What are your go to LP's for evaluating new gear or new tubes?

@billpete

I covet your Cat Steven's collection :)

I managed to snag a NM 1970 A&M first pressing of TFTT for a decent price last night. It is on its way. I hope that it actually is in NM condition. I will just have to live with that for the time being. At least I will know that it was pressed with relatively new plates. If you should find that you have multiple copies of pink rim label Island pressings and would be inclined to part with one. I would be happy to take it off of your hands for a reasonable price :)

Happy listening.

@flash56 

If I had more than 2 copies, I would consider it. I only have the one on Island from the original stuff. I need to try the A&M dbx copy to see if it is different. I may have never played it, can't remember. I wish the 180g was playable. It might have been a good one. Need to see if it's possible to fix an off center drill hole. For whatever reason, TFTT is one record that I have more of than any other. It is one of my favorite albums, that's for sure. To say what is an absolute favorite, I could not do.

I have 4 or 5 copies of Tori Amos, Under the Pink. In the beginning, it seemed hard to track down a decent copy, even on pink vinyl and new/sealed. I have 3 or 4 of them and not one is perfect but one is the best, (quietest). It's a shame because it is such a good recording. Had a black vinyl copy but was a totally washed out version of the original. Gave it away. 

I generally have multiple copies of anything that I am likely to play a lot, such as my reference LP's. Can never have too many. :)

Happy listening to you as well. 

@billpete

I would be interested to know what you think of the dbx copy when you get around to listening to it.

dbx is another form of noise reduction different than Dolby A. If Dolby A had been used already. Why would you apply noise reduction again? There is something about this whole "Dolby A saga" that doesn't play out correctly in my mind. One other question in my mind. Why is Michael Fremer making the decision? He is just a reviewer! If they had a question about it. Why did they not contact Yusuf himself? Why didn't they send him examples and ask him which one was correct? I'm sure that he would have been glad to help, since it is his music. And he was present during the whole process. It would have been the only sensible thing to do before going forward. And why is there not more information out there about this enormous screwup, that supposedly affected every copy made for 35 years? There isn't any information out there, that I can find. Some huge pieces of this puzzle are missing. And I am not buying into it at this point.

@flash56 

I'll try to get to it tonight. Still evaluating new gear so lots of listening ahead. 

I have no idea as to why things went the way they did. It would seem that Cat/Yusef was very much involved so no idea how things could have gone so haywire. I know damn little of the recording industry or how it works. You and others here know a great deal about it so I read on and enjoy all the chat. I'm happy to have stirred this up and have learned a great deal. Thanks to all. 

@flash56 

OK, so I gave the dbx copy a listen last night. It is undoubtedly one of the worst recordings that I have ever heard in my life. It may be the worst. For starters, there is a loud hiss that you can hear even over soft passages of music. It is present for the entire recording and stops to dead silence between tracks so you know it is recorded hiss. If it is tape hiss, it is the worst and loudest I have ever heard. I thought I had a tube going bad or something until it got past the first song and went dead quiet. 

Furthermore, it sounds very thin and tinny as though it was recorded in a large trash can or something. Has an almost echo quality, that sounds terrible. His voice is nearly unrecognizable, instruments as well sound terrible. There is a level of detail that shows at times but it all sounds terribly unnatural. The only reason to own a copy of this that I can think of would be to illustrate to people just how badly it can go. It is a terrible injustice to Cat Stevens and I'm shocked that it ever made it to the stores. It is the only copy I've ever seen but I would certainly never look for another one either. It will stay in my collection but only as a pure novelty item. My wife heard it with me and agreed from the very beginning, that this was something truly awful  You would have to hear this for yourself to believe it. My son showed up about halfway through it and he was shocked to hear that it was vinyl. He knows the album well, just not this copy. On the bright side, it is a perfect example, not a single tic or pop on all of side one. None of us had a desire to hear side two. Unbelievable. 

So..........went to the Island copy immediately after. The strength and clarity of his voice was back. The bass was back, the clarity of the guitar was back. The drums sounded more real. I tried to pay particular attention to the drums and cymbols since our drummer friend @bdp24 told us that they missed the mark. I have to admit cymbols were very faint if you heard them at all. Something I had never noticed before, simply not knowing what to look for. I still feel that this recording is better than the others, 1000% better than the dbx copy. I will check the other A&M copies next. As I said before, they used to be my reference point and I never found them to be lacking in anything. I'll post my findings. New gear, new details still being discovered.