Harry Pearson 2013:
Well, what can I say?
Never read anything better and honest in the last 10 years.
Kudos Harry
Ironically, I had sold the magazine to save it, from my ineptitude in business manipulations, to someone accomplished in such matters and someone whom I presumed I could trust to put the love of music ahead of the love of considerable profits. In return, I was to put out a first class magazine that continued to define the art of high fidelity.
I was told I would still be in complete editorial control. But I was not. I had been replaced by those who had turned my magazine into something I would not subscribe to....
The Absolute Sound was no longer what I had dreamed it would be: A magazine about the love of music and the highway to an appreciation of the real thing. But the highways, the audio equipment, had become more important then the real thing, and had become an end in themselves.
Understand I have nothing against TAS. But it no longer seems to adhere to the principles for which I founded it: Namely, to promote music as the goal of all audio equipment. The audio gear is a highway that can lead to the music, not an end in and of itself. I also have nothing against advertising per se, just against its use in exchange for favorable reviews. And one thing as controlling editor for TAS, I had always refused to do, was arrange swaps of reviews for advertising.
... we decided to go at it online, and named it HP Soundings. I knew I had the reputation, based on long-time credibility. I knew I had the right partner in Mr. Weiss. I knew we shared the same philosophy to carry it on; that of the love of music itself. I believed then, as now, that the music needed me, but not, perhaps, as much as the other way around.
Well, what can I say?
Never read anything better and honest in the last 10 years.
Kudos Harry
