The Kinks "Village Green" LP question

I would, if that's the only choice. Do not wanna get into the whole digital vinyl debate.

 

Yes of course. But this showed up after all the raving on these pages and since I liked the cover and the price I bought it. It is only a matter of time until I find another PRT pressing in the 10 - 15€ region because average German dealers regard these as run of the mill 80's reissues. Well.. I did too unfortunately because like two years ago a guy on a fleamarket had the whole bunch, like new. 5€ a piece. I passed

 

I had an original 1987/88 PRT double CD of 'The Kinks Are Well Respected Men' ( a compilation of As, Bs and EP tracks not on the studio albums) and sadly it was stolen, I managed to pick up the LP equivalent (you hardly never see it or the CD) and it's a white label PRT and and sounds really good, considering record 2 is over 26 minutes per side - assuming this one was from the same time? You only see the 'Castle' (now sanctuary) CDs over here and re-issued vinyl other than the 'Earmark' ones are particularly scarce. It would be great if Analogue Productions/QRP would be able to take on the Kinks Pye catalogue and cut from analogue - I can but dream...

 

Universal released a limited edition more than two years ago (2011, Sanctuary Records 2732280) that has the mono and stereo mixes on vinyl. Pressed on splattered coloured vinyl (180g). This sounds very nice - much better than previous reissues. Decent pressing apart from a few pops on mine (coloured vinyl is usually not perfect). This OOP version could be hard to find now. I'm sure it's from digital but it is very 'analogue' sounding. BTW they also did four more similarly presented titles for Record Store Day 2012.

 

That was one of the most ridiculous things Universal did, they released that album in such absurd quantities that it was virtually impossible for my local dealer to get hold of a copy. Even though he is very well connected. Apparently this one was strictly for the UK

The following year they released "Something Else", "Face To Face" and "Arthur" in similar style and these were available everywhere. No idea what kind of logic it is Universal is following.

 

I'm pretty sure the VGPS that was released a couple of years ago was not a RSD release - it was just a special that was available through the Universal site, that's where I ordered mine from.

the other three releases were RSD items, if only the numbered ones, as I think Universal made a load of unnumbered ones as well.

FWIW I think they sound fine. Someone mentioned the Earmark release - now that was almost certainly mastered from a CD but the newish Universal mono/stereo sets were mastered from hi res files created when they remastered the music for the CD deluxe editions, so there is no reason why they can't sound good.

Regarding the 80's PYE reissues - I am sure I have read that there is some confusion about the mono and stereo issue - like they say mono on the sleeve but are actually stereo?

 

I would like to see Reprise/Warner do a reissue, sort of like the Grateful Dead reissues, or, more accurately, like the T. Rex Electric Warrior reissue (also on Reprise, even though the whole catalog is not available on that label, much like the Kinks). No idea if these were fr0m analog or digital sources, but they certainly looked accurate (which I think is cool).

 

I have a Pye gray label VGPS that I bought in the 80's. The cover says mono, but the mix is stereo. The vinyl is somewhat translucent when held up to the light. It's a very good sounding record.

 

Grey label is very late 70's / early 80s UK (1979-81 perhaps)

Purple Pye was from about 1975-78

Red & Green PRT label from about 1981-92 onwards ( I have a spanish 'Something Else' that also uses this label )

Blue Pye I think ran until about 74/75.

This is just from memory and very rough timelines - there may be some definitive answers by someone somewhere...

 

Ouch

 

So here are some shots of the German mono label and cover. The three German mono albums I have all have the "re-release" text on the back, a 202 catalog number and "80M Made in Germany" stamped in the deadwax.

 

Here are some photos of label variations that I have.

 

I think I've had a couple of copies of this . Mine has a pink label . The sound was actually not bad but side 2 was pressed off center on both copies and really out of tune.

 

Is the cover a gatefold?

 

No. It doesn't say mono or stereo on the cover either.

 

Ups...that one I've passed SEVERAL times just because of the missing gatefold. Now knowing that it is Mono I will buy the next copy I come across. Thank you!

 

Sure!

 

Very helpful! I'll keep an eye out for this one! I thoroughly enjoy the mono mix of this album.

 

Me too. I prefer it to the stereo, which sounds like one of the sloppiest, most rushed mixes ever. You can hear dirty pot static when elements are panned across the stereo field. I would welcome a modern stereo remix of this album. The instrumental backing tracks on the deluxe edition sound great.

 

Sadly, I believe they didn't keep the multis for this album, or maybe they only kept the final 'bounces' - I only know this because they did a wonderful remix of 'Johnny Thunder' as an extra on the 3-cd version of Village, as they were able to take every element and 're-track' it. It sounds amazing but sadly they state that this is the ONLY track where they had all the stages of the each 'multi' to do this with.

 

I was lucky enough to find a Canadian PRT stereo repress a few months ago for $25.00AU at one of my haunts. Sounds good to these ears

 

As a few people have pointed out, but just for clarity, Universal re-released Face to Face, Something Else, Village Green, and Arthur in the UK in the past few years. All were gatefold, double LPs, on colored vinyl (each album a different color), with one LP the mono mix and the other the stereo mix.

Village Green was released first, exclusively via the Universal UK website (in 2011?), and was limited to 1,000 copies. You could order this from anywhere in the world, I believe for 25 pounds. The other three were all released on Record Store Day (2012?) and were supposedly limited to 500 copies each, and exclusive to the UK. But I happened to be overseas that day and picked up copies of each in a shop in the Middle East that was celebrating RSD. These are from the same run as the UK ones, but do not have numbers on them in the blank spot for the numbers. I have heard that other shops in Europe also received these, but they definitely were not available here in the USA. I have no idea what the total run was, but I suspect from the reports that the total number available outside of the UK was not more than the numbered run, so let's say there are somewhere around 1,000 copies of that one as well, but again, that is just an educated guess.

They all appear to be taken from the mixes produced for the double cd reissues. They sound quite good overall, so I would suspect that they are hi-res digital.

Some people have complained that the artwork in these is not as sharp as it could be, but I have heard no complaints about the sound or pressing quality. I myself am quite happy with all four, as it is really nice to have clean vinyl versions of all of the mixes. I wouldn't pay the prices that they seem to command now, but that is more about my general unwillingness to pay that much for an album that can be found in other formats for a few dollars. If you do come across these for a reasonable price, you will not likely be disappointed.

 

My US (later 70's, maybe early 80's) stereo copy sounds amazing... maybe its ignorance is bliss since I only have a CD to compare it to... but I have no need to upgrade.

 

All right except that one could mention the fact that the the RSD titles were pressed by GZ and that they failed to alter the liner notes for the vinyl version. So they talk of the CDs bonustracks. The 500 numbered copies were for the UK while the others simply had an empty number box.
For what they are they are decent but just not comparable to the way Classic Records treated The Who albums. That would be a nice treatment for The Kinks but of course that kind of quality is reflected in the price. As it is the PRT reissues seem to be a good thing

 

BTW: Am I the only one who finds it somewhat ironic that a German midprice reissue from the 80's beats the fancy and expensive 201X edition? Making vinyl records must be very hard nowadays