Vinyl junkie

[simon1]

[quote=Black Stuart;87592]Take a look at discogs, if only to gen up on different pressings - very important. I have been buying replacements for vinyl I've had for decades and some I should have bought back then. Discogs will give you all the info you need like, US pressings, especially the 60s/70s are mostly inferior to UK/European ones and virtually all Japanese ones are unimpeachable - the prices asked and paid confirm this.

Hi, I am resurrecting this slightly old thread.

Black Stuart, on reading your note, I re-visited Discogs which I have not looked at for a very long time and am amazed by the amount of information there. I have not studied it carefully, and see there are ratings (but I am not sure whether they particularly relate to the pressing as all the ones I saw were between 4 and 4 1/2 out of 5.)

Is it easy to see what are regarded by serious listeners as the pressings to have ?

I am more interested in this now as I have just set up a new system which sounds beautiful to me - though some records sound like you are really in the room with the musicians, and some recordings are really dull and you get no sense of reality from the instruments or vocals, even acoustic music.

Many thanks for anyone's opinions on how to tell before buying if a pressing (or even a cd) is truly musical.

Simon

[Richard]

Imho, much/most, music is ephemeral. If it’s a tune you like at the time it will sound good. Sometimes you’ll like it forever and sometimes you’ll wonder why you ever liked it.

In the 70’s we had Selectadisc shops, buy a record one Saturday and take it back the next or part-ex your old tunes for new ones. Likewise hifi boxes were silver one year and black the next.

Some recordings were good, some not, sometimes the music was good but the recordings not, and sometimes vice-versa. Nothing will do everything well and it may depend on how varied your music tastes are.

These days I find Radio Paradise great for a listen to music I wouldn’t otherwise choose, stream it on flac if quality matters, and I’ve bought quite a few CDs that way.

[bob orbell]

Quite agree Richard, Simon, Stuart was given a temp. ban some time ago and has chosen, sadly, not to revisit this forum, some of his posts were interesting, to say the least, but way out of most peoples thinking. Bob

[Chris]

I agree Bob, would be good to see Stuart posting again!

Chris.

[simon1]

Thank you for your notes Chris, Bob and Richard.

I must return to Radio Paradise which I listened to after I saw a recommendation here (maybe that was also you Richard).

I agree to some degree about the ephemerality of music. It has been said that there is a moment in your life to read a certain novel, and if you miss that time, you miss what you will have experienced from it.

I have a reasonable number of singles from the 60's which I only play on my old Dansette as that is the way I always remember them sounding.

Simon

[Dave999]

some of my favourite listens at the mo. mainly due to their above average or really quite good production values

El Camino and Lets ROCK black keys

Parallel Lines Blondie

Hot fuss killers (way better than the CD)

Fuzzy grant lee buffalo (as above)

first press Ogdens nut gone flake and US 1st press (colour sleeve) "there are but four" small faces

first mono press sell out the who (this rocks, the stereo mix is weak and thin and don't buy US pressing)

re pressed stereo double My generation the who

come find yourself Fun lovin criminals

Rhythm and Soul Makin time (acid jazz countdown records repress)

Modern life is rubbish Blur 1st press is quite but with more atmosphere and the dynamics seem better the re master double is pretty good but less subtle. This is a different album compared with the compressed CD

absolutely, Seven and Rise and fall Madness

first press quadrophenia the who

Regatta de blanc police

Fire Electric 6

All Mod Cons, Setting Sons, Sound Affects The Jam (mind all of the singles are pressed HOT in comparison to the LPs Going underground on 7 inch is exceptional

Elastica Elastica first press is nice

Any LP from the White stripes or Raconteurs. all analogue recordings


happy to use any of these to show my blue tooth listening friends what vinyl is all about

Dave

[simon1]

An interesting list Dave. Thank you.

I think I have Parallel Lines somewhere so must dig it out. Interesting what you say about The Jam. I am not sure that I have any of their albums on vinyl. So, do you recommend trying to get the singles ?

Jack White etc you are absolutely right. These recordings are phenomenal. I think I have all the albums on vinyl.

[Dave999]

Blondie came into their own sound with parallel lines
well recorded well produced multi tracked ...all the bells and whistles before they got a bit jaded with being POP stars rather than punks.

rolling drums left right and centre......

The Jam

SNAP the singles collection is a nice collection but Polydor dropped the ball, its thin its flat its just not as well pressed as it should be for a deluxe LP even an early stamped promo copy is not great they fitted a lot of tracks in they seem to have compressed it to fit in that number of grooves...too big for CD initially as well...

the singles were popular, lots sold, and hence if not worried about picture covers are often bargain bin fodder in company sleeves... worth a pound or 2, going underground is the starkest difference compare recording on SNAP with that on the single and go "Ohhh now i understand what it should sound like"... pins your lugs back good n proper..

Albums start with All Mod Cons and work forwards or backwards
backwards things get weaker its punk- pub rock and apart from title tracks the albums are "for the fans" they are harder to like

forwards, more mature, new wave sound, less punky/pubrock, and you end up with the funky soul, with added horns "The Gift" as a last hurrah.

a bit like the clash output, unpredictably swings from genius to rubbish and back, but well recorded and mixed on analogue kit, all albums have their moments of Joy....even if the subject matter can be a tad depressing

Polydor still cranking out re-presess and have done since release. As a money maker, you'd expect the master tapes to have been looked after

get London Calling by the Clash while you are at it.....


lastest acquisitions
deep down happy by sports team god awful guitar based racket
and spare ribs by the Sleaford Mods god awful electronic racket with offensive language

both perfect for locking in a room to run in a new set of speakers. i wouldn't suggest listening


nearly hitting 50 and having kids that are old enough to go out by themselves has allowed me to regress to my teenage years..noisy offensive stuff is only offending me, everyone else has something better to do...


Dave

[simon1]

That's good advice Dave, thank you. I will certainly look out for the Jam singles . I also don't believe I have any Clash albums, so I will have to rectify that. I think I was still spending my money on Dylan and Bowie at the time.

My latest pre-order (I think it is out in September) is Roddy Woomble's next album. I am a big fan of Idlewild and his solo work, and his collaborations with Kris Drever, Heidi Talbot etc.