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The A&M Records Story, Part Three

Issue 162Featured

Our last installment (Issue 161) found A&M in transition, moving away from the vocal and instrumental pop and vocal sounds into some British rock and domestic rock and folk acts, as well...

The A&M Records Story, Part Two

Issue 161Featured

In our last article (Issue 160), I presented some of A&M Records’ earliest recordings beginning in 1962, featuring the breezy California pop and instrumental music styles they ultimately became associated with. (A&M...

The Year Was 1977

Issue 161Featured

In 1976, I began using an engagement calendar as a sort of shorthand diary to keep track of the things I’d done and people I’d met and been with –...

The Global Supply of Vacuum Tubes: What Happens...

Issue 161Featured

Several weeks back, Jay Jay French discussed in his article, “Nero Fiddles while Rome…” (Issue 158), that the atrocities still taking place in Ukraine make our pastime of audio seem frivolous in...

Three Days with Frank Sinatra, Part Three: The ...

Issue 160Featured

I’m sure it was pizza and ice cream that soothed my ego the day after Frank and Barbara abandoned me in the parking lot of Christina’s school. I learned to...

The Audiophile’s Opinion, Or, Why You Should Jo...

Issue 160Featured

Many years back, along with about a dozen fellow audio club members, I attended a product demonstration at a well-known high-end audio writer’s home that made me question my sanity....

Uncle Influencer

Issue 155Featured

I recently watched the Ben Affleck and George Clooney film adaption of J.R. Moehringer’s memoir The Tender Bar. It’s a coming-of-age story during the 1970s and 1980 about young J.R., whose...

La Música de Puerto Rico

Issue 157Featured

By the time this article comes out, I will have returned from my annual trip to Puerto Rico. My mother, a senior, retired to a condominium my parents bought in...

10 More Great Music Documentaries

Issue 159Featured

A lot of people turned to binge watching during the pandemic lockdowns. Although I wasn’t binging, I did take the opportunity to check out a number of documentaries about bands,...

The Day the Music Died

Issue 159Featured

Dear intrepid reader: I’m sure when you first saw the title of this article, you naturally assumed I would work Don McLean’s song of the same name into it. Sorry,...

Three Days With Frank Sinatra, Part Two: Gradua...

Issue 159Featured

It had been a year since I saw Frank Sinatra last. (Part One of this series appears in Issue 158.) The sauce-making story got plenty of mileage and I felt like...

Three Days with Frank Sinatra, Part One

Issue 158Featured

Bill and Judy Green hosted parties for the Who’s Who of the day’s society pages. I recognized most of the people who regularly attended, not only from TV and movies...

John Klemmer, Part Two: The Saxophone Touch

Issue 158Featured

Part One (Issue 157) covered John Klemmer’s early recordings from 1967 – 1970. With five albums at the Cadet and Cadet Concept labels behind him, Klemmer made a move to Impulse!...

McGowan Park

Issue 157Featured

Based on “MacArthur Park” by Jimmy Webb, as recorded by Richard Harris The Linn was never waiting for us, Frank, It ran one step ahead As we followed in this...

John Wasserman, Critic, Part Two

Issue 157Featured

In Part One (Issue 155), we were introduced to the work of the late San Francisco Chronicle entertainment critic, John Wasserman. In this installment, I’ll tell you more about his...

Nelson Pass Blues

Issue 156Featured

To the tune of “Creeque Alley” by the Mamas & the Papas John and Mikey were gettin' kind of itchy Lookin’ to leave the Linns behind Gordon and Harry workin'...

Luiz Eça and Tamba Trio: Brazilian Music Pioneers

Issue 156Featured

When the Brazilian music of the 1960s comes to mind, we commonly think of the many composers and artists who were popular in bringing the samba, bossa nova and Brazilian...

The Blues Project: Projections

Issue 155Featured

It was my 13th birthday when my mother inquired if I had a preference for a birthday gift. I graciously asked for an album or two, as I was in...

John Wasserman, Critic – Part One

Issue 155Featured

Critics and reviewers, in general, are an oft-maligned bunch, and, some would say, rightfully so. The old saying, “Those who can, do, but those who can’t, teach” sometimes gets paraphrased...

Audio Plans for the New Year

Issue 154Featured

A new year always brings New Year’s resolutions, and it’s no different for audiophiles. Here are the 10 I’m going to try to stick to: Have Pass Labs install a...

Ohm’s Law

Issue 154Featured

In Issue 151 (“Shop Class”), I made a note to remember Ohm’s law and that we would come back to it later. There’s been so much national press coverage on this issue...

The Audiophile’s Cat

Issue 153Featured

A few days ago, Hobbes, our creamsicle-colored fur-ball of 12 years was eaten by a hungry coyote. I’m trying my best not to be angry at the coyote (bastard!) that...

A Tale of Two Different Systems

Issue 153Featured

I was recently asked by two friends (independently of one another) to help them build their new audio systems. Other than replacing my phono cartridge with another of the same...

Fun With YouTube

Issue 153Featured

YouTube is an amazing place. You can see stuff there that you never imagined. You can also spend the rest of your life chasing videos that come up as suggestions...

Vinyls

Issue 153Featured

To the tune of “Royals” by Lorde I’ve never seen a diamond except on a stylusI cut my teeth on Discwasher and ZerostatAnd I’m not proud of my streaming DACIn...

Let It Be: Director Peter Jackson’s Get Back Pr...

Issue 152Featured

Nearly eight-hour Get Back documentary is revelatory for fans Like all Beatles fans, I was intrigued with the news that New Zealand film director Peter Jackson had convinced the Apple Records powers-that-be...

Nobody Told Me There'd Be Days Like These: Get ...

Issue 152Featured

Get Back, directed by Peter Jackson Peter Jackson’s Get Back film tries to finesse the Beatles’ break-up while fulfilling the audience’s dream of a fantasy reunion. When the original Let It Be film first appeared...

Burt Bacharach in the 1960s and 1970s: Artists ...

Issue 152Featured

The Burt Bacharach and Hal David songwriting machine was running full speed ahead through the 1960s. While Dionne Warwick was the singer of many of their best tunes, there were...

Collector as Minimalist

Issue 152Featured

Before my upcoming trip to the record store, I comb through my collection and pull Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, Johnny Cash, Live at San Quentin, Jimi Hendrix, Band of Gypsies, and the...

Words and Music by Stephen Sondheim

Issue 151Featured

Readers don’t necessarily rely on Copper for theatrical news, but there is a good reason why the recent passing of Stephen Sondheim (1930 – 2021) should matter to anyone interested in music:...

The Knob With the Misleading Name

Issue 151Featured

Component audio systems were still comparatively rare when my college roommates and I put one together (see my article in Issue 149), but there was at least one other in...

Shop Class

Issue 151Featured

In my first installment, “When I Was A Boy,” (Issue 150) I spun a yarn of growing up as a budding audiophile by using song titles as references. Many of...

The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women

Issue 150Featured

In 1979, WBCN-FM in Boston offered its listeners a fantastic deal: tell us what you think are the 10 best rock albums of all time, and we’ll tabulate the results...

Some Notable Analog Recordings, Part Three

Issue 150Featured

Part One and Part Two of this series appeared in Issue 141 and Issue 142. I started exploring recordings on labels related to the Decca Record Company of England in Issue...

1960s Music Magic: Revisiting NYC’s Fillmore Ea...

Issue 150Featured

New York’s famed Fillmore East closed 50 years ago this year. It’s hard to believe it was that long ago. Although only operational for a relatively short three-year period (1968...

150: What’s In a Number?

Issue 150Featured

150 is the magic number this month. 150 bi-weekly issues ago, Copper magazine was launched. It got me thinking about the number 150 and its many uses. Here is a...

Choosing New Speakers: Sensitivity and Room Size

Issue 149Featured

In a previous article (Issue 147) we considered the reality that, although there is an abundance of information describing the technical specifications of loudspeakers, not all of it is particularly helpful in...

Phil Keaggy: A Lifetime of Joyful Noises, Part ...

Issue 149FEATURED

In Part One (Issue 145), we looked at Phil Keaggy’s musical beginnings with power trio Glass Harp, and his early solo recordings, which showed his skills expanding beyond hard rock music to...

Stage Door Tommy

Issue 149FEATURED

It’s never too early for a young boy to start appreciating the music of Marvin Hamlisch. I was nine years old when my mother took me to see A Chorus Line on...

Phil Keaggy: A Lifetime of Joyful Noises, Part ...

Issue 148FEATURED

In Part One (Issue 145), we looked at Phil Keaggy’s musical beginnings with power trio Glass Harp, and his early solo recordings, which showed his skills expanding beyond hard rock music to...

Stream of Consciousness: Better Sound From My C...

Issue 148FEATURED

In Part One (Issue 147), we looked at the value of improving your computer audio sound by routing the output of your source to an external DAC, which can be used not...

Burt Bacharach Part Three: Big Screen, Little S...

Issue 148FEATURED

Like many prolific composers, Burt Bacharach was called upon to compose music for a handful of films and stage productions. Some were fantastic works. One was so notoriously difficult that...

Beyond the Firesign Theatre: Other Comedy Troup...

Issue 147FEATURED

(WARNING: You may be exposed to adult content and humor of questionable taste.) The late 1960s through the mid-1970s was a fertile time for recorded comedy, both stand-up and ensemble....

Burt Bacharach, Part Two: Make Way for Dionne W...

Issue 147FEATURED

Part One in Issue 146 covered Burt Bacharach’s early years, writing hits for artists like Jerry Butler, Gene McDaniels, Gene Pitney, and…the Five Blobs. The series continues here. The work of Burt...

1960s Rock Band Rhinoceros: Hype (and Then, Mor...

Issue 147FEATURED

Way before Menudo there was Rhinoceros. Rhinoceros was a late 1960s rock band and the brainchild of Elektra Records’ producers Paul Rothchild and Frazier Mohawk (aka Barry Friedman). Mohawk had...

Burt Bacharach, Part One – The Early Years

Issue 146FEATURED

Burt Bacharach is one of those composers who I’ve listened to nearly my entire life. From the age of six or seven, my mother – the adventurous listener in the...

Alternate Realities – Janácek: Piano Works

Issue 146FEATURED

Janácek: Piano WorksLars Vogt, pianoOndine ODE1382-2 With his tart rhythms and uneasy tonality, Leoš Janáček, a late Romantic Czech composer and early innovator in folk musicology, circles his own little...

Phil Keaggy – A Lifetime of Making Joyful Noise...

Issue 146FEATURED

Part One of this series (Issue 145) covered Phil Keaggy’s early music with hard rock power trio Glass Harp, his experiments with prog rock, jazz fusion, classical and Elizabethan acoustic guitar,...

Phil Keaggy – A Lifetime of Making Joyful Noise...

Issue 145FEATURED

“Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs!” Psalm 33:2, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Guitarists who have developed distinctly separate and unique voices on both the acoustic and electric guitar...

Every Picture Tells A Story, Or, How I Recreate...

Issue 145FEATURED

Today’s renaissance of vinyl as a chosen physical music format represents an opportunity for baby boomers to recapture their collective youth. In the 1970s, record stores were the place to hang out...