Bill Evans - You Must Believe In Spring - Craft 45 rpm LP, and SoTA digital

I, for one, mention nothing about the look of my copy. It looks great. And it sounds great. But the vinyl itself is...meh.

 

It seems that happens with most of these audiophile releases. My Eric Clapton one step was flawless, and yet pictures have shown up with other copies that look like the records were used for frisbees. Luck of the draw.

 

You’re right. I was mixing up this LP (which was $40) with the new Trio ‘65 (which was $27).

Nevertheless, right now I still consider $40 for a 2LP 45rpm set to be relatively inexpensive (but not “cheap”) - compared to say recent RSD 2LP sets. And by year’s end, I suspect we’re going to be nostalgic for a 2LP 45rpm set mastered by Kevin Gray - even on suboptimal vinyl - for $40.

 

And Tommy LiPuma

 

You have more patience then me.
I would have kept sending them back until a flat copy arrived.

Teach RTI a lesson...

 

Sounds like Michael got a good copy, 10/10

 

There is a 12+ month backlog right now. Returning albums isn't going to teach RTI anything.

 

Maybe craft will pick up the phone and ask RTI WTF is going on. I've returned 5 copies alone. That's $225 in wasted product from me alone.

 

Again, there is a 12+ month backlog. There aren’t many options for labels. Craft needs RTI a lot more than RTI needs Craft right now.

 

Try breaking the Amz curse chain, get a refund, and Zia has it in stock.

 

I might try somewhere else after my 6th copy is delivered today.

I'd have better luck at the casino...

 

Do you have a record cleaner ? That might help too. But seems most people are getting clean copies now.

 

It's not the noise. I keep getting warped copies.

 

Why would another vendor be any different? That’s like thinking if you flip heads 5 times in a row, your odds of getting tails improve if someone else flips the coin.

 

Because others are getting flat/quiet copies...

 

That’s not how records get shipped out. It’s not like the first batch goes to vendor x, the 2nd batch goes to y, and so on. Sometimes it’s kinda, sorta like that, but in general it’s pretty random.

I just went to a store yesterday that has several old #’d RSD LPs on sale. The numbers weren’t remotely grouped together. They might as well have been pulling the numbers from lottery jar.

 

I think they ship them on pallets, so theoretically Amazon could get a bad pallet and the people in the geographic area of that warehouse could keep getting warped copies like me.

 

A pallet is a lot albums. I doubt a single Amazon warehouse gets an entire pallet of Bill Evans albums.

But for the sake of argument let’s say it does. This assumes the boxes loaded onto the pallet are loaded sequentially in the order of production - with no cross-pollinating from other batches. That’s a big assumption - as I illustrated above and countless other anecdotes illustrate. Plus it assumes the supposed bad batch only and all went to Amazon. Otherwise, you’re still flipping a coin thinking the odds are better than 50/50 if you flip the next coin with another vendor.

There’s nothing wrong with trying another vendor, but wishful thinking can’t overcome the laws of statistics. Unless one has evidence the coin is weighted, you’re still just hoping for random good luck.

 

In fairness, suggested retail on the Craft Evans reissue is $39.99 and the MoFi Young Rascals is $59.99. An additional $20 should buy some nicer vinyl.

I was fortunate enough to get a perfect copy of You Must Believe in Spring -- silent on all four sides -- and I think KG's 45 rpm mastering is a knockout. This is absolutely a 10/10 recording, and one of my five favorite Evans albums.

 

I knew someone would make that comparison. It's totally fair to criticize RTI and Craft. We are talking about $40.00 specialty vinyl.

 

Agree to a point -- you deserve a clean-playing copy, which I was fortunate to receive on the first try -- but it's "totally fair" to point out the price discrepancy between the two releases you compared.

Also, if you're going to quote my post, please don't edit it so as to distort my point.

 

I disagree.

I think a whole pallet of Bill Evans albums for the Las Vegas Valley Amazon warehouse would not be unusual.

And if they didn't get a pallet, they'd better order one after I get through all the copies I've been sending back. Lol

 

If you are having problems with Amazon for this particular title, you should try another source after two or three replacements. If I remember correctly, we were having difficulty getting a good copy of Born To Be Blue (Tone Poet) from Amazon, but everybody else who got it from Target had no problems. Well, I (and other members) ordered from Target and got perfect copies. Another member (@timzigs) then reported that an Amazon rep told him Amazon had a bad inventory of Born To Be Blue -- he was refunded instead of given a replacement.

Instead of theorizing what is or not possible, just get it from another source and see for yourself.

EDIT: Disk 1 of my copy from Amazon had a dish warp, which I fixed with my Vinyl Flat.

 

Flat, quiet, and wonderful Evans from Paladin Vinyl today.

 

Ot

How many LPs do you think are on a pallet? How many copies - TOTAL worldwide - do you think will get pressed?