John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (old MCA/Impulse! CD mastered by Greg Fulginiti)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by imagnrywar, Jun 19, 2007.

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  1. imagnrywar

    imagnrywar Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Francisco
    i've found little to no discussion on this older CD in the archives. catalog number is MCAD-5660/JVC-467. according to the back, "digitally remastered from the original stereo master tapes. mastered by Greg Fulginiti at Artisan Sound, LA, CA." any thoughts on the sound?

    by the way, i've checked out the archives and know that most people consider the SACD the digital version to own. i'm just curious what people think about this one. most Fulginiti mastering jobs are decent to my ears, but i'm wondering if this is a question of significantly tape sources being found since this release, or what.
     
  2. Edgard Varese

    Edgard Varese Royale with Cheese

    Location:
    Te Wai Pounamu
    I own this disc, but I have no others to compare it to. Still, in my view it sounds quite good.
     
  3. I'm sure this one sounds nice, like all Impulse CD's in that MCAD-5xxx series.

    There are also some German Impulse CD's from 1987, and these also sound excellent. My "A Love Supreme" from this series has the catalog number 254 557-2 and it easily beats the remastered version (digipack) as well as the SACD in my opinion (I have all three).

    If you are able to post a clip from your MCAD-5660 CD, I can do a brief comparison. I compared other CD's between these two series (Gil Evans - Out of the Cool) and slightly preferred the German Impulse version, but both were very good.
     
  4. KevinP

    KevinP Forum introvert

    Location:
    Daejeon
    Thread resurrection time.

    For years, the first pressing Impulse! CD from 1986 was the only I had until I recently picked up the SACD.

    Wow, what a difference. The original CD sounds utterly unlistenable now. Take a look at the covers. I swear the difference in sound quality is comparable to the difference in covers.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  5. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Is this the series that had GRP in bold letters ruining the artwork?

    I have a few of them and consider them so-so, not definitive.
     
  6. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    No, it isn't. These first American Impulse! CD pressings with artwork that was similar to the one shown below were released in 1986.

    (With thanks to KevinP for this picture)

    [​IMG]

    The sound on these releases is not great, but I like them better than the Impulse! reissues from the 1990s and 2000s, including the Erick Labson remasters that came out in digipacks and the Japanese 24-bit remasters in mini-LP sleeves.
     
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  7. When it comes to this album, nothing beats the original 1987 impulse! CD from Germany (254 xxx-2) or Japan (32XD-5xx). I also have the SACD, but these CD's from 1987 sound much better to me.
     
  8. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    I haven't heard the 1987 German pressing, but I've listened to quite a few other CD versions of A Love Supreme - which is not my favorite John Coltrane album, on the contrary - and my preferred version is the 1987 Japanese release, 32XD 595.
     
  9. Manos

    Manos Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ann Arbor, MI, USA
    Better tape

    As I understand it, the 2003 CD release is remastered from a recently discovered first generation master tape, and not too long after the previous edition was released.
     
  10. fredhammersmith

    fredhammersmith Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montreal, Quebec
    A Love Supreme turned this classic-rock and pop fan into a jazz lover. The passion of it just overwhelmed me when I heard it for the 1st time.

    How does this version (1995, 20-bit remaster by Erick Labson, GRD 155) compares with the SACD and other domestic north american releases?

    [​IMG]
     
  11. MrPeabody

    MrPeabody New Member

    Location:
    Mass.
    Not quite.

    The original master tape has been missing for years. All previous CD releases used the same US production copy made some time after its first release. But that tape has always had speed issues near the beginning of the album. For the DE, an earlier generation copy was found in London, done at the time of the original release. The speed issue was not there (and it sounds much better.)
     
  12. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    As we have talked about for 5 years now, the original VAN GELDER tape was redubbed at Bell Sound (about a week after it was originally recorded) so the sides could fade out. This Bell Sound tape was marked "Master". The original tape was then destroyed. Why? Why not? Sigh.
     
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  13. nail75

    nail75 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Germany
    What a stupid thing to do. Steve, what edition of the album do you prefer?
     
  14. MrPeabody

    MrPeabody New Member

    Location:
    Mass.
    Then according to the DE's notes, they're both gone now.
     
  15. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    If they truly found a new tape somewhere, more power to them. Van Gelder usually made two tapes at the same time in that era. If the other of them survived, that's a good thing. Even if the tape was copied for England before it was ashcanned that's a good thing.
     
  16. Cassius

    Cassius On The Beach

    Location:
    Lafayette, Co
    Pardon if this is retread, but I feel I have done my civic duty and read at least a weekends worth of articles about ALS in the archive in the past 12 months. Was the true master used to cut the original VAN GELDER stamped lps or was the Bell sounds copy tape used for the original LP releases?

    C
     
  17. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    The true master was indeed used by Van Gelder to cut his sides, of course. He just faded out by hand. I guess someone at Impulse wanted the Bell Sound cutting master to fade out automatically.
     
  18. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    The true master was indeed used by Van Gelder to cut his sides, of course. He just faded out by hand. I guess someone at Impulse wanted the Bell Sound cutting master to fade out automatically so the recuts could be uniform...
     
  19. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    What fooled people for years was that the Bell Sound tape is marked MASTER.


    Anyone who knows Bell Sound knows that the word MASTER on one of their tape legend sheets means second generation.:mad: A true Bell Sound "master" tape would be marked ORIGINAL. If this "original" was to be used for any record cutting it would be stamped MASTER somewhere on the legend in addition.
     
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  20. Dr. Merkwürdigli

    Dr. Merkwürdigli Active Member

    Location:
    Oslo, Norway
    I have a 1987 Germany cd (MCD 01648/DMCL 1648). I guess this share the same mastering as yours. For what it's worth "Digitally remastered from the original Stereo master tapes" is printed on the back tray inlay.

    This is the EAC information:
     

    Attached Files:

  21. Paul K

    Paul K Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    So...the original LP sounds good then?
     
  22. Cassius

    Cassius On The Beach

    Location:
    Lafayette, Co
    Yes , The orignal pressings by RVG on Impulse! sound very good. There is plenty of reading about this title on vinyl in the search archive. As with any original RVG production you are looking for a machine stamped in bold VAN GELDER or RVG in the deadwax to identify his cuts.

    I have a nice stereo copy that plays quieter than it should given the condition of the vinyl. It sounds better than any of the 3 digital copies I own, although I don't have the 80's German/Japanesse pressigns mentioned above, nor the forum favorite SACD copy.



    I kinda hit the wall buying cds of this title after the Deluxe Edition, and figured I had done my part for Universal and the Coltrane estate. I'll probably make a needle drop, and use that going forward.

    C
     
  23. major_works

    major_works This is my Custom Title

    Location:
    Ramsey, NJ, USA
    The Deluxe Edition gives me everything I could want in terms of ALS. I think it sounds very good. And you get the live version in better sound than any of the boots I've heard as well as the outtakes with Shepp (sound there isn't so hot but it's apparently all there is unless Ravi is sitting on something else).
     
  24. sungshinla

    sungshinla Vinyl and Forum Addict

    Love Supreme
    Love Supreme
     
  25. pig whisperer

    pig whisperer CD Member

    Location:
    Tokyo, Japan
    :agree: I like this one more than the 20bit remaster and the SACD.
     
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