5 Reasons Why 45's are the Best (in my opinion)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by gpg6212, Aug 28, 2016.

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  1. Collectables re-issue 45's are generally very good. They don't press records but farm them out. All record manufacturing factories have defects in any production run. The stereo re-issues are more often a plus. Many hit singles from 1959 to 1961 had stereo counterparts(like by Elvis Presley). From the late-60's into the mid-70's, although the 45 you bought down at your local record store may have been mono, they were also often offered in stereo on the radio station copies and these are probably the versions you heard on the radio.
    The records companies themselves started re-issuing their hit singles in stereo, most notably Elektra on their "Spun Gold" series and the Canadian Atlantic "GS" re-issue series. Laurie Records didn't issue true stereo anything until the mid-60's. After Continental Communications took over Laurie, they went back to the original session tapes and mixed true stereo versions of their biggest hits for the first time. These Laurie 45's will have a P-date of 1986 or later at the bottom by Continental Communications, as they copyrighted, created and released these true stereo versions for the first time. These same stereo versions have been taken over by Collectables with the same credit and the Laurie LDG series number on them.
    Many of the original mono 45's were folded down from the stereo versions and not unique.
     
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  2. The FRiNgE

    The FRiNgE Forum Resident

    Yeah, maybe not cost effective in the long run. I was intrigued by the 3 inch single, do you remember those? I think the CD single was marketed more as a sampler at a discounted price, with the expectation the buyer would then buy the album. The days of current hit radio had peaked and long gone, more stations had become AC format (LP tracks) ... and the oldies were purchased as compilations. The CD single lacks the pizzazz of the 45 RPM record. Some CD discs even had a 45 RPM graphic as a nostalgic touch. The extra tracks weren't interesting at all, with few exceptions. The hype stickers would entice with extra tracks, "extended club mix", a'capella mix with beats, DJ Tony's hot track, instrumental dub mix..... gheeeezzz gimme a break! Maybe I'd be more interested in hearing an a'capella of "Love Child", The Supremes, or "Aquarius" by the 5th Dimension, outstanding vocal performances and worthy of special consideration. But an a'capella of "Here I go again" by Whitesnake, I think I'd go maniacal.
     
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  3. The FRiNgE

    The FRiNgE Forum Resident

    True, I own many reissue 45's among originals, some of the reissues very well pressed from quality sources, especially stereo versions. The spectrum from really great to god awful is wide ranging. I've lotted out or thrown out some of my worst reissues. There are good ones worth considering. Among the better reissue labels are Collectibles, Flashback (Arista) Silver Spotlight series (UA) sometimes Columbia Hall of Fame, (ie: mono Short version of "Susan" by the Buckinghams..very well pressed) and I've left out a few not remembering at the moment. Maybe you could fill us in..
     
  4. The FRiNgE

    The FRiNgE Forum Resident

    Yes, the poor styrenes got torn up by the record changers. Later on in the 80's the tracking was light enough on the mass produced record players, that the styrenes fared a little better. I have been lucky enough to find some NM styrene from the 60's, which play very nicely. In some cases, a styrene record can produce amazing fidelity and very low noise (in fact new styrene is as quiet as virgin vinyl) Styrene, mostly is the VW as you said, Vinyl like a rolls. Some records were concurrently pressed on vinyl and styrene, such as Imperial records and many more... Johnny Rivers, Classic IV, and this one comes to mind, Starbuck "Moonlight Feels Right" (Private Stock records) ... the vinyl pressing less common but far superior. Motown on styrene, forget it!

    Rock on
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2016
  5. Bob J

    Bob J Forum Resident

    From my experience in buying Collectables singles from Oldies.com and from other record shops, I'd say the success rate is between 60% & 70%. The noisy ones are not quite bad enough to hassle with trying to return them but there's more surface noise than I would hope for, even after cleaning. The whole stereo/mono debate is another deal but even if any particular track was a fold-down at the time of original release, it still sounds better to me in the mono configuration, especially if that's how I was used to hearing it. Coincidentally, I've been listening to more Sirius radio lately so I can decide if I want to renew my subscription. When I turn to the 50's & 60's channels, it's obvious that Sirius is playing more stereo (probably CD versions) of the old songs and the sound on most of them is just plain lousy to my ears. The mixes are often out of balance and have very little presence compared to the mono mixes. This morning, they played "Hungry" by Paul Revere & the Raiders in stereo and it had no guts. The true single version of that song smokes. Anyway, Automated, thanks for your info.
    A reissue label I've had much better luck with is Eric Records. Even if some of the songs turned out to be in stereo, the overall quality of the records has been consistently fine, despite them being on styrene.
     
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  6. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I'm going to comment or contradict you on a few points:

    The best part is that the Beatles 45 singles are in MONO, and some U.S. Capitol versions may contain unique versions, like "I Am The Walrus".
    Not in my area.

    In many stores, you'd be lucky to find any 45s!

    Back in the 60s and 70s, you could stack five or six on a spindle in your changer. Most people had changers back then.

    I think some of the best albums are filled with potential hit singles.
     
  7. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    You mean the 3¨ CDs containing up to 20' of music ? Yeah I have 2 of them and even used to have a 3¨CD-R
     
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  8. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I bought what I thought was going to be a nice, clean original mono copy of Ohio Express' "Yummy Yummy Yummy", only to get home and hear how damaged it is. Oh well, it was only a couple of dollars.
     
  9. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Most stores had all the latest top 30 or 40 singles on a wall rack, usually by, or behind the sales counter. They kept the rest in a bin close to it. That was usually the first place a kid with only a couple of dollars would look first.

    I remember back in 1974 when even 7-Eleven sold the top to 45s!

    You could go to many department or drug stores and find packs of three or five distributor cut-outs for something like 99 cents. That's how a kid like me built up his collection. The only thing I hated was the hole punch in the label. I always felt it diminished the quality. But, there were some real gems in those grab-bags.

    Fun era. Now it's all gone.
     
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  10. Victor/Victrola

    Victor/Victrola Makng shure its write

    I bought several 45s at an estate sale last weekend. Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls Of Fire" on Sun was completely trashed, the grooves so worn out, it was horribly distorted. It sounded like it had been played a million times with a cheap stylus (or a heavy tracking jukebox). After a good cleaning, The Monkees "Last Train To Clarksville" sounded great, but nothing could beat "Midnight Train To Georgia" by Gladys Knight & The Pips. That 45 sounded glorious!
     
  11. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I aquired a big box of 45s several years ago. A guy's mother passed away and gave me the box so I could make needledrops of them. The problem is that she didn't know how to take care of records, and they were all scratched up and dusty. I was able to do a few, but most of them are worthy of a landfill. I still have them. It's a shame because there are some real rare R&B records in it, but useless.
     
  12. Victor/Victrola

    Victor/Victrola Makng shure its write

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  13. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Styrene is OK. People make a much bigger deal out of it than need be. I think most of the complaints come from old radio types who used very heavy tone arms in the studio, and some people who use line-contact styli.

    I play mine with a line-contact or microline stylus without any problem, and they sound fantastic!
     
  14. sami

    sami Mono still rules

    Location:
    Down The Shore
    There's nothing like spinning a few 45's, period. One of the joys of this hobby. I love the hot mixes you get on so many that almost redefine the song - "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" immediately comes to mind. It just explodes out of the speakers.

    One thing that is an absolute must is having a cart with a conical or spherical stylus. An elliptical tip of thinner will often shred styrene singles and produce distortion on many, but a conical stylus makes virtually any record at least playable, and quite often great sounding.
     
  15. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    It also depended on where you lived. I am geographically closer to Los Angeles, so a lot of 45s available out here were styrene pressed at Monarch.
     
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  16. peter

    peter Senior Member

    Location:
    Paradise
    I love 45's. And, back when Tower on Sunset had that HUGE back catalogue 45 section, I availed myself of it as often as I could.

    Little did I know that in many cases I was buying the MONO version of that song. And, after joining here, I of course learned that in some cases, that 45 mono version was unique to the 45.

    Recently, I acquired stock mono copies of amazing songs like "The Weight" by The Band; "Hush" by Deep Purple and so many others.

    On top of that, I also just found 4 Rolling Stones mono/promo 45's: Heartbreaker; It's Only Rock'n'Roll; Ain't Too Proud to Beg and Waiting on a Friend. Also, a white label mono promo of Happy/All Down The Line. Fun stuff.
     
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  17. sami

    sami Mono still rules

    Location:
    Down The Shore
    Ripping singles to your hard drive allows you to create killer playlists on an iPod for the car. Like you say, crushes any commercial comp.
     
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  18. Fullbug

    Fullbug Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    But this doesn't address one of the main reasons we love music so much: deep cuts!
     
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  19. Bob J

    Bob J Forum Resident

    Ah, but sometimes that B-side was a deep cut of another type: one that often never made it to an LP.
     
  20. lukpac

    lukpac Senior Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    I'll just go ahead and assume that everyone is a fan of The Merry-Go-Round.

     
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  21. Bob J

    Bob J Forum Resident

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  22. The FRiNgE

    The FRiNgE Forum Resident

    Before you give up on the Sun record, it was cut for a 1 mil stylus, and will play much cleaner on the 1.0 mil. Sun is one of the exceptions that a 0.7 mil conical or smaller does not track. The distortion is both from wear and that the stylus is bouncing around in the groove.
     
  23. pickwick33

    pickwick33 Forum Resident

    I didn't say much in the thread, but I know I'm fanatical about 45s in real, offline time!

    And as far as the "styrene" deal...I've been noticing for the last three or four years all these singles collectors suddenly feeling the need to point out styrene singles every chance they got, as if they had a choice. (And since they're usually talking about rare stuff they found junking or at a record show, since the record in question is 30+ years old and probably unreissued, the question may be moot.)

    While I've never paid close attention myself, I guess I should compare my styrenes with my non-styrenes to see how they've held up. I guess it's like hearing someone repeatedly point out whether something is in stereo or mono, in a conversation where it wasn't really the main concern. Interesting to a point, but...
     
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  24. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Well, stereo/mono is always a major issue, so I think it's a bad analogy. Some people keep claiming that a vinyl pressing always sounds superior to a styrene pressing, but that has not been my experience. All that really matters is how well the records of either type were cared for.
     
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  25. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I love playing a few singles now and again. The 45 speed does give them some kick.

    One thing I found is that often the promo copies are nice vinyl when the retail 45 is styrene.

    Anyway I was playing "Sweet Cherry Wine" not long ago from 45, and hot dang does it sound super! Love that TJ & the Shondells Classic on a near mint original 1969 45!!!!
     
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