Electric ladyland vinyl --- best pressing?

I own the MCA heavy vinyl pressing issued by Experience Hendrix a few years ago. Well, to my ears this pressing sounds thin and bright for the most part. Nothing like Classic's "Axis: Bold as love" lp. Even "Are you Experienced" sounds halfway decent from the Experience Hendrix camp, but something is wrong with Electric Ladyland. Does anyone else here confirm my findings? What pressing is the best from an audiophile standpoint ? Thanks to all.

 

I also own the MCA heavy vinyl and if I remember correctly, I though the vinyl sounded pretty good. I use to own a U.K. pressing and that played just so so. Got rid of it along time ago. A friend of mine has a German pressing that he swears is killer. Never heard it myself, but I do trust his hears.

 

Polydor UK pressings are good
I always found Reprise US pressings to be good also (avoid the first however) and the cover is per Jimi's wishes.
I like the EH CDs, although they are digitally maximised (especially First Rays Of The New Rising Sun.)

 

Didn't the US Reprise two-tone label first pressing add some reverb? I think I recall hearing this and that Hendrix was none too happy about it.

 

I think the out of phase musical content was difficult to cut, so it was altered in some way by Warners engineers to make cutting easier (?? stereo to mono at bass frequencies - can ANYONE throw me a frickin' bone here)
Polydor always cut it as it should have been, and the JHE got the Reprise cutting corrected back to original intentions for the second pressing.

 

is it possible the 2 tone reprise has 2 pressings, or that the errors were corrected before public release?
I have the orig. 2 tone in NM and it sounds fine to me, I also have the new Exp. Hendrix release and I like that too. I don't have any imports of that title to check against, tho.
As a side note, I saw the B-52's and Blondie on tour this past summer and they played 1983 -very loud- between band sets...it was weird hearing that in the presence of about 10,000 people

 

I recall reading in Michael Fremer's Stereophile column a while back that the engineers at Warners thought that they had received a defective master, because the tracks contained a lot of out-of-phase information. Apparently, they "fixed" the tape, not understanding that this was intentional on Jimi's part. According to Fremer, this was corrected on the early-70's reissue, making that version more desirable. I don't have access to the article, so I may be a little off, but that's the gist of it.

 

I have a UK black Track label "Ladyland", 2 red label Polydors and the EH vinyl re-issue from 1995. Which do you think is best?

Black Track, obviously.

 

You think this guys asking a bit much?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2502694057&category=1593

If he isn't serious why does have it on there.

And the letter at the bottom isn't me.

 

Well, conventional wisdom would say the best pressing would originate from the country where the LP was recorded, which is the U.S., as they would prepare the LP masters from the first generation tapes. But, due to the misunderstanding regarding the sound of the masters here in the U.S. and the subsequent "fix" by Reprise engineers, the UK Track pressing is the reference by default. No doubt your UK Polydor pressings are nice, as well. The country of origin rule usually holds...but every now and again, there's an exception.

 

The Track pressing is by far the best. Most of the time the "Nude" cover EL is a bit expensive $150-$250, however the version that was issued as 2 separate albums usually can be had for $100 the records are the same and IMO the cover is way cooler.

 

The Rarest version

If you want the rarest version here it is and in MONO yet!!!!

 

There's an 80's-90's Polydor UK pressing that KILLS the MCA Heavy Vinyl.