Electric Recording Company To Reissue Several Prestige Mono Jazz Title in 2016

Michael Fremer is reporting this on Analog Planet.

I wonder if each copy will cost $300.

 

I would be afraid to play them.

 

Most of these titles were already remastered by Kevin Gray and reissued by Analogue Productions. I can't see how these new reissues will better Gray's work. Perhaps they'll sound different but not necessarily better.

It seems like the covers will be truer to the originals. I'm not buying a reissue for the cover.

 

This only proves how ****** the whole reissue business is. Now even ERC is doing Prestige titles; titles that have been at least reissued 3-4 times in the past 3 years. The APO Prestiges have great mastering, stunning artwork, have the deep groove etc....what else do you want? Aren't they expensive enough already at $34.99? Now there's that guy from the UK asking a minimum of $300 a title because he needs to amortise the cost of restoring an old mastering chain which has no connection whatsoever with original RVG Prestige's. This is just getting insane and I get why people think the whole "audiophilia" talk is elitist lunacy.

 

These are prestige items(pun intended). There are quite a few folks around to whom paying hundreds of dollars on lp's like this is nothing. They're not meant necessarily for the majority of mere mortals who hang out here.

I only wish I could afford some of ERC's classical reissues.

 

Analogue Productions, Mobile Fidelity and Music Matters are not aiming at the majority of "mere mortals". They are quite expensive already; most people do not accept a price tag above $25 per title and these are pretty much as good as it gets. Doing the exact same titles ten times more expensive because they used original negatives or so for artwork production is ******** imo: Music Matters and SAM Records have done this for years; and Heidelberg presses can be found in practically any printing company in Germany, nothing too fancy. People for whom paying several hundreds per disc is nothing could just buy a NM original which will always be worth more in collector circles. But hey: it costs 450 bucks, so it must be good!

 

Dudley has raved about their classical reissues. I don't think he or Fremer for that matter need to hoard their pennies, nickels and dimes to buy these extremely pricey LPs. They probably receive copies to review? Dudley has written extensively about the company which is doing these LP-a cottage endeavor and an act of love certainly. I can't even imagine to afford these but I applaud the effort of making a completely authentic high quality product in a non-mainstream medium. I compare these guys in a way to the super low volume specialized craft beer enthusiast/Brewers. Their products are expensive but high quality.

 

Fremer justifies the price tag that ERC attaches to its titles by saying that it is basically a bargain (and I'm paraphrasing) compared to buying an original. I have no idea how much vintage EMI classical music records are worth. I suppose a NM original of Mobley's Message could go for $1000 or so, but the same justification that Fremer uses to defend ERCs pricing structure does not work in this case, considering there are already high quality reissues of the same titles by Analogue Productions.

 

This made sense for the extremely rare classical LPs they've been reissuing. It simply doesn't for these jazz titles.

Still, for those Japanese collectors who spend $40,000 to have their own power transformer pole outside their house, these prices will be nothing.

 

For the album in the video a VG++ original will set you back around $4000.

While I'm obviously not in the market for these, if they are using tube mastering/cutting equipment I could easily see them sounding better than the AP 33 rpm mono reissues which in my opinion sound too dead. I'll gladly take the DCC gold discs or even cheaper OJC CDs.

 

What is the point? It's a limited run of 300 copies.

Exclusive manufacturing has a always a special price.... bags for thousand bucks, limited sneakers for 600 bucks or cars for 500k.

The LP's are not too expensive.... just check the "expensive" records by AP, Classic Records, MFSL.... 20% or more are "lousy" pressings... off center, noisy, scratches etc.

 

The Tommy Flanagan LP? $4K?

I don't find the AP reissues to be dead sounding at all.

 

There you go again. Just generalizing in a negative way.

 

You're right I was on the high side (I was going from memory) it seems like the first pressing is more like a ~ $2000-3000 record. Regarding the AP that's why I added in my opinion, I like the more life like sound of the DCC, OJC CD and AP 45 rpm.

 

Wow, $2K - $3K is still a lot. Are Prestige first pressings worth as much as their Blue Note counterparts?

 

I think in general Blue Note 1500 and early 4000 series tend to go for more than early Prestige titles. Prestige is still a highly collectable label and has a handful like the famous Overseas that go for big money.

 

Certain titles getting up there, it's been really crazy for a few years now.

 

I own about 20 of the first 25 mono Prestige titles from AP. They're are fantastic value at $35 (or less on sale) and the jackets are so nice.
When i saw the lengths to which ERC is going to print them on traditional equipment, I thought "that's really cool"....but not THAT cool!

I'm sure there is a small market for these super-premium priced projects, but i don't have that kind of cash to spend on a single record,
i'd rather spread my spending around to get more titles, there are still lots of records on my wish list. I also don't think it really
makes a lot of sense, since if you have that if you have that kind of money, wouldn't you just pony up for originals that will only
appreciate in value? As beautiful as these reissues are, they're not historically authentic. So i suppose they are really trying to appeal
to collectors for whom pristine condition and availability is valued over originality. Get out the check book!

 

Also, bear in mind these new ERC reissues will be most likely way better pressed than most Prestige originals were (a label who's pressings were only serviceable much of the time). The only great pressings of Prestige using original metalwork were really the UK Esquire issues. The Audiophile Productions Prestige reissues themselves are superb as a rule to my ear (the ones I have heard)

 

I would heartily agree with you on this. Though it is true some of their classical releases have been questionable since you can pick up EX versions of the originals for the £300-£500 they are asking. (ie Barbirolli Mahler 9 and Furtwangler Beethoven 9).

Having faithful reproductions of the Kogan SAX regardings which sell for upwards of £2,000 makes sense. I have the Tchaikovsky and Beethoven Violin Concertos and they genuinely sound incredible compared to the Testament and Classics For Pleasure issues. They were expensive yes, but I suspect will hold their value....so when I depart this world and the new generation of collectors start to get interested in high end, hopefully my kids will be able to sell them to pay for their own kids education...much as I did with the records I collected in my misspent youth.

 

I just bought the Over Cs OJC CD. I'd like to think as much trouble went into putting the OJC booklet together, well I can dream. I'm now getting that warm fuzzy feeling of opulence.
Great album by the way in any form.

 

The AP reissue LP sounds excellent. Goes for $35

 

I had read about the ERC classical reissues a couple years back and simply thought... Well, I can't/shouldn't try to swing that. Nope, don't even look at the website to see what they are doing. I hadn't until I read Framer's article on Prestige ERC releases.

Last night I pulled out a reissue set of the Furtwangler Beethoven's 9th LPs and gave it a spin. The performance is absolutely stellar and sound (in parts) is quite good. Now all I can say is $&@# me, I'm really thinking about their reissue.

Jeff

 

One of the great things about these audiophile reissue programs is they usually (do your research) give solid clues to great sounding regular CDs. On that basis I've just ordered the OJC CD of Jackie Maclean's Lights Out, if it's good enough for ERC the OJC is good enough for me, here's hoping and thank you ERC!