I have two and both are good, Dave Mason and Savoy Brown. I would buy releases from that label again. I think some of these reissue companies are basically dependent on the source tape provided to them by the major label.
I agree the 2026 BGO 3-on-2 issue sounds great! See DR ratings here: Nicolette Larson - Nicolette / In The Nick Of Time / Radioland Unfortunately the standalone 2018 BGO reissue of All Dressed Up, despite being remastered by the same engineer (Andrew Thompson) is compressed far more (DR9). Nicolette Larson - All Dressed Up And No Place To Go
April releases Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes’ first two albums for their new label Mercury, dating from 1980 and 1981 Both were US Top 100 albums, but didn’t produce any hit singles Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes are still an extremely popular live act and continue to gig, with dates for 2020 already lined up Digitally remastered and slipcased Extensive new notes Coming soon Four more and the last of the Wagoner– Parton collaboration albums, these date from 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1980 All four made the US Top 20 Country chart ‘Please Don’t Stop Loving Me’ was a US Country Singles chart No.1 Porter Wagoner died in 2007, but Dolly Parton has continued with her superstar solo career Digitally remastered and slipcased, and with extensive new notes For over 50 years, Irish folk group The Dubliners have been a well-loved institution at home and all over the globe Here we have The Dubliners’ three Transatlantic Records albums, dating from 1964, 1965 and 1966, with three E.P.s and a bonus track from this period All three albums were produced by Transatlantic’s owner Nat Joseph, very much a hands-on British independent label boss Digitally remastered and slipcased Extensive new notes by John O’Regan
May releases Mr. Fox’s two albums for Transatlantic Records, dating from 1970 and 1971 The group, formed by Bob and Carole Pegg, was very much part of the burgeoning British folk rock scene After the second album, the tensions caused by the breakdown of the Peggs’ marriage led to the band’s fracture; Bob Pegg went on to work with Nick Strutt, who was by then a member of the group Digitally remastered and slipcased Extensive new notes An unusual package for BGO, incorporating Bob Pegg’s solo and duo work with Nick Strutt and also including Carole Pegg’s solo album, released after the breakup of Mr. Fox These four albums were all recorded for Transatlantic Records and date from 1973,’74 and ’75 After his two ventures with Nick Strutt, Pegg recorded ‘Ancient Maps’ as a solo album Carole Pegg’s album was followed by her briefly performing with the late Graham Bond. Since then, she has become an academic with the odd foray into recording Digitally remastered and slipcased, and with new notes The first four Transatlantic Records albums from larger than life Scottish folk singer Hamish Imlach Dating from 1966, ’67 and ’68, all four were produced by the label’s owner, Nat Joseph Imlach was a formidable live entertainer and his popularity spread to wider Europe and the US Such was Imlach’s standing that musicians such as Billy Connolly, John Martyn, Dick Gaughan and Christy Moore openly acknowledged the influence and schooling he had given them Digitally remastered and slipcased, and with extensive new notes A contemporary of Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, Giltrap was signed by Transatlantic Records due to his talent and increasing success on the London folk scene He was only 18 when he went into the studio to record ‘Gordon Giltrap’, which was produced by Bill Leader of Leader Records fame. Transatlantic released it in 1968, and it was quickly followed by ‘Portrait’ in 1969 Giltrap has gone on to have a long and varied career, earning the reputation as one of the UK’s finest acoustic guitarists He continues to gig and record and was recently awarded an MBE for services to music and charitable works Digitally remastered and slipcased, and with new notes
June releases! BGO just keeps on rolling them out! Six Kool & The Gang albums dating from 1979 to 1984, covering the most commercially successful period of their career All six were US Top 30 albums with the singles ‘Ladies’ Night’, ‘Hangin’ Out’, ‘Celebration’, ‘Take My Heart’, Joanna’, ‘Fresh’ and ‘Cherish’ all No.1 R&B hits! Brazillian maestro Emir Deodato produced the first four albums of this package, steering them to a more melodic, ballady disco style Digitally remastered and digipaked With extensive new notes Two albums from the late Joe Zawinul’s Syndicate, formed by the keyboardist after the break up of Weather Report These recordings, dating from 1989 and 1992, are a mixture of jazz, fusion rock, afro and latin! However, it is challenging, intellectual, emotional and toe-tapping music Digitally remastered and slipcased With extensive new notes Mark Volman (Flo) and Howard Kaylan (Eddie) were the original founding members of The Turtles and, when the band finished, they went on to an extraordinary career Joining Frank Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention, they recorded several albums before branching out as session singers for T.Rex, Blondie, Alice Cooper and many others These two Columbia albums were recorded in 1975 and 1976 Flo & Eddie reformed The Turtles in the 1980s, embarking on box office-busting tours The Southern rockers’ first two albums for Capricorn Records, dating from 1971 and 1972 The band’s breakthrough came in 1974 when the single ‘Keep On Smilin’’ became a US Top 10 hit The band, with three original members, continues to gig Digitally remastered and slipcased With new notes
Any bonus tracks on that Kool & The Gang set? I believe all of those albums were individually reissued by Big Break Records with a large number of bonus tracks on each.
Generally I'd trust BGO more than Big Break Rekkids on the Kool & The Gang which is the "black music" division of Cherry Red to do a decent set to the point I've pre-ordered that 6 on 3 set.
BGO records issued both the mono mix and stereo mix of Donovan's From a Flower to a Garden, but to get the mono, which they apparently issued by accident and replaced with the stereo, you have to look at the tray card beneath the CD. It has a different image than the stereo one.. There is a thread that details what to look for. I'm away from home right now so I can't tell you which is which. Donovan "A Gift From A Flower To A Garden" Best Mastering?
July! New releases July 2020 - BGO Records Four albums from Earl Scruggs, dating from 1970, 1973, 1982 and 1983 ‘Nashville Rock’ was his real first solo album featuring many Scruggs’ covers of the hit tunes of the day ‘Dueling Banjos’ is more original material, whilst his critically acclaimed collaboration with Tom T. Hall is a mixture of old and new ‘Top Of The World’ features Ricky Skaggs and Rodney Dillard Digitally remastered and slipcased, and with extensive new notes Blood, Sweat & Tears’ singer Clayton-Thomas’ two Columbia albums from 1972 and his RCA self-titled LP from 1973 A talented singer and writer (with ‘Spinning Wheel’ being his biggest hit), Clayton-Thomas filled these albums with many of his own compositions In 1974 he rejoined BS&T, staying until 1981. He rejoined again in 1984 before leaving (again) in 2004 David Clayton-Thomas continues to gig and record in his native Canada Digitally remastered and slipcased, and with extensive new notes New York rockers’ RCA and Columbia recordings from 1988, 1990, 1991 and 1993 The band toured extensively in the late 80s and early 90s, but as musical tastes and styles changed, the group, disillusioned by now, disbanded in 1995 The early 2000s saw the band reform with a different lineup, and are still rocking on! Digitally remastered and slipcased With new notes San Francisco alternative band Wire Train’s three Columbia albums from 1983, 1985 and 1987 The band toured the US and Europe promoting these albums but then went into hibernation, emerging in 1990 with a new album on MCA The band called it a day in the mid 1990s, but reemerged in 2009 for a one-off three gig tour Digitally remastered and slipcased With new notes
Just one bonus track on one of the albums. I’ve ordered and received this 6 album set and whilst good value, each of them are heavily compressed which is rare for BGO. I wonder if they just lifted the audio files from Big Break’s releases
J Geils Band's "Love Stinks" and "Freeze Frame" sound SO MUCH better than the anemic domestic EMI releases
August releases (in the UK, looks like October in the US) Three Crickets’ albums for Philips, Vertigo and Mercury, dating from 1973 and 1974 ‘Bubblegum’ still had Sonny Curtis, Jerry Allison and Glen D. Hardin along with ex-Family bassist Rick Grech ‘Remnants’ was only released in the US, Canada and Holland. ‘A Long Way From Lubbock’ featured guitarist Albert Lee The Crickets, after a long and illustrious career, finally called it a day in 2016 Digitally remastered, slipcased and with new notes Throughout the 1960s, Pye Records released a series of EPs by their leading hit recorders The Searchers These EPs included hit singles, b-sides, album and EP-only tracks Also included in this compilation is their French language EP The Searchers held their “Farewell Tour” in 2019, but you wouldn’t bet against them still turning out to play the odd gig! Digitally remastered and slipcased With new notes Four Bobby Bare albums from 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983 The first three all made the US Country Albums charts After 1983, Bare more or less stopped recording, concentrating on his TV show. In 2005, he reactivated his recording career Digitally remastered, slipcased and with new notes One of Ireland’s finest singer-songwriters’ three albums for the Dawn label, dating from 1972, 1973 and 1974 McWilliams had found international success with the song ‘Days Of Pearly Spencer’ on Major Minor Records in 1967. His new label Dawn gave him time to explore his creativity and musicality From the late 1970s, McWilliams withdrew from the spotlight, only occasionally recording and gigging locally Sadly, he died prematurely from a heart attack in 2002, at the young age of 56 Digitally remastered and slipcased Extensive new notes by John O’Regan
I picked up a Ry Cooder soundtrack "The Border" from BGO to add to my collection. I never had it. The CD is excellent value. The remaster is great sounding. Very think linear notes insert. Does anyone know anything about who owns BGO and how they go about getting their masters? The CD I have indicated it was originally a Geffen Records release. I recall back then, Cooder was on Warner Bros and Hiatt was on Geffen. Do they approach the license owners and re-acquire the license for re-release or are they some kind of sub corp of a larger musical corp?
I have BGO releases that were licensed from EMI (Liberty), RCA and Sony (Columbia). I think they approach the license owner and obtain permission for reissue. I agree that most BGO releases are well-done and they have had original album releases from artists whose original albums have gone out of print.
There is a wiki page but it doesn't provide much info other than the label is run by Mike Gott. I'm not sure if he is the sole owner or just the managing director. But it was founded by record shop owners not some big company. They license recordings from the major labels.
I have tons of Beat Goes On reissues. Just rounded up a couple more "two-fers" the other week from Three Dog Night. What I typically do when I tumble across a title on BGO that I already own on another label, or as a vinyl-capture, I purchase it and do an A/B. Often times I prefer BGO's AAD remaster over an earlier mastering sourced from LP-cutting tapes or a subsequent remaster with too much DR compression. As an example of the former, all of BGO's Savoy Brown reissues that had previously appeared on Decca-Deram I found to have a cleaner, brighter sound - better clarity; likely to have been sourced from original master tapes rather than from production-copies as many early CD editions had been. Edit: * I noticed an earlier comment (from 2O12) mentioning a BGO release alleged to be marred by excessive use of NR. Because I have had such good luck with the label (I don't have the compromised Jackie DeShannon release the poster referred to), and knowing BGO is a small company, the comment leads me to wonder how many different mastering engineers BGO may be using or whether the same engineer is responsible for all of their reissues or not. An anomalous instance such as that mentioned, being a gross misuse of noise reduction, seems incongruous with the label's otherwise fine reputation for quality remasters.
I've exchanged some short emails with Mike Gott and he told me for the CD I was asking about that Sony supplies them digital transfers of the original masters. Also their recordings are remastered by Andrew Thompson at their manufacturing company Sound Performance in Greenwich London.
Would I be wrong to assume MIKE GOTT is the owner operator of "GOTT DISC'S.....If so I would highly recommend the ADRIAN BELEW-"LONE RHINO"+TWANG BAR KING" GOTT c.d....and THE GOTT issue of 2 on 1 GARY PUCKETT & THE UNION GAP issue....awesome c.d.'s!!
