So the moral of the story is that Piper will be worth getting? As someone mentioned, originals are scarce.
The rough type of cardboard commonly used in thick inners from the 70s and 80s, particularly in the UK, can certainly cause enough damage to the vinyl surface over time to have an audible impact, most notably in quiet sections. In general, visual sleeve scuffs can often be inaudible but that's very rarely the case when cardboard is involved, in my experience.
I'm reviewing my original Tower Records Saucerful Of Secrets to determine whether I need a new copy. I've had it since release. My early '70s Columbia Piper seems in good enough shape to not replace. Do the cognoscenti have a problem with this pressing?
The German 1C 064 does sound pretty good...and my original UK does have a lot of surface noise from the inner sleeve. Can't help you in locating a German pressing, tho. I lucked out and found mine at a local Goodwill.
I have the HTM cut Fame also. It has a tiny scratch on the first song, but it plays through nicely. I grabbed it last year for $6 at a local shop. Guess they didn't know what they had. I like it, but I also ordered the new release. Since originals are way out of my price range, I'll have to settle for these alternatives.
I have this and scored a NM one for $20. One to keep an eye out for its really nice, green label. Mine is G5G (Barry) hand written with the 5AE side stamped.
Hmm. Optimal may be the way to go for pressing quality, but that won't fix a bad mastering job. Thanks for the review.
I don't think the mastering is bad. It's just not very impressive. As others have said, though, the original album never sounded that great so this may be faithful in its mastering.
Any indications that is the same 2011 mastering? I hope we won't end up with something like the Queen vinyl remasters.
If these go down the route we mostly expect they will from the masters but to digital then to vinyl I think those that don't have the back cat on vinyl it will be great, I'm sure they'll sound great but I have everything on good pressings and it's all analogue so I'm happy. Though if they pull a Beatles mono (unlikely) and they are AAA then yes I'll be interested. I'm just glad for those that now have a chance to own these albums in what I'm sure should be rather impressive even when they inevitably going to be digital. I'm looking forward to hearing peoples opinions when these appear.
I don't have the early records on vinyl, but I'll pass, if they are not done properly. I was recently disappointed twice (Queen/Peter Gabriel) and I'm quite pi*** off, that the industry wants our money, charges a lot and is not willing to care a bit about the product, respectivley does their job right. They want to sell vinyl, then they should produce it in the right way... And I won't ever preorder something from the big players anymore. I was so excited, when the Peter Gabriel reissue series was announced and I orderd everything right away. I can't put it into words how disappointed I was, when I finally received the 6 records. And I paid, what I would call serious money for them. Same with the Queen Box. If the LPs are not properly mastered (and that means in a project like this generally AAA to me), I'll definitely pass unless I get them really cheap (like I would have got the Gabriel LPs only few weaks after they were released. The Beatles Mono Box shows how it goes. Such a great, great product!! Just my 5 cents..
MusicDirect has these in stock, in case anyone wants to get them a couple of days early. I canceled my preorder with DeepDiscount, and was going to order instead from MD, but now I think that I'll hold off until I see more reviews.
Agreed. I wonder if Meddle is the album Roger talks about on Pompeii that they had to try and fix sibilance on. They don't mention a title, they are far too stoned and more fixated on eating at the time :0)
It was actually Obscured By Clouds he was talking about, he mentioned that the early pressings were badly cut. The way he just says "If you hear sibilance on the second pressing, you have good imagination" to Steve O'rourke I believe it is on Live at Pompei always gives me a chuckle, a proper Blu ray release is way over due.
