wah chorus andcorny arrangement: she glides smooth-ly along with it, half amused, half seri-ous, but never out of step with the factthat it is material that works-she is notabout to give the impression that she ishaving anything less than real fun, that

NATALIE COLE: elegance is nobad thing for the under -thirtygeneration to aim for

OCTOBER 1976 85

she is anything less than eager to shareit with you. Or listen to Mr. Melody-clean, vibrant, and musically fastidi-ous-and Touch Me-sad and wise andknowing.

Everything she does here she doesawfully well, coolly and wisely notpushing any one facet of her talentharder than the others. Natalie Colehas made it in an astonishingly shorttime; with those genes that shouldn'tbe such a surprise. But that she hasmade it without compromising whatthese days has to be called an "old-fashioned" musical integrity most cer-tainly is. Peter Reilly

NATALIE COLE: Natalie. Natalie Cole (vo-cals); orchestra. Mr. Melody; Heaven Iswith You; Sophisticated Lady; No Plans forthe Future; Can We Get Together Again;Keep Smiling; Good Morning Heartache;Not Like Mine; Touch Me; Hard to GetAlong. CAPITOL ST -11517 $6.98, ® 8XT11517 $7.98, 4XT 11517 $7.98.

Bartok's First andThird Piano Concertos:Inspired PerformancesBy Stephen Bishop

ABOUT six years ago Philips re-leased a stunning recording of

Bartok's Second Piano Concerto andthe Stravinsky Concerto, both playedby Stephen Bishop with the BBC Sym-phony Orchestra under Colin Davis(839.761LY). The Bartok in particularwas so vivid, so insightful, so thor-oughly and uniquely right that itseemed nothing less than a revelation.Bishop and Davis have by now col-laborated in more than a dozen concer-to recordings, and they have demon-strated an exceptional rapport in all of

ELISABETHSoDERSTR8M

AND VLADIMIRASHKENAZY:

a welcome pairingof fine artists

86

them. In none, however, has their mu-tuality of approach seemed so remark-ably complete as in that early Bartok, arecording which seemed also at least animplicit promise on Philips' part to giveus the rest of the Bartok concertos withthe same executants. That promise isnow fulfilled, and the new disc of theFirst and Third Concertos (this tinewith the London Symphony Orchestra)is possibly even closer to perfectionthan the earlier one was. Technically, itdefinitely is: it is brighter in sound, andthe soloist and orchestra are better bal-anced (the piano was a bit too forwardin No. 2). What is less easily measur-able by any mechanical means or ob-jective standards is the musical impactof these performances, powerfulenough that one turns without embar-rassment to the term "inspired."

The exuberance of the First Concer-to as realized here is at once gorgeouslyearthy yet never earthbound; it is a vi-tal performance that has nothing what-ever to do with mere athleticism. Theslow movement of the Third, perhapsthe most difficult movement in thethree concertos to bring off convincing-

STEPHEN BISHOP:gorgeously earthy,yet never earthbound

ly, has an aura of real enchantmentabout it: the "night music" just seemsto "happen." Everything, in fact,seems so self -generating that if onewere to think about the performers atall it would not be in terms of what theyare doing with the music, but what theyare letting it do with them as they probeand celebrate the Bartok essence. Thisis my nomination right now for Concer-to Record of the Year. Richard Freed

BARTOK: Piano Concertos Nos. I and 3.Stephen Bishop (piano); London SymphonyOrchestra, Colin Davis cond. PHILIPS 9500043 $7.98.

Exceptional Soprano,Outstanding PianistFor the Late SongsOf Rachmaninoff

Now is the time to hear the songs ofRachmaninoff on records. They

are richly represented in the catalog,but who knows how long this tempo-rary largesse will last? And largesse itis when we have two artists as fine asElisabeth Soderstrom and VladimirAshkenazy to bring us this repertoire.Happily, London's welcome pairing ofthis exceptional soprano and one of theworld's outstanding pianists in a recentrelease duplicates only six songs fromthe Nicolai Gedda/Alexis Weissenbergprogram on Angel S-36917 and onlyone from the Irina Arkhipova/JohnWustman collection on Melodiya

STEREO REVIEW

GORDON LIGHTFOOT:demonstrating that

the popular songcan actually amount

to something

40198; that one is the sumptuous Oh,never sing to me again, which can safe-ly take a duplication.

Only three of Miss Soderstrom'schoices are early Rachmaninoff songs;for the rest, we have seven songs fromOp. 34 and all six of Op. 38, the lastgroup, dating from 1916. Aside fromtheir advanced harmonic idiom and fre-quent impressionist infusions, theselater songs are more concise and moreconcerned with moods and colors thanwere the early Tchaikovsky-inspiredsongs, in which sensuous melody wasparamount. They suit Elisabeth Soder-strom's artistry very well because ex-pressiveness and color shadings are herforte. She is a fine vocalist, too, thoughher sustained notes reveal a touch morevibrato than perfectionist standardswill admit. And yet she offers beautifulvocal effects in her secure and shim-mering high register, particularly inHow fair this spot! Moreover, while thegreat Antonida Nezhdanova (1873-1950), the dedicatee, may have per-formed the famous Vocalise morespectacularly, Soderstrom's renditioncertainly holds its own against any cur-rent version.

The songs of Op. 34 and Op. 38 com-bine virtuosic singing with virtuosic pi-anism, and it is not surprising that thelikes of a Weissenberg or an Ash-kenazy are challenged by the bold andcascading piano music of A-420 andWhat wealth of rapture. Ashkenazy'splaying is deliberate, rich, mellow -sounding, and altogether masterly; theengineering combines voice and pianoin effective balance. George Jellinek

RACHMANINOFF: Songs. Oh, never sing tome again; The Harvest of Sorrow; How fairthis spot!; In my garden at night; To her;Daisies; The Pied Piper; Dreams; A-oo (The

Quest); The Muse; The Storm; The Poet; TheMorn of Life; What wealth of rapture; Dis-sonance; Vocalise. Elisabeth Soderstrom(soprano); Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano).LONDON OS 26428 $6.98.

Gordon Lightfoot's"Summertime Dream":Running OverWith Poetry

THERE is a literati in popular music, agroup of people with refined musi-

cal taste, education, and judgment, andmy contention that Gordon Lightfoot isat the head of it just keeps getting moreplausible with every record he makes.Lightfoot imposes increasingly tougherstandards upon himself, and his albumsconsistently add poetry to the mostlycommercial form in which he works. Inshort, he keeps addings songs to thatprecious five or so per cent of every-thing new that is worth keeping.

Technically, his work is excellent;he's every bit the craftsman the oldboys were before rock-and-roll madeamateurish writing and performing themost profitable kind. Yet he is a folkartist in the sense that he works downamong the people instead of in an ivorytower overlooking Broadway andTwenty-eighth Street (Tin Pan Alley,that is). He's relevant, accessible, andall that, working in three -chord pat-terns a normal person can decipher andstrum for himself and in verses thatdeal with what really happens rather

than what's supposed to in idealizedboy-meets-girl fairy tales. And so hisnew "Summertime Dream" for Re-prise is a remarkably direct, trimmed -down, person -to -person album, and itis running over with poetry.

Not the least of its achievements isthat it manages-according to my graspof the whole of it-to wish the otherperson well, to realize how complicat-ed it is for all of us (most of us?) to con-fer more dignity, wish less guilt, lend alittle encouragement. That's extremelyhard to do without fawning or soundingstuffy; it's much easier to cheer ourside and boo theirs. The songs have avariety of interior messages of theirown, of course, and so many of themare superb that I hate to single out any.Never Too Close, though, with its senseof what to remember about a so-called"failed" relationship-"That is allright/We meant no one no harm"-andwith the nice surprises in the way it isconstructed, is hard to beat. Most ofthe songs talk in common language ed-ited in that expert, subtle way thatmakes it elegant; the melodies are bothsimple and fresh, and the instrumenta-tion (no strings this time) is notablyfree of frills and gewgaws. A man likeLightfoot, and an album like this, cancut through the cynicism we've under-standably fortified ourselves with andshow us the popular song can actuallyamount to something. Noel Coppage

GORDON LIGHTFOOT: SummertimeDream. Gordon Lightfoot (vocals, guitars);Terry Clements (guitars); Rick Haynes(bass); Pee Wee Charles (steel guitar); BarryKeane (drums). Race Among the Ruins; TheWreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald; I'm NotSupposed to Care; I'd Do It Again; NeverToo Close; Protocol; The House You LiveIn; Summertime Dream; Spanish Moss; TooMany Clues in This Room. REPRISE MS2246 $6.98, 0 M8 2246 $7.98, © MS2246 $7.98.

Attention Savoyards:Utopia LimitedHas at Last BeenRecorded Completely

Along last the D'Oyly Carte Com-pany and London Records have

favored us with a recording of UtopiaLimited, the penultimate collaborationof Gilbert and Sullivan, the most elabo-rate of all their operettas, and a worktoo long downgraded and neglected.


OCTOBER 1976 87

Mr. W. S. Gilbert reading "Utopia (Limited)" to the actors at the Savoy Theatre.That's Sir Arthur Sullivan to the immediate left of the MS, Mr. and Mrs. D'Oyly Carte to the right.

There have been other recordings ofthis musical satire set on a SouthPacific isle that decides to model itsways on those of Great Britain, butthey have been pretty much in the ama-teur -fiasco category.

Having heard a tape of the completeBBC production master -minded byStanford Robinson, this Savoyard hasknown for some time how effective thework can be in performance, and a pro-gram of five excerpts rounding out anearlier recording of Trial by Jury by theD'Oyly Carte under Isidore Godfreyhinted strongly at what that companymight do with the rest of the material.It must be said at once that the new re-cording, based on the version staged atthe Savoy Theatre in London in 1975,lives up to all expectations. It is a bitpuzzling why the D'Oyly Carte shouldhave chosen to limit the dialogue to afew scattered passages, but one mustbe grateful that they undertook to re-cord the work at all.

Utopia Limited, or The Flowers ofProgress brought Gilbert and Sullivanback together some five years after thesuccess of The Gondoliers. When thecurtain went up at the Savoy on Octo-ber 7, 1893, the audience was treated toa grand and costly production with ahuge cast and the most complicatedplot Gilbert had ever devised. The sto-ry of how the innocent denizens ofLazyland abandon their indolent waysto become "Anglicized completely"sets the arrows of Gilbertian satireflying in all directions-at the demure-ness of well-bred young English ladies,the pomposity of the military, the hy-pocrisy of politicians, the deviousness

of British business practice (you per-haps thought we had invented all thatourselves?).

The score is a rich one, replete withcomic songs like First You're Born, ananswer to Shakespeare's description ofthe seven ages of man in As You LikeIt; the Utopian anthem, Eagle High;the virtues of healthy English girls inA Wonderful Joy; Captain FitzBattle-axe's lament on the problems of love-lorn tenors in Oh, Zara, My BelovedOne; the affecting Words of Love TooLoudly Spoken; the music for the firstUtopian drawing room, when the na-tives dress up in the formal Englishmanner; and even a tarantella. Mostexhilarating of all is the exhibition puton by the imported British advisers inSociety Has Quite Forsaken, in whichSullivan anticipates Scott Joplin with aminstrel show that is a breathtakingsurprise. And since the overture toUtopia itself is a rather short one, itwas a happy thought to open this re-cording with the composer's ImperialMarch of the same period.

The audiences of 1893 evidentlygrew restive at the length and complex-ity of Utopia Limited and the criticswere cool. But the show ran for 245performances and George BernardShaw was pleased. So were the audi-ences at the 1975 revival, and so shouldbe all G&S enthusiasts who acquire thealbum recorded (like the rest of the se-ries) under the supervision of DameBridget D'Oyly Carte. The cast is hugeand the whole company sounds in ex-cellent shape, but it is only right to sin-gle out for special praise KennethSandford's King Paramount, John

Reed's Scaphio, John Ayldon's Phan-tis, Meston Reid's love -shattered tenorCaptain FitzBattleaxe, Lyndsie Hol-land's haughty Lady Sophy, PamelaField, Julia Goss, and Judi Merri as thedemure princesses with their chic Ko-daks, and Michael Rayner as Mr. Gold -bury, representing the British businessestablishment. The chorus under GlynHale and the Royal Philharmonic con-ducted by Royston Nash offer ringingsupport to the principals, and the re-corded sound is simply glorious.

Devotees of late -blooming Gilbertand Sullivan can now only hope that asatisfactory album of The Grand Duke,the pair's final collaboration, will findits way here soon. Meanwhile, I hearti-ly recommend London's fine new re-cording of the very first G&S, Trial byJury, reviewed in this issue on page 121.

Paul Kresh

GILBERT & SULLIVAN: Utopia Limited,or The Flowers of Progress. Kenneth Sand-ford (bass -baritone), King Paramount; JohnReed (baritone), Scaphio; John Ayldon(baritone), Phantis; Jon Ellison (baritone),Tarara; Michael Buchan (baritone), Calynx;James Conroy -Ward (baritone), Lord Dra-maleigh; Meston Reid (tenor), Captain Fitz-Battleaxe; John Broad (bass -baritone), Cap-tain Corcoran; Michael Rayner (bass -bari-tone), Mr. Goldbury; Colin Wright (bari-tone), Sir Bailey Barre; David Poser (bari-tone), Mr. Blushington; Pamela Field (so-prano), Princess Zara; Julia Goss (soprano),Princess Nekaya; Judi Merri (mezzo-soprano), Princess Kalyba; Lyndsie Hol-land (contralto), Lady Sophy; RosalindGriffiths (soprano), Phylla. D'Oyly CarteOpera Company; Royal Philharmonic Or-chestra, Royston Nash cond. LONDONOSA-12105 two discs $13.96.

88 STEREO REVIEW

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Anniversary Of Carnegie Hall: Recorded LIVE. 20Famous Artists. Extraordinary! 2 L.P.'s. Col. M2X 34256 $

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on the Wurlitzer 164 Band Organ. Col. M 34159

CAPITOLHelen Reddy -Music, Music: Cap. 11547Wings -At The Speed Of Sound: Cap. 11525Beatles -Rock And Roll Music: 2 L.P.'s; Cap. 11537Natalie Cole -Natalie: Cap. 11517Beach Boys -Endless Summer: 2 L.P.'s; Cap. 11307

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Imp. 9306/2 $ 3.69*John Klemmer-Bearfoot Ballet: Brand new release. ABC 950. $ 3.69John Handy -Hard Work: ASD 9314 $ 3.69*Keith Jarrett -Mysteries: ASD 9315 $ 3.69*Bobby Bland & B.B. King: ASD 9317 $ 3.69:The Crusaders -Those Southern Knights: BTSD 6024 $ 3.69*

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CIRCLE NO. 39 ON READER SERVICE CARD1111=1Mt

89

POPULAR DISCS A\D TAPESReviewed by CHRIS ALBERTSON NOEL COPPAGE PAUL KRESH PETER REILLY JOEL VANCE

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT

PETER ALLEN: Taught by Experts. PeterAllen (vocals); orchestra. This Time Around;Harbour; Planes; Back Doors Crying; I Go toRio; and six others. A&M SP -4584 $6.98, C)4584 $7.98, © 4584 $7.98.

Performance: StylishRecording: Good

Peter Allen writes awfully good lyrics. QuietPlease, There's a Lady on Stage, for instance,should be a real weeper, but, oddly enough, itisn't; instead, it is a moving, serious look atthe audience's (any audience's) responsibilityto a once great performer now on her Gar-landish last legs. "So put your hands togetherand help her along/ All that's left of the sing-er/ All that's left of the song/ Stand for theovation/ And give her one last celebration."There's a certain touch of elegant empathy,peculiar to Allen, that gives the song its class.Or there is the brisk irony of She Loves toHear the Music, which is about a secretary ina small record company who is so "into" mu-sic that she's letting her own life slip past her,barely noticing the departed suitors: "Shedidn't love them anyway/ Not like she lovesthe men who play." Allen has written every-thing here except the old Mack Gordon/HarryWarren classic The More I See You, and hegives it all very stylish, suave performances.Not as stylish and suave, perhaps, as his lyr-ics, which have some of the same smoky, wryromanticism of Lorenz Hart's work, butenough to give you a good idea of the general

Explanation of symbols:= reel-to-reel stereo tape

® = eight -track stereo cartridge© = stereo cassette0 = quadraphonic discLi = reel-to-reel quadraphonic tape

= eight -track quadraphonic tape

Monophonic recordings are indicatedby the symbol

The first listing is the one reviewed;other formats, if available, follow it.

direction in which he's headed-which isprobably his own Broadway score. Goodchance he'll write an excellent one. P.R.

THE BEATLES: Rock 'n' Roll Musk. TheBeatles (vocals and instrumentals). Twist andShout; I Saw Her Standing There; You Can'tDo That; I Wanna Be Your Man; I Call YourName; Boys; Long Tall Sally; Rock and RollMusic; Slow Down; Kansas City; Money; BadBoy; Matchbox; Roll Over Beethoven; DizzyMiss Lizzie; Any Time At All; Drive My Car;I'm Down; Helter Skelter; Taxman; Get Back;and seven others. CAPITOL SKBO-11537 twodiscs $10.98, ® 8X2K-11537 $12.98, ©4X2K-11537 $12.98.

Performance: Narrowly editedRecording: Variable

That rare bird, the thoughtful science -fictionwriter, will tell you that messing with timemachines is not all fun and games. We're allinvolved with one now: television, the medi-um that keeps reissuing the past-from D. W.Griffith to Boston Blackie to the Gold Dig-gers-with the same methodical hoopla thatattends your eleventh chance of the week tocatch the latest boorishness of Special (mean-ing common, overexposed) Guest Star DonRickles . . . the medium of the Offers, blitz-krieg "four -wall" advertising for thrown -together movies about men living with bears,and thrown -together record albums. I'm notsure this is one of those, but the commercialfor it reminds me of Robert Klein's "everyrecord ever recorded" routine. And aboutthis whole matter of instant and not -so -instantreplays: the idea seems to be that if you evermissed out on anything as it went by, you canget it now. Well, it doesn't work; you can'tnow be part of the audience Gold Diggers of1933 was made for, you can't simulate thebeat of those times, can't reproduce the feelof it, and I don't think you can put an albumlike this into a perspective that makes muchsense. What is happening is that the memoryof a fine group is being trivialized.

And distorted: the vacuum in which you'reasked to consider it notwithstanding, it isn'teven fair to say this is (was?) the Beatles.True to the most simplistic interpretation ofthe album's title, Capitol has presented only

one aspect of the Beatles, a string of hard -edged, primitive tunes the boys wouldn't havegrouped together like this. They had a waywith these tunes, too, of course, but they didnot stick their heads in juke boxes and hideout from lyricism and sophistication as thiscollection suggests they did. I wonder whichcame first-the idea for this package or theidea for a TV ad campaign. N.C.

JEFF BECK: Wired. Jeff Beck (guitar); in-strumental accompaniment. Play with Me;Head for Backstage Pass; Goodbye Pork PieHat; Blue Wind; Sophie; and three others.EPIC PE 33849 $6.98, ® PEA 33849 $7.98, ©PET 33849 $7.98.

Performance: Very goodRecording: Very good

Jeff Beck seems to have made his transitionfrom rock to jazz about 90 per cent official.The selections here that can be classified as"jazz/rock" tend to combine the worst ex-cesses of both-the notion that a riff is a tune,abrupt changes of tempo, obnoxious drum-ming, and long solos which, since they can'tmake reference to a nonexistent melody, re-main mere pyrotechnics. But those selectionsthat are most nearly jazz or all jazz showBeck to be a guitarist of taste, thought, anddelicacy. The electric guitar is more a ma-chine than an instrument; Beck is one of thefew players able to personalize it without be-coming part of the machinery.

Beck's near -complete transition to jazz isunderstandable: he is simply too good a musi-cian to remain restricted by rock's leaden sim-plicities and fuzzy pretensions. If he canavoid the flap -doodle complications of theMahavishnu school, his complete transitionmay make him a compleat guitarist. J. V.

THE BECKIES. The Beckies (vocals and in-strumentals). Right by My Side; River Bayou;Midnight and You; Fran; Other Side of Town;Song Called Love; and five others. SIRESASD-7519 $6.98.

Performance: UninspiredRecording: Good

Sire's "S" label insignia, actually the spacebetween yin -yang curved -droplet symbols,

90 STEREO REVIEW

seems to snake around the circle with a life ofits own if you put this on the turntable andstare at it. To avoid unnecessary distractions,it's better if you don't put the needle down onthe record-although what happens if you dois so predictable and run-of-the-mill itshouldn't distract you much. The liner notesseem to suggest it's going to sound like theBeatles (the man behind the Beckies is Mi-chael Brown of Left Banke and later of Sto-ries, a group that surely tried to sound like theBeatles), but it just sounds familiar. Thesongs have nothing to say, which probably isthe number one problem. Beyond that, it's acompetent job of playing the same old stuff.Staring at the label is more fun. N.C.

BELLAMY BROTHERS: Let Your LoveFlow. Bellamy Brothers (vocals, guitars); in-strumental and vocal accompaniment. SatinSheets; Nothin' Heavy; Let Your Love Flow;Livin' in the West; Hell Cat; and five others.WARNER BROS. BS 2941 $6.98, ® M8 2941$7.98, © M5 2941 $7.98.

Performance: FairRecording: Good

Let Your Love Flow was a top -ten single hit,one of those blowsy appeals to gosh -all -hem-lock sentiment that juveniles of all ages con-sider major spiritual statements. Althoughthat song is well produced and cleanly per-formed here, the rest of the cuts on the albumare without substance. Unless you like hear-ing acoustic guitars twanged symmetricallywith slightly over -recorded bass and drumsplod -plod -plodding along, there isn't much toattract you. I kept waiting for something-anything-to happen, and it never did.

The performances sound like a computerreadout looks on paper. Some of the materialcontains good lines, as from Nothin' Heavy:"We were sixteen at the most/McCartneywas the Holy Ghost/ . . . Eighteen caughtus pretty fast/Legal to make love at last/Something we'd been playing at for years."But the delivery is so bland and bloodless thatsuch lines are wasted. Hi -ho and ho -hum; theBellamy Bros. are just a few more victims ofLos Angeles ennui. J. V.

THE CARPENTERS: A Kind of Hush. Rich-ard and Karen Carpenter (vocals and instru-mentals); orchestra. I Have You; Boat to Sail;Sandy; Goofus; You; and five others. A&MSP 4581 $6.98.

Performance: For fansRecording: Superb

Here's another bowl of quickly congealingmush served up with all of their customarytwinkle by Richard and Karen Carpenter.This latest affront to decadence contains suchMOR classics as Sedaka's Breaking Up IsHard to Do, the old Hertnan's Hermits hitThere's a Kind of Hush, and (surprise!)Wayne King's moldy oldie from 1930, Goo-fus. As usual, the production, the charts, andthe engineering are all absolutely superb andsound like a cool million-a figure that theCarpenters probably have an easy familiaritywith by now. Their fans-and oh man, arethey legion-will eat it up, of course. But,even served in the finest bone china, it's stillm -u -s -h. P.R.

JOHNNY CASH: One Piece at a Time. JohnnyCash (vocals); the Tennessee Three (instru-mental accompaniment). One Piece at a Time;Let There Be Country; In a Young Girl's

...different rhymes for different times"

GI:My goel: too tough-minded?ii-runiqs-mas" is an intelligent, perceptive

1 airing of young middle-class values andattitudes in 1976, though there's not nearly asmuch sentiment or drama here as in BillyJoel's earlier work. The pervading mood isone of exhausted malaise. All You Wanna DoIs Dance is a deftly aimed shot at the Beatlesgeneration, baffled and resentful at the party'send; James is the male equivalent of the girlsJanis Ian was talking about in At Seventeen(play by Their Rules and you still end up los-er); I've Loved These Days is a sour paean toLife at the Top; and Miami 2017 is a descrip-tion of a future time when New York has longsince been dismantled completely, we are allliving in Florida, and "the Mafia took ,overMexico." (The Mafia, in the Seventies, seemsto have taken over as the detested Establish-ment symbol, replacing the Pentagon of theSixties.) Angry Young Man is the toughest,best, most mordant piece here. The lyricshave a bitter wisdom that contrasts sharplywith so much of the complaint, no matter howtrenchant, that has gone on before. "There'salways a place for the angry young man/Withhis fist in the air and his head in thesand . . . And he's fair and he's true andhe's boring as hell/And he'll go to the grave asan angry olld man." Joel's own place in this is

defined: "I believe I've passed the age of con-sciousness and righteous rage/I found thatsurviving was a noble fight. . . ." Yes, in-deed, 'tis better to have loved and lost:

JOEL'S tunes are just that, tunes, but theyserve him well enough as a setting for hisideas. "Turnstiles" is a mildly depressing but,I think, valid glimpse into under -thirty think-ing today. Unfortunately, it's probably tootough-minded for the audience that it's aimedat, yet not shrill enough to entice the older I -told -you -so contingent who, no matter whattheir age, remain as anti -youth as ever. Andthere is, too, something rather Dylanesqueabout it all-not an imitation, of course, butmore of an updating, different strokes for dif-ferent folks, different rhymes for differenttimes. Billy Joel therefore still bears closewatching. -Peter Reilly

BILLY JOEL: Turnstiles. Billy Joel (vocalsand keyboards); orchestra. All You WannaDo Is Dance; James; Summer, HighlandFalls; Miami 2017; Prelude/Angry YoungMan; I've Loved These Days; Say Goodbye toHollywood; New York State of Mind. CO-LUMBIA PC 33848 $6.98, ® PEA 33848 $7.98,© PET 33848 $7.98.

OCTOBER 1976 91

Mind; Mountain Lady; Michigan City HowDe Do; and five others. COLUMBIA KC 34193$5.98, ® CA 34193 $6.98, © CT 34193 $6.98.

Performance: ExcellentRecording: Clean

As a writer, Johnny Cash has a commendableability to portray characters and situationswith brevity and depth; his stories may beshort, but they aren't thin. With three excep-tions (one of them the title tune, a talkingblues about a General Motors worker who de-cides to steal all the parts of a Cadillac by thetime he retires), Cash wrote all the songshere, and some of them are first-rate.

Michigan City How De Do details a long-term convict's first steps on the streets out-side the day his sentence is up; Sold Out of

JOHNNY CASH:country music giant

and national asset

Flagpoles, another talking blues, is a dialoguebetween two small-town friends, one ofwhom is palpably nuts and eminently sane allat once; Committed to Parkview is an eeriecatalog of the patients in a mental hospitalwho are victims of country music. The instru-mental backings are lean and spare, as theyusually have been throughout Cash's record-ing career. The Tennessee Three aren'tidentified individually, but it sounds as thoughCharlie McCoy, the great harmonica playerand studio session man, has been added as aTennessee Fourth on some tracks.

Cash's ability to bring his songs home is, ofcourse, aided by his familiar baritone -bass.He has a comfortable and comforting voice,though like most country singers he workswithin a limited range and substitutes person-ality and drawl for phrasing. But he is a genu-ine artist; like the country music he serves sowell, John R. Cash is a national asset. J. V.

NATALIE COLE: Natalie (see Best of theMonth, page 85)

BILL COSBY: Bill Cosby Is Not Himself TheseDays, Rat Own, Rat Own, Rat Own. BillCosby (vocals); vocal and instrumental ac-companiment. Yes, Yes, Yes; Chick on theSide; Shift Down; I Luv Myself Better Than I

Luv Myself; Do It to Me; and four others.CAPITOL ST -11530 $6.98, ® 8XT-11530 $7.98.

Performance: Good news, bad newsRecording: Excellent

First, the good news. The opening cut, Yes,Yes, Yes, is a hilarious and devastating satireon Barry White-goopy strings, sighing fe-males, echo -chambered blockhead tunes, kis-sie-poo vocal drivel, and all. James Brownalso gets his in I Luv Myself Better Than I LuvMyself, a six -minute parody of Brown's for-mula, which is to have his whipped -up bandplay riffs while he indulges in I -am -funkyspoken and screeched vaudeville hambone.

Now the bad news. It's a two -joke album.The other cuts are mostly devoted to furtherburlesques of White that aren't as funny as

the first and that grow less amusing as the ideais milked dry.

Bill Cosby, generally regarded as a starcomedian, is in fact an accomplished humo-rist. Like Mark Twain, he bases his comedyon creating or recalling characters who repre-sent the human animal at his most "civilized"or idiotic, and I suspect that he has just aboutas little tolerance for mediocrity as Twain did.So I have my doubts about the official dis-claimer on the back -liner of the album to theeffect that Cosby's satires are "all in goodfun, of course, with no harm meant to any ofthese fine artists whom Bill greatly admires."But, having only recently boiled my grand-mother for sport, I may be cynical.

Cosby, with his long list of best-sellingspoken -word comedy LP's, has made onlythree albums on which he attempts to sing;this is the third. He probably does not attachmuch importance to them, any more than theformer King of Thailand, an amateur jazzsaxophonist, would worry about getting a re-cording contract. But as long as he made thealbum at all, he could have made it funnier bypaying more attention to it instead of casuallytossing it off as a lark. J. V.

THE CHARLIE DANIELS BAND: SaddleTramp. The Charlie Daniels Band (vocals and

instrumentals). Dixie on My Mind; WichitaJail; It's My Life; Sweet Louisiana; and threeothers. EPIC PE 34150 $6.98, ® PEA 34150$7.98, © PET 34150 $7.98.

Performance: SyntheticRecording: Good

For all its down-home country flavor, this al-bum leaves a synthetic, overprocessed after-taste. Charlie Daniels and his group boom andthwack their way through several of their owntunes, including Dixie on My Mind and Sweet-water Texas, with all the correct nuance andsuspender-snappin', but somehow it -ain't-

quite -just -right. More on the order of OmarSharif playing Dan'l Boone with a voice over-dub by John Wayne, or Catherine Deneuveascending to them pearly gates as Little Eva.Anyways, them city slickers can't fool meand I doubt they'll fool you either. P.R.

NEIL DIAMOND: Beautiful Noise. Neil Dia-

1mond (vocals and guitar); orchestra. Stargaz-er; Street Life; Jungletime; Signs; Lady -Oh;and six others. COLUMBIA PC 33965 $6.98, 0PCA 33965 $7.98, © PCT 33965 $7.98.

Performance: CommercialRecording: Very good

Neil Diamond, who just signed one of thoseastronomical Vegas deals for a price thatprobably makes every girl want to be his bestfriend, has a musical brow that stretches soserenely and contentedly across the middle ofhis forehead that it seems almost cavalier tobreathe the dreaded phrase "soap opera"when discussing his work. (Middle browshave conditioned themselves, along with thehelp of such brilliant goads as Norman Lear'sMary Hartman, Mary Hartman, into laughingat soap opera and banishing it to the world ofthe blue-collar housewife.) But the fact re-mains that for over ten years now Diamondhas been vending soap opera of the hokiestsort under the label of "slice of life."

This latest highly glossy effort is Diamond'ssalute to his own early years as "a youngsongwriter making his way through the streetsof New York City's tin pan alley in the early1960's." It's pretty stagey stuff. Jungletime,Surviving the -Life, and Street Life are all solid-ly in the Oh -What -I've -Survived category;Lady -Oh, Stargazer, and Home Is a WoundedHeart are Diamond as Pop -Poet -Storming -Your -Heart -And -Mind. The other songs, suchas the archetypal Don't Think . . Feel, arethe kind of thing that's always made it difficultfor me to separate most of Diamond's workfrom the more coherent efforts of Rod McKu-en. Bosh, you say? Well, just give somethingsuch as Don't Think . . Feel the daylighttest and see if you don't come up with muchthe same cozy narcissism, the same humor-lessness, and the same adolescent yearning tofind the commonplace extraordinary and re-vealing as is found in McKuen's work..Dia-mond is a much 'more skilled and vital per-former than McKuen, and his songs have asurface veneer of contemporary attitudes,but, at bottom, he's working the same drearyvein of solipsistic threnody as McKuen, Mel-anie, Melissa Manchester, and practically ev-eryone else who sidles up to a microphonethese days.

As is to be expected of any Diamond al-bum, it is beautifully put together, with fineproduction work by Robbie Robertson, andDiamond's performances are smoothly ex-pert. But as to any Really Deep Meaning


92 STEREO REVIEW

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93

. . . well, you'd probably do just as well witha deck of Tarot cards. P.R.

DR. HOOK: A Little Bit More. Dr. Hook (vo-cals and instrumentals). More Like the Mov-ies; A Little Bit More; Only Sixteen; WhatAbout You; Bad Eye Bill; and five others.CAPITOL ST -11522 $6.98, 0 8XT-11522$7.98, 0 4XT-11522 $7.98.

Performance: GushingRecording: Very good

Dr. Hook scored big around 1973 with Syl-via's Mother and The Cover of Rolling Stone,both written by cartoonist and iconoclast ShelSilverstein, who hovers somewhere betweenmawkish sentiment and hip vulgarity. Shortlyafterward, fortune ceased to favor the band,which was, and probably still is, a rowdy,giggly bunch of lads afflicted with whatseemed to be a permanent case of Excess onstage and in recordings. They have lately re-appeared with a-for them-modest and re-spectful version of Sam Cooke's fine tuneabout kid love, Only Sixteen. They have alsochanged their recording locale and style fromNew York to Nashville, where this album wasdone.

Silverstein wrote four of the tunes; theylean more to the mawkish than to the vulgar.Lead singer Dennis Locorriere collaboratedwith Silverstein on two of them, as well asoffering one of his own. The band now pre-sents itself as born-again converts to the goo-ier aspects of Nashville pop, and it's all prettymuch applesauce and butter cookies; the onlytime the proceedings get interesting is whenWaylon Jennings, one of the supremos of

country music, shows up as a backgroundsinger on What About You and overpowersthe lead voice. After that, things get sugaE-sweetum again.

GOOD RATS: Ratcity in Blue. Good Rats (vo-cals and instrumentals). Does It Make YouFeel Good; Boardwalk Slasher; Ratcity inBlue; Almost Anything Goes; The Room; andfive others. RATCITY RCR 8001 $6.98, ®8331-8001 H $7.98.

Performance: AngryRecording: Good

The Good Rats are a New York-no, strikethat-a Greater New York City Band thatstarted out in Queens around 1967 and edgedonto the best-seller charts. Since then theyhave earned their living from extensive tours;for a group that was never that commerciallysuccessful it is surprising that they've sur-vived and even mildly prospered. Of coursethey've paid a price. A certain amount of bit-terness comes to a band that knows it willhave to keep touring the provinces to be ableto exist at all. The Good Rats' reaction totheir fate is to write a series of morose songsdelivered with hostile gusto. They are a littletoo good for themselves and-in all fair-ness-a little too good for the towns theyplay.

The program here is the same program Iheard them play at a summertime concertnear Wilton, Connecticut, in 1975. Thoughthey had top billing, it was a local band (agood one) that drew the hearts and feet of theaudience. Backstage I listened to the Ratsspin out their stories of the slights and insults

they had suffered at the hands of second -lineclub managers. I then went to the bandstandand watched the Rats' roadies set up theequipment. There was a lot of it, includingtwo bass drums for the drummer. When theRats finally took the stage, they crashed intotheir program with precision and skill. Butthey were obviously bored, and the listen-ers-by this time drunk, stoned, or bloated oncheeseburgers and soda-were already think-ing of the local bars. Besides, the mosquitoeshad begun to swoop and bite. The citizens be-gan to wander toward their cars, but the Ratsplayed on relentlessly.

"Ratcity in Blue," the band's third and lat-est album, contains some graceful and intelli-gent hard rock delivered with considerablepanache. But, for all its bluster, it reflects thesame air of worldweariness I sensed that dayin Connecticut. The Road is long, and theRoad is hard. J. V.

GUESS WHO: The Way They Were. BurtonCummings (vocals, keyboards); Randy Bach-man (guitar, vocals); Jim Kale (bass, vocals);Garry Peterson (drums, vocals). Silver Bird;Species Hawk; Runnin' Down the Street; MissFrizzy; Palmyra; The Answer; Take the LongWay Home. RCA APL1-1778 $6.98, 0APS1-1778 $7.98, © APKI -1778 $7.98.

Performance: OkayRecording: Clean

The recently disbanded Guess Who was a Ca-nadian group which, from the mid -Sixties on,had several successful records (Laughing,These Eyes, Undun, American Woman) andwent through several personnel changes dur-

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CIRCLE NO. 28 ON READER SERVICE CARD94

STEREO REVIEW

ing its life span. The seven selections here, 43

dating from the spring of 1970, were madeshortly before Randy Bachman left the group.Bachman was serving as guitarist, back-upvocalist, and co -writer, with lead singer Bur-ton Cummings, of many of the songs. TheGuess Who's material, then and later, was al-ways somewhat murky and confusing. Muchof it seemed to be used for paying off privatescores with acquaintances of the band, andone was never sure what or who the songswere about, although there were some goodlines in the lyrics now and then.

The performances here are neither awfulnor wonderful, which is why they have lain inthe RCA vaults for six years. Presumablythey weren't issued at the time because ofBachman's departure (he went off to form theloud and beaty Bachman -Turner Overdrive)or because there were better cuts available.The album may be a collector's item, but onlyfor devout Guess Who fans. .1. V.

JOHN HARTFORD: Mark Twang. John Hart-ford (vocals); instrumental accompaniment.Skippin' in the Mississippi Dew; Long HotSummer Days; Let Him Go On Mama; Don'tLeave Your Records in the Sun; Tater Tateand Allen Mundy; and five others. FLYINGFISH 020 $6.98.

Performance: Easy on the earsRecording: Very good

John Hartford, with his nimble picked -a -peck -of -pickled -peppers tongue and infec-tious enthusiasm for all things earthy, offers aprogram here made up mainly of his own bal-lads about Midwestern rivers. There's the

CHRIS HILLMANThe Young Sound

tongue -twister Skippin' in the MississippiDew; the Julia Belle Swain, a ballad about aChattanooga -bound paddle -wheeler; andsongs about the Illinois, Tennessee, and OhioRivers as well as the Father of Waters.They're all upbeat, unselfconsciously idi-omatic, easy on the ears. Interludes of fiddlemusic enliven the estuary atmosphere, butsuch items as the nonstop nonsense -syllablenumber and one about what happens to pho-nograph records if you leave them in the suntend to dilute the impact of the total effort. Byand large, though, Mark Twang offers a ship-shape, watertight ride. P. K.

CHRIS HILLMAN: Slippin' Away. Chris Hill-man (vocals, guitar, mandolin, bass); Al Per-kins (guitar, steel guitar); Paul Harris (key-boards); Jim Gordon (drums); other musi-cians. Step On Out; Slippin' Away; FallingAgain; Take It on the Run; Witching Hour;and five others. ASYLUM 7E-1062 $6.98.

Performance: GoodRecording: Lush, but tasteful

Harry Chapin, bless his heart, recorded whatwe'd noticed but maybe hadn't said aboutdisc jockeys-they sound younger than theyused to, had damned well better sound youngif they want to work in certain desirable"markets"-and it seems to me we ought toset down somewhere that Sounding Younghas been important with singers, too, even be-fore the days of Danny and the Juniors. Iden-tification is that big a deal, apparently, the ma-jority of record buyers being young. ChrisHillman, who isn't all that young, havingcome up through the ranks, probably havingseen things on the road that would curl yourhair. etc., has one of those boyish voices. In-stead of sitting back and enjoying this pleas-ant -sounding album as a normal personwould, I've been wondering about the im-plications of performers' consciousnesses,faces, attitudes, and everything else aboutthem aging while their voices retain the soundof their Clearasil years. How can this be?

Very little about this album actually sum-mons up such a question; mostly, it does veryconventional youthful -commercial things anddoes them well. But there's a Hillman songcalled Blue Morning that talks about being


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OCTOBER 1976CIRCLE NO. 13 ON READER SERVICE CARD 95

"Two septuagenarian swinging singers- or singing swingers"

Bing and 'Fred : Once More, a Third DownISTEN to the albums they made in London

last summer, then remind yourself-andit won't be easy ---that Fred Astaire was sev-enty-seven on May 10 of this year and thatBing Crosby was seventy-two or seventy-four, depending on which lexicon you read,on May 2.

The recent photos on the album sleeves re-veal two benign gentlemen obviously gettingon, although neither really looks his age. Thevoices don't sound their age at all, nor doesthe manner in which they are used. Time, ineach case, has lowered the comfortable pitchby about a major third, but without shorteningwhat has always been an effective range ofabout an octave and a fifth. Astaire, for in-stance, sang Isn't This a Lovely Day? in B -flatwhen he introduced it in Top Hat forty yearsago. He sings it in G -flat now, and he sings itbetter. Indeed, the lower keys bring to bothvoices, and especially to Astaire's, a bodyand richness they didn't always have whenthose voices were young. Listening to thesealbums, I couldn't help wondering how muchlonger -lived operatic voices might be if theirowners had the popular singer's privilege ofchoosing congenial tonalities.

Producer Ken Barnes' plan in laying outthis series of five albums (of which, alas, onlythree are available in American pressings)was to surround one album of duets with twosolo albums for each singer, one album foreach to be devoted to new-or newer-songs,the other to more familiar material. Of the lat-ter, Bing's songs were to be favorite showtunes, Fred's to be songs associated with himfrom films, most of them written specificallyfor him, tailored by supreme craftsmen to hisvocal and communicative nature and to his

unique way of making a melody talk. It isespecially unfortunate, then, that these twoare not scheduled for release in this country,since they are in some ways more representa-tive of the singers' special gifts than are themore "commercial" American discs.

With the duet album Barnes had a bit of aproblem, he told me, in reconciling the work-ing habits of his two singers. With Bing, youagree on a tempo and that's pretty much that.He reckoned on about half an hour forrehearsal. Astaire, ever the worried perfec-tionist, wanted six hours, which collided withBing's summer project of playing every repu-table golf course in the British Isles. But acompromise was reached easily enough. Thespoken ad-libbing on several tracks, by theway, was, according to Barnes, just that. Andthe tap break on the title song is by none otherthan Fred Astaire, done reluctantly when va-rious substitute devices failed, in his criticalview, to measure up to the real thing.

OF the solo albums, predictably, I think,those devoted to the older material come offbest. If this is especially true of Astaire's, it issimply because the identification of song andsinger is stronger, and the songs better. Thereis much to admire and enjoy in Bing's waywith How Are Things in Glocca Morra?,Something to Remember You By, With a Songin My Heart, and Great Day. But I could havedone without Cabaret, Hello Dolly!, HeatWave, and I Got Rhythm-and so, I think,could Bing. They are identified with othersingers who have sung them more idiomatical-ly. A pleasant surprise, however, is his light-hearted, light -voiced account of Burt Bach-arach's I'll Never Fall in Love Again.

As for Astaire's "They Can't Take TheseAway from Me" album, it's all pretty much ashe says in Cheek to Cheek, pure "heav 'n,"and it has left me kicking myself for not hav-ing devoted a chapter to him in my book TheGreat American Popular Singers. With As-taire it has always been, I think, much as itwas with Louis Armstrong. As Louis wasthought of primarily as a trumpet player, soFred has been thought of primarily as a danc-er, the singing accepted in each case, andrather taken for granted, as a secondaryaccomplishment or as a pleasing extension ofthe primary gift and accomplishment.

I came early to the conclusion that Arm-strong's trumpet playing was really an exten-sion of his singing, and it strikes me now thatthe same is true of Astaire, that his dancinghas been a terpsichorean extension of an es-sentially lyrical nature. Such speculation isencouraged by the fact that so many of hisbest dances were choreographic elaborationsof fine songs, sung as only he could singthem-or swing them.

And it is the swing in his singing, I think,that accounts for the extraordinary clarity andeloquence of his enunciation. The words areso nicely placed to sublimate the naturalrhythm of speech, not sustaining the melody,nor ever lost in melody or voice, but sustainedby melody and voice. This contributes to akind of intimacy that makes almost everysong sound as if whispered in the ear of acherished partner while dancing. It is the ulti-mate tempo rubato-in the literal sense oftime not changed, but stolen. This is charac-teristic of all the greatest American popularsingers. What distinguishes Astaire's rubatofrom others' is its irrepressible buoyancy.

96 STEREO REVIEW

This is, to a large extent, true also of Bing.It is a fact perceptively appreciated by KenBarnes and catered to in Pete Moore's ar-rangements and in the solo bits by some ofLondon's finest session men, notably DonLusher on trombone, Tony Fisher on trum-pet, and Keith Bird on tenor. There are mo-ments on some up -tempo numbers where thepercussion becomes cluttered and obtrusive,and there are some dispensable measures ofvocal -group backing. But for the rest, all iswonderfully discreet, fastidiously scored,swinging support for two incredible sep-tuagenarian swinging singers-or singingswingers, whichever you prefer.

-Henry Pleasants

BING CROSBY: That's What Life Is AllAbout. Bing Crosby (vocals); Johnny Mercer(vocals, in medleys); Pete Moore Orchestra.That's What Life Is All About; Breezin' Alongwith the Breeze; No Time at All; I Love toDance Like They Used to Dance; Have a NiceDay; Medley-The Pleasure of Your Compa-ny/Roamin' in the Gloamin'; The Best Thingsin Life Are Free; Some Sunny Day; Bon Viv-ant; Medley-Good Companions/And PointsBeyond; Send In the Clowns; The Good OldTimes. UNITED ARTISTS UA-LA-554-G $6.98,® EA -554-H $7.98.

FRED ASTAIRE: Attitude Dancing. Fred As-taire (vocals); Pete Moore Orchestra. ThatFace; My Eyes Adored You; (I'm) BuildingUp to an Awful Letdown; Wailing of the Wil-low; You Worry Me; I Love Everybody butYou; Attitude Dancing; City of the Angels;The Old Fashioned Way; Life Is Beautiful;Wonderful Baby. UNITED ARTISTS UA-LA-580-G $6.98, ® EA -580-H $7.98.

BING CROSBY AND FRED ASTAIRE: ACouple of Song & Dance Men. Fred Astaireand Bing Crosby (vocals); Pete Moore Or-chestra. Roxie; Top Billing; Sing; It's Easy toRemember; In the Cool, Cool, Cool of theEvening; Pick Yourself Up; How Lucky CanYou Get; I've a Shooting Box in Scotland;Change Partners; Mr. Keyboard Man-TheEntertainer; Spring, Spring, Spring; A Coupleof Song and Dance Men; Top Billing-Finale.UNITED ARTISTS UA-LA-588-G $6.98, ®EA -588-H $7.98.

FRED ASTAIRE: They Can't Take TheseAway from Me. Fred Astaire (vocals); PeteMoore Orchestra. A Fine Romance; Cheek toCheek; One for My Baby; Night and Day; AFoggy Day; Top Hat, White Tie and Tails; IWanna Be a Dancin' Man; They Can't TakeThat Away from Me; Something's Gotta Give;Isn't This a Lovely Day; They All Laughed;That's Entertainment. UNITED ARTISTS UAS29941 (English; address inquiries to HenryStave & Co., 9 Dean Street, London W1).

BING CROSBY: At My Time of Life. BingCrosby (vocals); Pete Moore Orchestra. Ca-baret; My Heart Stood Still; How Are Thingsin Glocca Morra?; I Got Rhythm; Thou Swell;Heat Wave; At My Time of Life; Something toRemember You By; Razzle Dazzle; Hello Dol-ly; Looking at You; Never Fall in LoveAgain; With a Song in My Heart; Great Day.UNITED ARTISTS UAS 29956 (English; ad-dress inquiries to Henry Stave & Co., 9 DeanStreet, London W1).

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JETHRO TULLStill one of the best groups working

"down by the river in a cold, damp room,watching your life go by . . . maybe just alittle too soon" that seems to suggest a senseof irony about how we stay young longer insome ways nowadays and at the same time weage faster in some ways than people ever did.I wish Hillman had done more reflecting (ofthat or any other sort) and less fabrication ofinterchangeable Eagles-Burritos-Poco-Man-assas post -teen pleasantries (and pining), butmost of this slips into your FM rock program-ming as if it had always been there, and youcan hang your own ideas on it. N.C.

IAN HUNTER: All-American Alien Boy. IanHunter (vocals, guitar, piano); Chris Stainton(keyboards); Jaco Pastorius (bass); AynsleyDunbar (drums); Gerry Weems (guitar); othermusicians. Letter to Brittania from the UnionJack; All-American Alien Boy; Irene Wilde;Restless Youth; and four others. COLUMBIAPC 34142 $6.98, PCA 34142 $7.98, © PCT34142 $7.98.

Performance: Very goodRecording: Good

"Apathy's at fever pitch," Ian Hunter sayshere. "There ain't no rock and roll no more-just the music of the young . . . just thesickly sound of greed . . . just the music ofthe rich." This is a rather political album, andI think it's about time we had some more ofthose. In places, this seems almost a throw-back to the protest album when it started tomature (and die out) around '67, and I find Ipay a lot more attention to the words than toany other part of it. Protesting probably hasless effect now than at any time in recentmemory, but apathy isn't the only thing on arampage-greed is on the biggest one I evernoticed-and Hunter has my political en-dorsement. Aesthetically, he hasn't madepoetry; he isn't smooth and eloquent butkeeps hacking and slashing until he turns up aphrase now and then. The musicians he em-ploys here are pretty good; the music is ade-quate but not memorable. It isn't simply atract, of course, as much of it has to do withone's own internal struggle with human na-ture, but it does attempt to look at life beyondthe environment of the popular song and tocome up with something beyond meaningless"I love you"s and "Yeah, yeah"s. N.C.

ERSON STARSHIP: Spitfire. JeffersonStarship (vocals and instrumentals). Hot Wa-

ter; Big City; Switchblade; Cruisin'; LoveLovely Love; St. Charles; and four others.GRUNT BFL1-1557 $6.98, ® BFSI-1557$7.98, © BFK1-1557 $7.98.

Performance: Dancing sidewaysRecording: Average

There's something to be said for noticing theobvious-there must be, since so many peo-ple miss it-and one of the things that standsout here is the proposition that seven's acrowd in a rock band. It isn't so much that thearrangements are too full, it's the manage-ment that has to be asserted to prevent that, amixture of traffic -directing, factor -weighing,and ego -nursing that siphons off energy the al-bum's music could have used. Spontaneitywould have happened with passion, ofcourse, overcoming all this as it did to a fairdegree in "Red Octopus." The Airplane -Star-ship needs to have key members agitatedabout something. This time, it feels more likea bag of tricks being dipped into, productionbeing slicked down (yet, some sounds don'thave the bite they could use), and if you cansee through the fancy footwork, what's thereis time being marked. The vocals, of course,are particularly long on expertise, but MartyBalin and Grace Slick are both transparentwhen they have to fake excitement. So'm I,so I don't dare go through the motions ofjumping up and down over this. N.C.

JETHRO TULL: Too Old to Rock 'n'Too Young to Die! Jethro Tull (vocals and in-strumentals). Quizz Kid; Taxi Grab; Big Dip-per; Pied Piper; and six others. CHRYSALISCHR 1111 $6.98, M8C 1111 $7.98, © MSC1111 $7.98.

Performance: Very fine if you ignorethe words

Recording: Excellent

Jethro Tull is still one of the best groupsworking. Ian Anderson is, of course, themainspring, and his songs and vocals haveenough of that bitterly, viciously disillusionedquality about them to please his "heaviestthinking" fans. The title song is a goodenough proletarian melodrama, and several ofthe songs here are benign enough, but thereare a couple that acted as giant turn-offs forme. Bad Eyed and Loveless, for instance,contains a line describing its heroine whichwill have to stand, until a better one comes


98CIRCLENO. 20 ON READER SERVICE CARD

STEREO REVIEW

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OCTOBER 1976 99

along, as the ultimate expression of post-Existentialist, pre -Clockwork Orange con-tempt: "She's a warm fart at Christmas."Pied Piper is another little journey into a kindof smirking, wise -ass juvenility that Ander-son, chronologically at least, ought to havegrown out of by now.

But the album is a beautifully made piece ofpop music no matter how repugnant or child-ish the ideas often are. Anderson truly is anartist, and technically, in every department,he is above reproach. Now, if only he'd dropsome of the nastiness I might be able to ap-preciate everything else-singing, arranging,producing-that he does so well. P.R.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITELTON JOHN: Here and There. Elton John(vocals and piano); other musicians. SkylinePigeon; Border Song; Honky Cat; Love Song;Crocodile Rock; Funeral for a Friend; andfour others. MCA MCA -2197 $6.98, ®T-2197 $7.98, © C-2197 $7.98.

Performance: OutrageousRecording: Very good

Well, here he is again, folks. This time he'spictured perched atop a piano, wearing a fox -trimmed coat that looks like it was left overfrom an old Marlene Dietrich movie, peeringowlishly at the world through yet another pairof outrageous shades, and welcoming you toanother outing in his vastly talented company.Who else could it be but Elton John? "Hereand There" is a recording of two live per-formances, one in London, a benefit "in thepresence of Her Royal Highness PrincessMargaret" (you were expecting maybe Marieof Roumania?), and the other in New York atMadison Square Garden in the presence oftwenty thousand screaming fans. Both sidesare pure Elton John and purely fabulousentertainment.

I lost my credibility among the rock literatiso long ago that I don't even bother to defendmy position on Elton John any more. No, hedoesn't have a serious or meaningful bone in

ELTON JOHN:outrageous valor,

unabashed sentimentality,and breathtaking

assurance

his body; no, he certainly is not a sincere or"creative" performer; and no, he's not par-ticularly original. But. . . . But when hesails into something such as Skyline Pigeon orHonky Cat, as he does here on the "Live inLondon" side, I seem to lose whatever tidyequanimity I have and regress back into (ugh!)fandom-a pernicious state indeed for A Crit-ic. Nor does the "Live in New York" sidebring me much beyond adolescence in mygooney, totally undemanding enjoyment of it.But you see, folks, I've Been Thinking A Lotthese days, and it's wonderful to lighten uponce in a while. Elton John helps me do thisbetter than almost anyone around, as he obvi-ously does for millions of others.

Both sides have surprisingly smooth soundfor live recordings, though Elton perhapssounds in slightly better, fuller voice on theNew York side. But the actual point of anyElton John release is not the songs, the band',or the production. It is John himself: mercuri-al, vital, funny, and sad. He's a true pop art-ist -as -entertainer, limited perhaps, but then sowere the great silent movie clowns, and hemoves within his medium, the recording, withall of the same outrageous valor, unabashedsentimentality, and breathtaking assurance.Not to enjoy him because of some kind of"intellectual" standards would be a cop-outand would be to ignore the most direct mes-sage of pop culture: if it stimulates any truegut feelings, then it's working. The gut feelingthat I get, again and again, from Elton John'swork is a good one. It makes me feel verygood indeed. P.R'.

IRENE KRAL: Where Is Love? Irene Kral(vocals); Alan Broadbent (piano). I Like You,You're Nice; When I Look in Your Eyes; ATime for Love/Small World; Love Came onStealthy Fingers; Never Let Me Go; and fourothers. CFIOICE CRS 1012 $6.98.

Performance: SoporificRecording: Good

Irene Kral, the sister of Roy (of Jackieand . . .), has a dreamy, soothing way with a

song, and here -she is accompanied by AlanBroadbent in a record of wistful vehicles pre-scribed for playing "during that quiet time ofthe day, preferably with someone you love,when you can sink into your favorite chair,close your eyes, and let in no outside thoughtsto detract." The only trouble is, this particu-lar day never ends. La Kral is relentless in herswooning torch -song approach to everything,from Love Came on Stealthy Fingers (!) toLionel Bart's Where Is Love? from Oliver,which has never been sung more ruefully-ormore funereally. Where indeed? I had hopedthings might perk up with the two tuneful se-lections from Leonard Bernstein's On theTown, but they didn't. The singer's approachto these was as draggy and tearful as it was toeverything else, making you want to spring upthe way Nancy Walker did in the night-clubscene of that very show and shout "This istoo depressing!" An occasional change oftempo might help this lady's cause. P. K.

GORDON LIGHTFOOT: Summertime Dream(see Best of the Month, page 87)

PATRICK MORAZ: "i". Patrick Moraz (vo-cals and keyboards); orchestra. DancingNow; Reflection; Another Dog; WarmerHands; and three others. ATLANTIC SD 18175$6.98, TP 18175 $7.98, © CS 18175 $7.98.

Performance: "u" wouldn't believe itRecording: Grandiose and silly

This is a nonsensical, pretentious piece ofclaptrap masterminded by Patrick Moraz,who wrote, arranged, and conducted every-thing here and whose adoration for the sup-posed possibilities of the synthesizer appar-ently knows no bounds. Now, if only he'dlearn how to write music, sing in somethingabove a dreary whine, and get some sound outof the various electronic instruments whichresembles a note of music, perhaps he mightbe of some interest. Meanwhile, "i" is a co-lossal waste of time for everyone con-cerned-on both sides of the speaker. P.R.

MAXINE NIGHTINGALE: Right Back WhereWe Started From. Maxine Nightingale (vo-cals); orchestra. Good -Bye Again; LoveEnough; Bless You; Reasons; One Last Ride;and eight others. UNITED ARTISTS UA-LA626-G $6.98, UA-EA626-H $7.98, ©UA-CA626-H $7.98.

Performance: Very goodRecording: Excellent

There's total professionalism here, from thesilky, flexible voice of Maxine Nightingale tothe glittering string arrangements by Wilf Gib-son and Gerry Shurry to the spit and polish ofPierre Tubbs' luxurious production. As tohow involving all of this surface meticulous-ness will be to you-well, that's a matter oftaste. The closest anyone ever gets to gettingdown with anything here is in Right BackWhere We Started From, the hit single. Onthis track, Nightingale does her loosest, mostappealing work, and the production only addsto the fun. Even in the glossy overstylizationsof such things as (I Think I Wanna) PossessYou or In Love We Grow she maintains a con-sistent level of vocal quality that is impres-sive. But it's a recording that will probably beof more interest to people who make record-ings than to the general public. It's got every-thing but guts and feelings. P.R.

(Continued on page 102)100

STEREO REVIEW

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Performance: Strange, but lousyRecording: Semi -dank

You couldn't make a recording this dumb byaccident, not even in the new disco age-someone is up to something here, but I can'tfigure out what. It could be a parody of punk -rock imaging, but it isn't funny or even mar-ginally competent. The guitar, electric ofcourse, seems to be turned all the way up andjust plays chords, in a way that makes them

sound like white noise. The "songs" mostlysay things like "You're a loudmouth, ba-by . . I'm gonna beat you up." Maybe it ismeant straight. Who knows? Who cares? N.C.

TODD RUNDGREN: Faithful. Todd Rund-gren (vocals, guitar); instrumental accompani-ment. Happenings Ten Years Time Ago;Good Vibrations; Rain; Most Likely You'llGo Your Way and I'll Go Mine; If Six WasNine; and seven others. BEARSVILLE BR 6963$6.98, ® M8 6963 $7.98, © M5 6963 $7.98.

Performance: Untouched by humanhands

Recording: Likewise

I see Todd Rundgren as a child of the times, atechnocrat with a good sense of pitch. His vi -

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sion seems to have more to do with working"studio magic" than anything else-his songs(all of side two here) seem quite modern andsynthetic, as if most of the experiences theywere based on came in via the media. Theyfeel air-conditioned, their windows sealedshut. I could be wrong, of course, as my viewof Rundgren has been casual, but I just can'tsee much point to this album, unless it's anexercise in producing records. There's a cer-tain brashness, I suppose, in the way he al-most re-creates the Beach Boys' arrangementof Good Vibrations (which, incidentally, is in-structive; one can't help noticing how he'sscrubbed off all the Beach Boys' rakishness,without which their style is about as interest-ing as Lawrence Welk's) and then mimicsDylan's inflections. But you can get a certainbrashness almost anywhere you turn thesedays, and the other side is all these fiberglass -bodied "originals" that absolutely refuse tobe remembered one moment after theystop . . . and yet don't sound all that badwhile they're going. Hmph. I think I'll staycasual about this act. N.C.

BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLETBAND: 'Live' Bullet. Bob Seger (vocals, gui-tar, piano); other musicians. Nutbush CityLimits; Travelin' Man; Beautiful Loser; JodyGirl; I've Been Working; Turn the Page; andeight others. CAPITOL SKBB-11523 two discs$7.98, ® 8XVV-11523 $8.98, © 4XVV-11523$8.98.

Performance: Narrow, noisyRecording: Very good

Detroit, for some reason, prides itself on be-ing the rockingest, rollingest town in thecountry; perhaps the boosterism comes fromMotown Records' having started there. Butall the rock (including a good deal of Motown)that I ever heard from Detroit-the unlament-ed MC5, Suzi Quatro, Flaming Ember, andothers-has been long on screaming vocalistsand short on anything above mere compe-tence. The only exception I can think of isguitarist Dennis Coffey, who had an instru-mental hit called Scorpio in 1971.

Bob Seger has been a local hero in Detroitfor ten years. He gained national attention re-cently with a verson of Nutbush City Limits,a song written-and incomparably bettersung-by Tina Turner. Capitol has seen fit toissue this double -disc live set of a Seger con-cert recorded last year in Cobo Hall, where24,000 locals screamed their appreciation forSeger's abrasive and insubstantial singing, histhin material, and his band's attempts to copywhatever bands are playing in New York,L.A., Philadelphia, Atlanta, or London. Thealbum is proof positive that the present "De-troit Sound" is a hallucination of the localcitizenry. J.V.

RAY STEVENS: Just for the Record. RayStevens (vocals); orchestra. Cornball; Gimmea Smile; Can't Stop Dancin'; Once in a While;Om; and five others. WARNER BROS. BS 2914$6.98, ® M8 2914 $7.98, © M5 2914 $7.98.

Performance: For his fansRecording: A Stevens Production

When last encountered, Ray Stevens wasbusily "rearranging" a bucketful of pop clas-sics almost out of recognizability. This trip,Stevens seems content to operate on some ofhis own work-a move which will probablycome as a great relief to a lot of ASCAP mem-bers. And anything, anything at all, that has

102 CIRCLE NO, 57 ON READER SERVICE CARDSTEREO REVIEW

been done for such songs as Cornball and Omone ought to be grateful for. Stevens' vocalsare, as usual, impeccably nondescript. Hisproducing and arranging gifts burst forthspectacularly in a unique arrangement of PaulCraft's Honky Tonk Waltz. P.R.

ELLY STONE: The New Legend of the AncientMariner. Elly Stone (vocals); instrumental ac-companiment. The Old Soldiers in the ChineseRestaurant; The Late Late Show; MiddleClass; Mister Williams; and six others. EEBEE001 $8.00 (from Eebee Records, cio AstorPlace Theatre, 434 Lafayette Street, NewYork, N.Y. 10003).

Performance: A downerRecording: Very good

Elly Stone has one of the most arresting stylesof any singer alive. Her throbbing voice is notonly an attractive instrument in itself but canhandle even slight material with such forceand persuasion as to set an audience on itsears. She did just that some years ago inJacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living inParis, and in fact it was Stone and one of herlyricists, Eric Blau, who brought Brel himselfto America for his first New York appear-ance. Now, on a new independent label, she isheard in a program of songs so dreary thatthey challenge even her ability to transformmusical dross into gold. Most of the lyrics areby Blau, or translated from Brel's French byBlau. They're all downbeat, and so are thetunes-some by Brel, some by his followersRalph Affoumado, Robert Kessler, and MortShuman (who was the musical conductor ofAlive and Well).

It's a dreary hour and not alive or well atall, including such as a morose dirge about thepiggishness of the middle class and a ruefulitem about how threadbare life is when allthat's left to look forward to is the late, lateshow. We meet the Ancient Mariner disguisedas a Bowery bum, encounter four war veter-ans wallowing in self-pity at a Chinese restau-rant while their wonton soup grows cold, andsee Jesus in a bar on MacDougal Street. Notto mention the finale, My Death. This album isthe saddest thing since Gloomy Sunday,which during the Depression was bannedfrom the air for a while because it was en-couraging too many suicides. P. K.

HOUND DOG TAYLOR: Hound Dog Taylorand the House Rockers. Theodore Roosevelt"Hound Dog" Taylor (guitar and vocals); gui-tar and drum accompaniment. She's Gone;It's Alright; 44 Blues; It Hurts Me Too; andeight others. ALLIGATOR 4701 $6.98 (from Al-ligator Records, P.O. Box 11741, Chicago, Ill.60611).

Performance: Grade BRecording: Grade C

Theodore Roosevelt Taylor, now sixty, hadonly four selections released prior to this al-bum. Recorded in 1960 and 1962, they havelong since become as obscure as the labelsthey were released on. If you want to knowwhy Hound Dog Taylor is only now re-emerg-ing on records, listen to this album; except forthe horrendous technical sound, you will havea feeling that you've heard it all before, and Idon't think you'll want to hear it again. C.A.

JAMES TAYLOR: In the Pocket. James Tay-lor (vocals, guitar); Lee Sklar (bass); RussKunkel (drums); Danny Kortchmar (guitar,mandolin); other musicians. Shower the Peo-

ple; A Junkie's Lament; Money Machine;Slow Burning Love; Daddy's All Gone; Fami-ly Man; Golden Moments; and five others.WARNER BROS. BS 2912 $6.98, 0 M8 2912$7.98, © MS 2912 $7.98.

Performance: GoodRecording: Excellent

Same old complaint: a James Taylor songworks for me when it comes reasonably closeto having a tune, and usually it doesn't. Tay-lor is almost uncanny in that he can somehowfit four or five chords into a drone that has tobe talked rather than sung, while plenty ofpeople regularly get plenty of melody out ofthree chords. The songs I like here, then, arethe hit Shower the People, bubblegum lyricsand all, Nothin' Like a Hundred Miles, and

Money Machine. Most of Taylor's lyrics thistime are not particularly intense, but they'repretty good. They tend to be cryptic, grab-bagreferential, and understated. Something sub-tle would tell you, if you didn't already know,that. A Junkie's Lament was written fromfirsthand experience. Taylor has quite a goodhead for words, and I'd like to see him try itout on a took of poetry sometime. Here youhave a fair example of what he can do withwords, a few tunes, several droning non -tunes, and some fine production that is civi-lized but not rigid. N.C.

THE TROGGS: The Trogg Tapes. The Troggs(vocals and instrumentals). Get You Tonight;Gonna Make You; Walkin' the Dog; A Differ -


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OCTOBER 1976 103

MAN Fights City Hall; Man Wins. Nowthere's the kind of news we Americans

are always looking for, and-since what wemean by Bureaucracy and what we mean byPlastic aren't that far apart-we'll gladly takethe variation that has Man fighting a decentskirmish against Modern Times. CharlieChaplin is still collecting royalties on justthat, we made a hero of John Henry for whip-ping a machine (knowing all the time that inthe long run he didn't), and now we are honor-ing Waylon Jennings for messing up theworks of the Nashville Sound. Not for whip-ping a machine, exactly, but for fighting it in-stead of joining it.

And no sooner have we raised our LoneStar bottles for the toast than along come therevisionists, the would-be myth-busters-making an appearance that couldn't be moreroutine if they were just a cog and the wholeculture a machine-to attack all the imagingand posing that goes with this music Jennings

Crossing over with

He makes it seem all rightto be over thirty andhave a few scars

is identified with, called "redneck rock" or"progressive country." Cynical dollar -chas-ers are said to be invading Austin, which Jen-nings' friend Willie Nelson made the capitalof this "movement." Excesses, such as theway David Allen Coe talks up violence as apart of his act, are earnestly documented."The Outlaws," another term that tries toname the mystique surrounding Jennings, arefound on closer inspection to be much moredomesticated than it says in their songs. Andso on.

This is all worth pointing out, perhaps, butit need not be done so breathlessly, as the dis-coveries in it are not all that amazing (when,for example, did the wheeler-dealers notmove into a place that seemed to be ontosomething fresh that was selling?), and itought to be done with a sense of the differ-ence between literal truth and literary truth.

A place to start on that distinction might bethe realization that hearing is at least as im-

portant as seeing when you're dealing withmusic. It's easy enough to react, to lump allthe "redneck rock" practitioners together,when you see one after another of them wear-ing a cowboy hat, boots hand -stitched byCharlie Dunn, a beard, and a beer gut. Thevery label "redneck rock" seems to havebeen thought up by a looker, not a listener, asit more nearly describes the audience than themusic; Jennings, Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker,and a few others have brought together whatwere called good old boys and what werecalled hippies. The instrumentation behindany one of these "outlaws," considering thehybridization that had already taken place inthe music, doesn't take "country" toward"rock" by as much as the big -beat sound ofBuck Owens took it years earlier.

And calling the music "progressive" isdownright confusing, since some people pre-sumably continue to think of "progress" asadvancement, something good, and otherpeople recoil at the word, thinking of ticky-tacky suburbs, garish colors in fast-food/fast-buck joints, the increasing mechanization andpatterning of life.

LUMPING Jennings with, say, David AllenCoe or Asleep at the Wheel or Michael Mur-phey or any of the other "movement" entitiesis a mistake in the first place, as the wholeidea with Jennings is going it alone. The wayhe, specifically, has elected to sound does notextend The Way Things Are Going (the olddefinition of "progress") but goes against it.

"The old-timers like Waylon and Willie be-cause they're always going back and record-ing those old, hard-core country songs, likeBlue Eyes Crying in the Rain," Neil Reshen,who manages both Nelson and Jennings, oncetold me. "People are looking for some humanthing to relate to, someone to one-on-onewith," Jennings says, and seems to see hisburgeoning popularity of the last couple ofyears as at least in part a reaction of the peo-ple against the complexity of the times: "Ev-ery time you turn around, you have to dealwith a machine."

So Jennings' cowboy clothing is a good

THE BEST OF WAYLON JENNINGS. Way -Ion Jennings (vocals, guitar); instrumental ac-companiment. The Days of Sand and Shovels;MacArthur Park; Delia's Gone; Walk On Outof My Mind; Anita, You're Dreaming; OnlyDaddy That'll Walk the Line; Just to SatisfyYou; I Got You; Something's Wrong in Cali-fornia; Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town.RCA LSP-4341 $6.98, ® APS-1577 $7.98.

WAYLON JENNINGS: Singer of Sad Songs.Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar); unidentifiedaccompaniment. Singer of Sad Songs; Sickand Tired; Time Between Bottles of Wine;Must You Throw Dirt in My Face; No Re-grets; Ragged but Right; Honky Tonk Women;She Comes Running; If I Were a Carpenter;Donna on My Mind; Rock, Salt and Nails.RCA LSP-4418 $6.98, ® APS-1625 $7.98, ©APK-1625 $7.98.

WAYLON JENNINGS: The Taker/Tulsa.Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar); unidentifiedaccompaniment. The Taker; You'll Look for

Me; Mississippi Woman; Lovin' Her WasEasier; Six White Horses; Tulsa; Casey'sLast Ride; A Legend in My Time; SundayMornin' Comin' Down; Grey Eyes YouKnow. RCA LSP-4487 $6.98, ® APS-1695$7.98, © APK-1695 $7.98.

WAYLON JENNINGS: Good Hearted Wom-an. Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar);unidentified accompaniment. Good HeartedWoman; The Same Old Lover Man; One ofMy Bad Habits; Willie and Laura Mae Jones;It Should Be Easier Now; Do No Good Wom-an; Sweet Dream Woman; Unsatisfied; IKnew You'd Be Leavin'; To Beat the Devil.RCA LSP-4647 $6.98, ® APS-1886 $7.98, ©APK-1886 $7.98.

WAYLON JENNINGS: Ladies Love Outlaws.Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar); Billy San-ford (guitar); Ralph Mooney (steel guitar); PigRobbins (piano); Ken Buttrey (drums); othermusicians. Ladies Love Outlaws; Never Beento Spain; Sure Didn't Take Him Long; Crazy

Arms; Revelation; Delta Dawn; Frisco Depot;Thanks; I Think It's Time She Learned; UnderYour Spell Again. RCA LSP-4751 $6.98, ®APS-2016 $7.98, © APK-2016 $7.98.

WAYLON JENNINGS: Lonesome, On'ry andMean. Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar); BillyReynolds (guitar); Ralph Mooney (steel gui-tar); Norbert Putnam (bass); Don Brooks(harmonica); other musicians. Lonesome,On'ry and Mean; Lay It Down; Freedom toStay; Gone to Denver; Good Time Charlie'sGot the Blues; You Can Have Her; Pretend INever Happened; Frisco Mabel Joy; SandySends Her Best; Me and Bobby McGee. RCALSP-4854 $6.98, ® APS-2136 $7.98, ©APK-2136 $7.98.

WAYLON JENNINGS: Honky Tonk Heroes.Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar); Billy San-ford (guitar); Ralph Mooney (steel guitar);Don Brooks (harmonica); David Briggs (pi-ano); other musicians. Honky Tonk Heroes;Old Five and Dimers; Willie the Wandering

104 STEREO REVIEW

stage outfit, a good image outfit, goes withsuch words as "Don't mess around with aramblin' man." But then, in view of the factthat the nudists still haven't gotten the upperhand, he'd have to wear some kind of cloth-ing, and if your clothing doesn't suggestyou're playing cowboy, it's going to suggestyou're playing something else. In fact, you,he, I, everybody plays at being something.

On another level, the pose Jennings strikesis symbolic, a truth -in -fiction device. Hedoesn't ask you to take him literally and go upagainst the computers with six-guns blazing.The point he's making visually is literary andrelates to the point he's making musically: re-member the poor cowboy, the romanticmisfit; have a kind thought for those whocan't or won't constantly adapt to The WayThings Are Going.

ENNINGS' long -running feud with the Nash-ville establishment was, as a practical matter,over presentation, accompaniment, mattersof style. Behind that, though, was the ques-tion of whether the music was an individual'sor a bureaucracy's. The power in his voicewas readily detected, but that only complicat-ed matters. The craggy magnificence of thatvoice and its obvious technical capabilities,together with his background in rock-and-rollas Buddy Holly's bass player, suggested allkinds of "crossover" possibilities-selling inthe vast, sprawling pop -music market as wellas what was then the comparatively tidythough not so little country market-and itjust so happened that lusting after crossoverswas the way Nashville was going. Jenningsfound the Nashville Sound provided muchslicker arrangements for him to sing into thanhe'd had in mind; he had come to a city fa-mous for fiddles and now he couldn't getaway from violins.

Exactly what that was like is no longerdocumented in recordings you can buyfirsthand, as RCA has pulled most of whatJennings calls "those turkeys I made forChet" off the market in favor of a "Best of"collection of ten songs from the Sixties, pro-duced by Chet Atkins with a little help from

Nashville Brass -man Danny Davis. It is notspiritually the "oldest" Jennings album youcan buy now, as it was put together more re-cently, profiting from hindsight, and soundsmore like what Jennings does today than do acouple of turkeys he made early in the Seven-ties, "Singer of Sad Songs," produced by LeeHazlewood, and "The Taker/Tulsa," pro-duced by Danny Davis and Ronnie Light. MelTillis' Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Townin the "Best of" collection was actually re-corded (as today his albums regularly are)with his road band, the Waylors, instead ofstudio musicians, and the arrangement ofDelia's Gone has what we've come to recog-nize as his signature (what he calls "my foot-prints") on it-plus a little choral cooing pre-sumably ordered by the bureaucracy.

"Singer of Sad Songs" is a little more inter-esting than "Tulsa/The Taker" if only be-cause Hazlewood's cuteness (well, it workedall right with Nancy Sinatra) makes it justslightly bizarre. "Tulsa" is just a mediocre

NELSON WILIER"Jennings, Nelson, Jerry JeffWalker, and a few others havebrought together what werecalled good old boys andwhat were called hippies."

example-mainly a me -too cover of Kristoff-erson-of a good singer's being misunder-stood and misused. Both of those are radical-ly different fron Jennings' later albums, butnot so radically different from the few thatfollowed them. Development of his signaturewas not a radical act, and no single album is ina pivotal spot insofar as demonstrating wherethe man socked it to the machine is con-cerned. The background voices in the olderalbums tend to be feminine and sweet-theysound almost angelic as late as "Ladies LoveOutlaws," which, nevertheless, has plenty ofJennings' footprints on it. Later, the voicesare more likely male, guarded against beingtoo pretty, and more often silent. This paral-lels what has happened with the instrumen-tals. Chet, Danny, and the other early produc-ers seemed to hear Jennings' voice and golooking for complementary colors. Runninghis own show, Jennings has steadily shiftedthe theme from contrast over toward harmo-ny; the, Waylors are rakish, smoked, whis-kied, lined, weathered like the voice.

THE Waylors seem to have infiltrated theNashville Sound in Jennings' albums likeguerrillas. And, of course, the crossovers re-ally started happening after they becamedominant, the way he'd wanted to do it allalong. Artistically, Jennings went on a win-ning streak with parts of "Good HeartedWoman," "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean" and"Ladies Love Outlaws" and then hit hisstrode, leather flapping, turquoise flashing,with what is still the heart of his work so far:"Honky Tonk Heroes" (which is all Billy JoeShaver image -conscious songs but one),"This Time," "The Ramblin' Man," and"Dreaming My Dreams." The archetypalWaylon Jennings album, I think, is "ThisTime." It carries the life-style thematics thattranslate so readily into the visual, but it is es-sentially about feelings-which is what theexperience, the aging in that big, texturedyoke is about-and it eloquently asserts thatit's all right for cowboys to have them. Also itcatches Waylon at his sharpest musically; the

(Continued on next page)

Gypsy and Me; Low Down Freedom; Omaha;You Ask Me To; Ride Me Down Easy; Ain'tNo God in Mexico; Black Rose; We Had ItAll. RCA APLI-0240 $6.98, ® APS1-0240$7.98, © APK1-0240 $7.98.

WAYLON JENNINGS: This Time. WaylonJennings (vocals, guitar); Willie Nelson (gui-tar, vocals); Ralph Mooney (steel guitar, do-bro); Don Brooks (harmonica); Duke Goff(bass); other musicians. This Time; LouisianaWoman; Pick Up the Tempo; Slow Rollin'Low; Heaven or Hell; It's Not Supposed to BeThat Way; Slow Movin' Outlaw; Mona;Walkin'; If You Could Touch Her at All. RCAAPL1-0539 $6.98, ® APS1-0539 $7.98, ©APK1-0539 $7.98.

WAYLON JENNINGS: The Ramblin' Man.Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar); Dave Dirby(guitar); Joe Allen (bass); Ralph Mooney(steel guitar); other musicians. I'm a Ramblin'Man; Rainy Day Woman; Cloudy Days; Mid-night Rider; Oklahoma Sunshine; The Hun-

ger; I Can't Keep My Hands Off of You;Memories of You and I; It'll Be Her; Amanda.RCA APLI-0734 $6.98, APS1-0734 $7.98,© APK1-0734 $7.98.

WAYLON JENNINGS: Dreaming MyDreams. Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar);Ralph Mooney (steel guitar, dobro); Jim Col -yard (guitar); Richie Albright (drums); othermusicians. Are You Sure Hank Done It ThisWay; Waymore's Blues; I Recall a GypsyWoman; High Time (You Quit Your Low -Down Ways); I've Been a Long Time Leaving;Let's All Help the Cowboys; The Door Is Al-ways Open; Let's Turn Back the Years; She'sLooking Good; Dreamin' My. Dreams withYou; Bob Wills Is Still the King. RCAAPL1-1062 $6.98, ® APS1-1062 $7.98, ©APK1-1062 $7.98.

WAYLON JENNINGS: Are You Ready for theCountry. Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar);Ralph Mooney (steel guitar, dobro); RichieAlbright (drums); Duke Goff (bass); other mu-

sicians. Are You Ready for the Country; ThemOld Love Songs; So Good Woman; Jack aDiamonds; Can't You See; MacArthur Park;I'll Go Back to Her; A Couple More Years;Old Friend; Precious Memories. RCAAPL1-1816 $6.98, ® APS1-1816 $7.98, 0APK1-1816 $7.98.

Also appearing in:

WANTED: THE OUTLAWS. With Willie Nel-son, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. Jen-nings sings: My Heroes Have Always BeenCowboys; Honky Tonk Heroes; SuspiciousMinds; Good Hearted Woman; Heaven orHell. RCA APL1-1321 $6.98, ® APS1-1321$7.98, © APKI-1321 $7.98.

MUSIC FROM MACKINTOSH & T. J. Star-ring Roy Rogers; music prepared by WaylonJennings. Jennings sings: All Around Cow-boy; Ride Me Down Easy; Bob Wills Is Stillthe King. RCA APL1-1520 $6.98, ®APS1-1520 $7.98, © APKI-1520 $7.98.

OCTOBER 1976 105

L

A Selective

Calendarof

American Music1612-1976

prepared forSTEREO REVIEWby James Good friend

1976

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Waylon Jenningsand wife

Jessi Colter

W1MON...(Continued from page 105)

chemistry resulting from Willie Nelson'spresence as co -producer and laconic, surpris-ing guitar soloist is a factor you can hear.

The latest album, "Are You Ready for theCountry," is not a safe spot from which tolaunch guesses into Jennings' latest assess-ment of his role or how he's playing it. Heseems to have cruised through it without con-centrating as intently as he did during thatstring of really good ones. MacArthur Park,recorded a second time, his way, still doesn'tfit him very well and doesn't fit the Waylors atall, and anyway it seems to be there mainly tobuoy up the album melodically-the voiceseems to hang, mostly unused, over most ofthe other tunes, which are derivative and lackboldness.

Yet the album has its own integrity, andsome characteristic Jennings quirks. Therhythm section in Old Friend (addressed toHolly) doesn't quite hold a steady speed.That's not itself characteristic, but what itrepresents-that the production will havescuff marks visible on it somewhere-is, be-ing parallel to what happened to the vocal mixin a couple of songs in "Dreaming MyDreams" and to odd moments in several otheralbums. Aesthetically, none of this is very se-rious. It seems to go with the slightly erraticjudgment Jennings exercises in choosing whatsongs to sing. Some people claim he makesany song his own, but I don't think so; I thinkthere is such a thing as a Waylon Song, asthere used to be such a thing as a WeaversSong. Lonesome, On'ry and Mean, written bySteve Young, is one, and Neil Young's AreYou Ready for the Country (to say nothing ofthe Rolling Stones' Honky Tonk Women) isnot, but the reasons why have little to do withhow country or non -country or how cowboyor non -cowboy the song is, or with any of thatimage stuff.

What seems crucial, rather, is some sort ofresonance with the experience you can hear in

Jennings' voice and with the literary state-ment he is trying, with his whole life-style, tomake. A voice like that is partly but not en-tirely a matter of luck and technique. He haslearned a thing or two about technique-notice the "trained" way he squeezes outhigh notes, yet keeps them in character withthe easier, more natural way he makes lowernotes. But what really shapes his sound is theawareness he soaked up through experienceand the memory he kept of how it felt. Hemakes it seem all right to be over thirty andhave a few scars-and maybe that, too, helpsexplain his popularity just now; maybethere's a reaction against the youth -worship-ing that sold like McDonald's hamburgers afew years back. He advocates, mostly in in -

ways, finding out for yourself, winninga few and losing a few in your own human andtherefore fumbly way. Subtle things about asong convey whether it knows about this in itsbones, the way he does.

His own writing, while he still isn't prolific,is increasingly a factor. It is simple, but whenit works (as in Waymore's Blues, a two -chordsong), it suggests something about a back-ground of old Southern -poverty folkways ca-reening around in the same head with moderndoubts and stresses. And Jennings bridgesthose worlds, along with the generation gapand several other paradoxes. One thing I sus-pect he is wary of now is the idea of leadingthis "redneck rock" thing, for you can't goyour own way leading a counter -establish-ment any more than you could by followingthe old one.

Jennings hasn't beaten the machine, ofcourse; the machine will be back, outlastinghim as it outlasted John Henry. But he is stillgood news: as a practical matter, it isn't thenext thousand years but what's left of one'sown lifetime that counts most, and, with thekind of encouragement Jennings lends, maybeone can manage to beat back the uglier tenta-cles of progress for that long. "Nothing isrelevant any more," Gore Vidal said. "Whatthe individual has to do now is order his ownsurvival." Waylon Jennings, in his own style,seems to have said that first. -Noel Coppage

106CIRCLE NO. 4 ON READER SERVICE CARD STEREO REVIEW

ent Me; Supergirl; I'll Buy You an Island; andfive others. PRIVATE STOCK PS 2008 $6.98, @8300 2008 H $7.98, © 5300 2008 H $7.98.

Performance: GoodRecording: Clean

My review of the Troggs' last album (Novem-ber 1975) was unnecessarily harsh and,worse, half -accurate. I believed they meant tosatirize rock's silly sexual machismo-theyearnings of male adolescents to be stallionswhen they're really titmice-but I thought theband was clumsy about it, and not that funny.Shortly after writing the review I met theTroggs and found them delightful. Lead sing-er Reg Presley-a bright, talented comedi-an-told me he selected Wild Thing, theirmost famous number, out of various songssubmitted to the band in 1966 because "it wasso dreadful I thought it had to be the worstdud ever or an absolute smash." When I wenthome and played that last album (Pye 12112)again, it all made much more sense: the satirewas funnier, and I found their version ofMemphis quite good on its own terms.

On this present album the stretched -outGonna Make You, with a Bo Diddley rhythmfigure and good guitar solos, and their versionof Rufus Thomas' old wowser, Walkin' theDog, are both very danceable and foot -tap -able. The Troggs are a hard-working, ex-perienced, unpretentious club and pub band,and that they are playing for the sheer pleas-ure of it all comes across very well in "TheTrogg Tapes." J. V.

COLLECTION

WESTERN SWING. Tune Wranglers: UpJumped the Devil. Jimmie Revard: Blues in theBottle; My Little Girl I Love You. W. LeeO'Daniel: Don't Let the Deal Go Down. Mil-ton Brown: Hesitation Blues; Garbage ManBlues. Light Crust Doughboys: Gin MillBlues; Weary Blues. Adolph Hofner: BrownEyed Sweet. Cliff Bruner: Milk Cow Blues;Tequilla Rag. Rambling Rangers: Gettin'Tired. Washboard Wonders: Feather YourNest. Bob Wills: Liza Pull Down the Shades.OLD TIMEY 0 LP 116 $6.98.

Performance: Hoe-down down homeRecording: Good mono transfers

The country fiddling of the Tune Wranglers'Tom Dickey which opens side one of this al-bum is misleading because most of the selec-tions that follow have little or nothing to dowith white country music. True, some of theperformers represented are identified withhillbilly music, but what they play on thesesides-made between 1934 and 1941-has itsroots in black music. Garbage Man Blues,played by Milton Brown and His MusicalBrownies, is a Cab Calloway-ized version ofGarbage Man, recorded two years later by theHarlem Hamfats, but probably originating inthe Twenties as a bit of humor injected intosuch numbers as Luis Russell's Call of theFreaks. Musically, the Russell and Hamfatsrecordings are of considerably more interest,but jazz listeners should not dismiss the Musi-cal Brownies lightly. The same goes for mostof these sides, but I am puzzled by the inclu-sion of Up Jumped the Devil, the aforemen-tioned first track, and Cliff Bruner's TequillaRag, neither of which seem to fit into this col-lection. Despite the Grand Ole Opry-type ho-kum, there is much worth listening to. C.A.


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OCTOBER 1976 CIRCLE NO. 11 ON READER SERVICE CARD 107

ELVIN JONES: The Main Force. Elvin Jones(drums); Pat LaBarbera, Dave Liebman,Frank Foster, Steve Grossman (reeds); AlbertDailey (piano); Ryo Kawasaki (guitar); DaveWilliams (bass); Angel Allende, Dave John-son (percussion). Mini Modes; Sweet Mama;Salty Iron; and two others. VANGUARD VSD79372 $6.98.

Performance: ExcellentRecording: Very good

This is Elvin Jones' second album for Van-guard, and, because it has no special electron-ic effects, it represents a vast improvementover his first. Some of the same musicians areon hand-a good bunch, as you can see fromthe above listing-and the creative juices areflowing freely throughout. Most interesting isSong of Rejoicing After Returning from aHunt, which takes up most of side two and isa piece adapted by Jones from the Djobokorhythm of the Ba-Benzele pygmies, arrangedby bassist Gene Perla. With raspy reeds,raspy percussion, hand claps, and strategical-ly placed bass notes, it may not bear much re-semblance to anything produced by the ob-scure tribe that suggested it, but it could, it-self, easily become a source of inspiration.Elvin Jones spent part of his career drummingfor John Coltrane, and the traces of that ex-perience are now diminishing as he comesinto his own. This is Jones' most personalstatement so far. C.A.

THAD JONES/MEL LEWIS: New Life. ThadJones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. Greetings and

Salutations; Cherry Juice; Forever Lasting;and four others. HORIZON SP 707 $5.98.

Performance: Well oiledRecording: Very good

The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra is stillone of the finest big bands around, but I mustconfess that my taste buds have recently beensharpened by the Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Ta-backin band (see my August review), and Ifind faults with the Jones/Lewis aggregationthat hitherto have escaped me. Though itabounds in enormously talented individuals,including its co -leaders, there is a stiffnessabout the band, especially the brass section,that leaves me with the impression that itsmembers no longer really enjoy what they aredoing. The arrangements-especially thoseby Thad Jones, which is most of them-arelifeless compared to those of Toshiko, andthey belong back in the late Fifties.

This album is a good one, but it does not be-gin to approach the "Potpourri" album, andI'm afraid Ms. Akiyoshi has left Jones andLewis in the dust. C.A.

JOHN KIRBY: Biggest Little Band in theLand. John Kirby (bass); Charlie Shavers(trumpet); Russell Procope (alto saxophone);Buster Bailey (clarinet); Billy Kyle (piano);O'Neil Spencer (drums). B -Flat Special; OldFashioned Love; The Peanut Vendor; Bu-gler's Dilemma; Sextet from Lucia di Lam-mermoor; and nineteen others. CLASSIC JAZZ

CJ 22 two discs $9.96.

Performance: Organized swingRecording: Good mono

The John Kirby band heard in this set beganrecording for Decca in 1938 and,later movedon to Vocalion, Okeh, Columbia, and Victor.The war forced changes in personnel, and-although some of the replacements were actu-ally better musicians-the band's popularitybegan to decline. By the mid -Forties, Kirbywas recording for such minor labels as Asch,Disc, Apollo, and Crown (a 1946 session forthe last represents Sarah Vaughan's recordingdebut), but, though he continued leadingbands for another four years or so, he neverrecovered from the decline begun in 1942,

ELVIN JONESFreely flowing creative juices

when this particular band broke up. He diedin 1952.

Besides its many commercial recordings,the Kirby band made numerous radio tran-scriptions. I suspect the material in this albumcomes from such transcriptions, but there issomething not quite right about the dates, giv-en as 1941, 1943, and 1944. In fact, annotatorNat Hentoff seems to be deliberately vagueabout the source of these recordings, and onehas to wonder why, particularly since theClassic Jazz label seems to have sprung fromnowhere. Be that as it may, the tight littleKirby band was often too heavily arranged,but it was capable of considerable swing, andmuch of its output bears repetition. Its mem-bers were all outstanding musicians of provedimprovisational skills, though inflexible ar-rangements often stifled their individualityand made them sound more like a good butdull society band-especially when they tack-led the classics, which they frequently did.Thus, the twenty-four selections in this dou-ble album are a mixture of the dull and the de-lectable, but there is enough of the latter tomake this a fine acquisition. C.A.

MICHAEL MANTLER/EDWARD GOREY:The Hapless Child and Other Inscrutable Sto-ries. Carla Bley (keyboards); Terje Rypdal(guitar); Steve Swallow (bass guitar); JackDeJohnette (drums, percussion); RobertWyatt (vocals); three speakers. The SinkingSpell; The Doubtful Guest; The Insect God;and three others. WArr/4 $6.98 (from WattWorks, Inc., 6 West 95th Street, New York,N.Y. 10025).

Performance: AnnoyingRecording: Very good

Edward Gorey's little stories are wonderfullywhimsical and full of the sort of absurditiesthat are the hallmark of English humor, butRobert Wyatt's chanting of them is about aseasy on the ears as a steam drill at closerange, and whatever merit there might be toMichael Mantler's music is voided by Wyatt'singlorious interference. The six stories sodesecrated here are from Gorey's collectionAmphigorey, published by G. P. Putnam'sSons, 1972-I recommend the book. C.A.

GEORGE MURIBUS: Brazilian Tapestry.George Muribus (piano); other musicians. TheDolphin; Night Flower; Alon; and four others.CATALYST CAT -7602 $6.98 (from Spring-board International, 947 U.S. Highway 1,Rahway, N.J. 07065).

Performance: Half an earfulRecording: Very good

I was unfamiliar with the work of pianistGeorge Muribus until I heard this album, andI didn't really get interested until I played sidetwo. Mind you, my ears didn't exactly prickup, but, dulled by the almost twenty minutesof monotonous electronic tinkling of side one,they realized-a minute or so into Pocrasni,the reverse side's opening track-that Mr.Muribus in an acoustical trio setting is worthlending an ear or two to. Before I dismiss thefirst side entirely, let me say that Muribusalone is not to blame for its unprepossessingquality-his sin is merely that he plays theelectric piano; the sins of saxophonist VinceDenham and guitarist Michael Howell are thatthey play at all. Muribus atones for his sinwith both imagination and virtuosity on thetrio side, but I am most impressed by that


108 STEREO REVIEW

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The most important contributors to AR loudspeaker accuracy are an originaldesign with inherently flat frequency response (the ability to reproduce faithfully thecomplete range of musical sounds, including harmonics, without emphasizing or sub-duing any of them) and a rigorous testing program to insure that this idealspecificationis fully realized in every product shipped. The flatness of AR response curves is anaccepted fact. Perhaps not so well known is our insistence that every individual ARdriver, and every completed system, perform to within dB of this response curvebefore it may be shipped to your dealer.

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side's bassist, Len Lasher, who not only con-tributes three excellent tunes but plays so wellthat my other ear hasn't let his performanceout yet. C.A.

PIANO RED: Ain't Goin' to Be Your LowDown Dog No More! William "Piano Red"Perryman (piano and vocals). Corrine, Cor-rina ; Do She Love Me; Please Baby, Come OnHome; Everyday I Have the Blues; and sixothers. BLACK LION BL -311 $6.98.

Performance: FineRecording: Good remote

Piano Red was sixty-three in 1974 when he re-corded this album at the Montreux Ja77 Festi-val, but he doesn't sound a day older than hedid twenty-five years ago when he began re-cording hit singles for RCA Victor. He has astomping, rollicking style that can make eventhe most finely tuned piano sound off, but heknows what he is doing and what he does ob-viously comes from deep within. This albumproves that some things never change, andperhaps some things ought not to. C.A.

IRA SULLIVAN. Ira Sullivan (trumpet, flute,Afuche, soprano and tenor saxophones); oth-ers. Jitterbug Waltz; Dove; Finlandia; SlightlyArched/Spring Can Really Hang You Up theMost; and four others. HORIZON SP -706$5.98.

Performance: AntisepticRecording: Excellent

To read the liner notes for this album is to betold that Ira Sullivan is some sort of jazz Gar-bo, a star about whom superlatives are whis-pered, whose name evokes awe, a man-no,legend-who apparently no longer wants tobe alone. We are also told that Mr. Sullivansounds much better in person-I hope that'strue. Not that he sounds bad here, but whatthey give you to listen to is disappointing afteryou have read what they give you to read.

Actually, Ira Sullivan, at the age of twenty-one, became a member of the house band atChicago's Bee Hive, where for a little overtwo years he helped accompany jazz stars ofthe caliber of Lester Young, Roy Eldridge,and Charlie Parker. He played briefly with Art

Blakey in 1956 and retired to Florida in theearly Sixties, and that's about it. Granted, hemade a name for himself on the local Chicagoscene twenty-five years ago, but to packagehim as some sort of saint is both ludicrous anda disservice to him. This is a very nice al-bum-no more than that. C.A.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITMONTY PYTHON: Live! At City Center. Gra-ham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam,Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin(performers). ARISTA AL 4073 $6.98.

Performance: Disgusting!Recording: Audible, unfortunately

That motley crew, Monty Python's FlyingCircus, is up to their squalid, sordid littletricks in another hilariously funny album.This is a recording of what, essentially, wenton at the scene of the crime during their en-gagement earlier this year at New York's CityCenter. While some of the best lines are over-lapped by audience laughter, there is enoughclassic Pythonomania intact to make it re-quired listening. My all-time favorite is in-cluded: The Death of Mary Queen of Scots, apseudo -BBC radio drama introduced by oneof those appallingly jaunty, Britannic airs thatthe likes of Eric Coates used to specialize in.It opens with an inquiry as to whether the ladyis indeed Mary, Queen of Scots, and, whenthe reply is in a heavily burred affirmative, thenext minute or so is spent on the noisiest

MONTY PYTHONUp to their usual squalid, sordid tricks on another hilarious album

110 STEREO REVIEW

sound effects heard since World. War II to in-dicate Mary's dispatch. After a brief silenceone of her assaulters comments, "She mustbe dead." "Oh no, I'm not!" is her game re-tort, and the noises continue into fadeout.This is Episode Two of the serial, and to merepresents the specially endearing looninessof the Python style: the mere thought of asupposed audience sitting down week afterweek in front of the "wireless" to hear Marybeing pursued around her castle by whatsounds like half of the English army, ex-changing wise nods with each other as soundeffect piles upon sound effect, is to me whatmakes Python as incisive about mocking theEnglish character as anyone since Shaw.

As usual, the members of the companytreat each other with the astonished outrageof a Colonel Blimp propositioned at a Patago-nian wedding. Very funny stuff indeed. P.R.

THEATER FILMS

SHIRLEY MACLAINE: Live at the Palace.Shirley MacLaine (vocals); Shirley's Gypsies(instrumentals). If My Friends Could See MeNow; My Personal Property; Remember Me?/Big Spender; Irma La Douce/I'm a PersonToo; and five others. COLUMBIA PC 34223$6.98, Oe PCA 34223 $7.98, PCT 34223$7.98.

Performance. Bring on the videodisc!Recording: Very good

In his liner notes for this album, Elton Johntells how he finally twisted the star's arm toget him two tickets to her show and found thelady's performance "quite simply a lesson inprofessionalism." But in the final paragraphhe pleads, "Bring on the videodisc!" I'm in-clined to agree with him. The vivacious, red-headed MacLaine is hard not to love as shewarms up her audience, reminds them howshe rode to fame "on Carol Hainey's brokenleg" when she first appeared during the run ofThe Pyjama Game, bursts into autobiograph-ical song ("Seems every time I take a trip Iwrite a book . . ."), and knocks herself outsinging songs from Sweet Charity and IrmaLa Douce. But the sparkling -eyed, energetic,high -kicking soul that is MacLaine in per-formance really has to be seen as well asheard. Just singing, even when accompaniedby her team of Shirley's Gypsies, she isn't ex-ceptional enough to rivet one's attention for awhole LP-although her version of The Don-key Serenade as The Rudolf Friml Hustle is al-most enough to save the day. But not quite.Judy Garland she ain't. In the end, Shirley asvoice alone wears out the listener-and a littleof her own welcome. P.K.

MY FAIR LADY (Alan Jay Lerner -FrederickLoewe). Original 1976 Broadway -cast record-ing. Ian Richardson, Christine Andreas,George Rose, Robert Coote, others (vocals);

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orchestra, Theodore Saidenberg cond. Co-LUMBIA 0 PS 34197 $6.98, @ KSA 34197$7.98, © KST 34197 $7.98.

Performance: Superb, for them as likes itRecording: Fabulous

My Fair Lady has been so lavishly acclaimedand adored by audiences and critics all overthe world, and its recent revival on Broadwayproved such a success, that to murmur a wordagainst it at this point might seem churlishlyperverse. Yet this particular musical, for allthe skill with which it weds the wit of Shaw tothe songwriting talents of Lerner and Loewe,has always left this particular customer in astate of something less than enchantment.The music is just too English -music -hall hear-ty for me, the lyrics too glib, too facile. Oneoriginal -cast album of the show and anotherfrom the movie version, therefore, haveseemed quite enough for me.

Having thus laid myself open to enraged as-sault by the show's legion of admirers, I has-ten to add that Goddard Leiberson, who hadmuch to do with bringing My Fair Lady toBroadway in the first place and with the ear-lier, excellently crafted Columbia album, hasoutdone himself in the sequel. It is refreshingto hear Ian Richardson, who does know howto sing, making his own the Henry Higginsballads Why Can't the English?, I'm an Ordi-nary Man, A Hymn to Him, and I've GrownAccustomed to Her Face even after they havebecome so firmly associated in our minds withthe sprechtstimme approach of the indefatiga-bly charming Rex Harrison. Christine An-dreas is more of a spitfire in Eliza's songs thanJulie Andrews ever was, and she is especiallyintriguing, after her transformation, in ICould Have Danced. All Night. George Roseas her pragmatic father makes the most of hisbig numbers A Little Bit of Luck and Get Meto the Church on Time, and Robert Coote,back in the role of Colonel Pickering, is excel-lent in the fleeting seconds when he is heard.As Freddy, Jerry Lanning has his big momentin On the Street Where You Live, and meas-ures up beautifully. The Rain in Spain gets, ifanything, an even more spectacular tangoproduction than it did in the earlier recording,and everything is here, Embassy Waltz andall, up to and including the complete finale.Loyal fans of Harrison and Andrews may findit takes a bit of an adjustment to get used toHiggins and Eliza in their new, more full-bloodedly musical embodiments, but the re-cording is in every way first-rate, and thosewho think of My Fair Lady as the beginningand end of musical comedy should find the al-bum exactly their cup of tea. For all its goodqualities, though, it just isn't mine. P.K.

ARTHUR SCHWARTZ: From the Penof . . . Arthur Schwartz. Arthur Schwartz(vocals); instrumental accompaniment. LoveIs a Dancing Thing; You and the Night andthe Music; A Rainy Night in Rio; If There IsSomeone Lovelier Than You; Alone Together;That's Entertainment; and eight others. RCALPL1-5121 $6.98.

Performance: PainfulRecording: Good

Max Dreyfus, the Broadway music publisher,listened to a couple of tunes by a lawyernamed Arthur Schwartz and told him to goback to practicing law. Then Schwartz metHoward Dietz and they collaborated on thescore for The Little Show, and we've all beenthe better for it. You and the Night and the

Music, Dancing in the Dark,,A Rainy Night inRio-a Dietz -Schwartz song is the next bestthing to a walk on air. (One would never guesshow many of the lyrics Dietz wrote on MGMstationery while serving as vice president ofthe movie company.) Their songs were intro-duced by singers like Fred Astaire, BingCrosby, Danny Kaye, Ella Fitzgerald, JudyGarland, and Frank Sinatra. Anybody luckyenough to have heard Libby Holman sing Youand the Night and the Music in the originalBroadway production of Revenge with Musicknows what a great performer can do with aDietz -Schwartz song.

Not long ago, the composer was in Londonand was lured into a studio to record a pro-gram of his own numbers. He should neverhave consented. Crooning tunelessly, hemakes a shambles of some of the loveliestpopular ballads ever penned. In By Myself,the tune isn't the big thing and he's rathertouching, though certainly no Astaire; the restis simply painful. Please, Mr. Schwartz, giveus more great tunes-but let somebody morequalified sing them. P.K.

HUNGARIAN FOLK MUSIC. Sebo Ensemble(vocals and instrumentals). Love, Love;Where Were You at Night, Titmouse?; Playthe Bagpipe, Uncle John; Harvest, My Sweet-heart. Harvest; The Monks Are Walking inClogs; Jew's Harp Music; and fifteen others.PEPITA SPLX 17482 $6.98.

Performance: HappyRecording: Very good

The Sebo Ensemble of Budapest opens itslively program with folk music from variousregions of Hungary sung and played on tradi-tional instruments with style and gusto. Thevoices are young, clean, and beautifullytrained, and when the four members of theensemble-Ferenc Sebo, Bela Halmos,Gergely Koltay, and Peter En-chant sometime-honored Hungarian melody in unison,they produce an especially luminous tone thatdoes honor to their material. Here are lovesongs, shepherd songs, folk dances quick andslow, dances of swineherds, a czardas playedon a Hungarian bagpipe to make you feelyou're in some Magyar section of Scotland, aquadrille, a "double walk and twirl," all ex-ecuted with remarkable verve and musician-ship. Side two, devoted to Sebo's own musicin settings of verses by contemporary Hun-garian poets, is harder to appreciate, especial-ly since no text is supplied, but the music doescome across as bright and attractive. Sebo'stunes, owing a bit more to Bartok's treatmentof folk material than directly to folk music,maintain the freshness he brings to his ar-rangements of traditional material here as hepours new ideas into old musical molds.Worth hearing. P.K.

112 STEREO REVIEW

If our tape sounds bad on your hi-fi systemyou need a better hi-fi system.

Maxell tapes are the best wayto see just how good or bad yourhi-fi system is. Because Maxelltapes are made to stricter stand-ards than many hi-fi systems.

To begin with, only the highestquality materials go into Maxelltapes. The finest polyester, screws,hubs and pressure pads.

Every batch of magnetic oxidewe use gets run through an electronmicroscope. If every particle isn'tperfect, the sound you hear won'tbe either.

Since even a little speck of dustcan make a difference in what you

hear, no one gets into our plantuntil they've been washed, dressedin a spedal dust free uniform,even vacuumed.

The fact that we're suchfanatics about making Maxell tapespays off for you in the enjoymentof superior sound. And in theMaxell guarantee..

Which says if you ever havea problem with any Maxell tape,send it back and we'll send you anew one No questions asked.

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Choosing Sides

OLD MAN DISC VS. KID CASSETTEWHATEVER happened to the marvelously

noise -free sound that impressed us sowhen Dolbyized discs first came to town? Tojudge from industry trends of recent months,those super -quiet discs have metamorphosedinto an advanced new breed of cassette. To besure, the actual physical transmutation of aflat round disc into a neat oblong cassette israther more of a miracle than even our bestmerchandising minds could accomplish. Butimproving one system to equal or to surpassthe capabilities of the other as the preferredcarrier of quality sound is as easy as, oh, hit-ting Mars with a space probe-just a matter oftechnology, old man.

The old man in this instance appears to beMr. Disc himself, now approaching his nine-tieth year on the world market and finally be-ginning to show his age. There are some whosay that his aches and pains, the creaks andgroans that are being heard lately when he isasked to get up and perform his old tricks onthe turntable, are not entirely the results ofadvancing age. He is not getting the kind ofnourishment that kept him going for so long ingood style, they say; the vinyl diet that so suc-cessfully took the place of his old soul food,shellac, is simply not what it used to be, leav-ing him more vulnerable than before to thatold team of ailments, the Crackles and thePops.

Were Emil Berliner, who devised the flatdisc in 1887, alive today to enter a plea for hisbrain child, he could very well contend that itis therefore not the fault of the system itself,but of the way it is being administered. Andhe would very likely be right. But, for betteror for worse, disc dissatisfaction definitelyseems to have set in, and the air is rife withsuggestions that turntable speed be cut downso that we could get a really long long-playingdisc, that videodisc techniques be applied toaudio, and even that the very means of infor-mation storage be changed from the'presentphysical analog of the sound signal to somebinary-coded system that would make it pos-sible to get all the Beethoven symphonies on asingle flat surface.

Such possibilities, if they are realizable, ap-pear to be far in the future. Right now it ismuch easier just to take the musical track offthat flat disc, stretch it out lengthwise on areel of tape, put the result in a box hardly big-ger than a cigarette case, and eliminate in theprocess the stylus, the friction it engenders inthe groove, surface noise, scratches and otherdamage, turntable rumble, and virtually ev-erything else that is irritating about Old ManDisc.

Does all this spell the end for a systemwhose products over the past nine decadesmust number in the trillions? Not likely. But ifthe improved cassette can sustain quality incomparable quantity without the crushing

counteracting weaknesses that inhere in thesystem's mechanical aspect (tape hiss, wowand flutter, snagging or breaking of the tape it-self, malfunctioning of the tape guides, spin-dles, etc.), it may level a challenge such as thedisc has never before encountered.

Has the cassette, then, finally emergedfrom the chrysalis stage? Can it qualify as atrue tonal butterfly? The first calculated an-swers to these questions I encountered werepresented in a series of demonstrations byLondon/Decca in New York last January.London disdained anything so mundane as asimple A -B test of cassette against equivalentdisc; only the original master tape (or a first -generation copy of it) would do. The listenerwas encouraged to do his own A-B-ing andthen decide which was which-master tape orcassette (the order was altered with each se-lection). After a few trials I thought I coulddetect a slight degree of attenuation in somefrequency ranges of the cassette that was notpresent on the master tape, and on this slightbasis of difference I made my judgment.Either my method was very accurate or thefolks from England were very kind: in a ma-jority of instances my judgment was pro-nounced correct.

I was by no means completely convinced,however, that a cassette was, even to that de-gree, indistinguishable from a master tape.Demonstrations are notoriously preplanned toproduce the desired result (otherwise whygive them?), and though I was by no meansdistrustful of London's engineers, gentlemenall, I still felt the best place to judge is athome, using equipment with whose perform-ance one is familiar in surroundings to whichone is, so to speak, attuned.

IWON'T say that I have been listening to cas-settes every week since January, but I haveheard a lot of them, not only samples sent meby half a dozen manufacturers but others cho-sen at random from dealers' shelves. My farfrom guarded comment is simply this: if thediscs from the same master -tape sources wereas noise -free, as well defined in transients,and as lacking in overall distortion as the cas-settes I heard, nobody would be searching foran alternative system-which is not the samething, of course, as saying that there are nocassette problems.

Solo -piano recordings are historicallyamong the better challenges to the integrity ofany sound system. I don't know how the cas-sette reproduction of Vladimir Ashkenazy'sperformance of the Chopin Etudes (Opp. 10and 25) on London CS5-6844 checks out onthe measuring instruments (whatever theymight be), but on my personal two -ear rig it isconvincingly what piano reproduction oughtto be-deep, steady in sound, true and full atboth ends of the scale, honestly illustrative ofeverything this super -talented, Russian -bornIcelandic citizen has represented on theworld's musical stage for a decade and a half.Etude No. 5, in E Major, did have a quaver insome sustained passages; I have yet to deter-mine whether it was in the cassette itself or inthe way it was being unspooled on my cas-sette player.

I have not, to be sure, forgotten the con -(Continued on page 116)

"A challenge such as the disc has never before encountered..."114 STEREO REVIEW

We erred on the side of modesty when wepublished the specifications and performance dataof our Quartz Locked AM/FM Stereo Receiver.

Then Hirsch-Houck,a famous independent audiotesting lab*, put our TX -4500 through the mill on theirown. You know who they are . .. possibly the bestknown in the business. They said and we quote:

"... virtually impossible to incorrectly tune in anFM station."

".. . sound quality in FM reception with theTX -4500 will be determined only by the quality of thebroadcast program."

"... when playing records the sound had adefinition and clarity that were unmistakable."

In fact, they compared the TX -4500 favorably withcomponent tuners and amplifiers, and we didn't lose.While we claimed the TX -4500 would deliver 55 wattsper channel, minimum RMS at 8 ohms, both channelsdriven, from 20 Hz to 20 kHz with no more than 0.1%Total Harmonic Distortion, they found TotalHarmonic Distortion less than 0.02% at middlefrequencies; 0.09% at 20 Hz, and 0.04% at 20 kHz.

We said IM distortion was 0.1% at 1 watt. Theyfound it between 0.01% and 0.02% at most powerlevels from 1 to 40 watts.

You should also know about our FET/4-gangvariable capacitor front end. Our circuitry with 70

transistors, 8 IC's and 59 diodes, plus the FET. Aboutprovision for three sets of speakers and three taperecorder circuits, each controlled by its ownpushbutton.

You might also be interested in detented tonecontrols and center detent balance control. PhaseLocked Loop Multiplex.

But mostly, you have to see what Quartz Lockedtuning does, verified by the lab that the systeminvariably resulted in the lowest possible distortionand noise and best stereo separation the receiver iscapable of.

There's no way we can tell you everything aboutour "Studio on a Shelf" There's too much, and we'retoo modest. But, you can find out at your Onkyodealer. He may even have a copy of the lab report. Ifnot, write us for a copy.

While you're at it, look intothe TX -2500 also. It costs alittle less than the TX -4500and performs almost as well.Instead of Quartz Locked

tuning, the TX -2500 features Servo Locked tuning. Inour own modest way we have to say it's pretty good.

So, if you can't go for the top of our line, you cancome pretty close And the best place to start is with

an Onkyo dealer.*Popular Electronics, August, 1976.

O lei KYO®ONKYO U.S.A. CORPORATION Eastern Office: 42-07 20th Ave., Long Island City, N.Y. 11105, 212-729-2323

Midwest Office: 935 Sivert Drive, Wood Dale, Ill. 60191, 312-595-2970 Canada: Sole Distributor, TriTel Associates Ltd., Ontario, Canada


OCTOBER 1976 115

32PageLabReportThe most definitive andcomprehensive test reportever conducted on highpowered audio amplifiers-re-printed from the prestigious Englishjournal, Hi-Fi For Pleasure. The spiralbound, hard -cover report presents readableresearch data taken from exhaustive subjec-tive listening panel evaluations corrobor-ated by standard laboratory tests. Some ofthe products reviewed in this Spring '76report:

Accuphase P250 Crown D150A BGW Model 250 Lux M6000

Yamaha B1Mailed first class upon receipt of two dollarsand your full address.Amplifier Reports, P.O. Box 3742. Dept. SRBeverly Hills,,Ca., 90212

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venience angle: you can't stop the music justbefore Etude No. 12, say, and go back instant-ly to No. 6 as you can on a disc. Sorry aboutthat; the disc does set the sundry etudes apartby bands, and this is handy for those whowant to listen to them in some personal order.I will say, however, that searching out theprecise band to repeat the sixth-rather thanthe fifth or the seventh-in a series of twelveis one of the best ways I know to mar a recordsurface and to add your own personal click tothose already present when the record wasunwrapped (an increasingly frequent irritationfor me). You can't do that with a cassette, ofcourse!

ANOTHER participant in the resurgence ofinterest in the cassette is Angel, who an-nounced the introduction of their new XDR(which translates, so help me Noah Webster,into Xpanded Dynamic Range) cassettes withan old-fashioned demo tape. Unlike the brew-er who imaginatively describes his product as"everything you want in a beer-and less,"Angel apparently believes that what you wantfrom a music system is not less (noise, distor-tion, wow and flutter) but more-volume, thatis. And so the demo cassette begins with anice blast by "Mars, Bringer of War" fromGustav Hoist's Planets and continues with thesnare -and -bass -drum introduction to the pi-ano part in the finale of Ravel's G Major Con-certo before relenting with an Albinoni adagioand a Mozart horn -concerto movement. Idoubt that Fritz Kreisler would have relishedhis Caprice Viennois in the overblown soundof Itzhak Perlman's violin-but then, come tothink of it, I didn't miss at all on the cassettethe two solos by Pops and Crackles thatmarred the very first groove of the disc equiv-alent I just then opened for purposes of soundcomparison.

All such demo material is further too re-mindful of the record and tape manufactur-ers' habit of looking to the past rather than tothe future for criteria by which to guide theiruse of new systems. In this case, the new, im-proved cassette is generally being treated asjust another variant, side -for -side, of the disc,a Procrustean bed in which to lay down onlyas much music as is contained on the corre-sponding twelve -inch platter. This, if per-petuated, would be a classic case of morte-main, with Old Man Disc reaching out fromthe grave to deny forever any freedom of pro-gramming to Kid Cassette.

FORTUNATELY, an innovational attitude isbeing taken in this respect by a relatively re-cent addition to the manufacturers' ranks-the appropriately named Advent. As everyuser of unrecorded cassettes knows, tapescan be purchased in lengths ranging fromfifteen to ninety minutes per side. What theymay not know is that on Advent D1016 theCantata Singers, John Harbison directing,may be heard in Bach Cantatas Nos. 7, 44,and 101 on a single cassette with a playingtime of 72 minutes (29'44" on side one and anepoch-making 42'33" on side two). The soundis of excellent quality, gratefully noise -free.On another Advent cassette (D1005), CarlNielsen's Symphony No. 5 is followed by hisSaga -Dream on a single side of 44 minutes.Side two is blank and may be used to recordwhat you wish. Which, in the cassette world,is a reminder that if you don't like Ash-kenazy's Chopin you can erase it and replaceit with a recorded performance of your wife.No disc can make the same claim.

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STEREO REVIEWH6

...no other singer so moving, so delightful, or so important"

Happy Birthday, 'Ethel 'WatersETHEL WATERS will be eighty on October

31, and on that day I shall no doubt be re-calling how, during the several years of studyand research I put into my book The GreatAmerican Popular Singers, I found the workof no other singer at once so moving, so de-lightful, so instructive, and so important.

Moving. I cannot, to this day, listen to her1933 recording of Stormy Weather-and Ihave played it hundreds of times-withoutchoking up. The sense of personal tragedy,despair, and wretchedness that.she brought to"Can't go on"-digging into that final conso-nant-and to the improvised sobbing cadenceon "keeps rainin' all the time" is matched forheart-rending eloquence in my own experi-ence off American popular singers only byFanny Brice's Secondhand Rose and HankWilliams' Ramblin' Man.

But she could be just as amusing as she wasmoving Her 1931 recording of You Can'tStop Me from Loving You, a hit for her inLew Leslie's show Rhapsody in Black, is a

comedy masterpiece, joyously memorable forher own obvious joy in tackling one of themost outrageous rhymes ever perpetrated inEnglish: "[You can] even put a thistle where Isit/You can make me take vanilla when youknow I'm crrrrazy about choco-lit." Hersend-ups of Josephine Baker in Harlem on MyMind, of Rudy Vallee in You're Lucky to Me,and of Al Jolson in Memories of You areparody and mimicry of the highest order.

She was so much more than simply a singerof songs. She was essentially (and this is true,too, I think, of Peggy Lee) an actress, a singerfor whom song was a means of characteriza-tion. Listening to her records is like going tothe theater. There is always a situation-sometimes tragic, sometimes comical-and acharacter, a person, reacting to that situationjust as that sort of person would react.

Not surprisingly, she carried this theatricalflair into the real theater, and so successfullythat she is now remembered primarily as thegreat actress whose Hagar in Mamba's

Daughters, Petunia in Cabin in the Sky, andBerenice Sadie Brown in The Member of theWedding rank among the glories of Americantheater history.

Those theater triumphs rather overshad-owed her earlier achievements as a singer,and I have always felt this to be unfortunate.They may have been her greatest, but theywere not, in a historical sense, her most im-portant. What Ethel Waters meant to Ameri-can culture is evident today not in the work ofAmerican actors and actresses, but in thework of the singers who were her contempo-raries and successors-Mildred Bailey, Con-nie Boswell, Lee Wiley, and Billie Holidayamong the ladies, Bing Crosby, Perry Como,Tony Bennett, and Frank Sinatra among thegentlemen. They all knew her, admired her,and learned from her.

SHE was a transitional as well as a seminalfigure, her career covering and, to a large ex-tent, exemplifying and even inspiring theemergence of the black artist/entertainer fromthe segregated world of black vaudeville,black clubs, and race records into the main-stream of American musical and theatricalculture. The breakthrough came in 1933 whenIrving Berlin, having heard her sing StormyWeather at the Cotton Club, recruited her forhis satiric review, As Thousands Cheer, star-ring Marilyn Miller, Clifton Webb, and HelenBroderick. True, Bert Williams had starred inthe Ziegfeld Follies when Ethel Waters wasgrowing up in the slums of Chester, Pennsyl-vania, and South Philadelphia. But Bert Wil-liams appeared in blackface.

Her legacy of records on LP provides an in-structive chronology of her development asan artist from the insouciant "cake -walkingbaby" and sometime soft pornographer (MyHandy Man, for example) of the Twentiesrace records to the eloquence and elegance ofStormy Weather and Taking a Chance onLove. On "Oh Daddy" (Biograph BLP-12022) she can be heard singing some of thesongs she recorded for Harry Pace's BlackSwan label beginning in 1921. A wider selec-tion, covering the decade 1925-1934, is pro-vided by the two -disc album "Ethel Waters-Greatest Years" (Columbia KG 31571); it hasexcellent notes by Frank Driggs. But I havefound the best cross-section, in terms of thequality of both material and performance, tobe "Ethel Waters-On Stage and Screen1925-1940" in the Columbia Hall of Fame se-ries (CL -2792).

N 1957 Ethel Waters emerged from a physi-cal (the former Sweet Mama Stringbean wastipping the scales at 350) and spiritual crisis totake up a new career as a member of evangel-ist Billy Graham's Crusade, singing a newgospel repertoire abundantly represented onWord W-3100 and W-3173. A discography byGeorge Finola listing 259 recordings, most ofthem now collectors' items, is summarized asan Editor's Note at the end of Ethel Waters'second autobiographical book, To Me It'sWonderful (Harper and Row, 1972).

To you, Miss Waters, It; to me, You. Hap-py birthday!

OCTOBER 1976 119

CLASSICAL DISCS AND TAPESReviewed by RICHARD FREED DAVID HALL GEORGE JELLINEK PAUL KRESH

STODDARD LINCOLN ERIC SALZMAN

J. S. BACH: Prelude and Fugue in D Major(BWV 532); Wir glauben all' an einem Gott(BWV 740); Bist du bei mir (BWV 508); 0Gott, du frommer Gott (BWV 64, No. 4); Cho-rale Fantasia (BWV 129, No. 5); Vom Himmelhock, da komm' ich her (BWV 738; 606; and248, No. 9); Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland(BWV 659); Jesu, joy of man's desiring (BWV147, No. 10); Herzlich tut mich verlangen(three settings, BWV 727; 161, No. 6; and 248,No. 64). REICHE: Abblasen. Don Smithers(clarino trumpet, piccolo trumpet, cornetto,and trumpet); William Neil (organ); ClarionConsort. PHILIPS 6500 925 $7.98.

Performance: ExcellentRecording:Resonant

Beginning with the premise that the perform-ance of music for trumpet and organ is com-paratively recent and that the best repertoirefor the combination comes from the Baroqueera, Don Smithers has recorded an album ofarrangements drawn largely from the choralepreludes of Bach and logically called "Bach'sTrumpet." The results are entirely convinc-ing, as the trumpet, in this velvety combina-tion, takes on the function of a richly over -toned organ stop. Moreover, Mr. Smithers isa first-class performer on those terrifying Ba-roque trumpet types, the clarino trumpet andthe piccolo trumpet. In'his hands these instru-ments stop being freaks and turn into vehiclesof musical expression. One forgets his techni-cal prowess as one more beautifully melodicline after another drops from his lips. He is

Explanation of symbols:= reel-to-reel stereo tape

0 = eight -track stereo cartridge= stereo cassette= quadraphonic disc

E = reel-to-reel quadraphonic tape= eight -track quadraphonic tape

Monophonic recordings are indicatedby the symbol 0

The first listing is the one reviewed;other formats, if available, follow it.

amply supported by William Neil and the Cla-rion Consort, which includes more trumpets,violin, viola, and kettledrums. S -L.

BARBER: Adagio for Strings, from Op. 11 (seeIVES)

BARTOK: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3 (seeBest of the Month, page 86)

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9, in D Minor(see Going on Record, page 60)

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITBERLIOZ: Overtures: Le Corsaire; Beatrice etBenedict; Les Francs-Juges; Benvenuto Cellini;Le Carnaval Romain. London Symphony Or-chestra, Andre Previn cond. ANGEL ES-37170 $6.98.

Performance: First-rateRecording: Outstanding

BERLIOZ: Le Carnaval Romain: Overture.Les Troyens: Royal Hunt and Storm. Romeo etJuliette: Queen Mab Scherzo; Love Scene. LaDamnation de Faust: Menuet des Follets;Danse des Sylphes; Marche Hongrois. JohnAlldis Choir; London Symphony Chorus;London Symphony Orchestra; Orchestra ofthe Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Col-in Davis cond. PHILIPS 6580 116 $7.98.

Performance: GoodRecording: Good to excellent

As far as I can determine, this is Andre Pre-yin's first disc excursion into the Berlioz rep-ertoire, and he gives us stylish readingsabounding in both musicality and panache_ Inmy opinion the finest thing in his collection isa badly needed, up-to-date version of theFrancs-Juges Overture (a Solti/Chicago Sym-phony performance has yet to be issued hereby London). I have always regarded this pieceas one of the most brilliant achievements ofthe young Berlioz, marked among otherthings by extraordinarily resourceful use ofbass drum and timpani in a suspenseful sottovoce development episode. Moreover, An-gel's producing -engineering team has come upwith striking sonics. No less excellent are Pre-

yin's treatments of the Corsaire, Beatrice andBenedict, and the overworked Roman Carni-val, though I would have liked a bit more fireand brimstone in Benvenuto Cellini.

The Colin Davis assemblage, derived fromearlier recordings, has its special fine points,in particular the Romeo excerpts. It is good tohave the Love Scene available apart from thecomplete album, and I was pleased to see thatthe opening off-stage choral bits for the guestsleaving the Capulets' ball are included. The1966 Roman Carnival performance is stillsplendid, and, after a somewhat bland firsthalf, Davis works the Royal Hunt and Stormup to a rousing climax. The sound is goodthroughout, if somewhat variable in accordwith recording date and locale. The Romeoand Roman Carnival tracks fare best. D.H.

BRAHMS: Symphony No. 2, in D Major, Op.73; Variations on a Theme of Haydn, Op. 56a.Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, Ber-nard Haitink cond. PHILIPS 6500 375 $7.98, @7300 375 $7.98.

BRAHMS: Symphony No. 2, in D Major, Op.73. Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, PierreMonteux cond. LONDON STS 15192 $3.49.

Performances: Splendid Haitink,vintage Monteux

Recordings: Haitink has it

The particular splendors of Bernard Haitink'sdisc are to be found in his reading of theHaydn Variations, which offers momentumand excitement together with gorgeousorchestral playing and superb sonics. Thesymphony performance is no less lovely, butfor my taste could do with more intensity thanit gets here.

The late Pierre Monteux recorded Brahms'Second Symphony twice in the early Sixties.This is the earlier of the two; it made its initialappearance over here on RCA's budget Vic-trola label. The London Stereo Treasury rein-carnation offers a somewhat richer sound butis still to my ears a little heavy in the bass and,as a partial consequence, a mite thin in the vi-olin sound. The reading is spacious in phras-ing and unhurried in tempo, the sense of am-pleness being reinforced by the seldom -used

120 STEREO REVIEW

exposition repeat in the first movement.There is formidable competition in the budg-et -price division for this Monteux reading,most especially from Steinberg, Beecham,and Walter. D. H .

CARPENTER: Adventures in a Perambulator(see Going on Record, page 60)

COPLAND: Quiet City (see IVES)

COWELL: Hymn and Fuguing Tune No.10 forOboe and Strings (see IVES)

CRESTON: A Rumor (see IVES)

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITDEBUSSY: Etudes for Piano. Paul Jacobs (pi-ano). NONESUCH H-71322 $3.96.

Performance: SuaveRecording: Sonorous

Paul Jacobs is probably best-known as an in-terpreter of contemporary music both in Eu-rope (where for a number of years he was thenew -music pianist) and in this country (wherehe has appeared in innumerable new -musicperformances; he is the pianist and harpsi-chordist of the New York Philharmonic aswell). Like many such artists, however, hisrange is wider than his reputation. His affinityfor Debusy is clear. Debussy is the real start-ing point for much twentieth-century music,and the particular qualities of his art have anobvious appeal for a pianist who lived inFrance for many years and who has manyconnections with French culture and musicallife.

The Debussy Etudes are unusual works-even in the composer's unusual output. Theywere written in 1915, close to the end of De-bussy's career, and, along with the late sona-tas, they represent a series of forays into newterritory. They are personal, varied, difficult,unpredictable, polished, and intimate-lateDebussy, and not crowd -pleasing.

They are ear -pleasing, though, especially inthe intimacy of recordings. In these suave,elegant, insightful performances, they have ahard yet sensuous, precious glow. The pianosound is something special: gentle, full, not atall clangorous, just right for the music. E.S.

FALLA: El Amor Brujo. GRANADOS: Goyes-cas, Intermezzo. RAVEL: Alborado del Graci-oso; Pavane pour une Infante Defunte. NatiMistral (mezzo-soprano, in Falla); New Phil-harmonia Orchestra, Rafael Friihbeck de Bur-gos cond. LONDON STS 15358 $3.98.

Performance SuperbRecording: Very good

For anyone who cares for Spanish music thisis an important record. Falla composed ElAmor Brujo, a ballet with three vocal move-ments, for the gypsy dancer Pastora Imperio,who had considerable success with it instaged performances, as did La Argentina andArgentinita. But opera singers have appro-priated the work in the concert hall and on re-cordings. In their efforts to convey gypsy pas-sion they (and their conductors) usually givewildly exaggerated interpretations. Seeking amore authentic voice, Friihbeck de Burgos in-vited Nati Mistral, a popular singer with clas-sical training, to record it with him, and theresult was a brilliant performance, issued hereby London Records (CS 6521) in the late1960's. Out of the catalog for several years, it

has now been reissued in the Stereo TreasurySeries.

The Granados and Ravel pieces that fill outthe disc are well played, particularly the Al-borado del Gracioso, but the Falla is of princi-pal interest. Friihbeck sacrifices nothing insensuousness and tonal color but maintainsthe restraint and rhythmic stability necessaryfor Spanish music. Nati Mistral's familiaritywith the gypsy idiom, her excellent diction,and her ability to color her voice to expressthe meaning of words make her the ideal in-terpreter of this music. With her simple, di-rect approach she conveys more feeling thanthe whooping and growling opera singers.When she sings "Soy la mar en que nau-fragas!" ("I am the sea in which you aredrowning"), I believe it. Hearing this. worksung by the kind of voice for which it waswritten is like first hearing Soler prayed on theharpsichord when you have known him onlyon the piano.

I don't know all of the early 78 -rpm record-

". . . one of the mostbeautiful records ofanything ever offeredto the public."

THERE are more involved ways of sayingthis, but dozens of prefatory paragraphs

would not alter the conclusion: this is simplyone of the most beautiful records of anythingever offered to the public. Mr. Ax is a poet,with Chopin in his blood and most assuredlyin his fingers. The program may not be a con-venient one for encyclopedic -minded collec-tors, but it is one that makes eminently goodsense for listening, and the fine piano sound isa further enhancement of an altogether distin-guished presentation. -Richard Freed

CHOPIN: Andante Spianato and Grande Polo-naise Briliante, Op. 22; Nocturne in B Major,Op. 62, No. 1; Scherzo No. 4, in E Major, Op.54; Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61. Emanuel Ax(piano). RCA ARL1-1569 $6.98.

ings of this work, but I find it hard to believe ithas ever been better performed on records.This is certainly the best Amor Brujo current-ly available. William Livingstone

FAURE: Cello Sonata No. 1, in D Minor, Op.109; Cello Sonata No. 2, in G Minor, Op. 117;Sicilienne, Op. 78; Elegie, Op. 24. ThomasIgloi (cello); Clifford Benson (piano). CRD1016 $7.98.

Performance: GoodRecording: Excellent

Thomas Igloi was, I believe, still under thirtywhen he died last spring. His performances inthis country and his playing in the Schubert CMajor Quintet on CRD 1018 (Best of theMonth, March 1976) gave notice of a majortalent which might have risen to the very high-est level; the timing would suggest this collec-tion of Faure's luminous works as a mosttouching valedictory, but Igloi is at a bit lessthan his best in these performances. He andhis equally youthful associate play verysmoothly, leaving no question about theirtechnical assurance; they miss, I think, the es-sential spirit that stamps the music as Faure's.The warmth and mellowness that so enhancedthe Schubert recording mentioned above arenot in evidence here, and their absence is felt.The Musical Heritage Society performanceby Paul Tortelier and Jean Hubeau (MHS 833and in the set of Faure's chamber music,MHS 1286/90) is the one to have; it is lessthan half the price of the CRD, and will prob-ably remain the classic recording of the Fauresonatas for some time. R.F.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITGILBERT AND SULLIVAN: Trial by Jury.John Reed (baritone), Judge; Michael Rayner(baritone), Counsel; Colin Wright (tenor), De-fendant; John Ayldon (bass), Foreman;Kenneth Sandford (bass), Usher; Julia Goss(soprano), Plaintiff. D'Oyly Carte Chorus;Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royston Nashcond. SULLIVAN: Macbeth Overture; HenryVIII-Incidental Music. Royal PhilharmonicOrchestra, Royston Nash cond. LONDONOSA 1167 $6.98.

Performance: Verdict favorableRecording: Excellent

Since two perfectly good D'Oyly Carte re-cordings of Trial by Jury under Isidore God-frey's alert baton-one in stereo on Londonand a reprint of his old mono version on thebargain Richmond label-are currently stillavailable, it seems rather surprising that thecompany should put yet another one up forsale. The art of recording has advanced sorapidly, however, and the D'Oyly Carte is insuch fine condition these days that the albumjustifies its existence by proving to be the bestTrial by Jury on records to date. The satiricaloperetta about the judge and jury who fallmadly in love with the plaintiff in the courseof a wildly biased breach -of -promise suit isthe one that brought the collaborators togeth-er when Richard D'Oyly Carte was lookingfor a short work that could serve as a curtain -raiser for Offenbach's La Perichole in 1871.Gilbert's background as a lawyer made thesetting an ideal one for his wit. Sullivan'sscore abounds in charm, and Trial by Jury hasbeen delighting audiences ever since itopened.

Trial by Jury is the only G&S product thathas no dialogue at all; the flow of the score is

OCTOBER 1976 121

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seamless, and so, in this case, is the executionof it. Royston Nash proves a limber interpret-er of its delights, and the luxury of having theRoyal Philharmonic on hand for the perform-ance doesn't hurt at all. The album also offersa bonus in the form of several selections fromSullivan's incidental music for the plays ofShakespeare-the almost too murky MacbethOverture of 1888 and two delightful piecesfrom his Henry VIII suite of 1877. P. K .

GILBERT & SULLIVAN: Utopia Limited, orThe Flowers of Progress (see Best of the Month,page 87)

GRANADOS: Goyescas, Intermezzo (see FAL-LA)

RECORDINGS OF SPECIAL MERITGRANADOS: Twelve Spanish Dances, Op. 37.Gonzalo Soriano (piano). CONNOISSEUR SO-CIETY CS 2105 $6.98.

Performance: Highly poeticRecording: Excellent

GRANADOS: Twelve Spanish Dances, Op. 37.Thomas Rajna (piano). CRD 1021 $7.98 (fromHNH Distributors, P.O. Box 222, Evanston,Ill. 60204).

Performance: ExtrovertedRecording: Crisp and brilliant

The late Gonzalo Soriano (d. 1972) will bewell remembered from London's fine seriesof recordings of Spanish music done in thelate 1950's. He brings to Granados' justlypopular Spanish Dances all of the fine poeticsense, stylistic know-how, and fleet -fingeredvirtuosity needed to communicate the musicand to present it not merely as picturesque ex-otica, but as the work of a truly creative spir-it. Indeed, I have long considered Granadosthe Chopin of Spain. Like the Polish master,he was a first-rate pianist in his own right; healso was well able to compose music of su-perb quality not dependent on national colora-tion-as in the tone -poem Dante, recorded in1971 by the Louisville Orchestra.

On the British CRD label, we have a bril-liant rendering of the Spanish Dances by Bu-dapest -born Thomas Rajna, whose readingsreflect Liszt as much as Soriano's do Chopin.In contrast to the rich and intimate sonics ofConnoisseur Society's French Pattie taping,CRD has produced a decidedly more Lisztianbrilliance in its sound in keeping with Rajna'sessentially bravura treatment of the music.Chacun a son goat-but both recordings arefirst-rate. D. H.

HAYDN: The Creation. Helen Donath (so-prano); Adalbert Kraus (tenor); Kurt Widmer(bass); South German Madrigal Choir; Or-chestra of the Ludwigsburger Schlossfest-spiele, Wolfgang Gonnenwein cond. VoxQSVBX 5214 three discs $10.98.

HAYDN: The Seasons. Helen Donath (so-prano); Adalbert Kraus (tenor); Kurt Widmer(bass); South German Madrigal Choir; Or-chestra of the Ludwigsburger Schlossfest-spiele, Wolfgang Gonnenwein cond. VoxQSVBX 5215 three discs $10.98.

Performance: Bavarian bourgeoisRecording: Good

These three -disc sets are billed as Volumes Iand II of "The Complete Oratorios" -pre-sumably the complete oratorios of Haydn (to

my knowledge, there is only one other truedramatic oratorio plus the choral version ofThe Seven Last Words). The performancesapparently stem from a summer festival insouthern Germany. The director, WolfgangGonnenwein, is essentially a choral directorand conductor of the South German MadrigalChoir (if that is the correct translation of theGerman name, this may be the largest madri-gal choir in the world). He has a much lessdeft hand with the orchestra, and there is acertain eighteenth -century spirit and polishthat I miss in these good, competent perform-ances. Haydn's music is, among other things,a conjunction of the finest aristocratic and in-tellectual taste of his day mixed with a deepfeeling for some of the humbler things of theearth and the folk who live close to it. This

GONZALO SORIANOGranados as the Chopin of Spain

typical Enlightenment mixture (and Haydn,who could mix Baroque counterpoint, Roco-co trills, and folk music, is the perfect En-lightenment composer) is just what these sol-idly burgerlich (I almost wrote hausfrau) per-formances lack.

Only one of the soloists, the soprano HelenDonath (who is, by the way, American), cre-ates a fully realized performance; she is anoutstanding artist. The tenor, Adalbert Kraus,has a beautiful lyric tenor voice of a distinctlyGerman type; much of his singing is highlypraiseworthy, but there are a few musical(and, once or twice, technical) problems.Kurt Widner's bass sounds unpleasantlystrained.

I should add that all concerned are muchmore at home with the homely virtues of TheSeasons; the solo parts in this work are highlycharacterized, like personages in an opera,and thus they fit the personal quirks of thesingers far better than the abstract Biblicalpersonages of The Creation. Incidentally,wonderful as The Creation is, it is even sur-passed by The Seasons, one of those great,late masterpieces with an ultimately simpleexterior and all kinds of depths. Although thisperformance hardly plumbs those depths, ithas a certain Central European simplicity andassurance that are not unpleasing. E.S.

HAYDN: Trumpet Concerto in E -flat Major.NERUDA: Trumpet Concerto in E -fiat Major.HUMMEL: Trumpet Concerto in E -flat Major.William Lang (trumpet); Northern Sinfonia

CIRCLE NO. 3 ON

122 STEREO REVIEW

Orchestra, Christopher Seaman cond.. UNI-CORN RHS 337 $7.98 (from HNH DistributorsLtd., P.O. Box 222, Evanston, Ill. 60204).

Performance: SuaveRecording: Good

The Haydn and Hummel pieces on this dischave served as splendid recording vehicles fortrumpet virtuosos over the past dozen yearsor so, but, to the best of my knowledge, theconcerto by one Jan Kftitel Neruda(c.1708-1780), a Czech -born, Dresden -basedcontemporary of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach,is new to records. It is pleasant fare, cast inthe transitional manner characteristic of theperiod between the glory of Bach and Handeland what was to come in the mature Haydnand Mozart.

In general, the suave performance styleespoused by soloist William Lang, playingwhat sounds like a. standard modern instru-ment, is most effective in the 1804 Hummelwork, whose splendid slow movement, beau-tifully played- here, is endowed with a decid-edly Romantic aura. For myself, I prefer amore incisive and brilliant style in the Haydnthan what comes forth here. Excellent sound,good orchestral backing. D. H.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITHINDEMTTH: Sonata for Horn and Piano;.So-,nata for Bass Tuba and Piano; Sonata for B -flatTrumpet and Piano; Sonata for E -flat AltoHorn and Piano; Sonata for Trombone and Pi-ano. Glenn Gould (piano); members of thePhiladelphia Brass Ensemble. COLUMBIA M233971 two discs $13.98.

Performance: Excellent

The most unexpected moment on this doublealbum of Hindemith's complete sonatas forbrass instrument and piano comes just beforethe finale of the Sonata for Alto Horn and Pi-ano. Mason Jones and Glenn Gould readaloud a poem-apparently written by thecomposer (in English?) and intended to beread by the performers-entitled The Post -horn. The final lines are: "Your task it is,amid _confusion, rush and noise/To-grasp thelasting, calm, and meaningful,/And finding itanew, to hold and treasure it." It is about asgood a statement of Hindemith's credo as youcould want. The fact that the sonata is writtenfor the old-fashioned horn in E -flat is in itselfsignificant.

Hindemith, who could play almost every-thing, wrote a sonata for virtually every oneof the standard Western orchestral instru-ments and some not -so -standard ones. All ofthis was part of the way music oozed out ofHindemith and also part of his music -for -usephilosophy. In a way, these sonatas have tri-umphantly vindicated his Gebrauchsmusikideals since many-perhaps most-of themare now cornerstones of the repertoires of theinstruments involved. Walk into a graduaterecital at any conservatory or school of musicin the country and it is odds on that you willhear a Hindemith sonata.

That does not mean that these sonatas areultra -familiar to the general public. It is unu-sual to find them as prominently displayed asthey are here; the reason is, of course, the ad-vocacy of Glenn Gould. But a jolly set theyare. With one or two exceptions (notably the"Mourning Music" that closes the trumpetsonata), this is bouncy, careful/carefree mu-sic in the unmistakable, Germanic Hindemi-

thian manner. The performances are excel-lent. The beauty of the brass tone is consist-ent and a striking illustration of the high stateof brass playing in this country; Gould's play-ing is both uneccentric_ and beautiful. Excel-lent recordings.

HUMMEL: Trumpet Concerto in E -flat Major(see HAYDN)

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITIVES: Symphony No. 1 BARBER: Adagio forStrings, from Op. 11. COPLAND: Quiet City.CRESTON: A Rumor. COWELL: Hymn andFuguing Tune No. 10 for Oboe and Strings.Celia Nicklin (oboe, English horn); MichaelLaird (trumpet); Academy. of St. Martin -in -

the -Fields, Neville Marriner cond. ARGOZRG 845$6.98.

Performance: TopnotchRecording: Crisp and airy

This album is a delightful Bicentennial tributeof classics and near -classics from the Ameri-can chamber repertoire played by one of Eng-land's finest performing ensembles. The IvesSymphony No. 3, which fares best whenplayed by a smallish body with impeccable in-tonation, gets its crispest and most outdoorsyperformance on records yet-even thoughsome of the marching hymn -tunes could be abit looser for my taste. Barber's Adagio forStrings gets its best recorded performanceever, excluding not even the celebrated read -


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new Vanguard album brings the Gottschalk revival fullcircle.

THE NINETEENTH century dearly loved pi-ano duets, and I say no wonder. For one

thing, four hands can obviously make twice asmuch noise as two. For another (and thoughyou may find it a logical impossibility), fourhands playing really pianissimo are twice assoft as two hands are . . . or thereabouts.Moreover, if the arranger knows his businessand divides his difficulties properly, it soundsas if the duo performing were playing twice asfast as they are known to be able to (the duo Ihave in mind is playing in somebody's parlor,not Carnegie Hall, and this music is an hon-est -to -God duet, not a late Beethoven quartetarranged for four hands).

Finally, the nineteenth century had a farjuicier visceral response to the perfect togeth-erness of disparate forces performing in uni-son than does, let us say, a John Cage audi-ence to their eternal alienation from each oth-er. And when you add to all that the spectaclea tempo of four hands elegantly crossing andweaving between each other, you give a touchof something as physically vivid as ballet ormilitary drill to a musical genre that is alreadyreplete with pictorial effects of its own.

You will find all of these images-except,of course, the athletic ones-done to a turn byEugene List, assisted alternately by CaryLewis and Joseph Werner, in a new releasefrom Vanguard called "Gottschalk/Music forPiano, Four Hands, and Two Pianos." In ad-dition to three recording firsts (Orfa, Tremolo,and Printemps d'Amour), the album containsnine things that have been done elsewhere inother versions by Mr. List or others-twoSpanish and two Cuban pieces, the OssianicMarche de Nuit, a modern version by Mr. Listof Gottschalk's Civil War epic The Union,plus three numbers in a remarkable group oftwo polkas, two mazurkas, and a waltz thatdeserves special comment. If you're countingon your fingers, this list of course adds up tofourteen numbers, not twelve-the Teason be-ing that one of the mazurkas, Printempsd'Amour, and one of the polkas, Orfa, arealso among the recording firsts noted above.In any case, it is when we hear these last twopieces in the more familiar company of thewaltz (Radieuse), the other mazurka (L "Etin-ce Ile), and the other polka (Ses Yeux) that werealize how triumphantly Mr. List hasbrought off one of the most venturesome pro-grams of stylistic rehabilitation in the wholeGottschalk revival.

I refer of course to the program he begansome years back when he recorded withoutapology such deceptively simple little periodpieces as The Maiden's Blush and Tourna-ment Galop. Only professionals can know thesheer labor involved in bringing to life formodern ears anything that transparent (as inMozart, there is simply no place to hide) andthat dated. For dated they undeniably are-but dated in a peculiarly illuminating way thatcan only be understood in terms of the poetryof high fashion. This is precisely the poetry atissue when Proust labors to capture the datedelegance of one of the Princesse de Guer-mantes' hats-or, even more to the point,when Baudelaire tells his contemporaries thatif they want to grasp the real character of

their world they should forget the Great Mas-terpiece art of the museums and consult thelittle fashion drawings of Gavarni.

It is to Mr. List's great credit that he obvi-ously saw from the first-which is to say, longbefore anyone else did-that Gottschalk'swaltzes, polkas, and mazurkas are importantin exactly the same way. They are at the sametime small but flawlessly crafted works of realart and the wittiest kind of comment on theelegant mid-century American society forwhich they were produced. It is the gaiety and

Gottschalk byEugene List(and Others)

stylishness of Newport, Saratoga, and NewYork's Fifth Avenue that we hear echoed inthem, and their unique authenticity derivesfrom the fact that the bright particular star ofthat incredibly fresh and youthful world wasGottschalk himself.

A different kind of authenticity comes intoquestion with two of the big concert numberson this program, for they have undergoneconsiderable contemporary reworking. LaJota Aragonesa as originally published in ar-rangements for two and four hands was Gott-schalk's own reworking of his 1852 originalfor ten pianos. In 1969 Mr. List reportedlycommissioned Samuel Adler to prepare a newten -piano version, and the liner notes for thepresent performance seem to credit stillanother ten -piano version to "Victor Sa-vant"-a version from which, in turn, Mr.List and Cary Lewis have adapted the four-hand version used here.

The second contemporary arrangement isMr. List's two -piano version of The Union,which is here given a properly grandiose per-formance both as to its conception and its

sound. The thunderous battle effects are nonethe worse for the chromatic scales and vir-tuoso double notes that Mr. List has added tothe general uproar. However, he has also add-ed considerable ornamentation to Gott-schalk's version of The Star-Spangled Ban-ner . . . and I for one happen .to believe thatthe peculiar reticence of the original contrib-utes greatly to its poignancy. It is true that theadditions heard here are made con amore, andwith stylistic' as well as dynamic discretion.But additions they are, and as such they willnecessarily remain a subject for debate.There is considerable evidence that Gott-schalk himself used more or less elaborateversions of the same piece, depending on theabilities of his assisting pianists. If this inprinciple justified textual emendation by any-one today, it would certainly do so in the caseof Mr. List, who is not only a dedicated Gott-schalkian of many years' standing but themost persistent single force on several levelsin the Gottschalk revival. I feel, however,that even under the best auspices the practiceis a dangerous one and really must be dis-couraged-more than ever when it contrib-utes to performances as persuasive as the oneheard here.

WHAT really clinches the matte,- is thefact that Mr. List himself has proved such ad-ditions unnecessary. You can discover thatfor yourself in the glittering version of Souve-nirs d'Andalousie that opens this program.Allowing for the necessary distribution ofmaterial between four hands, it is note -for-note faithful to the two -hand original. Andit also happens to be an immaculate exampleof the kind of duet playing-graceful, fastidi-ous, and polished beyond belief-that Gott-schalk himself probably seldom got to hear af-ter he left Paris. It's true that various mem-bers of the Spanish royal family played duetswith him in Madrid and Andalusia-includingalmost certainly this very piece. But I doubtthat they ever got it to sound nearly as splen-did as this, even though they did have a familytradition of keyboard accomplishment goingback to Scarlatti! -Robert Offergeld

GOTTSCHALK: Music for Piano, FourHands, and Two Pianos. (1) Souvenirs D'An-dalousie, Caprice de Concert, Op. 22 (RO242); (2) La Gallina, Danse Cubaine, Op. 53(RO 100); (3) Orfa, Grande Polka, Op. 71 (RO186); (4) Marche de Nuit, Op. 17 (RO 151); (5)Printemps d'Amour, Mazurka, Caprice deConcert, Op. 40 (RO 214); (6) The Union, Par-aphrase de Concert, Op. 48 (RO 269); (7) Ra-dieuse, Grande Valse de Concert, Op. 72 (RO217); (8) Reponds-moi, Danse Cubaine, Ca-price Brillant, Op. 50 (RO 225); (9) Tremolo,Grande Etude de Concert, Op. 58 (RO 265);(10) L'Etincelle, Mazurka Sentimentale, Op.21 (RO 80); (11) Ses Yeux, Celebre Polka deConcert, Op. 66 (RO 234); (12) La Jota Ara-gonesa, Caprice Espagnol, Op. 14 (RO 131).Pianists: Eugene List (primo 1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 12;secondo 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10), Joseph Werner (pri-mo 4, 7, 10; secondo 1, 2, 11), and Cary Lewis(primo 5, 8, 9; secondo 3, 6, 12). VANGUARDVSD 71218 $6.98.

124STEREO REVIEW

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ing by Toscanini, who premiered.the music inits string -orchestra version. Here is not onlythe Toscaninian flawless intonation, but alsosuperb modern recording and rock -steady,unhurried pacing, a combination that makesfor a realization of hair -curling intensity. Cop -land's Quiet City is beautifully executed butdoesn't quite match Copland's own recordingfor Columbia in the phrasing of the solo trum-pet and English horn. The Cowell Hymn andFuguing Tune-one of a series of eighteencomposed between 1944 and 1964 under thestimulus of research .into the eighteenth -cen-tury hymn -tunes of the Edsons, father andson, of Shady, N.Y.-is a precious minormasterpiece, and Paul Creston's virtuosic andwitty A Rumor, appropriately built up in poly-phonic texture with jazz overtones, makes fora fine closing piece.

Despite minor reservations as noted, thisdisc afforded me enormous pleasure in its feli-citous choice of repertoire, in its superb qual-ity of performance, and in recording that is amodel of clarity and pleasing acoustic ambi-ance. I recommend it enthusiastically. D.H.

LASSUS: Les Larmes de Saint Pierre. RaphaelPassaquet Vocal Ensemble, Raphael Passa-quet cond. HARMONIA MUNDI HMU 961$7.98 (from HNH Distributors, P.O. Box 222,Evanston, III. 60204).

Performance. SmoothRecording: Clear and rich

The Tears of Saint Peter, the last work of Ro-land de Lassus (to use the version of his namepresented on this album), is a cycle of twenty-one spiritual madrigals dealing with Saint Pe-ter's denial of Christ. As the subject suggests,the cycle is a somber one indeed, but the keyword here is "madrigal": the master's ap-proach is that of a madrigalist, not that of awriter of motets. The listener who has heardLassus' austere Penitent Psalms will find thismusic far more accessible. Written for sevenparts, an inherently dense texture, the musicmakes the most of the contrast between theupper three voices and the lower four. Add tothis a variety of contrapuntal devices, homo-phonic richness, and Italianate word painting,and it becomes evident that, despite the slowunfolding of an unrelievedly tragic narrative,this is music of great interest which takes thelistener through a highly personal spiritual ex-perience. It is all the more pity, then, that thetext is given here only in the original Italianwith a French translation.

Raphael Passaquet's vocal ensemble pro-duces a rich, warm sound-velvety and but-tery. The director is obviously more interest-ed in choral sonority and contour than in thearticulation of individual lines and diction.The result is striking in the chordal and anti-phonal sections, but one wishes for a crisperapproach in the many contrapuntal sections.Nonetheless, Passaquet's seriousness andeven pacing bring the performance off in sucha way that we realize that this is one of Las -sus' most profound utterances-one thatshould be heard more often. S.L.

MACDOWELL: Sonata Eroica, Op. 50;Woodland Sketches, Op. 51. Clive Lythgoe(piano). PHILIPS 9500 095$7.98.

Performance: Charming Woodland,solemn Eroica

Recording: Splendid

Edward MacDowell, born in 1861, was one ofthose nineteenth-century American compos-

STEREO REVIEW

ers who learned his musical language on theother side of the Atlantic, so that the accentof his style remained European-in fact, Teu-tonic-all his life. Yet he wrote some of thesturdiest, sanest, best constructed music ofhis time in America, and if the accent wasalien, the subject matter was frequently na-tive enough. In any case, to have WoodlandSketches, with their haunting melodies andgently impressionistic harmonic hues, back inthe catalog is a welcome event. (Disneylandhas an orchestral version for children, ar-ranged and conducted by Camerata, but itcloys.) They have never been treated moreexpertly and affectionately than they are hereby the English pianist Clive Lythgoe, whoseapproach to them was inspired by a visit toMacDowell's house in New Hampshire.

The Sonata Eroica is something else again.The architecture is admirable and the writinga challenge to any keyboard artist, but,though Lythgoe makes more sense of it thanmost pianists manage, the work-with theoutstanding exception of its lighthearted sec-ond movement, marked "elf-like"-remainsa ponderous and pompous, rather drawn-outexercise. The composer said he "had in mindthe Arthurian legend when writing thiswork." but knowing that doesn't help a listen-er when the going gets long-winded and op-pressively solemn. There seems more in thepiece to admire by way of carpentry than toenjoy as music. But this album is worth ac-quiring for Woodland Sketches-as charminga set of musical impressions as ever was com-posed. And the Philips surfaces are noiseless.

P.K.

MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3, in A Mi-nor, Op. 56 ("Scotch"); Overture, Calm Seaand Prosperous Voyage, Op. 27. New Philhar-monia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti cond. AN-GELS 37168 $6.98.

Performance: From the classic moldRecording: Very good

MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3, in A Mi-nor, Op. 56 ("Scotch"); Overture, The Heb-rides, Op. 26. Baltimore Symphony Orches-tra, Sergiu Commissiona cond. TURNABOUT

QTV-S 34604 $3.98.

Performance: ZestfulRecording: Very, very good

Mendelssohn's Scotch Symphony has notlacked for first-class recorded performancesin stereo. The Peter Maag version, which isnow coupled with the Hebrides Overture onLondon's budget -price Stereo Treasury label,still holds up very nicely, and Karajan's read-ing of the same two works is still tops in mybook. Both of these new recordings, how-ever, are among the best in their respectiveprice brackets. Riccardo Muti offers a fastidi-ously classic, yet warmly lyric reading of thesymphony, together with a most welcome,up-to-date recording of the ceremoniously at-mospheric Calm Sea and Prosperous VoyageOverture. Like Karajan, Muti favors a brood-ingly contemplative treatment of the adagio-one of Mendelssohn's finest slow move-ments-but Karajan, to my mind, still has theedge in terms of a genuinely fiery perform-ance from the classic mold, especially in thealways problematic final pages.

Sergiu Commissiona and his Baltimoreanstake a more romantically impetuous view ofthe music and do an altogether splendid job.Granted that the Baltimore Symphony is notthe equal of Karajan's Berlin Philharmonic,

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the quality of orchestral performance in thisinstance need defer to none. The Hebridesmusic is a bit fast -paced for my taste, but iteffectively maintains the same aura of im-petuosity. A major contribution to the wholeis truly excellent recording, which offers pre-cise instrumental localization (not so evidentin Angel's ambient quadraphonics) and a finesense of the orchestral body as a whole, aswell as a very pleasing feeling of spatial sur-round. I do hope, however, that Turnabout'sother pressings are a little less noisy andswishy than this one. D.H.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITMESSIAEN: Quartet for the End of Time. Ta-shi (Peter Serkin, piano; Ida Kavafian, violin;Fred Sherry, cello; Richard Stoltzman, clari-net). RCA ARL1-1567 $6.98.

Performance: GorgeousRecording: Outstanding

Tashi must have been formed to play theMessiaen Quatuor pour le Fin de Temps. Thecontemporary and mystical qualities of thismusic are perfectly suited to the temperamentand musicality of this young and dynamicgroup, and, after all, how many major worksexist for this combination of instruments? Iam no connoisseur of Messiaen's stylisticmelange, but this beautiful recording could al-most reconcile me to the longueurs of the mu-sic. The Quartet for the End of Time was writ-ten in a German concentration camp and is anintense, contemplative, apocalyptic responseto that experience. The name Tashi refers tothe enlightenment of Sakyamuni Buddha,which in itself gives an idea of where theseyoung performers are at. They take this mu-sic-performed surprisingly often nowa-days-up onto a plane of serenity and sensu-ous spirituality it very rarely attains. E.S.

MILHAUD: Cantate de l'Enfant et de la Mere;La Muse Menagere (see Going on Record, page60)

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITMOMPOU: Fetes Lointaines; Charmes; Caw°i Danza No. 1; Variations on a Theme by Cho-pin. Pierre Huybregts (piano). ORION ORS76234 $6.98.

Performance: SympatheticRecording: Good

Federico Mompou (b. 1893) is a Catalan com-poser whose name may be familiar from occa-sional performances of some of his Scenesd'Enfants for piano, a few of his exquisitesongs, or his guitar pieces. His most impor-tant work has been for the piano, and it isgratifying to have a disc devoted to it at last.Various commentators in the last six decadeshave spoken of Mompou's style as that of "aslender Debussy," and he has been comparedwith Satie as well. While the music on thisrecord supports such observations, whatmakes it worthwhile is Mompou's individual-ity, which comes through subtly but stronglyenough to make one wonder how such musiccould have been so totally unknown for solong. The two short fantasy -suites composedin 1920 and 1921 and the folk -inflected Canco iDanza are more immediately appealing thanthe elaborate set of variations (on Chopin'sfamous A Major Prelude, Op. 28, No. 7, withthe Fantaisie-Impromptu cited along theway), but all the material wears extremely

TASHI: Messiaen on a plane of serenity and sensuous spirituality

well in Pierre Huybregts' able, sympatheticperformances, and the piano sound, though alittle clangy in spots, is generally quite good.

R. F.

MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 21, in C Major(K. 467); Piano Concerto No. 23, in A Major(K. 488). Illana Vered (piano); London Phil-harmonic Orchestra, Uri Segal cond. LON-DON SPC-21138 $6.98.

Performance: Mostly fineRecording: Very good

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITMOZART: Piano Concerto No. 21, in C Major(K. 467); Piano Concerto No. 23, in A Major(K. 488). Jorg Demus (piano); Collegium Au-reum. BASF KHB-22477 $6.98.

Performance: StylishRecording: Very good

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITMOZART: Piano Concertos: No. 21, in C Ma-jor (K. 467); No. 22, in E -flat Major (K. 482);No. 23, in A Major (K. 488); No. 24, in C Mi-nor (K. 491); No. 25, in C Major (K. 503); No.26, in D Major (K. 537, "Coronation"); No.27, in B -fiat Major (K. 595). Rondo in D Major(K. 382). Daniel Barenboim (piano); EnglishChamber Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim cond.ANGEL SDC-3830 four discs $20.98.

Performance: SplendidRecording: Very good

Since Ilana Vered's earlier account of K. 467was released on London less than two yearsago (improbably coupled with the Yellow Riv-er Concerto), it is surprising that the companywould have her redo it so soon, but the re-make is a good deal more persuasive than itspredecessor. Vered plays both Mozart con-certos very well; she may not be burdenedwith an excess of originality, but she givesgood, clean, crisply articulated performances,and she has a first-rate partner in Uri Segal. InK. 467, she plays Dinu Lipatti's cadenzas,heretofore recorded only by Lipatti himself.What spoils the otherwise attractive packageis Vered's stolid approach in the slow move-ment of K. 488, in which her response to themarking adagio seems related more to a met-ronome setting than to the eighteenth -centuryspirit of such a designation. Neither Segal 'sfine conducting nor London's fine sound (not

so conspicuously "Phase Four-ish" here) canmake it sound other than lifeless.

Jorg Demus' interpretation has deepenedsince he recorded K. 467 on a modern pianofor Westminster in the early Fifties. Here heplays a Hammerfliigel, made by Johann GeorgGrober of Innsbruck about 1800, which is ofcourse much more like the instruments Mo-zart himself played. Its tonal quality, in con-sort with the period instruments of the Col-legium Aureum, enhances a pair of perform-ances that strike me as models of style andbalance with an abundance of both vigor andsensitivity. The partnership between soloistand ensemble is exemplary, and the sound hasa lovely bloom on it. I do wish the stuffy an-notation included identification of the caden-zas in K. 467 (Busoni's, I believe), but, givena clean copy (the disc I received for review ismarred by extremely crunchy surfaces), therecording itself is just about irresistible.

Barenboim's set, which Angel is offering ata special price, is pretty irresistible, too.Some of his playing is a little fussy, but ingeneral it is of a very exalted order, and so ishis conducting. There is not a superficial barthroughout the eight sides, and only one ortwo performances among the eight in the setwould not be reasonable candidates for firstchoice among all current recordings of the re-spective works. The only part of the set thathas been available before in this country is K.467, a handsome version Angel has releasedearlier in two different combinations. Amongthe most impressive components of the setare K. 482 and K. 503, which are remakes forBarenboim. In K. 482 he apparently stillworks from a flawed edition, and his own ca-denza in the first movement is a bit toosprawling and unfocused, but his expansive,grand -scale realization is nevertheless glori-ous beyond any other version of this workknown to me (the cadenza in the finale, ashortened version of one by Edwin Fischer, isjust right). The great K. 491 and the lesser K.537 are extraordinarily compelling, too. Whatconcentrated power and poetry there are inK. 491, and what a substantial work the fes-tive K. 537 is, after all!

Except for K. 595, which seems a littlebland here compared with the Brendel, Boeg-ner, Gilels, and Serkin versions, and the finaleof K. 488, which tends to become a bit of ascramble, nothing in this set is less thanmagnificent, and the fine presentation of theK. 382 Concert Rondo that fills out the second

128 STEREO REVIEW

side of K. 482 is especially welcome. The re-cordings are not brand-new, some going backas far as 1967, but the sound is uniformlygood. (The newest item, I believe, is K. 503,which is a conspicuous improvement overBarenboim's earlier version with Klemper-er-but more in terms of interpretation thanof sonics.) The ample documentation includesidentification of all cadenzas, as well as excel-lent notes by Robin Golding. R . F.

NERUDA: Trumpet Concerto in E -flat Major(see HAYDN)

POULENC: Piano Music (see Going on Rec-ord, page 60)

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITRACHMANINOFF: Prelude in C -sharp Mi-nor, Op. 3, No. 3; Preludes, Op. 23, Nos. 1-10;Preludes, Op. 32, Nos. 1-13. Vladimir Ash-kenazy (piano). LONDON CSA 2241 two discs$11.96.

Performance NonpareilRecording: Splendid

RACHMANINOFF: Preludes, Op. 32, Nos.1-13; Prelude in D Minor, Op. Posth.; Frag-ments. Ruth Laredo (piano). COLUMBIA M33430 $6.98.

RACHMANINOFF: Eight Etudes Tableaux,Op. 33; Fantasy Pieces Nos. 1 and 2; Variationson a Theme by Corelli, Op. 42; Lilacs, Op. 21,No. 5; Daisies, Op. 38, No. 3; Oriental Sketch.Ruth Laredo (piano). COLUMBIA M 33998$6.98.

Performances: AristocraticRecordings: Clean, a bit stark

The twenty-four Rachmaninoff preludes forsolo piano have been documented on recordsin several distinguished and knowledgeablereadings. But in my opinion Vladimir Ash-kenazy's traversal of the whole series nowpretty well eclipses all other competitive ver-sions, including even the superbly controlledreading of Op. 32 that completes Ruth Lare-do's set of the preludes. The excellence of thepiano sound in the Ashkenazy album is anoth-er major point in its favor.

The key to Ashkenazy's interpretive ap-proach is set at the very beginning with hisreading of the notorious C -sharp Minor Pre-lude, from which he seems determined to ex-tract every ounce of substance. His treatmentis thoughtful, intensely dramatic, and whollyfresh. So it is with all the more lyrical pre-ludes, which Ashkenazy makes somewhatmore ruminative than some of us may be usedto; only in Op. .23, No. 4 (the D Major),though, do I feel a miscalculation in pacingthat borders on the somnolent. There is cer-tainly nothing somnolent in the way Ash-kenazy reveals the turbulence of Op. 32, No.1, or the violence of No. 6. But it is in the lastfour of Op. 32, considered by many the peakof Rachmaninoff's creation for solo piano,that he really achieves the heights. The tendermasculinity he brings to the intimate utter-ance of the B Major and the ethereal qualitywith which he endows the wonderful follow-ing piece in G -sharp Minor are the high pointsof an altogether remarkable album.

Ruth Laredo scores her innings in hersharply characterized and incisive treatmentof the Op. 33 Etudes Tableaux. An interpre-tive comparison with Andre Collard on Con-noisseur Society in the sternly somber No. I

is interesting: Laredo employs rubato con-trast to striking dramatic effect, while Collarddevelops a steady, relentless flow. There ismuch to be said for both readings. In the oftenimpressive Corelli Variations. Laredo has for-midable recorded competition from both Col-lard and Ashkenazy, but, despite the ratherlean recorded piano sorties, her performanceholds its own excellently. The exquisite songtranscriptions Lilacs and Daisies are amongthe high points of the recording, for the essen-tially aristocratic quality of Laredo's pian-ism-most akin here to the composer's own-comes impressively to the fore. If the twoFantasy Pieces from 1899 seem rather minor,the Oriental Sketch, in what appears to be itsfirst stereo recording, is a highly effective andby no means negligible -ostinato etude." Of

special note on the Laredo ti sc of the Op. 32Preludes are first recordings of two brief,bleak pieces Rachmaninoff wrote at the timeof his flight from Russia-the Fragments anda D Minor Prelude.

On both these two new discs and her previ-ous one Ruth Laredo certainly gets highmarks for musicianship and pianistic prow-ess, but I do feel that Columbia can andshould do better by her in terms of fuller -bod-ied piano sound (unless this lean -clean soundis her preference). As matters stand, the fullmeasure of what she can do is best revealed inthe remarkable Scriabin sonatas she recordedfor Connoisseur Society and the set of pre-ludes issued by Desto. D.H.


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OCTOBER 1976CIRCLE NO. 38 ON READER SEFRVIC. S CARD

129

"Episcopalian farce, genteel, gentlemanly, and fuzzily benign"

Carol Wilcox (Aurelia Trentoni),Carolyne James (Mrs. Greenborough),

and gentlemen of the press in theKansas City Lyric Theater

production of Captain Jinks

Captain ginksof the

`Horse 6Marines

CHARM is the most elusive and perishableof qualities, on or off the stage. Inevita-

bly it seems to have a "period" character toit, at least in the lyric theater. It has made itsappearance so rarely in contemporary Ameri-can opera-The Ballad of Baby Doe and Va-nessa, for instance, are at bottom as bleak andas chill as a rainy day on a moor-that-when itdoes, as it does so consistently and abundant-ly in the new RCA release of Jack Beeson andSheldon Harnick's Captain Jinks of the HorseMarines, it is a cause for celebration.

This is the recording of the Kansas CityLyric Theater production that had its worldpremiere in September of 1975 and aboutwhich William Livingstone reported favor-ably in these pages shortly thereafter. Basedon the turn -of -the -century boulevard comedyby Clyde Fitch (it made a star of Ethel Bar-rymore in that long, long ago), it is a high -style romp intended, in composer Beeson'swords, as "an opera about an opera, La Tra-viata in particular, others in passing, and alove letter to Italian opera and the English lan-guage." When it succeeds in these severalaims-and it does so often-it is also a tributeto the growing musical sophistication ofAmerican audiences. This production, like allproductions of the Kansas City Lyric The-ater, has not only been performed during theKansas City "season" but has been heard insuch unlikely locales (at least to this Easternsnob's provincial ear) as Missouri, Oklahoma,and South Dakota (hmm . . they're prob-ably still thinking that one over down at theRussian Tea Room).

The plot is an old one-one of those bits offluff that have been around since Shakes-peare's day-about a wager between friendsas to whether or not one of them (in this caseJonathan Jinks) can seduce the glamorous op-era star Aurelia Trentoni (nee Johnson inTrenton, New Jersey), who has returned toAmerica for her stateside debut in La Travia-

ta. Before the finale the hero has come to real-ize the heroine's True Inner Beauty, renegedon his dastardly bet out of respect for her, losther, and then Regained Her As His Bride.Leisurely room is made for a comic turn ortwo by a large cast, including five reporters ofwildly varying degrees of integrity, Aurelia'sdowager mother, a stray policeman, a kindlybut shrewd impresario, and a bevy of othercharacters out on mildly farcical errands-one such is the "Ladies' Anti -French Litera-ture League." It is, in short, Episcopalianfarce, genteel, gentlemanly, and fuzzily be-nign. Probably its leading (and last) exponentwas the late, great P. G. Wodehouse, whoselibrettos for so many musicals in the Twentiesoften read like Fitch work sheets.

Jack Beeson sees the thing as "a romanticcomedy in music," and most of his work de-lightfully bears out that conceptual statement.There are some lovely floating arias for CarolWilcox in the role of Aurelia; some gracefuland expert fooling around with serial proce-dures based on a twelve-tone row for the Po-liceman and the Customs Official; a liberal useof quotes from Verdi's Traviata itself, notmerely for amusement but to advance the ac-tion and strengthen the dramatic structure;and, smashingly, a finale, a paean to musicand its power, sung by the whole company.

Composer Beeson has insisted that charac-ter, in his operas, spring from the music itself."We know the characters of an opera fromtheir words," he says, "but we believe thembecause of what they sing.. The music will ap-pear to reflect them, as in an enlarging mirror;rather, as though the music were a magic mir-ror, it will appear to create them." Wellsaid-and truly accomplished in CaptainJinks.

None of this is meant to imply that lyricistSheldon Harnick has, in his first attempt atopera (a flier he can probably easily afford onthe basis of, say, this year's royalties from

Fiddler on the Roof), done anything less thana noble job of taking some of the more obvi-ous creaks and wheezes of Fitch's plot andconverting them into singable situations. He'sa pro, and though he seems at times to havethe shade of Thornton Wilder or MaxwellAnderson (at his blank -verse flattest) hangingover his shoulder, he delivers a brisk, no-non-sense libretto that gives Beeson all the musi-cal latitude he needs.

The recording is beautifully produced (byJay David Saks) with a spacious, slightly drysound that is just right for the material-oneneeds a bit of concentration to get the point ofthe playful, but fairly cerebral, music -making.Miss Wilcox is pure delight as Aurelia-wist-ful, willful, seductive, and taunting-makingthe character jump joyously to life. EugeneGreen as Colonel Mapleson (he of the famousMetropolitan Opera cylinder recordings) andRobert Owen Jones as Jinks are both out-standing and sing with a musicality seldomheard these days-at least in contemporaryAmerican opera. The smaller roles are allbeautifully rehearsed and performed; thereisn't a tentative attack or characterization inthe whole recording. Captain Jinks is whatcharm, turn -of -the -century American style, isall about, and it makes one wonder what thatfoxy, lustige Hannah Glawari might havethought of him. -Peter Reilly

BEESON: Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines.Libretto by Sheldon Harnick. Carol Wilcox,Aurelia Trentoni; Robert Owen Jones, Jona-than Jinks; Brian Steele, Willem Van Bleeck-er; Ronald Highley, Charles LaMartine; Eu-gene Green, Colonel Mapleson; Walter Hook,"Papa" Belliarti; Karen Yarmat, Mrs. Jinks;Linda Sisney, Mrs. Stonington; CarolyneJames, Mrs. Greenborough; others. Membersof the Kansas City Philharmonic, Russell Pat-terson cond. RCA ARL2-1727 two discs$12.98.

130STEREO REVIEW

RACHMANINOFF: Songs (see Best of theMonth, page 86)

RAVEL: Alborado del Gracioso; Pavane pourune Infante Defunte (see FALLA)

REICHE: Abblasen (see BACH)

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITSAINT-SAENS: Symphony No. 3, in C Minor,Op. 78 ("Organ"). Gaston Litaize (organ);Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Baren-boim cond. DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2530619 $7.98, © 3300 619 $7.98.

Performance: Very fineRecording: Excellent

I have not heard every one of the eleven cur-rent recorded performances of Saint-Saens'Third Symphony, but most of those that havebeen recorded since Pierre Coppola's memor-able version of the 1930's have passed acrossmy turntable at one time or another. Andsince its release in 1959 I have clung stubborn-ly to the immensely exciting and still remark-able Munch/Boston Symphony recording onRCA.

Now I think I'm ready to relent, for DanielBarenboim and the Chicago Symphony Or-chestra, with a bit of technological assistancethat has made possible a very successful over-dubbing of the Chartres Cathedral organ,have come up with a quite different reading-with, of course, the benefit of the very best ofcontemporary recording technique. Baren-boim's performance is distinguished by theromantic fervor he injects into the adagio in-troduction and the slow movement, thus al-leviating the bland aspect these pages oftentake on. Furthermore, there is none of the ex-aggeration that has marred some of Baren-boim's other readings, such as those of the El -gar symphonies. Add excellent pacing of thefaster movements, topnotch orchestral per-formance, and first-rate, well-balanced re-cording, and you have a real winner. Munch'srecording stays in my collection, but this onegets added. D.H.

SCHOENBERG: The Book of the HangingGardens, Op. 15 (see SCHUBERT)

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITSCHOENBERG: Moses and Aaron. GiinterReich (speaker), Moses; Richard Cassilly(tenor), Aaron; Felicity Palmer, Jane Man-ning (sopranos); Gillian Knight, Helen Watts(mezzo-sopranos); John Winfield, Philip Lan-gridge (tenors); John Noble, Roland Her-mann, Michael Rippon (baritones); RichardAngas, Denis Wicks (basses); BBC Singers;Orpheus Boys' Choir; BBC Symphony Or-chestra, Pierre Boulez cond. COLUMBIA M233594 two discs $13.98.

Performance: ExcellentRecording: Excellent

Moses and Aron-Schoenberg's spelling ofAron is not preserved here-is the last Wag-nerian music drama, a kind of philosophicalTannhauser whose marginal existence in themodern opera house is largely due to its mild-ly pornographic "Venusberg." It is not thefirst nor the last example of sex and violencemade respectable by a heavy dose of redeem-ing artistic and philosophical value. Indeed,anyone who can sit through two hours ofheavyweight philosophizing in tone -row style

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OCTOBER 1976 t;11 --LE NO. 24 ON READER SERVICE CARD CIRCLE NO. 60 ON READER SERVICE CARD

("Moses and Arnold" or "The Rows ofAron" we used to call it) has really earned hisvoyeur thrills at the sex orgy. Maybe thatwasn't actually Schoenberg's idea, but in ac-tual pratice that's the way it comes out.

Unfortunately, there are few voyeur thrillsin a record album, although the orgy music al-most recaptures the true sensuality ofSchoenberg's early (c. 1900) music. I wasonce fairly sympathetic to the mixture of in-tensity and control that reaches its highestpoint of expression in this opera. Now itseems to me, for all its abstract greatness(Schoenberg was a great master in the greattradition, and Moses und Aron is his master-piece, Amen), it is fundamentally an elitistwork about an elitist and antihumanist view oflife and art to which I cannot subscribe.

Well, never mind. Moses und Aron is alandmark, and it is exactly the sort of workthat Boulez and the English can do to perfec-tion when they set their minds and talents toit. Boulez is sometimes said to be a cold con-ductor, but I do not find the expressionist as-pects slighted here at all. Indeed, the com-bination of clarity and intensity is by far themost striking and involving aspect of thiswork and performance. The playing and sing-ing are excellent-Schoenberg's difficultiesare by now almost part of the common prac-tice-and the recording compares very favor-ably with the recent Gielen/Philips entry. Theprogram booklet includes texts, translations,and a long, interesting, somewhat debatableessay by Harry Halbreich. E.S.

SCHOENBERG: Pierrot Lunaire (see Goingon Record, page 60)

SCHUBERT: Quintet in A Major, Op. 114,"Trout" (see The Basic Repertoire, page 62)

R.CORDING OF SPECIAL MERITSCHUBERT: Songs. Schafers Klagelied; Rost -lose Liebe; Blonde( zu Marien; Der Musen-sohn; Lied der Mignon; Heidenroslein;Sprache der Liebe; An mein Herz; Ganymed.SCHOENBERG: The Book of the HangingGardens, Op. 15. Jan DeGaetani (mezzo-soprano); Gilbert Kalish (piano). NONESUCHH-71320 $3.96.

Performance: BeautifulRecording: Excellent

Everyone expects Jan DeGaetani and Gil Ka-lish to be outstanding Schoenberg interpret-ers. What is perhaps less expected is thebeauty of the Schubert performances on thisalbum. The purity of Ms. DeGaetani's toneand the lyric intensity of her style is perfectfor Schubert, and these performances arenothing less than superb. Ironically, they farovershadow the Schoenberg on the reverse.Schoenberg's Book of the Hanging Gardens isa set of decadent, turn -of -the -century set-tings-some of the earliest truly atonal musicever written-of some equally decadent Ste-fan George poetry. Since there is nothing inthe world less decadent, less expressionisticthan Ms. DeGaetani's singing style, the wholeemerges as a kind of Beauty and the Beastmismatch. Stripped of its essential neuroti-cism, this agonizingly sparse atonal music isslow going indeed. In short, I am recommend-ing this recording by two specialists in thetwentieth century for its Schubert! E.S.

SCHUBERT: Wanderer Fantasy in C Major,Op. 15 (D. 760). SCHUMANN: Sonata No. 2,in G Minor, Op. 22. Bruno -Leonardo Gelber(piano). CONNOISSEUR SOCIETY CS 2085$6.98.

Performance: StrongRecording: Strong

These are good, strong performances. Gelberis particularly effective in the Wanderer Fan-tasy; Schubert's more reticent, lyric romanti-cism seems more up his alley. The difficultSchumann G Minor Sonata is very wellplayed, but it rarely moved me. The record-ing, from Pathe-Marconi, has a solid, clean pi-ano sound. E.S.

R. SCHUMANN: Sonata No. 2, in G Minor,Op. 22 (see SCHUBERT)

SCRIABIN/NEMTIN: Universe. Aleksei Lyu-bimov (piano); Irina Orlova (organ); YurlovChorus of the R.S.F.S.R.; Moscow Philhar-monic Orchestra, Kiril Kondrashin cond.MELODIYA/ANGEL SR -40260 $6.98.

Performance: AstonishingRecording: Grandiose

Scriabin's last work, like Ives', was a grandi-ose, universal symphony that he was destinednever to finish. Ives, of course, never reallyintended to finish his "Universal" Symphony.He even had the idea that other composersmight contribute to it and perhaps put it inperformable shape, but that hasn't happenedyet. How ironic that Scriabin's utterly person-al, mystical concept has been taken over-some sixty years after his death!-by another

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11 Act( by popular demand and updated from its original (1966)printing, Music Editor James Goodfriend's Calendar of

Classical Composers is a listing of the most important composersfrom the year 1400 to the present, grouped according to thestylistic periods-Renaissance, Baroque, Classic, Romantic,etc.-in which they worked. This 12 x 24 -inch aid, guide, andcomplement to your music listening is printed in color on heavy,nonreflecting stock suitable, as they say, for framing. A key tothe calendar, consisting of capsule accounts of the principalstylistic characteristics of each musical period, is included. Thewhole will be sent rolled in a mailing tube to prevent creases;we pay postage. All you do is send 250 to:

Calendar of Classical ComposersStereo Review, 1 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016

132 STEREO REVIEW

OEDIPUS REX:drawing by

TheodoreStrawinsky

for the opera byIgor Stravinsky

composer and is being realized on a hugescale.

It is odd that, through all the years of ex-perimentalism, Stalinism, and socialist real-ism, the Soviets have never gotten Scriabinout of their, um, collective system. Even theyounger avant-garde composers in Russia stilllook back to Scriabin. Aleksander Nemtin,born in 1936, has particularly identified him-self with his predecessor in a series of worksbased on various sketches and themes ofScriabin. Now, however, he has taken thefifty-three pages and the ideas of Scriabin'slast work and developed them into large-scalevocal/orchestral compositions. Universe is

Part I of Prefatory Action (Part II, for solos,chorus, and orchestra, should be along short-ly). It is a huge, sensuous instrumentalmass-there is an Alfred Newman/MiklosRozsa choral part near the end, and Nemtinhas also "composed" a part for Scriabin's fa-mous color organ-in what might be regardedas a possible extension of the Scriabin style.This is an astonishing idea, both in conceptionand in execution, highly recommended if youridea of the ultimate musical experience is asensuous bath. My own musical sensibilitiesare not so passive. I want to participate, andthat is the one thing that Scriabin/Nemtin willnot permit; the listener must be overwhelmed,

nothing less. Well, I am overwhelmed-forfive minutes. After that I want to fight back.

E.S.

R. STRAUSS: Also Sprach Zarathustra; TillP Eulenspiegel (see Going on Record, page 60)

STRAVINSKY: Oedipus Rex. Rene Kollo(tenor), Oedipus; Tatiana Troyanos (mezzo-soprano), Jocasta; Tom Krause (baritone),Crean; David Evitts (baritone), Messenger;Frank Hoffmeister (tenor), Shepherd; EzioFlagella (bass), Tiresias; Michael Wager,Narrator; Harvard Glee Club; Boston Sym-phony Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein cond.COLUMBIA M 33999 $6.98.

STRAVINSKY: Oedipus Rex. Peter Pears(tenor), Oedipus; Martha Modl (mezzo-soprano), Jocasta; Heinz Rehfuss (baritone),Creon, Messenger; Otto von Rohr (bass),Tiresias; Helmut Krebs (tenor), Shepherd;Jean Cocteau, Narrator; Cologne Radio Sym-phony Orchestra and Chorus, Igor Stravinskycond. ODYSSEY ® Y 33789 $3.98.

Performances: Stravinsky over BernsteinRecordings: Modern stereo vs.

good old mono

The idea of an up-to-date stereo version ofOedipus Rexwith Bernstein, the Boston Sym-phony (his alma mater and an orchestra longassociated with Stravinsky's work), and anexcellent cast was obviously a good one. Itwas not such a good idea to release it simul-taneously with a rerelease of Stravinsky'sown German radio performance of the work


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CIRCLE NO. 16 ON READER SERVICE CARDOCTOBER 1976 133

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on Odyssey, which is one of the best record-ings Stravinsky ever made and one of thegreat recordings of the century. Oedipus, amasterpiece of Stravinsky's neo-Classical pe-riod, has an incredible tension and monumen-tality in this performance, which also has theadvantage of Cocteau himself reading his ownnarration (dubbed into the original recordingand as marvelous -sounding as ever).

It is true that Stravinsky and Cocteau hadthe idea that the narration should be given inthe local language-and I am certainly no lan-guage snob. But, if I'm not mistaken, some-one has been mucking about with e. e. cum-mings' translation, and Michael Wager, whois a sophisticated actor with a terrific voiceand style, is lost in the naive, flat narrationneeded here. The level of singing in the newrecording is very high, but the old cast was(is) dramatically, vocally, and expressivelyvirtually unbeatable. The Boston playing andchoral singing are excellent, but it seems totake Bernstein and his forces a little longer toget warmed up. The devastating impact ofStravinsky's own opening is one of the greatmoments in the history of recorded music,and, remarkably, the level of tension and ex-citement never lets up.

The old set is mono, of course, but thesound is really very fine and has a crispnessthat matches the piece and the performancevery well. But even if it didn't, it would stillbe precious. The Bernstein version is good,but the combination of Stravinsky and Coc-teau themselves is still the best. E.S.

TAYLOR: Through the Looking Glass (see Go-ing on Record, page 60)

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITTIPPErr: String Quartets Nos. 1, 2, and 3.Lindsay String Quartet. L'OISEAU-LYREDSLO 10 $6.98.

Performance: CommittedRecording: Excellent

Michael Tippett's three quartets, composedbetween 1935 and 1946, make a very full disc,having a total playing time of seventy-oneminutes. It is very full in a more meaningfulsense, too: these are fascinating, challenging,important works, and their cumulative impactis rather awesome. The disc represents the re-cording debut of yet another young Englishquartet, in this case one that has had theadvantage of working with Tippett (as theFitzwilliam did with Shostakovich). I am toldthat a 1956 Amadeus recording of the SecondQuartet made an even stronger case for thatwork, but the composer has expressed him-self as happy with this new package ("splen-didly fulfilled" is his term), and I can't imag-ine any listener's being unmoved by thesedeeply felt and committed performances. Themonumentally proportioned Third Quartet (anunusual five -movement layout, with three fu-gal movements spaced by two lyrical slowmovements) is split for turnover, "sand-wiched" between No. 2 and No. 1; this is aninevitable compromise if the three works areto fit on a single disc, and in this case it is notat all objectionable. The sound is excellentthroughout both long sides, and a trilingual in-sert includes a concise background piece onTippett as well as the composer's own noteson the quartets. R.F.

VERDI: Luisa Miller. Montserrat Caballe (so-prano), Luisa; Sherrill Milnes (baritone), Mil-ler; Bonaldo Giaiotti (bass), Count Walter;Luciano Pavarotti (tenor), Rodolfo; RichardVan Allan (bass), Wurm; Anna Reynolds(mezzo-soprano), Federica; Annette Celine(soprano), Laura; Fernando Pavarotti (tenor),a peasant. London Opera Chorus; NationalPhilharmonic Orchestra, Peter Maag cond.LONDON OSA 13114 three discs $20.94.

Performance: GoodRecording: Very good

Luisa Miller represents an important mile-stone in Verdi's development. It was his firstopera dealing with middle-class society afteran unbroken string of Biblical and historicalsubjects involving mighty rulers (Nabucco,Attila, Macbeth, Charles of Spain, FrederickBarbarossa) and such world-shaking events asthe Crusades (I Lombardi), a major war (Gi-ovanna d'Arco), and a power struggle for therule of Venice (I Due Foscari). The musicallymore intimate scaling of Lui.sa Miller was anatural consequence of dramatic conditionsnot calling for rousing marches and chorusesand various heroic gestures. Apart from allthat, Luisa Miller (1849) is a very fine opera,and its substantial values are nobly capturedin RCA's ten-year old recording (LSC-6168)with Anna Moffo, Carlo Bergonzi, and Cor-nell MacNeil in the principal roles, FaustoCleva conducting. London's new effort, agood one in nearly all respects, falls short ofRCA's earlier achievement.

Peter Maag secures a correct performancethat is more painstaking and polished inorchestral execution than Cleva's was, but it

136 STEREO REVIEW

lacks the degree of urgency Cleva supplied.There is a certain rigidity in Maag's approachthat makes me think the music has beentamed by an excess of Swiss sensibility andneeds a transfusion of hot Italian blood:

Montserrat Caballes creamy tone and se-cure technique would seem to suit the role ofLuisa to perfection. She does achieve somespectacular results, particularly in the closingscenes, but she does not always execute theflorid passages with full care or attentiveness.By contrast, and despite her less sumptuoustimbre, Moffo offers an exceptionally com-mitted performance and is in prime vocalform, so I find the achievements of the twosopranos just about even.

Sherrill Milnes is very fine in the soft pas-sages and dignified aspects of the father'srole, but he is less successful in the momentsof passion, when his tone becomes unsteadyand his top notes effortful. Cornell MacNeil'sadmirable performance on RCA is preferred.Both Count Walters are very good: London'sBonaldo Giaiotti is more sonorous, RCA's Gi-orgio Tozzi more interesting dramatically. Inthe role of Federica, Anna Reynolds singsvery well indeed, but Shirley Verrett (RCA) ismore intense as "the woman scorned."

There is no contest insofar as Wurm, thedespicable villain, is concerned: RCA's EzioFlagello is excellent; London's Richard VanAllan tries to substitute a permanent snarl forthe weight his tone lacks, and it doesn't work.RCA also scores clear superiority in the smallroles of Laura and the peasant.

And that leaves the part of Rodolfo, sungby Luciano Pavarotti with ardor, sensitivity,and great tonal beauty. Not only did I find no

fault with it, I relished every well-turnedphrase. So it should not detract from Mr. Pa-varotti's contribution if I say I think that Car-lo Bergonzi's singing in the RCA set gave meeven more pleasure. G.J.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITWALTON: Facade. Tony Randall (reader);Columbia Chamber Ensemble, Arthur Fiedlercond. COLUMBIA M 33980 $6.98.

Performance: A triumph of timingRecording: Excellent

On June 12, 1923, the curtain went up inAeolian Hall in Bond Street, London, on aproduction that seemed specifically calculatedto enrage and insult its audience. Behind thatfirst curtain hung another, displaytng an open-mouthed face, and behind that stood EdithSitwell, who spoke her verses into a mega-phone while six musicians played the mockingscore of Facade by the twenty -one -year -oldWilliam Walton. Facade-an Entertainmentwas not found entertaining by either its hoot-ing audience or its scathing critics. But it hasoutlived both, and later performances havebeen more cordially received. Dame Edithcalled the poems in the suite "abstract," butthey also make up a kind of stingingly satiricaltravel folder, twitting the dreariness of aweekend spent with a hunting party in theScottish highlands, the hollow aspects ofposter -pretty Spain, the lumbering efforts of abear -like creature to dance a polka. There areastonishing images-the "blue decks" of thesea, "vanilla -colored ladies" who pluck a"white satin bouquet of foam" at the sea-

shore, and less savage, more lyrical interludeswhere thwarted lovers wander through a De-cember snowscape or the poet feeds herwords "by the rivers of the sun." And themusic scrupulously matches every turn ofphrase, including a breath of Rossini at themention of William Tell.

There have been quite a few recordings ofFacade, the most outstanding being the poet'sown, on both the London and Columbia la-bels, and a composer -conducted collaborationby Peggy Ashcroft and Paul Scofield on Argo.Tony Randall's claim in the competition is notso much his skill as an actor, which is not al-ways in great evidence here, but his care infollowing the composer's specific instructionson the phrasing of every syllable-instruc-tions Dame Edith herself completely ignored.Randall tries at times to squeeze more charmout of these verses than is implicit in the icylines, but by sticking close to the Walton sce-nario he realizes more than most performersthe coordination between the words and themusic, and he never falls into the trap ofmouthing the poems as mere nonsenseverses-which they aren't. Especially usefulis the glossary of obscure terms and mytho-logical references he has compiled for this re-lease, while his album notes are a model of lu-cidity. And Arthur Fiedler, who introducedthe music of Facade to American audiences in1925, but who might have been expected toapply a somewhat heavy hand to the musicalend of things, coaxes an exceptionally adroitand apt performance from the ColumbiaChamber Ensemble. P.K.


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BASF TAPE: New Stock. 40-50% Savings! Cassettes,Reels, GUARANTEED! Write Larry or Mike, INTERGALAC-TIC, 1047 Kirts, No. 134, Troy, Michigan 48084.THRILLING Live Opera Tapes. Enormous Free Catalogue.Live Opera, P.O. Box 3141, Steinway Station, L.I.C.,11103.

3600' FRESH Low Noise, High Output Ampex tape. 10-1/2"metal reel, 6 for $35.00 plus $3.50 UPS. Other tapes also onspecial, write for catalog. S.I.C., P.O. 88338, Atlanta, GA30338.

OLDTIME RADIO PROGRAMS-your favorites on qualitytapes. Free Catalogue. Carl R. Froelich, Route One, NewFreedom, Pennsylvania 17349.

RADIO SHOWS! Top sound quality only. Cassettes or reels.Virgo House, Box 1060-5, Des Moines, lows 50311.

WE WILL BEAT any distributor, wholesaler, jobber, ordealer in America. Featuring TDK, BASF, AMPEX, andothers. Tape World International, Box 231, Butler, PA16001.

RARE BROADWAY Shows on tape including private andlive recordings. Catalog $1.00. David Hummel, 2820 SouthMemorial Highway, Traverse City, Michigan 49684.SPECIAL OFFER-Professional Scotch tape. Low noise /Dynarange series. Used once by Hollywood studio. Splicefree - 1/4" x 1-1/2 mil. 600' on 5" - $2.50; 1200' on 7" -$3.50; 2500' on 10-1/2" - $6.00. Crosby Enterprises, Box976, Newbury Park, CA 91320.

MANY Superb Operatic Tapes, Bargain Prices. CompleteOperas, Recitals, Galas, Free Catalog From J. A. George,Box 601. STEREO REVIEW, Classified, 1 Park Ave., NYC10016.

SONAR'S OPEN REEL TAPES. Duped one-to-one frommaster. Quad, stereo; 1/4, 1/2 track; 7-1/2, 15 IPS; 7", 10-1/2" reels. Highest quality anywhere! Send for catalog.Sonar Records, P.O. Box 455S, Kingsbridge Sta., Bronx,N.Y. 10463.

TUBES

TV and Radio Tubes 36 cents. Free 48 page color catalog.Cornell. 4215-H University, San Diego, California 92105.

FOR SALE

TEAC - Dust Cover, never used. (313) 835-0707. MD-TZ101.

METAL CASSETTES. C-60'6/$5.00. Fairstone, 102-25 67thDr., Forest Hills, N.Y. 11375.BIOFEEDBACK: High Performance EEG, EMG instruments.Assembled or low cost kit form. Write for complete specifi-cations. EDC, Box 9161, Berkeley, CA 94709.

PLANS AND KITS

EXCLUSIVE U.S. Made, CBS Licensed SQ Decoder Kit. Fulllogic, wave matching and/or variable blend. SQ-1 (fixedblend), $40.00. SQ-3 (variable blend), $55.00. Knobs, casesnot supplied. Regulated power supply available only withthe decoder, $5.00. Postpaid USA, Canada. Informationavailable. Photolume Corporation, Dept. S-510, 118 East 28Street, New York, N.Y. 10016.

INSTRUCTION

LEARN Electronics Organ Servicing at home. All makes, in-cluding transistors. Experimental kit-trouble-shooting.Accredited NHSC, Free Booklet. Niles Bryant School, 3631Stockton, Dept. A, Sacramento, Calif. 95820.RADIO BROADCASTING: Become DJ! Get free tapes -records - equipment. Start own station! Learn how."Radio!", Box 5516-RJ. Walnut Creek, CA 94596.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

UP TO 60% DISCOUNT. Name brand instruments Catalog.Freeport Music, 114 Q. Mahan St., W. Babylon, N.Y. 11704.

WANTED

GOLD, silver, platinum, mercury wanted. Highest pricespaid by refinery. Ores assayed. Free circular. MercuryTerminal, Norwood, MA 02062.

HYPNOTISM

FREE Hypnotism, Self -Hypnosis, Sleep Learning Catalog!Drawer H400, Ruidoso, New Mexico 88345.SLEEP LEARNING. Hypnotic Method. 92% effective.Details free. ASR Foundation, Box 23429 EG, Fort Lauder-dale, Florida 33307.AMAZING self-hypnosis record releases fantastic mentalpower. instant results! Free trial. Write: Forum (AA10), 333North Michigan, Chicago 60601.

RUBBER STAMPS

RUBBER address stamps. Free catalog. 45 type styles.Jackson's, Dept. K, Brownsville Rd., Mt. Vernon, III. 62864.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

MADE $40,000.00 Year by mailorder! Helped others makemoney! Free Proof. Torrey, Box 318 -NN, Ypsilanti,Michigan 48197.MAILORDER MILLIONAIRE helps beginners make $500weekly. Free report reveals secret plan! Executive (1K10),333 North Michigan, Chicago 60601.HI-FI ENTHUSIASTS WANTED!! Earn more than just sparemoney in your spare time. We need campus representativesto sell name brand stereo components at discount prices inyour area. High commission, no investment required.Serious inquiries only, please. Contact: Alan Weisberg,K8, L Sound Services Co., 75 No. Beacon St., Watertown,Mass. 02172. (617) 787-4073.

OCTOBER 1976 139

GET RICH with Secret Law that smashes debts and bringsyou $500 to $5 Million cash. Free report! Credit 4K10, 333North Michigan, Chicago 60601.

FREE SECRET BOOK "2042 UNIQUE, Proven Enterprises."Fabulous "Little Knowns.- Work Home! Haylings-B, Carls-bad, Calif. 92008.

STEREO REPRESENTATIVES NEEDED!!! Sell 100 brands!!Lowest Possible Prices!! Krasco, 623 Campbell Ave., WestHaven, Conn. 06516.

AUDIO BUFFS. You don't have to be on a college campusto enjoy a good income selling high fidelity equipment. Ifyou have a small circle of friends or work in an office of adozen or more people, you have all the contacts you needto make extra income recommending and selling hi fiequipment. And it's fun. No investment. All the selling ma-terial you need. Call Internation Hi Fi in Baltimore, MD21206, and ask for Mike Krizman. Tell him you'd like to be acampus rep. without a college. Call (301) 488-9600 - Dailybetween 11 A.M. -7 R.M.CAMPUS AUDIO DEALERS WANTED. We need people tohelp sell our high quality audio components at huge dis-counts. Sell in your area or on campus. Earn big bucks, nocapital outlay required, no experience necessary. For com-plete information write to: ABCO, Dept CD, 915 GrandAvenue, New Haven, Conn. 06511.

CAMPUS REPRESENTATIVES wanted to sell name brandHi-Fi components at discount prices in spare time. Write:Sound Savings, 18506 N.E. 5th Ave., N. Miami Beach,Florida 33179. (305) 652-7610.

EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION

AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND WANT YOU!!! 50,000 Jobs!Paid Transportation! Latest Information and Forms. $1.00.Austco, Box 3623 -SR, Long Beach, California 90803.

OVERSEAS JOBS-Now Hiring, 103 Countries. All Occu-pations, High Pay, Free Transportation. Tax Benefits.Latest Computerized Reports-$2.00. TRANSWORLD, In-ternational Airport, Box 90802 -SR, Los Angeles, California90009.

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL ESCORT REPORT. All Ex-penses. Salary. Free Transportation. To Escort GroupsWorldwide. Complete Employment Guide. $5.00 (Satisfac-tion Guaranteed). Escort, 1210-H Howard Circle, Wheaton,III. 60187.

MOVIE FILMS

16mm SOUND Features, Shorts, New, Used for Sale. FreeCatalog. National Cinema, 333 W. 57th St., N.Y., N.Y. 10019.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

LEARN WHILE ASLEEP. Hypnotize! Astonishing details,strange catalog free! Autosuggestion, Box 24-ZD, Olympia,Washington 98597.

PUBLICATIONS

THE AUDIO AMATEUR-A quarterly publication for theserious audio constructor. Free prospectus. The AydioAmateur, Box 176Z, Peterborough, N.H. 03458.

PERSONAL COLLECTION 1942-1973, Jazz, electronics,etc. Mrs. Sam Lane, 1972 St. Mary, San Angelo, TX 76901.

SERVICES

PREWRITTEN RESEARCH, Thousands of topics. Com-puterized Catalog, $1.00. Information Clearinghouse, Box4391, Washington, D. C. 20012 (202) 723-1715.

PERSONALS

MAKE FRIENDS WORLDWIDE through international cor-respondence. Illustrated brochure free. Hermes-Verlag,Box 110660/Z, D-1000 Berlin 11, Germany.

MISCELLANEOUS

WINEMAKERS. Free illustrated catalog of yeasts, equip-ment. Semplex, Box 12276Q, Minneapolis, Minn. 55412.

FREE! Consumer Service Division Catalog. Includes a widevariety of products associated with the special interests ofreaders of Ziff -Davis magazines - PSYCHOLOGY TODAY,POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY. STEREO REVIEW, POPULARELECTRONICS, BbATING, FLYING, CAR & DRIVER, CY-CLE. SKIING. Send for YOUR free catalog today. ConsumerService Div.: 595 Broadway. Dept. CL, N.Y.. NY 10012.

WILLI BOSKOVSKY: the lilt of a Viennese waltz, the brio of a Tyrolean march

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITZELLER: Der Vogelhindler (highlights). Ann-eliese Rothenberger (soprano), PrincessMary; Renate Holm (soprano), Christel; Wal-ter Berry (bass), Baron Weps; Gerhard Unger(tenor), Count Stanislaus; Adolf Dallapozza(tenor), Bird Seller; Wolfgang Anheisser (ba-ritone), Village Mayor; Gisela Litz (contral-to), Lady -in -Waiting. Vienna State OperaChorus and Vienna Symphony Orchestra,Willi Boskovsky cond. ANGEL S-37165 $6.98.

Performance: Vintage champagneRecording: Excellent

Der Vogelhiindler (The Bird Seller) is one ofthose countless operettas the Viennese pro-duced, first for home consumption and laterfor export, in the second half of the last cen-tury. The big names were Suppe and Strauss,but the operettas of Carl Millocker, JosefLanner, and Carl Zeller were also wellknown. Zeller was a part-time composer whohad studied law and who worked as an officialin the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Infor-mation in Vienna. He wrote three works forthe stage before he wrote Der Vogelhandler,which became an instant hit in January 1891 ata time when the Viennese seemed to be grow-ing weary of operetta. Zeller's music broughtthem back to the days of Strauss and theyloved it.

Der Vogelhandler, set in the eighteenth cen-tury, has a libretto (by Moritz West and Lud-wig Held) about Adam, a Tyrolean bird seller,and his girlfriend Christel, a postmistress in avillage on the Rhine., who, after mind -bog-gling complications and misunderstandings,are, of course, united. Today nobody wouldremember Der Vogelhiindler at all but for theseries of hummable waltzes, marches, andlively ballads that occur in the course of themuddled action. These are what the ViennaState Opera can be heard performing on thisrecord of highlights. Though the going in mu-sical terms is at times dangerously close topedestrian, there are enough bubbly momentsfor the album to be recommended to all whoare susceptible to the flavor of vintage Vien-nese music. Particularly memorable areAdam's Nightingale Song, the march thatspells out the moral of the play, Never Fightwith Women, and the big hit, the duet SchenktMan sick Rosen in Tirol. Anneliese Rothen-berger makes a delightful soprano princess,Walter Berry a properly overbearing baron,

Gerhard Unger a lusty, wily nephew. AdolfDallapozza's tenor charms the air in the roleof the bird seller, and Renate Holm projects apostmistress worthy of all the hero must gothrough to win her favors. Most charming ofall are the contributions of the chorus and or-chestra under Willi Boskovsky, a man whoknows how to convey the lilt of a Viennesewaltz and the brio of a Tyrolean march betterthan almost anyone alive. P.K.

COLLECTION

NATHAN LAM: Recital. Braun: Psalm 98.Berlinski: Kol Nidre. Rossi: Kaddish. Lewan-dowski: Zocharti Loch. Nieman: Nine IsraeliFolk Songs. Handel: Arias from Esther, Israelin Egypt, and Judas Maccabeus. Nathan Lam(baritone); David Tilman Choir; Max Walmer(piano). SERENUS SRS 12039 $6.98.

Performance: AmbitiousRecording: Very good

Nathan Lam started singing cantorial music ina synagogue at the age of eight, when he washired by a Los Angeles congregation for theJewish High Holy Days. Today, after years oftraining and performing in operatic roles aswell as in houses of worship, he is cantor of acongregation in Syosset, Long Island. For hisrecording debut, the young (he's twenty-nine)Lam has certainly chosen an ambitious pro-gram. Here are settings of liturgical texts byIsrael's Yehezekiel Braun, the Americancomposer Herman Berlinski, and Italy'sgreatest Jewish composer of the Renaissance,Salomone Rossi, as well as a choral setting byLouis Lewandowski of passages from thePsalms. There is a performance of the Englishcomposer Alfred Nieman's Israeli folk -songcycle, and, just to make sure every facet ofLam's talent is explored, there are passagesfrom the Old Testament oratorios of Handel.Unfortunately, as the program goes on, itsrigors prove the singer's undoing. He is quiteequal to the considerable melodic and rhyth-mic charms of the folk songs, and he isunaffected and moving in the Kaddish, KolNidre, and Psalms. Here is cantorial singingof a new kind-stripped of the sobs and orna-mental cantillations of Eastern Europe, aclean and forthright approach to liturgy that isadmirable. But when Lam tries to come togrips with the demands of Handel, his inade-quacies are all too apparent. An agreeablevoice, but not a great one. P.K.

140 STEREO REVIEW

Introducing the Staff . . .

When a personal opinion, particularlya publicly expressed one, grates onour nerves, one of the commoner re-sponses is to ask, either under or atthe top of our voices, just who that so-and-so thinks he or she is. The ques-tion is asked of STEREO REVIEW withrespect to our regular contributorsand staff many times each month, andin this column we endeavor to supplythe answers. -Ed.

Contributing Editor

PeterReillyI NvAs born during the Great Depression inI Morristown, New Jersey-and at timesit seems like it's been downhill ever since.The first song I ever memorized complete-ly, was An Actor's Life for Me, it havingbeen brought to my attention by thatmagnificently raffish duo of the Fox andthe Cat in Walt Disney's Pinocchio, one ofthe first films I ever saw. In truth, I "cameto music" mainly through films: I foundthe combination of the darkened theater,the gigantic image, and the pulse -rattlingsoundtrack irresistible.

For some reason (now made apparentwhen I see them on TV: superior sound re-cording and massed orchestral effects by"symphonic" composers), I alwayschased down Warner Bros. films for a sec-ond, third, or even fourth viewing. The gutpunch among these was a film calledKing's Row, which featured one of ErichWolfgang Korngold's yeastiest scores.Meanwhile, I was listening at home mostlyto Boston Pops recordings, a series of raft-er shakers I still remember in their 10 -inch, 78 -rpm incarnations. When played at

full volume-how could one resist doinganything else with such sophisticatedgems as Fiedler's oompah renditions ofThe Continental and Jalousie and Jamai-can Rhumba'-they added, for a while, acertain je ne sais quoi to the tone of myNorth Jersey neighborhood.

It wasn't until my early teens that I real-ly got down to the serious side of musicand its appreciation. I decided the onlything that would do full justice to my ele-vated tastes was a Magnavox radio -phono-graph advertised in the New Yorker. Byworking and saving all one summer I wasfinally able to install one in my room thatSeptember. Among the first things Iplayed on it was Ravel's Le Tombeau deCouperin, a work I had known before onlyas the boring flip side of Le Boeuf sur leToit, Milhaud's dizzy, rackety, but im-mediately entertaining collage of tunes.Goes to show you how wrong you can be:I don't listen to the Milhaud any more, butmy fondness for Ravel remains-I stillthink, for example, that his Quartet in F isthe sexiest piece of music ever written.

I grew up to spend most of my adult lifein one aspect or another of the entertain-ment business, an education in itself. Sev-eral years in the press department of a ma-jor record company, for example, gave mea chance to see the Music Biz from the in-side-and you wouldn't believe me if I

told you. Let me just say that the Borgiaswould be hard put to survive in it for anylength of time, and that any artist whomakes it has generally done so against hor-rendous odds. I subsequently entered thefilm industry, where I found the rough eth-ical standards of the record businessrefined into a code of conduct so withoutredeeming social value that it would havemade Jeeter Lester wince.

It was during this period that. I came tothe attention of STEREO REVIEW through atrial piece I had done on Peggy Lee. Myassociation with the magazine and its read-ers-particularly those kind enough towrite when they like something I'vedone-has since sustained me throughsome of He's drearier trials. Right now Ilive in the Catskills, work on an erstwhilecomic novel, do a great deal of walking,and am getting it together slowly.

As a reviewer, I take it as my duty towarn the record buyer away from the cyni-cal commercialism that plagues so manyrelease lists, and at the same time to main-tain my enthusiasm for the genuinely crea-tive popular artists. My reputation as a ne-gative -thinking spoilsport comes from mysimple inability to go along with the recordindustry's more blatant snow jobs. Whocan ever forget Moby Grape? I have, and Ihope you have too. I hope that, like me,you are rejoicing instead in the new workof Janis Ian and other Real People. A re-viewer's greatest satisfaction comes frombeing given the freedom to say what hethinks. His greatest pleasure comes notfrom pointing out that the emperor is nek-kid but that there are others in the passingparade who are very well dressed in-deed-and will you please pay a little at-tention to them! When you do, I find that Ivery much enjoy my work. -Peter Reilly

STEREO REVIEWADVERTISERS' INDEX

OCTOBER 1976READER

SERVICE NO. ADVERTISERPAGE

NUMBER

2 Acoustic Research 109Advent Corporation 97

3 Angel Records 1224 Audio Expo 106

Audio Technica, U.S., Inc. 245 Avid Corporation 111

6 Ball Corporation 298 Bang & Olufsen of America,

Cartridge Division 1317 Bang & Olufsen of America,

Turntable Division 84BGW Systems 116Bose Corporation 101

9 British Industries Co., BIC Venturi 3210 BSR 58

11 Capitol Magnetic Devices 107Component Discounters 110

12 Crown International 123

13 Design Acoustics 95

14 Discount Music Club 10

Discwasher 215 District Sound 112

Dixie HiFidelity 116Dolby Laboratory 55

50 Dual 8, 9Dynaco 111

16 Electro -Vo ice 133Elpa Marketing 103

21, 99 Empire Scientific Corporation 5, 41

17 Ford Motor Company 50, 5118 Fuji Photo Film, USA 45

19 Garrard 34 thru 37

Harman Kardon 46, 4725 Heath Company 6

Heublein 136, 13720 Hi Fi Buys 98

22 Hitachi 134, 135

23 Illinois Audio 110

24 International Hi Fi Distributors 131

& B Scotch 7

26 Jensen 16

27 JVC America 25

30 Kenwood 4928 Kirsch & Company 94

29 KLH Research & Development 2731 Koss Electronics Cover 4

52 Lafayette Radio Electronics 57

Marantz 142 & Cover 337 Maxell 11334 McIntosh Laboratory 12635 Meriton Electronics 6336 Michigan Audio Discounters 126

Micro -Acoustics Corporation 61Midwest Hi-Fi Wholesalers 112

38 MXR Innovations 129

Nakamichi 14, 1539 National Record Plan 8940 Netronics Research & Development 132

41 Olympus Corporation 2242 0 nkyo 115

43 Phase Linear 5445 Pioneer Electronics 125

46 Radio Shack 38, 3947 Rectilinear Research Corporation 11

48 Royal Sound 2649 RTR Industries 20

51 S.A.E. 6232 Sansui Electronics Corporation 42, 43

Schieffelin 127100 Scott, Inc., H. H. 1353 Sherwood 5954 Shure Brothers 7355 Sonic Research, Inc. 2156 Sony Corporation of America 18, 1957 Sound Reproduction 10244 Stanton 9358 Static Master 9859 Stereo Corporation of America 11660 Stereo Discounters 131

TDK Electronics 99Teac Corporation 52

61 Technics by Panasonic 2362 Top Discount Audio 116

50 United Audio 8, 91 U.S. Pioneer Cover 2, 1

63 Yamaha International Corporation 81

OCTOBER 1976 141

FOR THE BUDGET -MINDEDPERFECTIONIST. THE 6100.

High on performance, the belt -drive 6100features a super -dependable AC synchro-nous motor. The convenience of autoreturn and shut off. Plus full protection ofyour valuable records with a precision S-shaped tone arm, gentle -action viscous -damped cueing and anti -skate.

FOR THE BUTTON -PUSHER.THE TOTALLYAUTOMATIC 6200.

It's auto -everything. Auto start. Autoreturn and shut off. Auto repeat. Operatesmanually, as well. A servo motor, coupled

with belt drive, assures optimum speedaccuracy. Stroboscopic pitch control "fine-tunes" speed to compensate for off -pitchrecords or for playing along with a musicalinstrument. The 6200 cares for yourrecords, too, with a precision S-shapedtone arm, gentle -action viscous -dampedcueing and anti -skate.

*Suggested list prices. Actual selling prices at dealer's discretion. All models come complete with anti -static turntable mat, plastic hinged dust cover,base enclosure, and low capacitance phono cables that assure 4 -channel capability whenever you need it. The base enclosure for the 6300 is constructedof plywood, finished in genuine walnut veneer. The enclosures for the 6200 and 6100 are finished in walnut grain vinyl veneer

TURNTABLES

1

FOR THE TOP -OF -THE -LINER. THE DIRECTDRIVE, OPTO -COUPLED AUTO LIFT 6300.

Features and technological excellencegalore. Starting with absolute speed accuracyassured by a combination of direct drivedesign and DC servo motor that automati-cally compensates for voltage/speed fluc-tuations. Of course, there's auto lift andshut off, but on the 6300 it's opto-coupled-a significant Marantz exclusive. It meansno tracking distortion caused by mechani-cal linkage between auto mechanism andtone arm. The secret: a tiny beam from alight -emitting diode maintains constantcontact with a photo transistor during play.

Model 6300/S269.9

© 1976 Marantz Co., Inc., a subsidiary of Superscope, Inc., 20525Nordhoff St., Chatsworth, CA 91311. Prices and models subject to changewithout notice. ConsUlt the Yellow Pages for your nearest Marantz dealer.

At record's end, a sliding blade cuts contact,activating a circuit that lifts the tone armand shuts off the motor. There's more.Stroboscopic pitch control "fine-tunes" speedto your personal preference. And viscousdamped cueing gently, smoothly lowers theprecision S-shaped tcne arm onto the sen-sitive disk surface. Velical/ lareral counter-balancing and anti -skate result in lowestdistortion and tracking erlor.

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