Does anybody know if this is a new mastering or did they use the plates from the last reissues? The last one had HL in the deadwax
Thanks. I picked one up from my local independent soul store. £30, but less than lots of other places.
Just listened to disc 1. Flat and quiet. Does the OG sound better? Haven't heard it, but imagine it would/could. Having said that, I think this is nicely done. The packaging is beautiful, too.
For anyone who is also interested in the Rhino reissue of "There's No Place Like America Today" mentioned by @WhatDoIKnow above, Rhino customer service has confirmed to me that this mastering, done by Kevin Gray, is not an all-analog cut.
However, it sounds excellent and is much cheaper than finding a mint original pressing. Kevin Gray's mastering of it is a great listen.
Thank you for taking the time and the trouble @googlymoogly! Personally I'm not that bothered about the mastering being AAA or not, and earlier today I discovered that the AAA pressing of Al Green Gets Next to You issued by Pure Pleasure suffers from the master tapes being in less than great shape. AAA isn't always the way, it would seem.
I don’t have another comparison. No AB going on here. But when I see a KG cut, I buy. Maybe there never was magic. But this record didn’t do it for me.
Understood, thank you and sorry if I sounded confrontational, it wasn't my intention at all. All I had before this Kevin Gray was a pretty bad Charly Records "remaster" on CD, so for me it's like listening to a new record. And that means being able to "get into it" at long last. I could never understand the high praise this particular album got from the press, now I have the opportunity to finally savour it.
If you want Al Green vinyl, look for decent US or UK originals (Hi in the US, London in the UK). The London pressings are great. Same for other label mates like Ann Peebles.
I can vouch for the UK London pressings too, I have them all and they're magnificent. Very high quality Decca pressings. Now I need to find the Syl Johnson ones!
I've just checked and I have Total Explosion on the London label, bought new many years ago and probably only listened to once. The purple labels are really cool! I'll give it a spin tomorrow, while I await delivery of the Al Green Call Me on Speakers Corner - which, by the way, are absolutely (and quite consistently) wonderful!
I listened to the Syl Johnson earlier and I can't say I was overly impressed, but I have always had problems with the bluesier side of soul. About the vinyl record itself, I noticed on discogs that there are a few copies being sold from Italy. A word of advice: for some reason, Italians seem to indicate M a copy which I for one would rate M-, i.e. opened and listened to, albeit in great condition overall. Oh, and my copy is laminated alright, but only the front. Weird!
Pretty common for European pressings then, especially those whose jackets were printed in England. Lots of Argo albums from the period were done with the front sides laminated, but not the back covers. As an aside, I've never been too crazy about Syl Johnson's songs, either. Back to the original topic: I had a chance to listen to the ROG pressing of "Curtis". Quite good as a mastering and a pressing, and compares more than favorably to the musical sonics of the older pressing I have (except the earlier copy is rather noisy vinyl). The version I got is the black vinyl pressing. I've never heard a truly shining mastering of this album, and it may just be the sound of the tapes themselves. However, a fine effort from Run Out Groove. I'd forgotten there's an album mat included with the package, BTW.
Thank you for your review! I don't know when I'll get my copy, it's still somewhere in the US. Have you listened to the MoFi gold CD of Curtis? I find it really great, heads and shoulders above the '90s Rhino. I read really good things about the recent box set, records cut by Bellman, iIrc.
I haven't heard that particular version. I like the album, and this version sounds very good and very listenable. Which box set was cut by Chris Bellman - the one that came out a couple of years ago?
