What LP shows what analog can do?

I agree with the recommendations on the Salvatore list that Dougdeacon was so kind to point out; I have many of them and I believe he is correct in his assessments. If you can get the Harmonia Mundi La Folia, it's a hoot (nice recordings of a chain saw, balloons and a Land Rover(?), among other oddities) and a sonic spectacular, with dynamics that will make you jump out of your seat and squash the good CD version. The Dorati/Mercury Firebird reissue by Classic Records is also a great example of vinyl playback's capabilities.

I have and listen frequently to both versions of the Firebird from Classic, and Dougdeacon is correct, the 45 rpm version is breathtaking sonically (as well as interpretively, fortunately). Glad I got my copies early and paid far less than current prices. That break in sides 1 and 2 bugs me to no end; fortunately, the 33 1/3 version is almost as good as the 45. Either version will make you wonder what people are talking about when they say CD's have better dynamic range than vinyl.

Music Direct does have all the Classic Records and Analog Productions reissues that are still available, although you may have to call and ask them for particular titles; other sources, other than used record shops, would be Red Trumpet, Acoustic Sounds and Elusive Disk. Some of these guys have used records in their inventory which they sell--I got my copy of the RCA 45rpm Direct-to-Disk Beethoven Appasionnata from Red Trumpet, and I know Chad sells out-of-prints and used, though he charges top dollar. It pays to call and ask, as not everything is listed on the websites. For the Chesky reissues, you might take a flyer and see if Chesky Records has any left of their records, including the Stravinsky Petrushka (sp, I know) that Salvatore mentions, if you can't get it elsewhere. Finally, check the A-goN, as these sometimes do show up for sale. And I'm sure others will give some more good sources for these records, these are just the main ones, along with the Princeton Record Exchange, that I use.

I have a couple of copies I squirreled away a few years back. Strings a little steely sounding (compared with the Firebird or some of the Decca reissues), but otherwise a terrific record. Some of those Readers Digest recordings were far better than the records they pressed--same goes for some of the Voxes, such as the Ravel and Gershwin boxed sets. The original vinyl I've found is easily surpassed by the Analog Productions and Reference Recordings reissues. Lets you see how good Wilkinson and the Aubort/Nicrenz team really were.

That's one of the reissues I was referring to. Their Ravel and Rachmaninoff are excellent as well, the former a nice complement to the Analogue Productions reissues from the same Vox Box. Interesting to compare the Reference and AP reissues of those sets to the Classic Records DADs from those tapes, and RR's remastering chain to Doug Sax's tubed remastering job. Same master tapes, three different sonic signatures, all of them highly enjoyable and working to show how good the original recording really was (although I still can't figure how Classic mixed up the right and left channels on the DADs, even within the same piece, such as the Gershwin Concerto in F). It's too bad that Reference couldn't make any profit from their fine efforts to do more vinyl in the series, but such are the economics of this business, I guess.