I’d recommend as a first choice going to Music Direct or Acoustic Sounds. They listen to everything they get, the latter is getting involved in production. A lot of times, modern bands put out vinyl just to make fans happy, but the label puts no effort into it. Often, it’s sub-par from mastering to pressing quality. There’s just not a lot you can do there, I’d recommend going digital.
It’s interesting you bring up Zappa, because I remember an interview with him where he was complaining that the bass was literally flaking off of his master tapes. I think a lot can be done digitally these days to retrieve information that simply wasn’t available back in the day.
David Bowie was on Mercury in the US and RCA in Europe, both awful, terrible companies. I remember so many horrific RCA pressings, borderline comical. I think only Atco (we called them Ratco) was worse. Back when Genesis’ Lamb Lies Down was released, I took that disc back 3-4 times, and each one was not only warped, but slightly egg shaped with horrible crackling during some quiet passages. I swear the master had cigarette ashes dropped on it!
So I’d often grab the import versions if available, and usually found a huge difference to the US pressings. Or, at the very least the cover was made from nicer material. Still, some of my original vinyl from the 70’s is downright amazing. Joe Walsh on CBS is one example, it sounds like it could have been pressed yesterday. Puts the red book (original) to shame.
Totally agree that weight is secondary, the only difference I’ve personally noticed is a slightly darker background when I’ve been able to compare.
Article on this: http://vinyljunkies.co/180-gram-vinyl-records/
The best of today’s quality is just as good if not better than the old days. I do not think there is anything special about old pressings and most of the remasters I have are distinctly better than the originals.
It’s interesting you bring up Zappa, because I remember an interview with him where he was complaining that the bass was literally flaking off of his master tapes. I think a lot can be done digitally these days to retrieve information that simply wasn’t available back in the day.
David Bowie was on Mercury in the US and RCA in Europe, both awful, terrible companies. I remember so many horrific RCA pressings, borderline comical. I think only Atco (we called them Ratco) was worse. Back when Genesis’ Lamb Lies Down was released, I took that disc back 3-4 times, and each one was not only warped, but slightly egg shaped with horrible crackling during some quiet passages. I swear the master had cigarette ashes dropped on it!
So I’d often grab the import versions if available, and usually found a huge difference to the US pressings. Or, at the very least the cover was made from nicer material. Still, some of my original vinyl from the 70’s is downright amazing. Joe Walsh on CBS is one example, it sounds like it could have been pressed yesterday. Puts the red book (original) to shame.
Totally agree that weight is secondary, the only difference I’ve personally noticed is a slightly darker background when I’ve been able to compare.
Article on this: http://vinyljunkies.co/180-gram-vinyl-records/