Nina Simone - Vinyl Reissues (Philips-era) 07/2016

Amazon UK have a series of Nina Simone albums scheduled for re-release on 16 July 2016 on Decca Records but no further info. Does anyone know anything about these releases?

 

All 7 Phillips era albums; that's interesting, but I know no more than you do.

 

I'm guessing it's to tie in with the biopic that's coming out.

 

To my surprise Universal/Verve is releasing a box with all her legendary philips albums. I'm not interested in the CDs but I'm curious about the vinyls...
The box cover looks great

The Complete Philips Albums (Ltd.Edt.) [Vinyl LP] - Nina Simone: Amazon.de: Musik »

 

Acoustic Sounds has the track listing posted on their website:

Nina Simone-Nina Simone The Philips Years-Vinyl Box Sets|Acoustic Sounds »

 

What are these .ru Vinyl i see in B&M stores ?

 

Spellbinding Nina Simone Box Set Due In July - uDiscover »

 

I've preordered this from Acoustic Sounds.... hope it doesn't disappoint!

 

I really hope these are well-done. I've been trying to hunt down I Put a Spell on You, Wild is the Wind, and High Priestess and having no luck.

 

Anyone have an opinion on the sound quality of these? Great albums but wondering how these sound before diving in!

What a great artist she was.....

 

They are not due for release until next week (July 15th).

 

Expecting delivery of this today. Hopefully it's well done. Mono and original tapes would be amazing but I'm sure too much to hope for. I'll settle for quiet vinyl and a good mastering....

Love this era of Nina's lexicon.

 

Please keep us updated! Out of curiosity, do you have any other pressings to compare any of them to?

 

I'm 3 LP's into the set, and by and large the mastering is very nice---I haven't done A&B with my originals (that are so-so shape) but I'm enjoying having clean copies of these 7 LP's. Great era for Nina too! Also, these pressings are dead quiet and noting off center--QRP should take note (since the last batch of titles has a few issues)

 

Do we know anything about these? Mastering source? Digital?

 

Universal's The Sound of Vinyl site has this full description, mentioning that they're digital cuts from 24/192 WAVs, if that's something you care about:

Looks like it can be had for $132 shipped at Music Direct right now, using the MUSIC20 discount code, which is making it very, very hard to wait for some more reactions before giving myself a late birthday present...

 

I did some limited listening tonight to a few sides and was very happy. As noted above, the records all look perfect, nice and flat, no obvious visual defects or warps that I see. Plastic inners. The box is nice heavy-weight stock and the album artwork is beautifully done (almost reminded me a little of feel of the Beatles mono box or the recent Floyd reissues in terms of packaging quality).

Again, limited listening and I didn't actually do any cleaning besides a zero stat and a brush, but the vinyl was dead quiet and sound was probably the best I've heard this material. Great presence like Nina is sitting in the living room with you, nice wide stereo which seems to really work with the songs, and more detail and clarity than I can remember hearing previously. The mastering (at least what I listened to) sounded balanced, plenty of bass and top end.

I guess with the Amazon price I paid of $157, it's about $22 per album, which seems fair for pressings of this quality. Certainly finding original pressings in comparative shape would cost you much more. Of course, it would have been great to have all analog mono mastering, at least in my opinion, but I certainly think I will be enjoying this box set for what it is.

My prior sources were VG+ original mono pressings of several of these albums, which have their charm, but i think having clean stereo pressings will bring some of these songs to a whole new level. It looks like these titles are available at HDtracks and given the digital sourcing of this set, I would be curious if it's the same mastering. The link above says they were mastered at Abbey Road Studios for what that's worth...

 

Does anyone know if there are two versions of this set? US and EU?

Dragonwell - any idea where yours was pressed?

 

The sleeves say made in Holland and the dead wax just has a series of numbers for what it's worth. Has universal and verve logos on the back of the box. Does this suggest Record Industry in Holland as the pressing plant?

 

It does. Thanks for that. Hopeful for EU copies now.

 

Was there a signature in the deadwax? Wondering if Sean Macgee mastered these.

 

Nope, nothing. Just a bunch of numbers.

 

To the naked eye the pressings are visually astonishing!

 

IIRC his sig looks like this:

i...i

Or something like that.

 

Well, placed my order this morning... I've got one original Phillips US stereo pressing of Let It All Out to compare to, so I'll post notes when the box arrives. Can't wait to finally have the other Phillips albums!