The Music Section on Qobuz: A Musical Taste Test

The Absolute Sound publishes between 25 and 30 reviews in the music section of every issue, and our feature articles add more coverage. It’s natural for TAS subscribers to think, while reading a review, “That sounds interesting, but it would be nice if I could hear a cut off the album.” Now that option exists, as every month we will populate our playlist with tracks from the records we discussed in the music section.

The magazine reviews new releases in a wide range of formats—including compact discs, vinyl LPs, streaming services, and, on occasion, reel-to-reel tapes—and listeners should be aware that when they dive into these playlists they’re usually hearing the release on a different format than the reviewer did. (When the reviewer uses Qobuz to listen to the music, they state that in the review.) But curious readers will definitely benefit from listening to highlights from these albums.

Our first monthly playlist is devoted to the music section for Issue 361. It includes selections from feature articles on reissues by Santana, Skip James, Blind Gary Davis, and Mississippi John Hurt. The other selections contain songs that the writers considered highlights from the album—so if the reviews aroused your curiosity, here’s a chance to give the music a musical taste test.