Ah, I thought you were just making a tongue-in-cheek joke. Seems you must be referring to various standalone reissues that have come out over the years (i.e., such as the 30th and 40th Anniversary DSOTMS, the 1997 30th Anniversary 2xLP of "Piper" in Stereo AND Mono, the 20th Anniversary edition of "Division Bell" in 2014, and so on), and which are NOT part of the forthcoming reissue campaign-THOSE are slated to be released in the proper chronological order.
Great idea. I can picture these covers in my mind. The Lemur at the Gates of Dawn A Saucerful of Lemurs And of course there would be: More Lemurs
How about this, since we're on a roll: Dark Side Of The Lemur Wish Lemur Here Lemurnimals The Final Lemur A Momentary Lapse Of Lemurs The Division Lemur The Endless Lemur
All the RTIs I have in my collection have been top notch. I doubt that they would risk their reputation on a high profile roll out like this and not have the quality other than excellent. Ditto with Optimal's production. RTI is a small company, but they have been extremely busy over the last several years. Like anything, I am sure they have had some issues, but this is a huge project for them. I have the first 3 Hendrix RTI's and have been playing them a lot. They are still sounding great!
Oh, believe me....I too have all the 2010 RTI-pressed Hendrix reissues (right up to the 8xLP "West Coast Seattle Boy" box), as well as the 2009 individual re-presses of the Doors reissues. And I have to agree that they ALL sound great. However, it must be remembered that they were pressed in substantially smaller, more limited runs at a point in time when RTI's quality was still of a consistently high standard, and back when the vinyl market was on its way back, but not NEARLY where it is today. But, as I reiterate, RTI's quality has, for the most part, gone right down the crapper with the rapid growth of the vinyl market-in itself just another SAD example of how Quality Control has taken a backseat to meeting HUGE demand (and RTI obviously not being able to keep up). In addition to the aforementioned defective 2012 pressing of Alanis' "Jagged Little Pill" (of which I went through two copies that were equally bad), I've heard numerous complaints about their more recent standalone reissues (such as those for David Bowie's "Earthling" and "Heathen" albums), as well as more than half the RTI pressings of the recent Simon & Garfunkel box set (although I TOTALLY lucked out and got ALL good pressings in MY N. American S&G box). And THAT is what's got me concerned about the fact that it was THEY who were contracted to press the N. American editions of the PF reissues. On the other hand, Optimal cannot be beat! Their quality control is among the STRICTEST of any pressing facility in the world!
Let's cross our fingers and hope they rise to the occasion. I am only purchasing 2 of the set at first to see how they come out. After that, I will determine how I want to go for the rest of the roll out.
Good idea! In fact, I find myself already fighting the temptation to go ahead and buy all four when they come out. And if too many defectives roll out, then perhaps Sony Legacy will follow the example EMI set during the whole Rainbo debacle with the 2012 Beatles reissues, and let some EU pressings into this country. But we shall see how it all plays out.
I know that the re-issue program only includes studio albums but lets not forget: The Delicate Sound of Lemurs
Or how about these Solo-related titles: The Pros & Cons of Lemurs Radio L.E.M.U.R. Lemured To Death Nick Mason's Fictitious Lemurs Wet Lemur Broken Lemurs On A Lemur Rattle That Lemur
2012? so you got a couple of bad copies 4 years ago. That's hardly indicative of their current work. RTI presses for both MOFI and Music Matters Jazz, who have very high standards. I'm curious what your "crapper quality" meter is? Ticks and pops? Yes, Optimal is good. I think Pallas is better, as is Quality Records. At least with Speaker's Corner records from Pallas you know they're 100% analog, and same with Quality. Optimal presses well, but it often seems unclear what source they press from, which matters more to me than who stamped the vinyl.
Not forgetting Gilmours first 2 albums David Lemur Lemur Face I've got both of these and they are excellent (even if they sound like Pink Floyd)
More than just a few stray ticks and pops, my friend. DISTORTION out the yin-yang, dirt, thumbprints and DEEP scuff marks that looked permanently "baked" into the grooves (for lack of a better description), and LOTS of good ol' fashioned non-fill noise from start to finish on BOTH copies I got. That said, I believe that QRP (Quality) has been pressing for Mo-Fi for the last several years, or at least they were for a time anyway. I have QRP-pressed Mo-Fi's of Elvis Costello's "Get Happy!!" and Foreigner's "Double Vision", both from 2011. And both are EXCELLENT! Flat, clean and perfectly quiet. That's the way to go! So, let's hope that RTI will be 100% ON THEIR GAME every step of the way for the new Floyd reissues, as theirs is without question one of the most IMPORTANT catalogs of all time. Then again, as some of us will NEVER forget, no domestic pressing facility could've screwed up as MASSIVELY as Rainbo did with the N. American pressings of the 2012 Beatles reissues (or at least the first couple of runs). So, MAYBE...just MAYBE RTI deserves the benefit of the doubt this time around. Again, we'll find out soon enough.
MOFIs have been done at RTI exclusively for the past several years, including the Elvis Costello titles.
That was my favourite reissue in terms of SQ. i dont want it on 1 LP, it would sound terrible. You'd have to edit like the original LP for starters..
I'd be interested to know if they are going to revise The Final Cut as per the CD. It's a long album already (I used to carry it around on a C60!) and Tigers would only make the cutting more of an issue. I realise modern lathes can achieve longer cuts, but it's a very dynamic recording - huge drum hits and shouting vs. almost nothing and some mumbling. Then again, if they didn't, the CD would be inconsistent. I'll be looking out for SQ reports - I have an original that I played about twice (bought and taped it in 1983) before going off Floyd for about 30 years. It's thin vinyl but memory serves that it sounded tremendous. The first 4 are probably the one's I'm most interested in. I just hope that the early years box (if it ever arrives) doesn't replicate the stereo versions of Piper and SFOS that I'm about to buy! My existing Piper is an EMI/Fame, so pretty undistinguished and Saucerful is a 6th press, which I think is the one immediately before the Fame issues. Both would benefit from an update. I never owned More or UG on vinyl for some reason, so these feel like obvious buys. Things get trickier in the mid period. A decent Meddle would be good but would a decent cut of AHM make me play it more than once a year? How many copies of Wish You Were Here do I need? Is this an upgrade on the 2011? Also, will the US and EU versions of DSOTM and WYWH have the original cover variants? I'd quite like the US posters for the former and the US sleeve for the latter! I have a NM UK A1/B1 of OBC and my late father's UK copy of Animals (I bought it for him in 1982 when he was younger than I am now, which is a bit weird) and both sound fine to me (despite Roger's irritation at the former).
The main benefit of these is going to be reduced surface noise if the mastering is up to the 2011 WYWH (not DSOTM and Wall). I think this is particularly necessary with Meddle which is always noisy on parts of Echoes no matter what pressing.
My 1982 italian pressing of the Meddle vinyl has no noise at all. Pioneer PL512-X turntable with Shure M91MGD cart and Jico stylus. No high end but all carefully set up; in fact I rarely have problems when I play new or well kept vinyl. Of course used or faulty copies have their shares of problems, but in the case of that copy of Meddle, bought sealed and that was never played until some years ago, I must confess I was pleasantly surprised.
