Anyone who wants the Kinks on vinyl should just buy the PRT repressings from the 70's with the green and red/orange swirl labels or the black and white Pye labels. They are guaranteed analog and sound delicious. They are also affordable. The only newer pressing I would consider buying is the mono Something Else by the Kinks since that mix was not released as part of the repressings. Need proof? Here is an ebay listing for a mono Face to Face pressing for just $25... www.ebay.com/itm/321727829983 Here is SEBTK in stereo and the bidding is only at $6.50. I doubt it will go past $25.... www.ebay.com/itm/371308881111 Here is another SEBTK with a starting bid of only $11 (nobody has bid yet). This one has the black & white pye labels and is my preferred pressing. All the black & white pye label pressing are on translucent dark red vinyl BTW... www.ebay.com/itm/311340483331 Village Green might cost you a little more if you want the mono version, it goes for about $50. It was only released in Germany. In other words, don't waste your money on ANY new Kinks records unless you want SEBTK in mono. EDIT: Some of the Arthur repressings are in mono. I like good mono records but Arthur is much better in stereo so avoid the Arthur mono pressings.
Same here. The nicest surprise of RSD. I listened to 2 (one is coming to me from online retailer) over n over last night. A lot of exercise.....but these were worth it.
"Milk Cow Blues" sounds oddly anemic and unfortunately abbreviated on the live 7" (Twickenham/Shindig!). Then I realized the lead guitar is almost completely absent from the mix, which makes me wonder if it was even worthy of release. I'm delighted with the other two RSD 7" though.
I dug it, but a lot of that may have to do with the excitement factor of it all. I drove a total of 5 hours on RSD due to not having a local shop and being able to score all three Kinks 45s (I had to go to two different towns to do it) was pretty damned awesome for me.
Question for those who have the new mono Something Else. Curious how Two Sisters sounds on this. Is it a sibilant mess? It's sounds awful on my Pye original.
Hey, first post here. I know this has been discussed, but didn't know if pre-orders were known. Amazon US has Face to Face and Kontroversy for pre-order. $22 to be released in June as suspected.
I have a 1997 VGPS that was made by Castle UK , it has an insert showing all the Kinks PYE releases with the original cat. #s, and came with a 45. It doesn't say stereo or mono on it, when I have time I'll have to give it a real listen. My impression of a short listen to a few cuts awhile back was that it sounds really good, but can't recall a stereo or mono impression. It has a sticker on the lower left rear that says original recordings with their logo and is numbered 1928 of 5000.
I'm definitely on for Kontroversy but will wait for comparison reviews on the others. Hard to stomach buying these yet again.
To me no version of VGPS sounds really good, I have heard US, German, UK originals and many reissues, and to me every mastering lacks top.
I'm not going to assume that new Kevin Gray cuttings can't beat 70s PRT masterings. I'd like to hear them. 70s "guaranteed analog" cuttings aren't automatically the best.
The German one of VGPS is mono and labeled as such, but the UK one is mislabled as MONO but is actually STEREO. None to my knowledge are mislabeled as your post suggests.
Sorry, I should have been more specific. My understanding is that the labels of the 70s PRT copies of Kinks Kontroversy state that they're Stereo but I've been led to believe that they are actually Mono. I haven't actually heard one so I can't verify that.
I picked up the U.S. reissues this evening. I have Face to Face on the TT as I write. Sounds pretty darn good. The good news it has Kevin Gray's initials in the deadwax area. The downside is the inner sleeves are cheap. All paper. I'll have to do a quick A/B with the EU reissue. Just off of memory, the U.S. reissue sounds better. More later!
Playing 1st LP now. Wow! Much better than my 80s Pye, which I thought was pretty good. This is freaking great!!!!
Very encouraging! I bought the Euro version of Village Green on yours and this boards recommendation and I love it. My copy of Face to Face should arrive Tuesday. On another note ,can the vinyl manufacturers just do away with the paper sleeve? The biggest risk of damage to a record is the first removal of the vinyl from the sleeve before replacing it. Not to mention annoying and sometimes dangerous paper dust, bah!
The sound change at You Really Got Me is weird, but the rest sound great. Stop your Sobbing had me dancing in my underwear.
I don't recall ever seeing plastic inner sleeves in the 60s aside from the zipped Columbia ones or classical albums in the 70s. My records from the that time period somehow survived all these years. But I get the attraction to plastic inners
