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High Fidelity

High Fidelity

High Fidelity was an American publication covering both music, its creators, and the technology with which it was played and recorded.

66 articles

List of articles in the library

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Abba: Super Trouper (Atlantic SD 16023)

Review by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, February 1981

OF THE four things Sweden is most famous for — blondes, clogs, suicides and Abba — Abba is certainly the most curious. Curious because of ...

Nathan Abshire, Brave Combo, Buckwheat Zydeco, Joe "King" Carrasco, Clifton Chenier, Fernest and the Thunders, Flaco Jimenez, Steve Jordan, Los Lobos, Wayne Toups: What's wrong with this instrument? Nothing!

Overview by John Morthland, High Fidelity, August 1987

The rehabilitation of the accordion: American pop's got a squeeze-box. ...

Hasil Adkins, Eugene Chadbourne, Bill Frisell, The Mekons, George Strait, Dwight Yoakam: Lost Highway

Essay by RJ Smith, High Fidelity, July 1986

Country used to be a music of the dispossessed. If you look hard enough, you'll find it still is. ...

The Band: Northern Lights — Southern Cross (Capitol ST 11440)

Review by Mike Jahn, High Fidelity, March 1976

THIS RECORDING is easily the Band's best since Music from Big Pink was issued in 1968. And since the latter may be considered one of ...

The Bangles: Bangles (Faulty FEP 1302 five-song EP)

Review by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, November 1983

BACK WHEN they were the Bangs, onstage at various clubs around L.A., the four girls in this bouncy, Sixties-influenced combo were being compared to that ...

Big Audio Dynamite, The Clash: The Clash: Cut the Crap (Epic FE 40017); Big Audio Dynamite: This Is Big Audio Dynamite (Columbia BFC 40220)

Review by RJ Smith, High Fidelity, March 1986

Great Expectations ...

Boston's Return: More than a Followup?

Interview by Toby Goldstein, High Fidelity, October 1978

IN THE cramped basement of a small neat house in one of Boston's outermost suburbs, the leader of a six-million-dollar band is trying to finish ...

David Bowie, Chic, Debbie Harry, Michael Gregory Jackson, Nile Rodgers, Diana Ross, Sister Sledge, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes: Nile Rodgers: "Alright!"

Interview by Davitt Sigerson, High Fidelity, February 1984

What do Southside Johnny, David Bowie, and Diana Ross have in common? ...

David Byrne, Talking Heads: Backbeat: David Byrne

Interview by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, September 1983

Talking Heads leader Byrne is a songwriter, video producer, theater composer, artist, and a part-time member of the 20th century literati. And some people think ...

Ornette Coleman: Roots & Branches

Interview by John Morthland, High Fidelity, October 1984

Ornette Coleman connects the dance music of the Forties and the Eighties. ...

Jessi Colter: Diamond in the Rough (Capitol ST 11543)

Review by Mike Jahn, High Fidelity, January 1977

JESSI COLTER is a country singer who apparently would like to be more than a country singer. As indicated by this new release, she desires ...

The Commodores: 'Easy' like $60 Million

Profile and Interview by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, April 1980

TOMMY McCLARY, his white Adidas pressed up against the sound-booth glass, sits in an insulated cubicle adjoining the studio control room eliciting a succession of ...

Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Almost Blue (Columbia FC 37562)

Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, January 1982

PITY THE POOR marketing people at CBS faced with explaining Elvis Costello's maverick path through modern rock. Between the eclectic classicism of his Taking Liberties ...

Elvis Costello: My Aim Is True (Columbia JC35037)

Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, December 1977

Elvis Costello: New Wave Rock Classicist ...

Crazy Horse, Neil Young: Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Re-Ac-Tor (Reprise HS 2304)

Review by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, January 1982

THERE ARE two Neil Youngs: the wacked out rocker with the reckless, turbulent guitar that cuts to the bone with the steely force of a ...

Miles Davis: You're Under Arrest (Columbia FC 40023)

Review by Richard C. Walls, High Fidelity, July 1985

MILES'S LATEST is a very mixed bag, sounding, in fact, like excerpts from three different albums. On four cuts, the trumpeter is presented in a ...

Bob Dylan: Infidels (Columbia 38819)

Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, January 1984

DESPITE ITS arch title and a few lyric barbs that beg interpretation as renunciations of his Born-Again episode, Bob Dylan's new album is far from ...

Donald Fagen Talks

Interview by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, January 1983

From the dark, jaded regions of Steely Dan emerges an intellectual with an album about innocence, by Sam Sutherland ...

Donald Fagen: The Nightfly (Warner Bros. 23696-1)

Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, December 1982

STEELY DAN fans, rejoice: You can remove your mourning bands, undrape the black crepe from your speakers, and bask in the savvy pop splendors of ...

Marianne Faithfull: Broken English (Island ILPS 9570)

Review by Toby Goldstein, High Fidelity, March 1980

MARIANNE FAITHFULL cut her first record, 'As Tears Go By', fifteen years ago. She was seventeen and fresh out of pre-convent boarding school — a ...

The Fat Boys: Fat Boys: Fat Boys (Sutra SUS 1015)

Review by RJ Smith, High Fidelity, 1985

HOW IGNOMINIOUS: Three ace rappers make a whole album of worth-it raps, and their names appear nowhere on the record. Truly, the Fat Boys are ...

Fleetwood Mac: Mirage (Warner Bros. 23607-1)

Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, October 1982

AFTER THE bold experimentation of Tusk, the seamless pop flow of the new Fleetwood Mac album sounds initially like a studied attempt to recycle the ...

Fleetwood Mac: Making Mirage

Interview by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, October 1982

The current quintet's long-awaited fifth album may be its last with Ms. Nicks ...

Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie: Christine McVie: Egos Can Be Painless

Interview by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, June 1984

Fleetwood Mac member and solo artist Christine McVie is confident when she says, "I'll leave the trailblazing to the teenagers." ...

Foreigner: Unruffled by Platinum Pressure

Interview by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, July 1978

SPEAKING QUIETLY over the hum of a transoceanic phone connection. Foreigner's Mick Jones doesn't seem the least bit threatened by the musical and mercantile similarities ...

Amos Garrett: Go Cat Go (Flying Fish FF226)

Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, March 1981

LIKE RY Cooder, guitarist Amos Garrett has carved a solid niche for himself without resorting to the usual ploys associated with rock's guitar cult: Although ...

Merle Haggard: Big City (Epic FE 37593)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, High Fidelity, January 1982

THERE ISN'T much on Big City that's unfamiliar to the contemporary country milieu: yearning to break away from urban life and flee to "the middle ...

Emmylou Harris Buys Back the Farm

Interview by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, August 1980

A GIANT cement mixer blocks the road, halfway up the snaking cul-de-sac that ends at Emmylou Harris' rented ranch house. Nestled in a leveled out ...

John Hiatt: Riding with the King (Geffen GHS 4017)

Review by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, January 1984

A PARADE of rock critics have tagged John Hiatt "the American Elvis Costello." If that's the case, then Riding with the King is not only ...

Indeep: Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life (Sound of New York SNY 1201)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, High Fidelity, September 1982

THE IDEA behind Indeep is that in matters sexual, women have all the leverage. "You'd be a fool for a kiss," Rose Marie Ramsey says ...

Michael Jackson: Thriller (Epic QE 38112)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, High Fidelity, March 1983

A Thriller with a Difference ...

Etta James, Allen Toussaint: Jerry Wexler: Producer with a Fan's Passion

Interview by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, August 1978

ON A BLEAK, sunless afternoon, Jerry Wexler sits comfortably in the shadows of a recording studio control room, listening to the playback of a vocal ...

The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus And Mary Chain: Psychocandy (Reprise 25383-1, Distributed by Warner Bros.)

Review by RJ Smith, High Fidelity, May 1986

Silly Love Songs ...

Elton John, Paul Simon: Paul Simon: Still Crazy After All These Years (Columbia PC 33540); Elton John: Rock of the Westies (MCA 2163)

Review by Mike Jahn, High Fidelity, February 1976

ROCK MUSIC, like basic black in fashion can hide a multitude of sins — such as poor lyrics. In rock that is played at any ...

George Jones: "I'm Never Gonna Sell Pop"

Interview by Nick Tosches, High Fidelity, May 1977

"I HAVE used strings," says George Jones in the same way that one would say "I have sinned." It is not penance, but regret. "I ...

The Knack: Round Trip (Capitol ST 12168)

Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, January 1982

THE KNACK'S last album not only drew critical catcalls for its attempt to plagiarize mid-'60s British pop but it failed to repeat the popular success ...

John Lennon, Yoko Ono: John Lennon & Yoko Ono: Double Fantasy (Geffen GHS 2001)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, High Fidelity, February 1981

John Lennon's Last ...

LL Cool J: L.L. Cool J: Radio (Del Jam 8FC 40239. Distributed by Columbia.)

Review by RJ Smith, High Fidelity, February 1986

THIS IS A test. Entrepreneurs Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons recently inked a distribution deal with Columbia, heralding potentially the biggest commercial boost to underground ...

Material: One Down (Elektra 60206)

Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, March 1983

CHARACTERIZING MATERIAL'S work as "new music" could be somewhat misleading, since synthetic pop proponents have recently begun to use the term in lieu of "new ...

Paul McCartney: Pipes of Peace (Columbia QC 39149)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, High Fidelity, February 1984

PAUL McCARTNEY just wants everyone to play nice. When he addresses any topic pertaining to the outside world, he takes on the wheedling tone of ...

New Edition: Candy Girl (Streetwise SWRL 3301)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, High Fidelity, October 1983

NEW EDITION'S hit 'Candy Girl' is an uncanny re-creation of the early Jackson 5's pop-soul effervescence, down to the last vocal inflection. But it's not ...

Randy Newman: Backbeat: Randy Newman's Coming-Out Party

Interview by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, April 1983

Called a recluse and a bigot by some, Newman has more to say than most "confessional" singer/songwriters. ...

Peech Boys: N.Y.C. Peech Boys: Life Is Something Special (Island 7 900941)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, High Fidelity, February 1984

THERE ARE too many dance records that, like werewolves, lose their power in the glare of daylight. They may he frisky enough to get club ...

Prince: Controversy (Warner Bros. BSK 3601)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, High Fidelity, January 1982

CONTROVERSY IS a presumptuous title for an album, but it's in keeping with Prince's tactics of provocation. Prince, in his early twenties, is a musician ...

Prince: Rock 'N' Roll Feels The Fire

Report by John Morthland, High Fidelity, December 1985

The PMRC isn't only out to censor sex and violence. John Denver could be next. ...

Bonnie Raitt: Backbeat: Bonnie Raitt Lightens Up

Interview by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, June 1982

Her new album is straight-ahead rock & roll. Has the California air gone to her head? ...

The Salsoul Orchestra: Salsoul Orchestra: Salsoul Hustlers (Salsoul SZS 5501. $6.98)

Review by Mike Jahn, High Fidelity, April 1976

MORE THAN forty performers participated in the creation of this album, which nominally contributes to the current salsa trend but which in this case is ...

Paul Simon: Graceland (Warner Bros. 25447-4)

Review by Hank Bordowitz, High Fidelity, December 1986

SIMON SAYS, "JIVE!" ...

Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run (Columbia PC 33795)

Review by Mike Jahn, High Fidelity, 1975

TO LISTEN to a Bruce Springsteen record is like walking down Forty Second Street on a hot July afternoon. It's unusual, it's colorful, it's a ...

Bruce Springsteen: The River (Columbia PC2 36854)

Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, January 1981

Bruce Springsteen Is Worth Waiting For ...

Steely Dan: Recording Gaucho: Doctors, Lawyers, and Gremlins

Report and Interview by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, February 1981

BEFORE THE multiple-platinum sales of Aja carried their music to a broad pop constituency, Steely Dan's Walter Becker and Donald Fagen had earned enviable, even ...

Steely Dan Sans Sarcasm

Profile and Interview by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, November 1977

STEELY DAN has been insinuating their mordant, pop-noir sensibility into the American musical mainstream for over five years now, and from the outset they've smartly ...

Steely Dan: Aja (ABC AB 1006)

Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, December 1977

AJA IS easily the best album released thus far this year. I hesitate to qualify that statement with words like "pop" or "rock," because these ...

Steely Dan: Gaucho (MCA 6102)

Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, February 1981

Gaucho: Listen Again ...

Talking Heads: Speaking in Tongues (Sire 23883-1)

Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, September 1983

TALKING HEADS' first studio album since 1980's Remain in Light is quietly brilliant, reclaiming the more skeletal character of their earlier work without suggesting a ...

Television: Breaking Out of the Inner Circle

Interview by Toby Goldstein, High Fidelity, June 1978

DESPITE HEALTHY critical acclaim for its 1977 debut LP Marquee Moon, Television has yet to become a household word. Leader Tom Verlaine seems to further ...

Ultravox: Rage in Eden (Chrysalis CHR 1338)

Review by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, January 1982

LATELY, ULTRAVOX has been experiencing a new surge of popularity in Europe and America. Though lumped in with the "new romantic" movement spearheaded by fashion ...

Stevie Ray Vaughan: Backbeat: Stevie Ray Vaughan

Interview by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, August 1983

His first album is just hitting the streets, but Vaughan and his blues guitar are already well-known among rock's elite. ...

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble: Texas Flood (Epic AL 38734)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, High Fidelity, August 1983

STEVIE RAY Vaughan's guitar playing is designed to elicit gasps: Every cluster of notes is an invitation to amazement. This multiple-climax approach could easily prove ...

Tom Waits: Swordfishtrombones (Island ILPS90095-1)

Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, January 1984

BETWEEN HIS fall from grace at his old record company (due as much to executive shifts as poor sales) and his time-consuming involvement in the ...

Was (Not Was): Caught in an Elevator

Interview by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, April 1984

The assortment of artists on a Was (Not Was) album appears accidental. But it's not. Really. ...

Womack and Womack: Womack & Womack: Love Wars (Elektra 60293)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, High Fidelity, May 1984

THE MEN and women that Cecil and Linda Womack portray on Love Wars almost never want the same thing at the same time which makes ...

XTC: Mummer (Geffen GHS 4027)

Review by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, May 1984

XTC MAKES music that is deceptively complicated. The lyrics are literate and occasionally obscure, the rhythms jerk around, dissonant strains loop in and out of ...

Warren Zevon: Backbeat: Warren Zevon

Interview by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, July 1980

Don't the sun look angry through the trees Don't the trees look like crucified thieves Don't you feel like desperados under the eaves ...

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