Yeah @tgilb, Jackson's albums certainly warrant being again available on LP (I wish everyone would stop saying vinyl. LP's are NOT made of vinyl, but rather PVC---Poly Vinyl Chloride. Am I being too literal? ;-). His four albums released in 1993 through 2008 were never available on LP---CD only, another reason to have a CD player. Jackson is a fantastic songwriter, a good singer, and has excellent taste in musicians. Timeless music.
@larsman: Hey, did you cross paths with Norman Maslov (calls himself Mazzy) in San Francisco? He managed a SF store in one of the medium-sized record chains (not The Wherehouse, a different, smaller one), then went to work for ABC-Dunhill doing promotion until they were bought by MCA, who laid off the entire department (ah, the record biz ;-). In '79 MCA hired him back to again do instore displays for album releases, which he did for two years. He then quit and started his business as an artists rep---painters, photographers, illustrators, etc., which he now does from Seattle. He has a YouTube channel, where he has posted a lot of Vinyl Community videos, great stuff.
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@big_greg: When I think about all the white label promos I got as a product buyer at Tower! I still have a fair number of those, and two days ago found another at one of my LRS: Jackson Browne’s For Everyman ($25, Mint condition). A comparison between it and my stock copy should prove interesting.
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Another way to find good sounding LP’s is too look for "white label promos", supposedly the first records off the press. Made first to send to radio, reviewers, record shops for in-store play (though most got taken taken home by the store’s buyer), etc., often in advance of release date.
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Yeah @lewn, Classic Records---though starting out strong---ended up wimpering across the finish line, their last few years marred by bad pressings. Owner Michael Hobson blames that partially on the move to 200g discs. 200g? Why?!
Good news: Chad Kassem has announced Analogue Productions will be issuing the Prestige catalog on LP, starting I believe this year. Cool, the Prestige titles I have are great, but finding clean copies is not easy (or cheap!).
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Right you are @audioguy85. I was long mystified by Harry Pearson including the original UK Island pressing of Tea For The Tillerman (which I for years owned) in his Super Disc list, a recommendation parroted by Michael Fremer. I heard something seriously amiss with the sound of the LP, the cymbals and acoustic guitar completely missing their upper harmonics, the electric bass and kick drum strangely soft and "puffy" (missing upper frequencies greatly affect the perception of "attack").
Analogue Productions’ Chad Kassem (or perhaps his main mastering engineer, the great Bernie Grundman?) is responsible for discovering the reason for that, as I explained above. One more example of the reason for the quality of Kassem’s AP reissues. The superiority of the AP issue of TFTT over all other editions is dramatic. Available (for now; it is about to go out of print. If you want a copy, get it NOW!) in both 1-LP/33-1/3 RPM and 2-LP/45 RPM versions.
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Where was the Coltrane LP pressed? Yes, there are bad new LP pressings, so consumers have to be discerning. You don’t buy a McDonalds hamburger expecting it to taste good, do you? ;-)
For a great Coltrane pressing look for the reissue of his Lush Life album that Craft Recordings did a while back. They did it as a 1-step pressing (if you’re unfamiliar with what that is, a search will explain it all), making only 1,000 copies and selling them direct-to-consumers for $100. It sold out in 20 minutes, and unfortunately now sells on the second-hand market for $500. :-( Still, do you know what an original first pressing in Mint condition sells for?
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My first record store job was in 1970-1, and let me tell ya, we had to return a LOT of defective new release LP’s that year, whole batches of them. LP pressing quality has ALWAYS been an issue. That’s one reason I and others started buying import LP’s in the late-60’s/early-70’s. British pressings ALWAYS sounded better than their U.S. equivalents. German ones too. Japanese LP’s were very well made, but sometimes suffered from odd equalization.
"Pure junk from otherwise respectable audiophile company"? For instance? I’ve never received a junk LP from Acoustic Sounds (Analogue Productions), Speakers Corner (made in Germany. I think junk is illegal in that country ;-), MoFi, or any other audiophile company. Yes, sound quality varies, but that is more a matter of the original recording than the pressing. Again, for new LP’s, look for those pressed at QRP, Pallas, Optimal, and RTI.
"...junk records of bad quality will rarely appear there." (the used market). You cannot be serious! I don’t know where you’re looking for and/or finding used LP’s, but LP condition grading is a major---no, THE major---element in the collectible LP market and business. Near Mint condition records comprise maybe 5% of all the LP’s listed on Discogs, VG+ another 15%. Below those grades, all bets are off. Most used LP’s are "junk":, but that’s because of user abuse, not pressing quality. When I peruse the bins at my local used LP shops, for every one record I find in condition good enough to consider buying, I see and reject about ten.
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@adrobitko: Yep, but that is what I and others have been talking about. Your post reads "My problem with new the pressings are quality" (you obviously meant to say ...with the new pressings....), implying all new pressings are of the same quality. They are NOT!
This Miles Davis reissue is NOT from an audiophile company, it’s from a major. The LP’s pressed at QRP, Pallas, Optimal, and RTI do NOT have defects like those of your pictured LP. Lots of companies are making 180g LP’s, but the weight of the disc is not what’s important. Just as not all 50lb/100w amplifiers are all of the same quality, neither are all 180g LP pressings
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@big_greg: The first Rock 'n' Roll colored vinyl album I saw and bought (in 1970!) was Dave Mason's great debut album, Alone Together (recorded by the legendary Al Schmitt.). Accompanying Dave are the all-star cast of Leon Russell, Chris Ethridge of The Flying Burrito Brothers,, Carl Radle of Derek & The Dominos, L.A. studio pianist Larry Knechtel, John Simon---here he is again!, Delaney & Bonnie, Rita Coolidge and Claudia Lennear, and the killer drummer-quartet of Jim Capaldi of Traffic, Johnny Barbata of The Turtles and soon-to-be Jefferson Starship, and Jims Gordon & Keltner. Wow! .
The Alone Together PVC is of the "marble swirl" variety (which looks like Silly Putty does after you have copied some comic strips ;-), which does look cool spinning. The sound quality is good, too. I have augmented a couple of albums I have on black vinyl with the one colored vinyl variant I love the look of, that being Coke bottle green: the new Los Lobos and Rodney Crowell albums. The B-side of the second disc in the Los Lobos album is blank, the space taken up with a cool-looking etching. Had to have it!
@tgilb: QRP presses LP's for some of the majors, too. They did The Band boxset that contains all their studio albums, for instance. Lots of companies got rid of their presses in the 90's, thinking LP's were gone and never coming back. Bet they now wish they hadn't!
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Excellent post @big_greg!
I too have no use for or interest in colored vinyl LP's. Seems like something made for girls, or little kids The first ones I had were in the mid-50's---translucent red kiddie records, 10" iirc, or maybe the more common 7" (my memory has been affected by all the LSD I smoked ;-). Vinyl Me Please does a lot of their issues in color, for no good reason I am aware of. At least they have most of their LP's now made at QRP. Black may not be a color, but black is beautiful, baby!
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I have one album I like so much I have it on three different LP pressings: Born Under A Bad Sign by Albert King (if you like Stevie Ray Vaughan, you NEED this album). An original on Stax Records, the first reissue on Sundazed, and the new reissue on Speakers Corner. If you prefer the original, you need a better hi-fi ;-) . Bad news for 180g LP haters, the Speakers Corner BUABS is just that. Oh well, better to not believe in hype than to enjoy better sound, right?
I also own King’s Elvis Presley tribute album (entitled King, Does The King’s Thing) in two incarnations: an original on Stax, and the reissue by Vinyl Me Please. If you think Stax manufactured their LP’s with the care VMP does, I don’t think there’s anything I can say to change your mind.
And then there is Pet Sounds. I have the album in the following pressings:
- Original "rainbow label" Capitol Records issue, in mono.
- Reissue included as the second disc in the Beach Boys’ 1972 album So Tough.
- EMI (UK) "100 Series" reissue in stereo (with rainbow label).
- Capitol Records "Limited Edition Stereo" (mixed by Brian Wilson) reissue.
- 180g (oh, the horror ;-) reissue on DCC, mastered by Steve Hoffman.
- Analogue Productions reissue in mono.
- Analogue Productions reissue in stereo.
Guess which version sounds the "best"? Hint: It’s a trick question. If you think it’s the original Capitol, you need a better hi-fi.
Which LP is manufactured with the highest level of quality control? If you think it’s the original Capitol, you and I have very different opinions as to what constitutes quality.
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Another point to be made is that in the comparison between an original pressing and a reissue, there may not be a clear winner: the original may better the reissue in some regards, the reissue the original in others. Another reason to characterize the statement that 180g reissues are hype as an over-simplification.
Many members of the Vinyl Community on YouTube have compared original pressings of Blue Note LP’s with the reissued versions (Tone Poet, and Blue classic Series), and prefer the original in some regards, the reissue in others. And in some cases, with a particular title the original pressing is preferred in all regards, with other titles the reissue is. Again, too over-simplify is to be foolish. Unless one has an agenda.
Another consideration is that an original pressing of a rare LP can cost one far, far more than a reissue. Some of the original Blue Note’s now sell for four figures. The Classic Series reissues sell for under $25. How much are you willing to pay for an original?
As I said above, I have LP’s dating back to the 1950’s. To say that mass-market LP’s from the 50’s through the 80’s were made with better quality control than those now made by the audiophile reissue companies is utterly ridiculous, completely untrue. Now not all reissues are done by audiophile-orientated companies; it takes knowledge to understand what reissues are worth buying.
By the way: the very rare 1994 pressing of Petty’s Wildflower LP was mastered from a digital file, the recent reissue from the analogue master tapes. Which version would you rather own?
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@flasd: Uh, the quip about smoking LSD is what’s called a joke. The joke’s on me; I didn’t anticipate anyone not having heard it before, or of not getting it now (I am guilty of giving people too much credit). I first heard it out of the mouth of Robert Kennedy, who said it with a wink. flasd, get it now?
By the way: I first took LSD in 1967, last in 1968. How ’bout you? I would hazard a guess that I’ve forgotten more about that very dangerous drug than you will ever know. Not that that is something to be proud of.
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Too much generalizing and over-simplifying for me, but one sentence really stands out:
"with the same quality control they had back in the day."
If you think record labels manufactured their 1960’s/70/s/80’s LPs with the care Chad Kassem puts into his QRP pressings, well, I have some swamp land to sell you.
Suggestion: Compare original Buffalo Springfield LPs with the new reissues of those albums Neil Young is doing. If you prefer the originals, I’ll sell you mine for a hundred bucks each.
Another: The original Tea For The Tillerman LPs were mastered with Dolby noise reduction engaged in the chain. When Kassem went to reissue this record, he discovered the tape was not Dolby encoded. So the ’flat" tape had had most of it’s high end removed by the Dolby playback circuitry, drastically changing the timbre of Cat Stevens’ plastic-bodied Ovation acoustic guitar (and the drummer’s cymbals, which I always found severely lacking in shimmer).
If you prefer the sound of the original LPs, that’s your business. But to call them better than the Analogue Productions reissue tells us a lot about your judgment in sound quality. No offence intended. I compared my original UK Island pressing to the Analogue Productions version, and there was a very clear winner. Contrary to your assertion, the reissue was superior to the original in every way. And gee, it's a 180 gram slab of PVC.
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