Copper


Keep Your Eye on the Prize

Issue 129Opening Salvo

It’s hard to believe – or maybe not – that we first heard about the pandemic a year ago. A year. No wonder many of us are feeling more stressed...

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School Days

Issue 129MUSIC'AL NOTES

Fat Malcolm. Malcolm was fat. This was a rarity in the undernourished Glasgow of the mid-fifties. Virtually all of us kids in elementary school were rail-thin. But Malcolm was short...

Playing the Back Holes

Issue 129FEATURED

One of my favorite motorcycling buddies, Ralph, invited me over yesterday to listen to his stereo system. Although he’s retired, he refuses to grow up and is still obsessed with motorcycles and music, just...

Once in a Lifetime?

Issue 129EUREKA MOMENTS

How often do you get the chance to listen to stratospherically priced audio equipment in your own home for an extended period without shelling out a penny or inconveniencing a...

Taylor Swift: The Making of folklore

Issue 129WAYNE'S WORDS

If Andy Warhol were alive today, he’d be rolling out his celebrity silkscreens of Taylor Swift, in Life Saver candy colors like those of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and Elvis...

EveAnna Dauray Manley of Manley Labs, Part One

Issue 129FRANKLY SPEAKING

EveAnna Dauray Manley is the president of Manley Laboratories, Inc., makers of high-end consumer and professional vacuum tube audio equipment. The company’s audiophile products include the Steelhead RC and Chinook...

Beastie Boys: Licensed to Thrill

Issue 129OFF THE CHARTS

The experimental music scene in New York City in the late 1970s was transfixed by British punk innovators like Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Among the American bands...

Herbie Hancock: A Lifelong Musical Voyage

Issue 129TRADING EIGHTS

Born in 1940 to working-class parents in Chicago, piano prodigy Herbie Hancock performed Mozart with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 11. His classical ear was turned toward jazz by...

The Story of a Vintage Piano, Part the First

Issue 129REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE

In previous issues I have gone into some detail about disk recording, tape recording, the technical challenges of accurate reproduction, audio electronics, vacuum tubes and even professional recording facilities. But,...

Inside an Audio Legend: Abbey Road Studios

Issue 129DEEP DIVE

Since 1969, the name Abbey Road has become synonymous in the world of popular culture with The Beatles’ swan song album of the same title. To Londoners, it is a...

Bend Me, Shape Me: Collecting Flexi Discs

Issue 129THE COPPER INTERVIEW

When I was working at Goldmine magazine we tried again and again to get a record label to sponsor a flexi disc in the magazine. We first became interested in pitching the...

Half-Price Hi-Fi

Issue 129AUDIO ANTHROPOLOGY

Half-price high fidelity! No tools required! OK, a few. 1957 ad Courtesy of Ray Chelstowski. With a rig like this, we'd never leave the house. 1948 Admiral ad. Crank it...

Glorious Symmetry

Issue 129PARTING SHOT

This is one of several spectacular vaults of York Minster, the huge Gothic cathedral that took centuries to build in the walled city of York, England.

Outstanding Female Artists: Recommended Listening

Issue 129BE HERE NOW

Welcome to the second edition of Be Here Now, a new column/playlist where we compile inspired new music for busy folks who would like to discover outstanding contemporary artists. Here is...

Wrestling With Rock and Roll

Issue 129TRUE-LIFE ROCK TALES

In 1984 Ian Lloyd of the band Stories calls me and says, “I have an offer to do a concert in San Juan. Do you want to handle it?” (I...

A Few of My Favorite Things

Issue 129FEATURED

I have close to 3,000 CDs and LPs – a modest amount according to some people, an extravagant amount according to others. I used to have a large number of...

Crate Digging — 2021 Style

Issue 129TO BE DETERMINED

Once again, we’re at that time of year where there isn’t a great deal out there in terms of notable new releases, so I’m focusing on some recent finds I’ve...

Serenades

Issue 129TOO MUCH TCHAIKOVSKY

  Serenade (Fr. sérénade; Ger. Serenade, Ständchen; It. serenada, serenata). A musical form, closely related to the DIVERTIMENTO. The term originally signified a musical greeting, usually performed out of doors in the evening, to a beloved...