Record Reissues

[Stratmangler]

Hi All

Just playing my birthday present from SWMBO, the Speakers Corner pressing of Supertramp's "Crime of the Century".

And it is quite simply the best reissue album I have ever encountered - if they were all done this well then there would be no debate about original pressings being the best to have.
It beats the pants off any other pressing I've ever heard in all respects.

Well done Speakers Corner !

Chris

[IslandPink]

OK, thanks for the info Chris .
I'd heard they were good .

I can add that Classic Records ( eg. for Jazz resissues ) are top-notch too - their 'Kind of Blue' reissues being a case in point .

The best for the rock / pop so far seems to be Sundazed . I've had several poor ones from other companies , many of which seem not to be analogue, for starters .

MJ

[Stratmangler]

I've got a couple on Classic, and they are excellent too, although not as good as the Supertramp.

Not got any on Sundazed yet.

I think Simply Vinyl are the most patchy.
I've got 6 from them (would have been 7 but the album in question had been mastered at the wrong speed and was thus returned), and they range from excellent to "ok but the original is better".

I've also heard the Simply Vinyl pressing Of Elton John's eponymous album, and that is horrendous !
The original is far, far better.

Chris

Hi, I ordered bob marley-exodus and nirvana- mtv unplugged from simply vinyl . The nirvana lp sounds amazing, hardly any background noise(well for vinyl anyway) but on the bob marley there was a faulty track causing a shuffling noise. Simply vinyl gave a refund stating it was a faulty batch.

[Stratmangler]

I managed to get my hands on Joan Armatrading's eponymous album at the recent Manchester show. This is the now deleted Speaker's Corner pressing, and the cutting/pressing job is, like the Supertramp, absolutely superb.

That said, the sibilent sounds of the recording are still there, just more tolerable.
The sibilence is due, I think, to a combination of JA's lithp (no smelling pistake here) and a bout of microphone eating.

The dynamic attack on this record is on occasion frightening (Jerry Donohue's Telecaster solo on "Tall in the Saddle" literally leapt from the speakers and slapped me about the head, it was so vivid and real).

One of my copies of John Martyn's Solid Air is by Simply Vinyl, and in my opinion they have done a superb job of it. My only copy of Grace by Jeff Buckley is also on SV, and that is also superb. It's a shame the other other stuff in their catalogue is not executed to the same high standards.

I bought my copy of Exodus for £3.00 in a second hand record shop, and it sounds great.

Chris

[IslandPink]

Chris,

I bought the John Martyn 'Simply Vinyl' Solid Air version first, thought it was pretty good ; then I bought a good pink-rim ( Palm Tree ) Island copy and it was quite a bit better , and about the same price, so I'm not so keen to recommend the SV one . On the other hand, if you need Nick Drake LPs , the SV ones are as good as late 70's Island re-issues and cost A LOT less than the very rare originals or even the reissues .

Mark

[michael orme]

Originally Posted by Stratmangler

I've got a couple on Classic, and they are excellent too, although not as good as the Supertramp.

Not got any on Sundazed yet.

I think Simply Vinyl are the most patchy.
I've got 6 from them (would have been 7 but the album in question had been mastered at the wrong speed and was thus returned), and they range from excellent to "ok but the original is better".

I've also heard the Simply Vinyl pressing Of Elton John's eponymous album, and that is horrendous !
The original is far, far better.

Chris

I bought about 4 Monkees records on Sundazed, they all sounded very poor, a bit like playing a very cheap cd player through a cheap old valve amp. (No insult intended). No deep bass at all, or any really high top end. I bought an original copy of one of the records, Monkees Headquarters, for less than the Sundazed price, it sounded much better. On the orignal, it says something on the sleeve referring to Decca, on the Sundazed copy, it says something like; Courtesy of Rhino records. I was dissapointed, Sundazed sent me a catalogue, and some "3-D" glasses to read it by, it cost them $4 postage from my email request.
Mike. Rhyl

[IslandPink]

Ah, that's interesting, and worrying . The three Sundazed ones I have so far ( Incredible String Band 1st, Fred Neil 'Bleeker & McDougal', Donovan 'Sunshine Superman' ) have nothing to do with Rhino records mentioned , but they are all good . I have a Beefheart reissue LP that was from Rhino and it didn't sound good .
Most reissues with the little gold shiny stickers saying '180 gram' are not good and seem to be digital . Similarly I don't like any of the 'Get Back' resisues I've tried .

It's a bit of a minefield , but then buying 2nd hand ones is hardly risk-free .

MJ

[Basil]

Some of the Sundazed and Get Back re-issues do indeed sound thin and coarse - CD sounding! However, I recently purchased a couple of Akarma re-issues of the heavy rock outfit "May Blitz" and these sound very good, in fact they are the best sounding Akarma re-issues I have heard. The sound is rich and crisp with plenty of powerful bass drum lines. I must have nearly a 100 Akarma re-issues and they vary immensely from reasonable to very good.

I have found since ditching my Linn that the Goldring that replaced it plays re-issues with a more pleasant effect, so much so that I am looking for more re-issues rather than buying expensive originals, which to be honest can sound just as bad.

Basil

[michael orme]

[quote=IslandPink;36197]Ah, that's interesting, and worrying . The three Sundazed ones I have so far ( Incredible String Band 1st, Fred Neil 'Bleeker & McDougal', Donovan 'Sunshine Superman' ) have nothing to do with Rhino records mentioned , but they are all good . I have a Beefheart reissue LP that was from Rhino and it didn't sound good .
Most reissues with the little gold shiny stickers saying '180 gram' are not good and seem to be digital . Similarly I don't like any of the 'Get Back' resisues I've tried .

It's a bit of a minefield , but then buying 2nd hand ones is hardly risk-free .

MJ[/QUOTE

Perhaps the problem is with the (Master?) tapes being supplied to Sundazed by Rhino Records?
My Sundazed Monkees records are Translucent red, blue, yellow, etc. I have no other records on Sundazed.
Michael Orme. Rhyl. UK.