Record Store Day 2017 Sound Quality And Music Reviews

I think I have one coming. I say, "think" because I did manage to finally get through to Bullmoose and they took my order on this along with four other items. However, when I got a ship preparation email it was unfortunately conspicuously missing along with a blurb that said "if this is not your complete order, other items may be shipping from another location".

Of course I sent a nice email the following day and just got a reply that my order had shipped. I'm just going to let it go for now and see what happens. I will find out soon enough. I'm just not in the mood to be a complete pest right now. In looking up my order it shows as "packaged".

So far I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the operation of this store and look forward to doing business with them in the future. Everyone here seems to think they are very dependable. I had no idea they had actual stores. I was under the impression that they were similar to Pop Market.

ETA: Regarding the Peter Tosh LP, I just want to say that when I carefully opened it from the side to preserve the shrink and hype sticker and caught the whiff it made me laugh. That alone was worth the price of admission. Very cool release.

 

American pressings of the original debut have the song though, right? That's what Wikipedia says.

 

Okay, so onto the Jaco live set. Drum roll please.

Well, on one level, it sounds great. It's clean, big, and dynamic. It was originally recorded to 24 track tape and mixed to stereo for the broadcast. The original engineer did a new mix for this release.

In the notes, he says he didn't like the original mix sounded. The resurfacing of the tapes allowed him to improve it. Alas, the engineer said excitedly, he did the remixing digitally. That's the rub for me. Though it's absolutely tonally balanced, it sounds a bit dry and sterile. It's not quite as harmonically juicy as it probably could be.

Given that the tapes were in excellent condition, I would have liked to see this pulled off entirely in the analog domain.

I don't have the CD with which to compare (available soon, as far as I know).

The box set contains a 14 page full-size booklet. The LPs clearly pressed at RTI with those waxy translucent sleeves.

The music, of course, is terrific.

 

Y'know it is really quite annoying that after paying a small fortune for the boxed set and waiting about a year for Captured Tracks to ship the finished product i read this information. The boxed set was supposed to be a premium release and whilst the coloured vinyl mostly sounds nice, some had non fill and the individual sleeve reproductions looked cheap and crappy. Die hard fans were in for this at great cost and to find out less than a year later that the most desirable album in the boxed set has been released in a markedly superior product is pretty galling.

Good that the RSD release seems to be a quality re-issue; but for owners of the boxed set it is really bittersweet news.

 

They have stores all over Maine and New Hampshire.

 

I have it but it's still sealed. Not sure if I'm going to open it, I have some the original singles from back in the day.

 

Don't get huge hopes up for the Cocteaus. It is a more than decent pressing and sounds pretty good (and all the b-sides are on a 2nd disc which was a surprise to me) but is probably a well done digital transfer onto vinyl. All in all probably a little better than the Lush albums you really did not rate in last years RSD boxed set but not revelatory.

Really quite seriously f****d off that the Luna Penthouse is supposedly a lot better than the boxed set version (which i paid a fortune for and waited a year to get imported from Captured Tracks). That boxed set was very similar in quality to the Lush set with variable coloured vinyl, reasonable sound and poor sleeve reproduction outside of the nice outer box and booklet. A premium price for a less than premium product. It was held up a few times to correct quality issues then turned out to be average. I am glad i have it but to now find out that the best album from the box is now out in a nice quality reissue is galling. To be honest i regret passing on a vg+ 2nd hand original of Penthouse for less that £5 about 6yrs ago. Must have had brain fade that day.

 

I finally opened the Pretty Things French EPs RSD box today ... blemish free vinyl and all in mono but the sleeves are just thin paper photocopies of the originals ... here's hoping that Madfish now issue a mono SF Sorrow on vinyl.

 

Well.. at 43€ the RSD Version isn't exactly a bargain either. Compare that to the 21€ I paid for each Cocteau Twins album.

As for the new version.. yeah.... on one hand it does suck on the other I find it totally amazing that a non too mainstream title like "Penthouse" does get two dedicated vinyl masterings within the space of a year. According to Discogs this album was the "problematic" one in "Long Players" so maybe this is what inspired this newly mastered RSD release. Apparently the artwork is also nicer than the one in the box.

As for the Lush box, in fact "Origami" was to blame that I haven't bought the Luna set even though I've been considering it... well... practically constantly.

I guess the RSD "Penthouse" just made that decision for me, "Bewitched" has been available as individual release for quite a while now, "Pup Tent" and "Days Of Our Nights" originals were never prohibitively expensive so the only tough to find album at the moment would be "Lunapark".

 

I work for a company at the forefront of print technology and you would think with the amazing advances in that area in terms of imaging and reproduction that it would be reflected in impressive sleeve quality on these re-issues even if the original source material is missing. However it seems that particularly for RSD, we are constantly getting 3rd rate photocopy quality sleeves that could charitably called "shoddy".

 

I also find that ridiculous. Here we are in the 21st century with our super advanced technology yet we can't seem to get an artwork as sharp and crisp as in 1967, 1974 or insert any pre millennium year.

 

The Bewitched re-issue on Gotta Groove is better than the one in Long Players even though they changed the sleeve. Long Players version went back to the original sleeve but it looks like a crap blurry photocopy. The revised re-issue looks better and the excellent pressing was very slightly better although i like the white vinyl in the boxed set. I have a BBL original white vinyl of Days Of Our Night and that is better too with a nice glossy sleeve finish compared to the cheap matt photocopy in the boxed set. SQ is similar.

Lunapark was also an album i saw 2nd hand dirt cheap on vinyl around the same time i passed on Penthouse. Wasn't considering changing over my Luna cd's to vinyl at the time and was unaware they were so hard to find. Regrets...

 

As we were out of town and couldn't hit our usual shop until Tuesday, managed to pick up a couple of leftovers and found a couple while traveling.

Stevie Nicks "Rarities" sounded good to my ears. It was on 180 gram vinyl, looked like it was pressed at Record Industry, flat and quiet. Actually it was better than expected.
Iron & Wine "Archives 3" also sounded nice. Quiet, flat blue vinyl.
Madonna "Dance Mix" was also on nice flat quiet vinyl, which surprised me as it had no inner sleeve. It's in one now, but it just barely fits the slim sleeve. Sounds great for a dance single.
The Lumineers "Song Seeds" sounds just okay and there's a bit of noise at the end of the first track on side 2. (I bought another 10" record while out of town, Charles Kelley's "Live at Capitol Studios" that had this same noise on side 1. Thought it was non-fill, but took it to my local shop for a deep clean and now it's noise-free. Will probably do this with The Lumineers and see what happens.)

 

Elastica - My copy also has issues with skipping on side B (A is fine) and I can hear the sibilance on the later tracks on side B. I'm one of many who've tweeted at Rough Trade about it. Also got a message from my local store asking me to describe the issues as RT have been asking (they have said on twitter they'll look into it). Given the price and how widespread the issue appears to be I'd expect them to sort it.

Luna - I have a copy on the way at roughly retail price from an Amazon seller, didn't realise RT would get it. Glad to hear good things about it but would also be annoyed if I'd already bought the box set! I'm expecting a similar thing to happen with a regular issue of 'Elastica'.

Just to top it off, my Superchunk had some excess blobs of wax that had settled on the edge of side C that had caused damage. May be able to get a replacement.

 

Regarding U2's Red Hill Mining Town 2017 Remix, my copy has very loud surface noise most noticeable in the intro and fade-out. As for the new remix itself, I think it's just too busy now. Edge’s guitar filigree is buried; and the brass arrangement is brought out way too prominently, to the point of distraction. Sounds like all-new or alternate take vocals from Bono, too, on at least the early verses. New background vocals near the end as the song crescendos remind me of the embellishments they added to the "Sweetest Thing" redo, so they seem really out of place here. Still, Adam and Larry remain intact as the song’s core, though, so it still has the feel of the original song.

 

I dunno much about printing process but I'd guess that if the original artwork layout is MIA then it's a big issue. I'd guess this is often the case. Prints of scans of rasterized sleeves will always look inferior and blurry when compared to old prints that were made from the originals, no matter what. However, if the originals are still available, I don't see why modern presses could not reproduce them properly.

 

To me, it's a bit meaningless to get on a thread about RSD sound quality and chastise someone who inquires about the sound quality of a RSD release, and immediately dismiss that release as inferior because it's a picture disc. When in fact, it's gotten positive reviews. I've got the Acoustic, and will agree it was a very pleasant surprise. It will definitely spend more time on the turntable than in a frame on the wall. Thanks.

 

I agree on both, it smells burnt - like burnt skunk. And yes I guess some weed could smell exactly like skunk, but I was assuming it would smell different.

Playing the LP, reminded me that I have the Sony SACD, with the MCH mix (along with a few other CD versions) of this Tosh LP. Haven't listened to that in years.

 

My copy sounded much like the other Fat Possum TVZ releases. Which have all be fine and fairly quiet. It was a nice pressing and came in a lined white inner sleeve. It doesn't have especially great sonics but I expect it represents the source pretty well. I'm sure it is from a digital file as are the other TVZ FP releases, as far as I know. It is well worth the cost for any Townes fan.

 

I can confirm that the pink Aqua 'Barbie Girl' 7" sounds fantastically delicious...

 

Anyone with the Moondog LP use their download code? Curious as to format/bitrate/source/quality.

 

This sounds like a wonderful set to own. It would have been a great first start to my Meters collection. I'd pay a premium to own the set, but it looks to be going for well over $100 now on eBay.

 

Yeah I hear you. The Meters albums on Sundazed are pretty good though. Decent choice since OG's are prohibitively expensive at this point.

 

Thanks for the review on Cocteau Twins-
The RSD Milk is missing Circling Girl, Round and An Elan, why they chose the Edit of Tishbite for it is beyond me...
I'm going to pass on these and hope for a regular release with better pricing. My old mastering's on compact disc for the singles and album sound good as is

 

Looney Tunes CD's in West Babylon NY should still have copies. They are the retail part of the biz that released the album (Brookvale Records is the label).