2. analog
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RCA Living Stereo

I have collected vinyl for over fifty years. Jazz, classical, rock… I have lots of late fifties jazz recordings… some of the best are RCA Living Stereo albums. So, over the years if I found a Living Stereo Album, even not in the category of music I liked, I would buy it. I just found a couple dozen… I had bought over the years, usually for a dollar. I had cleaned them on my record cleaning machine, treated with Last and hid them in the corner.

I am currently listening to one called, Lisbon At Twilight… stereo 1958. Wonderful recording. There are a lot of these orchestral works created.. jazzy often from contemporary tunes. The recordings are compelling, so are the orchestrations and individually musicians even though I would have to classify much as elevator music.

 

But with such great recordings in a great system they can be really enjoyable. They are 180 gram of heavier as well. $1… what a deal… blast from the past.

ghdprentice

Showing 2 responses by goofyfoot

goofyfoot
1,326 posts
 

My thought is that many of the Living Stereo three track recordings were recorded superbly however the pressings are compromised. Along the same lines as the Mercury Living Presence pressings. Analogue Productions remastered and reissued a good number of the RCA's and a few of the Mercury's also. I have their Reiner / Chicago 'Scheherazade' hybrid SACD and it is among the best sounding CD's in my collection. I would assume the vinyl reissues to be excellent also.

@lewm I agree, to me the Deutsche Grammophone recordings are tough to listen to, though I have a couple that are just all-right. Do you know Deutsche Grammophone's 'Archive Productions' label, which concentrated on historical performance practice? Since I only have a mono table, I only collect the mono releases. Anyway, they are excellent. I haven't heard the stereo.

goofyfoot
1,326 posts
 

@edcyn Yes, I too am a fan of Musica Antiqua Köln but sadly they are no longer. I lived in Nippes Köln (the outer ring) as a graduate student. I love that city and still listen via stream WDR 3 consistently. I wanted to also add that Archive Productions released a number of 7 inch 45's and they sound amazing. I'm aware that much of the AP catalogue has been transferred to CD but I am a skeptic just because the vinyl is so rich and clear.

Does anyone have experience with the Soviet Russian label Melodia? I have a nice sounding LP of the Ukrainian State Philharmonic. Was just wanting to hear your thoughts.

@realworldaudio I've played some really good sounding Dynagroove pressings. I believe Lewm stated the same. I never got excitement from playing RCA Victor Shaded Dog pressings. Maybe it's because of all the filtering that was originally used but the Analogue Production reissues crush the originals. At least on my stereo.

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