WOW! I'm floored. What an absolutely perfect time to become a jazz fan and an audiophile Really would have liked Stoughton jackets, but for just over $20 each, I don't mind. These are titles I wanted in my collection but could not otherwise afford a AAA pressing of each. Just pre-ordered the Side Winder but several more peaked my interest as well. Can't wait for these to start coming out!
Great news, seems that the next couple of years there’ll be a steady flow of great affordable releases to quench my classic ánd more obscure Blue Note jazz thirst. Long live the Tone Poet and Classic series!
I'm with you on this. Why not go with the Tone Poet style gatefolds or at least higher quality standard jackets for a bit more. These titles deserve the Tone Poet treatment.
I think they probably wanted to get affordable releases of these out, not definitive versions. The "Tone Poet Style" gatefolds are actually Music Matters Jazz style gatefolds, so they'd basically be repackaging these exactly like the Music Matters jazz except selling them for $35 retail (only difference is no Joe Harley or Ron Rambach, just Kevin Gray on the mastering and production team). I think having the price point on these down to $25 was probably a priority as well. I will say they should've done the BN80 series in either a slightly thicker cardstock sleeve or at least a glossy thin one, or even a tip-on that isn't glossy and fancy or gatefolds like the Stoughton ones they use for TP/MMJ.
These are meant to be a continuation of the BN80 series so they are using the cheaper jackets. And also, if they used the same jackets of the MMJ series, there would be virtually no difference to a lot of people, but a MASSIVE price difference. I just saw a MMJ copy of The Sidewinder sell in the classifieds here today for $175, Right after I ordered the $25 version in this new series. There has to be a difference between the 2, or else essentially there would be 2 identical products on the market. And how would MMJ, and people who bought that series justify the cost?
I’d like to believe, however naively, that not every Blue Note decision has to be cleared with MM and their fanboys.
Yes they should at least up the covers like the Craft reissues. They don’t need to be gatefold. are you listening @donwas @bluenote
The gatefold and photo licensing from the Wolf archive adds $$$ but they certainly could up the cover stock and still keep the gloss. Only adding a few bucks.
Honestly the gatefold with the fancy photos have been done by MMJ, I'd actually prefer if they were just non-gatefold tip-on jackets like the OGs are.
They’re working directly with the MMJ team. What’s do you expect, them to use the same photos in the gatefold?
If i were running blue note, i'd choose 140gram RTI pressings with a single pocket tip on, without the high gloss. They could easily sell these for $20.
Sure it does. If they used the same jackets then they would be called Tone Poet Series. At that point what is the difference? They have to differentiate between the two series to get them at the lowest approachable price possible.
I don't know that this is true in 2021, do they really need two different tiers of pricing? Arguably, they've got the series reversed, the "classic" titles are the ones that should be the definitive versions. The Tone Poets seem to be selling just fine, they likely could have just expanded the series adding the "classic" titles. At some point, there is going to be buyer fatigue with the number of titles available, and it won't matter what the price is.
I'd love a non-gatefold tip-on, there's a real nostalgic beauty to that. But at the very least, unlike the Tone Poets, I bet the spines on these will actually match with one another. Side note: will be very interesting to hear all the different Maiden Voyage reissues once this series is out. That title is very reliant on a solid mastering take and philosophy, IMO. The OG RVG, AP45, MM33, VMP Herbie boxset LP (Bernie AAA cut out later this year), and the KG BN Classic will be fun to compare.
No doubt 95% of us on this forum will buy these. Even though we have multiple copies, the price is too good to pass up. But I think Blue Note and Co. are really hoping these will expand far out to the average casual music fan and for the next generation. Not to mention huge sales numbers to which they have never seen
The difference is that the Tone Poet series focuses on more obscure albums and the Classic series focuses on the most popular BN releases. I see no reason why they both can't have nice sleeves.
I think your right and not just for sound quality reasons. As a business it’s not good to give away the ‘golden egg’. These classics are where the real long-term business/money lies. If BN produced 33rpm tip-on non-gatefold sleeved AAA @ $25 where do they go from there a bar 1-Step $125? Which independent label would take it on and try to compete? It would just not make sense imho, although from my perspective very regrettable, as for me, that would be all I’d want and I guess, most here too, which is why I really don’t think it’ll ever happen, as least not until BN sales take a major downturn some time in the distant future.
My graphic designer friend laughed out loud when she saw my row of TP's on the shelf. She thought someone would be fired in her office for being that random and sloppy.
And consider this. What if The Sidewinder that comes out next month sounds so good that you can’t differentiate between that $20 copy and the one MM sold you for $80 six months ago. Wouldn’t you be a little pissed?
Especially when the price we actually pay is not that different between Tone Poet and BN80* * - yes, I am WELL AWARE that Amazon’s price is not the “list price.” Don’t care.
Glad I'm not the only one who thinks it's bizarre...they are all over the place! It would be one thing if they emulated originals or something, but no. Seems completely random.
We noticed too! I pointed out some of the content mistakes, like putting "Blue Note Stereo" on the spine of the Chet Baker title, which is neither Blue Note, nor Stereo. That was a good laugh.
