Music Matters Definitive Blue Note 45 RPM and 33 & 1/3 RPM vinyl series (pt7)

Agreed, I believe she's the main person wearing a myriad of hats. I've had nothing but quick, attentive responses but when it's "harvest time" it's understandable that things can take a bit more time.

 

Search for the New Land... what a great album. I have the double 45 rpm and the blue note single lp reissue. I'll be dumping that single reissue which I occasionally listen to in order to avoid flipping LPs; it was actually decent sounding. The 45 is stellar and I'd bet the new reissue will be as good if not better. The Thad Jones is f'n great on the 45... can't wait to have it on a single lp! Fun stuff.

As for Lori, don't panic, she's responsive and will help you out. There were some 45s I'm missing and she's adding one to each shipment. Got Byrd in Hand coming as well. Filling some holes in MM collecting before it's too late!

 

Agree on the Thad Jones--one of my favorite MMs, and one of the absolute best-sounding in the series.

 

No, I do not follow you. Value added tax is a tax, as the term says.

 

That's not what he said.

 

Apparently that's not the case. That's only the price for subscribers.

And perhaps, by the same token, every poster who complains about the "complainers" could contribute $5 to offset the additional cost for them since you don't seem to care what they cost.

 

Anyone with the 45 rpm releases planning to get the 33 rpm of the same titles in the final series? If so, would you be kind enough to give a sonic comparison once they arrive? The first two new 33s - Lee Morgan and Thad Jones appear to be the earliest duplicates to be released in this new series.

I'm really impressed with the 45 rpm releases that I have so far. However, I did recently order Wayne Shorter's Speak No Evil on 33, based on comments in this thread. Are there any others that are expected to improve for the same reason that title did, namely better masters?

As a related issue, what motivates MM to release certain titles on 33 rpm that have already been released on 45 rpm? The Wayne Shorter re-release seems clear - improvement due to better master tapes. However, I wonder why Horace Silver's Cape Verdean Blues was chosen over Song For My Father, which IIRC was one of the best selling jazz titles of all time. Plus, we are not seeing re-release of titles that clearly sold out or nearly out on 45 rpm, like A Night in Tunisia. This leads me to believe past sales was not the driver for the re-releases. Perhaps MM felt particular titles would benefit from a remastering? Or maybe it was just personal and arbitrary?

 

I think MM picks titles they believe will sell.

Maybe there is more to it than that, but certainly there are titles they can't do
because the tapes aren't in great shape. I suspect they create a wish list based
on their best sales forecasts, including how well other audiophile reissues of
certain titles have done, also looking for the opportunity to reissue a title that isn't widely available,
and probably some personal preferences for albums they like.

 

I'm just as fed up with the pricing discussions as the next guy, but I can't help but fuel the fire here a bit.... Has it already been mentioned that at $44 a pop, they're a dollar short of allowing us to get free shipping by ordering 2 of the new 33s? Hilarious.

 

I am truly sad that Music Matters is no longer producing.
They have done a terrific job and I have not heard any better reissues on these classic jazz artists' work. They made them as if they were recorded yesterday. Their effort was a worthy project to preserve these unique American legacy. They have raised the bar on reissue production.

 

You could just wait a week? Or maybe a day. Possibly a month. Who knows!

 

I'll post my thoughts on the Lee Morgan and Thad Jones, I have both on 45rpm. As for why they repressed some of the titles on 33 why not email Ron or ask Lori. I would think there's likely a rationale, my guess is licensing, sound, market appeal, and low 45 stock (combo of all four). I bet they had more favorable licensing deals on some of the 45s that they didn't fully press, and that they may have made pressing the 33s more cost effective. I DON'T KNOW THAT FOR SURE... just a guess. Jeff

 

- At the risk of starting yet another "beaten like a dead horse" argument on this forum (but I'll follow it up with some price gouging thoughts! Just joking!) I'm wondering if perhaps the 33's saw brisker sales when they debuted? The 45 line was ended, but the 33's continued. I know (at least on this thread) I'm in the minority, but why do I want to pay more for an album, simply to get two LPs, with something like 2-3 songs on a side (if that!) that I have to keep flipping! It's craziness. Some people just enjoy having an album on vinyl, and listening to it in the background while they're doing something else. I'm wondering if the price point (which people are already complaining about with new vinyl) along with the inability to really listen to the album unless you're an audiophile "extremist" has led to some 45's moving to the side for 33's to take over. Every album back in it's original release date was a 33. One LP. If you got a double, or triple LP, it was because you got a whole heck of a lot of music. The trend of having 2-3 songs on a side of all these double LP 45 RPMs at a higher price point might be burning some people out. Just a thought on the whole question above!

 

That's the main reason I wanted the 33 of Search for the New Land. I already have the 45, but the fact that the side lengths are (roughly) 16 minutes, 5 minutes, 9 minutes, and 13 always made it feel weirdly uneven. That 5-minute second side...

I'm also curious to compare a 45 and 33 of the same album, just for my own entertainment. I'll always opt for the 33 for convenience sake, but I'll consider it audiophile training to see if I hear a noticeable difference between the two, whether it's 45 vs 33 or old cables vs new cables or whatever.

 

There's no question that the 33 market is bigger than the double-45 market, exactly for the reasons you mention. MM has advertised their 33 series as having an additional 1k copies per title over their 45 series, in anticipation of higher demand. Anecdotally, we've had a few people jump on board in this thread for the 33 series who aren't interested in double 45s. I prefer the 33s myself, for the lower price and greater convenience. I find the mastering to be mostly a wash, but of those few I've been able to compare directly, I've generally preferred the 33s. But I don't intend to rehash that debate.

 

Yes, the constant flipping stinks but compared to spending thousands for a stellar original.. I'll flip multiple sides, spend 50 usd, and offer my thanks to Mr Rombach!

 

Don't get me wrong; I've got a bunch of the 45s.

 

Yes, but how many of you have original Blue Note 7" 45s?

 

I do. Found them maybe six years ago at an old warehouse like record shop tucked away someplace out of downtown in New Orleans. The place was all 45rpm records, huge floor to nearly ceiling cases, 40 feet long, like four bays of them, nothing but NOS singles. In that mess, I found a few Blue Note singles from the late 1950s, early 1960s. Bought them mostly as an artifact.

 

I know that dusty place. I went in there only looking for unusual New Orleans-related original releases.

Cool find!

I have a 7" 33rpm Kind Of Blue cut.

 

I got the newsletter from MM just now about the new series shipping.

In it, it states "The price is $39.95 for subscribers only."

 

I just saw that too, so I guess it's official that you pay more if you wanted to cherry-pick. I may not get any of these now. I was going to get Wahoo! and a couple others I don't already have from the AP 45RPM series, but I consider none of them essential to my collection. Next month I'm going to look at a collection of 600-800 classical records I know someone wants my advice about selling. I may just blow my record budget for the year on titles from that if I find good stuff.

 

Sucks for the cherry pickers, but at least they've clarified now. Glad I subscribed. This is actually the first time I've subscribed to a Music Matters series, though eventually I got almost all the 33s. Having the long break from releases this year helped me catch up. The only 33s I don't have are Our Man in Paris, Speakin' My Piece, Us Three, and The Golden 8. The latter will be my freebie with my build-your-own 45 subscription.

 

That is sad news, I wish they would have been clear about that earlier. It is not possible for me to subscribe, since I can only have shipments to the US during certain times in the year. Plus, I always buy 3 records together to benefit from free US shipping. Now there is already higher prices from the get go if you don't buy everthing in for of a subscription.

Not so nice for some customers.

 

Rhetorical question - Would they likely have been able to do something like this if they hadn't pulled distribution?