Best vinyl pressing of Eric Clapton Slowhand?

I'm getting back in to vinyl and this Slowhand album has always been a favorite of mine. I would like to track down the current sonic holy grail pressing. I did a search here and did not find the same topic previously posted, so here it is.

In skimming some online stores, I see the following pressings available.

Universal Records Japanese Import 200 gram $50

Universal Records (domestic ? US? not noted) 180 gram $35

Polydor (domestic ? US? not noted) 180 gram $20

I think I recall MFSL may have done a pressing some time ago as well?

Original pressings? USA? UK? other?

Recorded May 1977, Olympic Studios, London

Any recommendations out there?

Thanks
Kenreau

 

I have a UK original pressing (mastered at Masterdisk) and an original US pressing (mastered at The Mastering Lab). Either of these are the ones to go for, all the others are crud!

JG

 

The MFSL vinyl sound's wonderful.
Also to be considered is a Nautilus press of Just one night which contain's many live version's of Slowhand that are fantastic.

 

Excellent. Thanks for the input. Could I trouble you for matrix info/numbers to look for?

Thanks
Kenreau

 

Mine is made in Sweden. It also has the Mastedisk stamp in the matrix. I guess it is very similar to the original UK pressing.

 

UK or West German RSO original LP pressing for me. Both sound excellent and have clean surfaces as a rule. The US RSO original sounds great but many are noisy.

 

I have the MSFL -- I like it a lot

 

UK...

RS-1-3030-A MASTERDISK 2479201 A1
RS-1-3030-B MASTERDISK 2479201 B1

US...

RS-1-3030-AS BW-1 TML-M
RS-1-3030 -BS BW-1 TML-M

Personally, I think the MFSL is crap compared to either of the above. Don't waste your money on it. Either the UK or US pressing can be picked up dirt cheap. Enjoy!

JG

 

Thanks JG! and all. I will put this on my list.

Kenreau

 

Bumping this old thread, wondering if our community has any further thoughts regarding the best vinyl version of Eric Clapton - Slowhand.

 

I haven't heard anything better than the original UK or original US. I also have a Japanese pressing of it and the Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs LP, I don't rate them at all!

JG

 

Do you have any preference between the UK and the US?

The reason I ask, I just stumbled upon a slightly beat up UK pressing. It's A//2 B//1 with 'Masterdisk' on side two only. It sparked my interest in this album, having never owned a copy.

Also wondering if both Masterdisk and TML versions exist for the US pressings. Seems somewhat strange that the UK's would be mastered at Masterdisk and the US would get The Mastering Lab treatment instead. That's a lot of fancy mastering at the time of release.

 

When I did a shootout I felt at the time they sounded pretty much the same. I have improved my system since then so I must do another comparison. I have seen loads of UK pressings and they all had Masterdisk DC (DC being Dave Crawford, the D is superimposed over the C), either UK or US is better than anything else I have heard.

JG

 

I had the MFSL for a while and thought it sounded great - I'm not a fan of the album however and sold it off.

 

The MFSL.

 

I'm listening to my German copy now; side two is mastered by Joe Gastwirt at Masterdisk. Side two sounds better than side one, imo, which is murky and dense sounding...

Later, Chris

 

I usually just listen to the MSFL gold disc but just realized I've got what looks to be an original domestic with TML stamped in the deadwax. I'll have to spin this and give a listen.

 

Any comparisons to the vinyl that came with the 35th anniversary deluxe edition? I thought it sounded pretty good but my only comparison was to a beat up US copy.

 

I thought the new one in the 35th box was a fantastic pressing with great mastering. I sold my original US because of it.

 

Doug Sax TML original for me, that what my WLP is

 

I also thought that the 2013 issue sounded great. The version in the deluxe box is on lightweight vinyl, I believe, whereas the standalone version is very heavy (180 or 200 grams).

 

Sorry if I missed it somewhere, but who did the mastering for this new reissue, and did they use an analog source?

 

For some reason, I think the MFSL vinyl sounds better (more detailed) than the MFSL Gold CD.

AJH

 

I was looking at my TML for a clue about the mastering but didn't find one. Can I ask how we know Doug Sax did the original? Thanks.

 

It was/is his shop, I know he had other folks working for him, but can't imagine him giving a high profile artist like Clapton to one of his understudies