They really are. I bought Chuck Berry - One Dozen Berrys on DOL and it's no exaggeration to say it's the worst sounding record I've ever bought considering the original Chess recordings sound great. I also got the DOL Chuck Berry - After School Session and the debut Bo Diddley LP and I'm very happy with them.
Just purchased, Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers. It was a blind buy. Curiosity got the best of me. Was impressed with the quality of the packaging -- a gatefold cover with gloss exteriors. But then I was in an exploratory mood and made blind buy purchases on: 1) an REM EP that had two of my favorite songs but I was unfamiliar wit the EP, 2) the Gold CD of CSN -- CSN, had not heard anything on this one, 3) an OOP SACD of a Horace Silver album that I never heard before (but had heard a cover version of one of the songs done by Tito Puente of all people, and, 4) a German reissue of a record that I'd only heard once before and had a fuzzy -- but positive -- recollection of it. Wish me luck.
Came back from London with a few of these. Listening to Saxophone Colossus on DOL right now and it's a very pleasurable listen. Dead quiet and crisp, full sound. Great packaging. This one's in the win column. On to Art Blakey's Moanin'!
I've heard this record. The pressing is very nicely done, on nice quiet vinyl. That I can say good about it. In every other way, the sonic equivalent of two dog turds. Thin, lifeless, and lackluster, master for this one needs to be buried by the dog. If the dog does this, I'll give the dog a truckload of bones. Sonically on a scale of 1-10, maybe barely a 2. Why not get the Columbia Legacy 180g current version, it's very nice, costs you no more money. It sounds many times better.
As for Art Blakey's Moanin (which is on Waxtime Records): Same deal with the vinyl. Dead quiet. A lovely pressing. It's in stereo, so it's taken from Blue Note's stereo version. Definitely a digital copy - some harshness a the high end and bass is fairly muddy. It's OK, but no more than that. Also got Oliver Nelson's The Blues and the Abstract Truth on DOL. Perfectly quiet vinyl. Bill Evans' piano is front and center, Eric Dolphy sounds a bit muted. It quieter and more reserved than the digital version I have, but enjoyable.
Just for the record: Muddy Waters' Folk Singer is literally dead quiet and overall exceptional sound. Scary good. Howlin' Wolf More Real Folk Blues is equally quiet and again, very good although slightly grainy, as I suspect the source material is. Both are almost perfectly flat (WTF, EVERY OTHER PLANT OTHER THAN PALLAS!?!) and perfectly clean. Packaging also as good as it gets for 'normal' releases. Easily better than some of the new releases from bigger lables. Lot of hate on DOL, but that's my 2 cents.
To be honest, I just like the DOL picture disc LP's just to look at, so I'm not that fussed either way. I like the die cut sleeves they come in, even the quality on some. This one is a favourite on the shelf:
I've just bought the DOL Irma Thomas - Wish Someone Would Care LP. After being extremely disappointed with their 'One Dozen Berries' LP last year I decided not to buy another DOL or public domain vinyl LP. I wanted this LP and there are no other vinyl reissues. It was very cheap so I went for it. I'm liking it so far (end of side one). Very quiet and flat flawless vinyl and fine sound quality. There's been a couple of split second tape drop outs, but aside from that this album sounds very good, a couple of tracks aren't quite perfect, but overall I'm happy with it. So I've bought four DOLs and one Wax Time. Four have been pretty much perfect and one duffer. All have been on pristine flat quiet vinyl. If the album is rare and they use the original artwork I'd be tempted by more as long as the price isn't too high. The Irma Thomas was £9.59 on eBay. Mustn't grumble.
Just bought Muddy Waters Sings 'Big Bill' on DOL and my local record shop was selling it for £8 new & sealed. I can't fault it.
Just playing their Ellington at Newport, and the news is good. I had been a little worried, though- Amazon’s (sometimes inaccurate) page led me to believe I was getting a reissue of the original lp but with the 2009(?) remix, and digital download included. The download was labeled (2-track) and was, indeed, 2 tracks, one for each side. They sounded terrible, just awful, like some ancient fake stereo version. The album arrived the next day and...was on this label I’d never heard of. Intriguingly, the sleeve contained two lps and appeared to be the full concert. The moment of truth arrived and I’m hearing pretty glorious stereo on a nice flat piece of clean vinyl. I’d be curious to know if anyone has compared it to a regular pressing, but I’m very satisfied with the sound and having the full show as a bonus, too. It does make me wonder whether the current copyright situation might discourage labels from spending money to get the most out of old tapes. Why bother if someone else can press up the result and sell it themselves?
Ok. My two cents. I Just listened to Duke Ellington & Cotrane Because it is a 180gr. lp normally I put it on the Pro-ject with the 2M blu. The piano didn't sound quite right to my ears. After the first spin I decided to play it on the Thorens with the MP110 Sounded so much different... Better in my ears. The cardridge made me like it. For the money 12 Euro's Inc. Shipping... Great Greetz Peter
I've got the Warsaw album (Joy Division) on the DOL label.. and it's a straight cut from the "babyface" CD... Not very good
I've noticed a lot of bad mouthing about DOL reissues. Can't help but wonder whether confirmation bias is at play. If you approach them in a preconceived negative frame of mind you "hear" what you expect to hear. I've bought quite a few and in my experience they are quality items. Have had no problems whatsoever. Wondered what others think.
I have no problems either with the ones that I’ve bought. For instance, I got a 45RPM copy of "The Cinema of Serge Gainsbourg" and it’s perfect.
Oh dear ! The curse of the cryptic thread titles strikes again A little background please (for the hard-of-understanding)
I've had some good LPs from them. I've also gotten some LPs that appear gray market and are among the worst-sounding records I own.
It would be a great help to spell things out in the thread title, for those of us who might not know what some abbreviations stands for. You can still, of course, put the abbreviation in the thread title as well. This helps people know what the thread is about, and also for future search's sake.
Afraid that's gone over my head mate. Just to clarify DOL vinyl reissues in general seem to get a bad press. No one singles out any one in particular, just the label as a whole. Accusations being that they are low quality presses. Any views?
Confirmation bias has nothing to do with it. They are trash pressings, plain and simple. CD rips cut to vinyl via GZ's assembly line DMM process. No access to legit sources, no royalties paid. The only reason they exist is because of loopholes in European copyright laws, plain and simple.
So if I'd put CBS or EMI or Verve fine by me you would have required clarification? Given the nature of this site I think it's natural to anticipate a certain knowledge?
I own two of their releases. Woody Guthrie -Dust Bowl Ballads Sung By Woody Guthrie Howlin' Wolf - Moanin' In The Moonlight I would not recommend either.
How do you quantify that judgement? By what standards are you judging they are "trash"? What comparisons have you made?
I've been on this board for years and have no clue what DOL stands for, but I knew what CBS and EMI stood for years before joining this board. That's just me, though.
