THORENS writes: “More than two years have passed since our last Thorens LP, and we haven’t been idle in the meantime. The TD124, to which we dedicated “Tribute To A Legend”, continues to be extremely popular – most recently as a limited edition to mark our brand’s 140th birthday. In fact: Thorens was founded in 1883 in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland. And spent a huge part of the company’s history on the one hand perfecting record playback, but on the other hand keeping it accessible and affordable for every music listener with serious intentions.
We have dedicated “New Reference” to a project close to our hearts, for which we deliberately exclude the affordable part: the Thorens New Reference. The most complex drive in Thorens history is intended to provide a deeper, more precise insight into new and old records with new technologies used for the first time in the hi-fi sector. You can buy this player, but he costs what he costs: price was not a criterion in his development. For us, the New Reference serves as a development tool that our affordable players will also benefit from. And he also has to deal with normal records, pressed in 1960, 1980, 2000 or 2020, at some point in the 100-year history of the medium.
A period of around 60 years is also represented on this double album: The oldest productions were made in 1960, at the beginning of the stereo era. The newest ones just a few years ago. When selecting the titles, I once again browsed extensively through my private vinyl collection, combining old favorites and newer listening test highlights to create a very personal, but also, I believe, consensual mix. You won’t miss the fact that I have a certain soft spot for soul. I included one or two tracks in my selection simply because they are otherwise so difficult to obtain on vinyl. These include Inger Marie Gundersen’s “Let It Be Me”: It’s hard to believe that there was no further pressing of the associated album “Make This Moment” apart from a first mini-edition.
Now at least this track is available again on fresh vinyl. As always, our audiophile friends at in-akustik paid attention to first-class mastering and superb pressing quality. We are therefore very confident that we hope you have fun and enjoy listening to this album: you will have it.
1A
1 Youn Sun Nah She Moves On
2 Vanessa Fernandez Trampled Under Food
3 Vital Tech Tones VTT
4 Betty LaVette I Hold No Grudge
2A
1 Eva Cassidy Autumn Leaves
2 Shelby Lynne Just A Little Lovin
3 Ondara American Dream
1B
1 Mario Biondi & The High Five Quintet This is What
2 Elvis Presley Fever
3 Inger Marie Gundersen Let It Be Me
2B
1 Allan Taylor Colour To The Moon
2 Gene Ammons Canadian Sunset
3 Beverly Glenn-Copeland La Vita