
Michael Fremer reflects candidly with Gilles Laferriere on receiving a surprise Lifetime Achievement Award at Montreal Audiofest, critiquing exhibitors’ setups, and detailing his emotional departure from Stereophile after building AnalogPlanet and championing vinyl for decades.

MoFiโs 45rpm reissue of Jeff Beckโs Truth delivers seismic bass and analogue warmth that outshines many rock classics; released just before Zepโs debut, it remains a blues-rock benchmark for sound and influence.

Welcome to my series Treasures from the Vinyl Vault. In it, I will feature select gems from my approximately 12,000 ever-growing vinyl collection, accumulated over a 45-year period and counting.

Joe Cocker’s career nearly derailed in 1970 until Leon Russell hastily assembled the raucous โMad Dogs & Englishmenโ tourโtransforming a PR crisis into a legendary, if chaotic, rock caravan that launched Russell to solo stardom.

Mike Vosse helped spark one of rockโs greatest musical intersections: Elton Johnโs rise in America, Leon Russellโs breakout, and the moment they collided at the Troubadourโfueling a creative surge that would echo for decades.

Founder of Le Studio, the iconic, pop-culture defining music studio tucked in the Canadian wilderness, Andrรฉ Perry worked with some of the biggest artists in the biz. Did he have any favourites?

Through dark rooms, sonic memories, and sacred clutter, the โStranger Than Kindnessโ exhibition maps Nick Caveโs tangled inner lifeโfrom rebellious youth to grieving fatherโwith haunting intimacy and visceral, word-drenched beauty.