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In Reply to: RE: Blue Train UA Blue Note Versus 75 Blue Note posted by Sidewinder on April 16, 2014 at 17:54:03
I just got my "Free For All" but haven't played it yet. My gut feeling was that these new reissues were not going to make the grade, it is unfortunate as I was hoping to get many of the issues that I lack in the BN catalog. It seems that the way to go is the Liberty/UA pressings from the '70s, I have some that are just unbelievable sounding (jackie mac swing, swang, swinging), and some that are a bit dead sounding (jackie mac action! action! action!) I am still able to get these issues at around $10-20 in vg+ to nm on occasion, but hard to find the sonny clark stuff. (did get cool strutting and idle moments..) I find it damn hard to understand that when classic did their issues, they were top notch, and the King reissues are said to be even better than the Lexington originals, wtf, can't anyone else get this right?
Follow Ups:
That's the key.
Examples? Freddie Hubbard's Here to Stay which is a two-record set which includes his classic Hub Cap . Remastered by Michael Cuscuna, dull and flat-sounding compared to the earlier versions (but still worth having because it's one of Hubbard's classic albums).
There's a reissue UA reissue series, white jackets with a grey border along the top, also flat and dull sounding by comparison to the older stuff.
The OP in this thread definitely wasted his $21. If I had a UA or Liberty copy of Blue Train , I'd never have bought one of the new reissues.
The way I look at the reissues is, you get what you can get. I have a list of about 30 titles from the new series, records I want bad. Most of them won't come out until next year. I have till then to find Van Gelder copies. If I can't get the Rudy, I'll settle for Don Was.
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The little old ladies wait in wild anticipation for the meetings of the Double-A-C-ASSN...
while the RVG stamp is much prized (and for good reason), the ron Pendorff essay would indicate that several reissues do merit listening to, including the one you mentioned, 55. But he is particularly drawn to the King reissues, and that could be explained that 1) Japanese remastering and record making in general have been of higher quality than US record making, and (2 the cutting equipment took a huge jump up in ability in 1968 when the Neumann lathes became available, allowing more high frequencies to be cut into the lacquer. I would also think that the Classic reissues, because of the care they use (and my (relatively small) experience with their classical reissues) would be excellent sounding. The RVG stamp, as noted in the pendorff essay, particularly for the later pressings, could in some ways actually work against the record as that would indicate the use of an old stamper that could be well past usability or optimal sound quality...
But they're getting expensive, too. I looked at Buy It Now prices on Ebay this morning, for Blue Train . There's a King on there, not cheap.
I've only got one Classic Blue Note, Cannonball Adderley's Something Else . Classic reversed the channels, IIRC. Other than that it sounds pretty good, lots of punch, but I actually prefer the DMM copy. It just sounds more balanced to me, it's a better mix than the DMM Blue Train .
Analogue Productions and Music Matters take great care with their reissues. The pressing quality is excellent, packaging, etc. The problem is that we're getting farther down the chain from how these records were originally mastered and mixed. You buy Music Matters, you get Blue Note as interpreted by Kevin Grey, for example.
For what it's worth, I agree with Sidewinder about that the new reissues can't hold a candle to New York, Liberty, UA, King, etc. but they're cheaper and for 20 bucks they're pretty good. There are a lot of very rare titles getting reissued, too, records you're not likely to find any other copies of. For that if nothing else, I'm happy with this series.
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The little old ladies wait in wild anticipation for the meetings of the Double-A-C-ASSN...
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