I’m sure nobody cares what my opinion is. The whole purpose of mastering is to make things sound better than what’s on the tape for consumers. To imply that using compression and EQ is somehow a negative; and that the primary goal of mastering is to preserve what’s on the tape ;It’s just a wrong headed assertion. But I’ll let you have the last word if you insist.
Now I'm not sure if you're just trolling. I never said I don't care about your opinion. It's about how you phrase it, that's all. And there's no cake for anyone to take.
Yeah the RVG CDs are super unfortunate. Makes it hard to get on board with his opinion that his originals were compromised if he really thought those CDs were better. I don’t think the question should just be about compression and roll off, or originals vs. reissues. It’s not like there are only three knobs on the console, or that the label just pulls the reissue lever and an LP gets made. It’s a person at a console making a multitude of artistic decisions. Kevin Gray vs. 50s/60s RVG on a title by title basis, often times Van Gelder compression/roll off/tone just works better for the material. Talking on a subjective emotional listener level - ie. my opinion as a listener choosing which copy I’ll more enjoy. On those “Indestructible” clips up thread, I’d personally take the RVG. KG’s body of work dominates my audiophile vinyl collection, and I think he’s a legend, but it’s hard to fault anybody that feels like many of his recent Blue Note cuts fall on the wrong side of the fine line between cleanliness and sterility.
I have Blacks and Blues arriving today because of streaming it. I was hesitating before even hearing it because I hadn't heard of the artist, the jacket seemed a departure from the classic artwork of the earlier stuff and so forth. But I trust the curator that there's a reason to pick what seemed an odd title, and after a listen I knew it was it's own kind of classic and this style was a new avenue for me to explore.
Damn, when I was cranking Una Mas for the first time, the "vocal" near the end nearly gave me a heart attack! Didn't expect that, lol.
Blacks and Blues arrived today and the pressing was flawless, flat centered and quiet. SQ was excellent. I guess Amazon got more stock of Somethin Else. My replacement wasn't due until March 15, but arrived tomorrow.
I know this is the 80th Anniversary thread but... You shouldn't generalize on those RVG CDs. Some of them sounded very good. I'm thinking titles like "Basra", "Search For The New Land", "Midnight Special", "Up At Minton's", "At The Golden Circle"... the list goes on. Sure there were a couple of dogs - McLean's "A Fickle Sonance" comes to mind. And yes, the first batch of 10 US releases had a bit too much compression, bright EQ and a narrowed stereo spread, but Blue Note directed RVG to make some tweaks and subsequent releases weren't done like that. I know for sure that he stopped narrowing the stereo spread because Michael Cuscuna told him to re-do several of them because he didn't like the first try. Back to our regularly scheduled thread...
I think I neglected John Scofield Hand Jive......only played it once upon purchase as I bought it in a big order. Going back to it now and wow, the sound here on side 4 is amazing. Great stuff.
This is the big reason why mono Blue Notes are preferred over stereo. The early stereo efforts, in particular, have lots of mic bleed. It gets folded down and some of it gets canceled out while some distortion remains. Either way, it's an easier listen than stereo.
I upgraded a super budget Scorpio/Rainbo/Digital pressing of Alligator Bogaloo to the Blue Note 80th ($20 from the Amazon.ca Warehouse!) and wow am I glad I did. It really comes alive in this new pressing, Benson's guitar and Leo Morris' drums really stand out. A funky affair from start to finish. I passed on this and Mr. Shing-a-Ling because I had other copies but now I'm on the look out for that Tone Poet. I wonder if there's any Lou Donaldson in the pipe for the Blue Note Classics series, Midnight Creeper might be a good candidate for that series.
Very late to this party. My last BN binge was around 5 - 10 years ago, where I grabbed about a dozen MMJ 45s and a bunch of NOS Classic Records (with slightly mixed results) plus a hotchpotch of s/h DMMs and the odd Scorpio just for the tunes. The 75s left me a bit cold but being in Europe they were at least pretty OK but looked a bit cheap without being especially cheap over here. I also picked up some Heavenly Sweetness (no idea) that covered some titles I'd never seen or artists I was unfamiliar with. I'm hoping BN80 includes the Sheila Jordan LP at some point and they did a bunch of Andrew HilI - who was new to me then. I just picked up BN80 Larry Young / Into Something and Joe Henderson / In and Out and tbh they don't seem that much better than the European 75s. Very clean sounding top end and very different to the Classics (the cymbals!) and I can only assume these are deliberate choices made by the mastering engineers. Not better or worse, just different choices. I wonder if there's some element of appealing to a post-CD audience who are more used to a cleaner top. The Larry Young has a pressing fault so that's going back. I've ponied up £100 for 3 Tone Poets too, for comparison purposes. Looking forward to a big upgrade on My Point of View. I'd like a decent Something Else too but it looks to be sold out (I have the Classic 200, but it has a really intrusive scrape sound bang on the first horn blast). Based on what I've head so far, it'd be an interesting comparison.
I’m listening to Lonnie Smith Live at Club Mozambique. Not my favorite organ record but I’m liking it well enough. My complaint is that it’s a two record set and it would have been better suited to a gatefold but that’s just a minor comment.
So now I've heard a few of these and had the opportunity to compare with a few TP and earlier MM and CR pressings, my conclusion is that the masterings are decent but the pressings are very variable. Larry Young / Into Something had a persistent click throughout Ritha and cleaning didn't shift it. I got a replacement sent but the sleeve was mangled down the open edge. Pete LaRoca / Basra had a terrible right channel scraping sound intermittent throughout Lazy Afternoon and a couple of instances of loud white noise - almost ballistic, loud enough to startle me but < 1 sec - during the otherwise very subdued intro. Interestingly, both copies of Into Something came with decent liners whereas Basra had nasty and very static laden paper. Visually both records looked fine so I was pretty disappointed and this has really put me off the 80s/Classics. The 3 tone poets I got were fine OTOH, so I may just redirect my limited funds accordingly.
I just picked up an MJ 45 Mode For Joe but was wondering, is it sonically better than an OG Stereo pressing...I always wonder about 45's vs OG pressings but this one in particular.
This could be a matter of preference. But the MMJ 45 of "Mode" is one of my favorites. I have around 40 of the 45's and they are easily some of the best sounding/looking records in my collection. I personally prefer them over the BN originals I have or have heard. Its also a bit different comparison since we are talking 45 vs 33. With that said I have some original Blue Notes that sound amazing and would not ever think of selling them. I'm sure others will chime in and you will have some that will always swear by an original. But you also have folks like KG going in and pulling things from the tapes that Rudy left buried so to speak. Enjoy "Mode For Joe", hope you got one for a fair price.
I tried searching for the answer before asking this question but didn't see anything (maybe user error...) Anyway, do we know if there the BN80s will be repressed when/if they sell out? I do follow the TP and BNC threads and know that those have been/will be repressed, but the BN80 is a different series and linked to a specific anniversary period. I've got about 16 of the BN80 and got to wondering if I need to grab others I want before it is too late.
Just listened to Grant Green, Grant’s First Stand this evening. I loved it. Loved hearing a “simple” trio sound so huge and wonderful. It just blew me away. And it never ceases to amaze me how the organ fills up so much space.
I think whether her they intend to or not, start picking up the ones you really want. I wouldn't count on anything in these times. Your comment reminded me to get the ones I've put off.
Trying to decide to get AT's Delight on 45 AP or the recently released BN80 so I recently did some more critical comparisons I have a couple of dozen MMJ 45 a few 33 MMJ; similar amounts of AP 45 and the majority of the Tone Poet releases. All of them spectacular IMHO (one exception was TP Black Fire). I'm also fortunate to have one original BN pressing: Hank Mobley's Workout For what it's worth here is my limited sound comparison to a couple BN80 pressings: BN80 Lee Morgan Sidewinder - brighter and louder then all my other Lee Morgan albums on MMJ and AP. But... similar to the EQ on my original BN version of Workout BN80 Herbie Hancock, Inventions and dimensions - Good sound but spoiled by pitch issues. Neither of the above was super enjoyable. I know the pitch issue isn't on all the BN80's but would be interested to know if anyone found BN80 Sidewinder to be unusually bright compared to other BN80's. If all BN80's have similar EQ then I will probably stick to the AP 45. (As a general rule I find the 45 RPM's have a better soundstage and more dynamics then the 33's.)
Sidewinder is from the BN Classic Series, which succeeded BN80, but both with Kevin Gray. Agree about the Hancock record...mastering is not bad but the pitch issues spoil it. On my system, Sidewinder doesn't sound brighter than the MMJ which I feel is more detailed. Sure you're not comparing the BN75 version?
