Speakers Corner Kansas Leftoverture 180g vinyl reissue

Has anyone listened to this yet? How does it sound?

Mike

 

No one has this yet??

 

I'm curious as well.I wonder if it tops an original US George Marino@Sterling Mastering LP.I went through a box with over 10 of them yesterday looking for
another White Label Promo, all $1 each.The CBS Half Speed I used to own was
way too bright sounding.

 

Man, that's an album that begs to be heard on vinyl. I even had an 8 track that sounded great. I have a promo copy of "Point Of No Return" that sounds great, but I no longer have any vinyl copies of "Leftoverture".

 

Just bend down and look in the $1 bin. Chances are, there's one or two down there cut at Sterling Sound in around M- or VG+.

Amazing sounding record. Hard to beat with a $30 record. Evan's right; the 1/2 speed is terrible.

 

Spinning the Speakers Corner LP now...so far, two thumbs up from me....

 

does any one else have this? i'm trying to find some well mastered kansas...having a hard time finding out which masterings were best vinyl/cd wise

 

I too would be very interested to see how the new pressing stacks up.

and +1 to the CBS Half Speed being too bright.

 

As others have mentioned, try to find domestic copies on the Kirshner label in decent condition. They are usually cheap and sound excellent.



Ed Hurdle
HeavyDistortion

 

Anyone get a chance to hear one of these?

 

Ditto for the half-speed Point of Know Return. An ear-bleeder.

 

Does anyone have both the Speakers Corner and the Friday Music version of the LP? Curious how they compare....

 

I don't have the Speakers Corner. I do have several vinyl copies of the original, including three white label promos. They all have "STERLING" stamped in the deadwax. I also have the Columbia half-speed master and the recent Friday Music LP cut by Kevin Gray. You can probably guess that I like the music on the album. It's a childhood favorite.

After messing with all manner of versions of this album, and messing with "better and better" playback gear, I have concluded that although I love the compositions and performances on Leftoverture, the recording style sucks! Now before any feathers get ruffled, let me explain. The recording has no dynamics. No micro, macro, whatever dynamics whatsoever. It's all loud, loud, loud. This problem was less apparent to me on my mom's Magnavox console back in the 70s, and less apparent on classic rock FM. But unlike a lot of rock recordings that have marvelous qualities revealed by upgraded playback, this album does not pleasingly improve on a better system from a better source, in my recent experience.

Getting back to the Kevin Gray remaster, it's not typical of reissues done by him to be excessively bright or compressed. However, the Friday Music vinyl is bright and not very dynamic. I'm betting that comes from the recording style that's on the master tape. FWIW, the Sterling copies sound similar to the Friday music, being about as undynamic and perhaps having even more strident upper midrange qualities. The Columbia half-speed is an ear bleeder.

So, does the Speaker's Corner vinyl fix the lack of dynamics and ultra-bright tonality? I don't know--if anyone has that pressing let us know. I've been tempted several times to get the SC, but have a bad feeling that it will be just like all the other versions,

 

My Kansas collection is all Kirshner vinyl. Even though Leftoverture is a studio work, I've accepted its sound as more like a live performance. Point of no Return is bright from the stand point of a studio production. I grew up with this band playing local high school gigs, White Clover/Kansas and their style is Bright and Loud,... and their studio work represents it well. In agreement I enjoy recordings with wide-range,... Opus Insert on Kirshner vinyl,....fantastic!