The Essential Guide To All The Euro 'Grey' Market Record Companies

There was the "Remember" label which I have a Harry Belafonte CD of, sourced from the Bear Family box.

 

Naturally, I assumed the purpose of this thread was to discuss content and quality of these releases, not to debate politics or the legality of a specific title in a particular nation.

 

Thank you Brad, that helps very much.

 

While I have the Retrospective CD-R of the Merle Travis title, I may eventually order the ASV pressed CD equivalent or if I luckily score the pressed CD version of it, I will buy it. I have downloads of the Retrospective Tex Williams title and the ASV pressed CD of it, the same with the Childrens music title.

 

You're welcome. If you buy a Retrospective Records CD-R release of a title and there is a comparable ASV title, buy that as well.

 

Here's an example of a Retrospective CD-R release with an ASV equivalent:


ASV original pressed CD:

 

I've been seeing these 'Four By Four' CDs lately (usually with only one of the artists I'm interested in).

Country Cowboys (Hank Williams)


Honky Tonk Angels (Patsy Cline)


Teen Idols (Ricky Nelson)

Rock 'n' Roll Legends (Chuck Berry & Little Richard)

Soul Brothers (Clyde McPhatter)



Darryl

 

I'm curious, what are the best sounding Jasmine titles? I've seen where other forum members noted that certain earlier titles were apparently sourced from MP3, but another member mentioned that the quality of their more recent titles has improved. Brad has provided some excellent suggestions and if anyone else has a list of recommended titles or artists to buy on Jasmine, definitely let us know.

 

Curious about the sound on this...



2 of my 50s faves.

Darryl

 

The Blowing The Smoke Away comp of Les Paul and Mary Ford on Jasmine is worth it for the introductions from Les and Mary taken from radio transcriptions (from their pressed CD days)

From their current CD-R days, their Four Preps comp has albums not otherwise available on any form of CD.

 

Jasmine usually does a solid job with their releases. They are definitely one of the premier labels in this category.

 

You could add the Jazz Beat label too (if it hasn't already been mentioned/listed).

I have the Teddy Charles Tentet CD on Jazz Beat and have no issues with how it sounds and the digi packaging is top notch.

However only after purchase did I become aware that Jazz Beat is one of the European public-domain labels. They have no access to original sources like mastertapes and are part of the Disconforme family of PD labels (with thanks to J.A.W. for this information).

 

I have heard about 8 Blues CDs issued by a company calling themselves SPV.
SVP are another one of these European out of copyright companies.
Their CDs (if you can find them) are cheap. Some have reasonable sound quality, some others sound absolutely crap.
Buyers beware!

 

Real Gone Music (the UK public domain label, not the American outfit) has a really nice Christmas Albums series in their Eight Classic Albums line. There are four volumes, each one including eight different Christmas albums. Volume One includes albums by Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Conniff, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, Mario Lanza, Dean Martin, Jo Stafford and Patti Page. It's hard to beat for the price, though better editions of each individual album exist.

The sound quality is very acceptable.

https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Christmas-Albums-Vol-Various/dp/B016VKBKAG

 

Correction to my recent post!

I have heard about 8 Blues CDs issued by a company calling themselves SPV.
SPV are another one of these European out of copyright companies.
Their CDs (if you can find them) are cheap. Some have reasonable sound quality, some others sound absolutely crap.
Buyers beware!

 

Many people even in the UK do not often come across PD releases in charity shops.

 

Didn't they put out The Pretty Things catalogue between Snapper and Repertoire?

 

Does anyone know the sound quality of this? Looks like a great collection https://www.amazon.co.uk/Genius-17-...id=1513567198&sr=8-2&keywords=ray+charles+box

 

I doubt if anyone can confirm where this company copied/cloned the music from, and on that fact alone I would advise to stay well clear. It probably is not worth gambling on. I would recommend sticking with the genuine original CD editions because there is a very good chance the discs in this box set will sound generally crap.

 

Does anyone know how the EU/PD labels in the UK are going to impacted by Brexit? Are UK copyright laws going to change?

 

Think Mad Max 2, multiple by 100 and you're not even close.

 

That's probably the least of their concerns right now... Perhaps in the long run, no idea.

 

Really? I would expect the discs to be cloned directly from the ABC mastered Rhino, and Atlantic label releases. In other words they will sound rather spectacular.

Btw, it's easy to confirm these types of details.

So over-all we could not be more in disagreement on what this set is likely to sound like.

Public domain is a bitch (for some) ain't it!

 

Some of the PD labels master from MP3 sources. Others use needledrops. A few simply clone existing CDs.

 

I always thought a lot those "cheap" Labels found out of Copyright Sessions/performances that Major labels wouldn't use because not a Great sounding Gig/Performance?? used to get a lot of Reggae Albums cheapo Labels(way back in day,birth of CD days) ..idk? Think Europe is capital of Bootlegs and Fakes..