I posted this on another thread, heavy metal / hard rock, should I go with older pressings if I could get it Near Mint on Discog or should I go with 45 newer pressings from the last 10 years remastered?
Are there any audiophile heavy metal reissues on 45 rpm vinyl?
I had a blast today listening to some garage sale rock albums that I paid $2 each for: Judas Preist Rocka Rolla, Judas Priest British Steel, James Gang Thirds, Pat Benatar Live.
I never had these albums BITD but wow! I really like the sound. No nasty compression like modern digital recordings. Even on these $2 recordings through the surface noise they rocked. I thought I saw a few posts a while back for a few heavy metal reissue record labels. Any of the albums listed above would be cool,to seek out on audiophile vinyl if this existed. Any leads you can share?
I never had these albums BITD but wow! I really like the sound. No nasty compression like modern digital recordings. Even on these $2 recordings through the surface noise they rocked. I thought I saw a few posts a while back for a few heavy metal reissue record labels. Any of the albums listed above would be cool,to seek out on audiophile vinyl if this existed. Any leads you can share?
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Hi, Mike. Dunno about 45 rpm but if that isn't essential and you are talking about early "proto" rather than more modern shredding, I can offer the following: the old Dutch pressing of Sabbath's Heaven and Hell (Vertigo); the first four Sabbath albums on UK Vertigo Swirl; Iron Maiden Number of the Beast mastered by Wally T; First Lucifer's Friend album on German Philips; Scorpions Lonesome Crow- if you don't want to spring for the original Brain pressing, the slightly later Metronome/Brain sounds good, just doesn't have the cool label; Opeth- Damnation from the twofer- Deliverance and Damnation (S.Wilson remaster); Josefus- Dead Man- just buy the current reissue, original pressings are collectible and expensive; Randy Holden Pop II-- they will almost all be reissues or boots-- one of the loudest acts in the business, monster guitarist; just reissued again; Atomic Rooster-Death Walks Behind You- (not really metal but heavy, rich organ and dark, gothic sound); original UK pressing with Wm. Blake painting sounds dramatically better than the much cheaper US pressing with a different cover. |
if you have $10k or so there is always the Holy Grail of heavy metal 45rpm reissues.....where it all started. https://www.discogs.com/Led-Zeppelin-Led-Zeppelin/release/5882431 mine will go to my son in my will. |
here it is, the heaviest metal in all it’s 45 rpm glory. i have this pressing and it’s awesome. but if you play it at warp 9 fasten your seat belts. those with the most dynamic systems will be amply rewarded. if your floor transmits feedback from your speakers to your signal path or turntable things might not completely hold together (smearing detail, blunting transients, congestion on the peaks) at higher SPL’s. don’t blame the pressing for what your system cannot articulate. it's all there, every lick. and it could leave a mark. i use active isolation that allows music like this to soar. https://www.discogs.com/ACDC-You-Shook-Me-All-Night-Long/release/2514630 |
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My experience with heavy metal centric reissues has been spotty at best. The best sounding pressings to my ears have always been Japanese pressings. Got a few Japanese pressings of Thin Lizzy, Motorhead, Sabbath, Rolling Stones (not metal, I know, but you haven't heard Exile until you've heard an OG Japanese pressing), and Prince (obviously not metal). They all sound better than any reissues I've ever heard. |