BRIAN ENO- New reissues double lps 45rpm August 4th

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by zwolo, Jun 14, 2017.

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  1. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    If I were you I’d at least get Warm Jets and see what you think. I doubt you’ll find it sounds like your original but you might still be pleased to have it alongside. Mountain is impossible to recommend though, to newbies or oldies. Unless as our friend @yamfox says above, download the 2004 Mountain from the enclosed card and just keep the 2017 33rpm for the cover, which is rather nice of course in its Warholian gatefoldness :)
     
  2. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    Well.... the fact that they already sold a whole box of the "Before And After Science" for 15€ might be a harbinger. If these were topsellers this definitely wouldn't have happened.

    I also saw multiple vintage copies of these classic Eno albums in Utrecht - largest fair in the world BTW - and all between 25 - 30€. I don't know about the www but if one frequents larger European record fairs there's absolutely no need to get these albums as fancy new reissues. This story how scarce and expensive originals were is simply not true. Obviously these are not 5€ records but decent originals can be obtained for a similar price as the reissues. And the rest....the rest is up to you....
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2017
  3. yamfox

    yamfox Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    In Europe this may be true, but in America it is not. The likely reason these were reissued is because I’ve on many occasions seen bootlegs passing off as “Japanese imports” in record stores going back 8 years.. I have never seen an original Eno record in my life.
     
  4. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    As a “set” it’s for me fatally flawed due to Mountain anyway, without even playing Green or Science. And I would guess a lot of (or most?) people who for whatever reason would want them instead of older versions, would want them as a set. I now see the 33s will be £19-£21 in the UK, same as the Pink Floyd ones from last year. I think that’s a bit too much, but it seems normal now. The only other recent vinyl of an old album I’ve heard was the HMV exclusive silver vinyl Iggy The Idiot, which they sell for £21, with a crappy looking cover scan and a horrible pressing fault on the final song. Yet not that long ago there was a 2LP Iggy Raw Power from Sony, with two mixes of the entire album and a 16 page colour booklet going for £20 in the same stores.

    For the prices these things are, it’s now more important than ever to not be ripped off with pressing faults (eg Iggy Idiot) or really poor unrepaired tape problems (eg Mountain, Bowie Lodger). Or are so many people playing this stuff on substandard gear, or obsessed only with owning as many old, legendary albums on vinyl as possible, that none of the problems matter? Who knows.
     
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  5. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    The bootleg thing is a disgrace, and I hate it. I have personally known non wealthy but highly regarded artists who have suffered from them. Although an irony is that I bet a bootleg Mountain LP has a better sounding The Great Pretender on it. This is why people who care have to not whitewash these problems, as it’s IMO not on, especially when paying £27-£30 for the 45rpm Mountain.
     
    Mateo Sanboval likes this.
  6. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    And an off topic by the way re the above, the silver vinyl Idiot isn’t even remotely silver, it’s dull grey. It’s like saying beige is gold. People are just getting away with people’s money for high price-tag gimmicky tat..
     
  7. Echoes Myron

    Echoes Myron Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Does the 33 Tiger Mountain have the dropouts?
     
  8. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    I haven’t played Side Two yet, if that’s where any were. As above, I stopped playing it when I heard the state The Great Pretender was in, at the end of Side One. They are the same mastering as the 45s, that Miles man’s name and Abbey Road are in the dead wax, so presumably anything to do with tape sound is going to be the same.
     
  9. soundQman

    soundQman Senior Member

    Location:
    Arlington, VA, USA
    I don't understand why they would include the older digital mastering (2004) in the package as downloads, together with a new mastering for the vinyl, which was produced from new digitally remastered files in the process. I'm not complaining, it just seems odd to me. Why didn't they just make the vinyl from the 2004 sources?
     
    BlueSpeedway likes this.
  10. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    Good point. It’s hard not to wonder how great they could have sounded, ie vinyl and high res from the excellent, tape problem free 2004 sources for these four albums. Still, at least the downloads aren’t MP3s or squashed other versions of the 2017 masters. Not particularly useful downloads though as the 2004 CDs can be had for peanuts and surely everybody interested in Eno has them?
     
    Norco74 likes this.
  11. the avant-guvnor

    the avant-guvnor Well-Known Member

    Location:
    London, UK
    Yes, it's the same on the 45rpm version, at least, on the 3 copies I had.

    I originally put it down to a pressing problem as so many of the issues I heard were (significantly on Taking Tiger Mountain from Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) and Spider And I from Before And After Science), but I'm not so sure now.
     
    BlueSpeedway likes this.
  12. Norco74

    Norco74 For the good and the not so good…

    That is exactly my point as I have the 2004 CD.
     
  13. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    It presumably can’t be a pressing problem now it’s on the 33rpm The Great Pretender. Within moments it’s obvious something is seriously wrong... fuzzy static distortion sound all over the pecussion. It sounds like the speaker or headphone connectors are loose or blown. Even the most cursory listen to any of the mass of previous releases of the album, or shockingly, the (still in print after 13 years) few dollar / pounds / euros etc CD, would have told someone that. Does the whole chain of people in these things not include a single person who even slightly knows Taking Tiger Mountain or The Great Pretender?
     
  14. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    Dear Abbey Road Half Speed Mastering Department

    Would you like me to master Emerson Lake and Palmer for you?

    I have never heard them.

    At all.

    So I’m probably ideal for the role.

    Yours, etc

    urgh :(
     
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  15. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    Incidentally, as you might have guessed by now, there’s no trace of the above 45rpm problem on the 33rpm Warm Jets. The European 33rpm I have is totally free of pressing problems on both sides.
     
  16. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    You’re probably set with your old VG vinyl and the 2004 CDs then? I say treat yourself to a Seven Deadly Finns picture sleeve 45 with your funds instead :)
     
    Norco74 likes this.
  17. Echoes Myron

    Echoes Myron Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I am confused. Does the great pretender have the volume dropouts on the 33 (this song is the worst offender for dropouts on the 45) or is it a different problem?
     
  18. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    :) As already written.. there is some kind of distortion static type sound on the Great Pretender source used, at the start of the song before the singing starts. I switched it off at that point, as listening for later dropouts is pointless to me as the distortion at the start already renders the song useless to me on that LP. See post #711 above, the avant guvnor had the same static like sound problem on Pretender on 3 copies of the 45rpm, so any dropouts seem to be the “least” of that track’s problems, on both the 33 and 45.

    So to summarise... they are all the same sources, 33 and 45.. the dead wax says so. If people detected dropouts on the 45s you can bet your bottom dollar they are on the 33s too. But the distortion on Pretender makes it pointless to me to investigate the 2017 Mountain further. It’s a dud, for that reason alone. Warm Jets doesn’t really sound like two 1970s LPs or two CD versions, but really so what, and it isn’t a dud. I heard no tape source problems and the (European) pressing was perfect.

    I can’t be bothered with the other two at the moment, sorry. But it doesn’t seem to matter anyway as the 33 masters are the same as the 45s, so people can re-read the thread and see whatever was reported as good or not so good about the Green and Science masters used for these LPs.
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2017
  19. Echoes Myron

    Echoes Myron Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    thanks!
     
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  20. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    Sorry I wasn’t clearer earlier. I can be a bit of a waffler:)
     
  21. Summerisle

    Summerisle Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle, WA, USA
    My 45 RPM Pressing does not have that Pressing fault between Needle and Pow pow. I think they sound good but are not perfect. Originals tend to go around $40-$50 here in The states. That’s why I went with a reissue. I still might grab a early Island Pressing when money isn’t so tight.
     
    BlueSpeedway likes this.
  22. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    I listened to Side Two of Tiger Mountain 33rpm before getting rid of it, and there’s a major right channel dropout period on the final, title track just when I was getting in a trance with it. So both sides have what are to me, significant problems on the final track.
     
  23. Classicrock

    Classicrock Senior Member

    Location:
    South West, UK.
    I am absolutely sick of the negative comments about these. Granted there are pressing flaws. Just played great Pretender on my 45 rpm again. No drop outs but a slight channel imbalance which may be my room /speaker positioning or the recording. No extraneous noises. If you have a genuine drop out (loss of sound in one channel) or crackles it is likely a pressing fault. I returned one copy of this and another title in the series due to distortion (not on Great Pretender). Suggest stop moaning and get an exchange copy before condemning the whole reissue program. I'm damn surprised some of you can find a tolerable new pressing given the moans about slightly off centre, cover printing etc etc. The original UK versions on pink rim aren't that plentiful or cheap. Warm Jets is by far easiest (only one I have on original UK vinyl) since it charted and presumably was by far the best selling. New vinyl at £20 is not much more expensive in real terms than 30-35 years ago. Don't expect a reissue to sound exactly the same as an original. Too many variables and likely not the aim of the remastering engineer.
     
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  24. Echoes Myron

    Echoes Myron Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Despite a couple issues I was quite pleased overall with the 45 series. I am going to buy some of them again in 33 for play copies...
     
  25. If 33s are playing copies what are the 45s for ?
     
    Ben Adams likes this.
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