Coloured Balls - First Supper Last or Scenes We Didn't Get To See Australian CD 9337369004457 | eBay Not Amazon related, but this Ebay seller is selling some brand-new Aztec and Sandman label Australian reissue CDs cheap with free postage.
That Coloured Balls album is pretty rough. The piano is recorded off mic. I like Love You Girl Because .. but the rest is tough sledding.
The sound quality is a bit better on this version, I reckon. Gil wasn’t involved with the Sandman version. Colored Balls - The First Supper Last “Of course, the album has been available on CD before. This is the first time, however, that the complete audio as heard on the original vinyl pressing has been reproduced. Remastering expert Gil Matthews discovered that several segments had been lopped off when the first digital transfer was undertaken for the 1997 CD. He has now restored the full audio, with one minute of bird and animal sound effects returned to the end of ‘So Glad You’re Mine’, the studio chatter returned to the start of ‘Liberate Rock Part Two Revisited’ and the correct ending of the same song now back in place.”
That Twilights album is fantastic and I love that it includes both the stereo and mono versions. Aztec had a Twilights compilation planned, but they haven’t released anything since last April.
they were also going to do a complete Masters Apprentices box but someone wouldn't come to the party. Because they did a digital transfer of The Twilights the stereo mix of one-track sounded like crap and they had to mix it manually so when they edited it back into the album the master was addled so that's why there's timing differences between the mono and stereo mixes. They all actually are the same lengths but editing in the manual stereo mix of the last stereo song changed the timings.
The overdressed that and Obsecration. There were boxes and boxes of copies at Sunday markets for 10 years.
I thought I recognised his name in the credits! I remember exchanging a few posts with him around the time the Hoffman mastered sets came out. I do have an 1980s USA CD box of all the NKC trio transcripts which I'm pretty sure he put me on to. I'm tempted by the 10LP set but will see what I think of the 7CD set I've ordered for now. You can get the 10LP set direct from the labels website for US$99 but the expensive shipping to Australia brings it right up to the Amazon Australia price.
Aztec seem to have quite a few releases planned, but not much has surfaced in the past twelve months. I'm a big fan of the label, but it must be difficult with all the effort to put out a release: finding original tapes, licensing, remastering etc. and then having a limited market, more so with the move away from CDs. I imagine they would be lucky to break even on most releases.
Paul McCartney & Wings Wild Life (2LP) $39 https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B07J35QCCY/ $78 from Amazon US $118 from Amazon UK
I just wish Aztec had got around to doing the second Dragon album 'Scented Gardens for the Blind' they did the first 'Universal Radio' and there was talk of doing the second but sadly it never happened. One of the best melodic prog albums bar none and it has never had an official CD issue! It is as good as the Spring album and by a NZ band and hardly anyone has heard it, I so regret selling my orig French copy!!
Bill Evans Conversations With Myself (LP) $27 https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00F5DXJDC/ This looks like part of Abbey Road's Back To Black series so it should be ok. $75 everywhere else.
If you don't want to pay $50 for the Acoustic Sounds version of this, you can grab the OJC for a bit cheaper: The Poll Winners The Poll Winners (LP) $29 https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00MBNZ9IW/ OJC
I received this today and played it right through. The issue is audible tape hiss. It's very audible. Louis' voice also overloads the mic occasionally so it will test your cartridge. If these things bother you, this is not the album for you. Personally, I think they add a little charm to an old jazz recording and this LP is an absolute cracker. EDIT: Definitely some distortion on the vocals at the end of side one. Will certainly test your cart and perhaps your patience.