Has anyone heard the Rhino From the Mars Hotel? Up until recently, the last ones I didn’t have were the first album, American Beauty, From the Mars Hotel, and the last three. Paid real money for AB and it was worth it, but I’m not sure I’m willing to shell out for WOTF. For the first, I’m happy with the Rhino mono RSD from a few years ago.
As a new dead fan, I’ve been trying to snatch up the circa 2011 Rhino stuff that Chris Bellman cut. Only been able to find American Beauty and their first record so far. Really sad to have missed the boat on the Mofi’s, and deeply considered the VMP box. I’ve heard the 50th anniversary stuff is a bit of a mixed bag
Yeah, the Rhino Rocktober pressings of Wake Of The Flood, From The Mars Hotel and Blues For Allah are very good. Real nice sounding, though need a little cranking.
American Beauty 1970 White Label Promo Pressing A: WS-1893 39804-A 1B [artisan logo] A1 B: WS-1893 39805-B 1B [artisan logo] A2 Stunning sound. The stereo-image mandolins on Ripple are heavenly, and Jerry’s voice is natural and alive. Weir’s harmonies in particular are three-dimensional and sound incredibly lifelike. Attics is haunting, shimmering, gorgeous: when they sing “in the book of love’s own dream, where all the print is blood,” the hair on my neck stands up. Phil’s vocals on Box of Rain are unstrained, Weir’s accompaniment is clear and strong, and the whole mix throws a big, realistic soundstage. The acoustic instruments are rich and woody, Phil’s bass is clear and swift, and the whole thing just pops. Love this pressing! 1970 Original WB Green Label Pressing, Santa Maria A: WS-1893 39804-A 1B [artisan logo] A6 B: WS-1893 39805-B 1B [artisan logo] A1 This variation is extremely similar to the WLP above, but lacks that sparkle that makes listening a hair-raising experience. The difference is just minor pressing variations and I’m sure there are plenty of magic Green Label originals out there. 1970 Reprise Reel-to-Reel Not vinyl but still original analog. Fun collector item but 3.75 ips tape has not aged well. 1979 Mobile Fidelity Stan Ricker Remaster I have a lot of affection for this pressing, and though it’s been surpassed by the MoFi 45, it still gets regular play. I also love Stan Ricker’s 1979 MoFi remaster of Gordon Lightfoot’s Sundown, so he was definitely doing something right that year. It’s a nice airy presentation with a little bit of that audiophile sheen you get by juicing some high freqencies and plating it on gorgeous Japanese vinyl. It’s a more open, less dense mix than found on the original WB sound but holds its place in my collection as a great, classic audiophile pressing. 2003 Rhino Kevin Gray Remaster This is a decent effort that takes the classic mix and gives it a more contemporary presentation, with more pronounced low end and some tipped-up treble, similar to my impression of the 2011 Rhino reissue of Workingman’s. It’s an okay pressing but doesn’t move me emotionally the way the best sounding LPs do. It has something to do with the vocals; they’re just not as real or convincing as other versions. Also, the spindle hole on this pressing is slightly too small and it’s a huge pain to put it on and take it off my turntable. 2014 Mobile Fidelity 45 RPM Krieg Wunderlich Remaster Like the WD 45, this one stands head and shoulders above the rest. Sounds like the master tape rolling in my listening room. It’s a huge wave of musical information crashing over me, and it’s a lot to process, but wow, what a spectacular pressing! A revelatory listening experience. 2020 50th Anniversary Chris Bellman Plangent Process Remaster This is definitely better than the 2003 reissue and very close to my favorite original. This is an extremely faithful (and I think successful) attempt to recreate the feel and sound of the 1970 pressing. It’s got sparkle, it’s got drive, and the extreme pitch stability achieved by the Plangent Process really makes the harmonies on Attics shine. I strongly recommend this as the best alternative to a clean original pressing, and though I don’t have the 50th Workingman’s, I assume it’s as good. 2020 Vinyl Me, Please Chris Bellman All-Analogue Remaster Another excellent Bellman remaster job for the VMP box set. I listened to this and the 50th back-to-back and can’t tell them apart. Two great versions of a classic album.
"1970 Original Green Label WB Shield Pressing A: WS-1869 39719-A-1A KD A B: WS-1869 39720-B-1B KD A8 Uncle John’s just leaps out of the speakers. Vocal harmonies sound the same as the WLP pressing but Jerry’s guitar is three-dimensionally realistic. Cumberland is where this pressing really achieves liftoff: when Bobby sings “Lotta poor man make a five-dollar bill,” it’s as if he’s in the room. Real hair-raising stuff, as is Jerry’s line “Lotta poor man got the Cumberland blues.” His voice on Black Peter is similarly present, and Bob’s guitar is sublime. There’s a tiny bit of surface noise but it’s a small price to pay to hear sound like this." Just ordered this based on your review. There are actually several around on Discogs for great prices. Mostly VG+
Interesting, I find the Rhino compares quite favorably to the MoFi, and find both much better than the green label pressings. The green labels are nice, great midrange and air to be found, but it lacks the transparency, texture, detail, and weight of the 2011 and the MoFi. I would give the edge to the MoFi overall, but the 2011 comes damn close in my system (and is very crankable - ask my wife ), and for me convenience of 33 usually wins out on this title. I have originals most Dead albums and a reissue or two as well - Rhino, MoFi, AF, AP, etc. Frankly, I prefer reissues in nearly every case except Live/Dead. I play my original much more than my MoFi. I might have to try out the UK you were referencing. I would really like to see standalone releases of the 2020 Bellman cuts of Live/Dead and Without a Net.
I’m adding nothing of value to this thread except to say that this is currently my favorite discussion topic. Kudos to everyone posting. I have one of those original olive green WB shield Workingman’s Dead in really tough shape and even through all the surface and Rice Krispies I can hear that magic in the grooves as described.
I found one of these a few months ago and was really pleased with it. Too bad it's pretty tough to find in the US.
Thanks, SJR! The Mofi Allah sounds similar to what the Mars Hotel Mofi is like. The AP Terrapin Station is pretty great too but I still need to hear an OG US pressing of it. Would be interested to hear how you like it.
Reckoning 1981 Original Pressing A decent-sounding LP that I sold as soon as I heard the Analogue Productions reissue. 2012 Analogue Productions Kevin Gray Remaster This has been a benchmark recording for me. Clear and present vocals, crisp acoustic guitar strums, and a firm bottom end. This is a real treat and a spectacular listen. 2020 Vinyl Me, Please Chris Bellman Remaster I figured this would be good, but it’s actually stunning, and my new reference copy of this album. This was a huge surprise to me, but a careful A/B comparison revealed a pronounced upper bass bloat in Kevin Gray’s mix that muddies the clarity of this recording. The new Chris Bellman AAA transfer is crystalline and utterly transparent from top to bottom.
That AP Reckoning is so good I’ve never even thought about getting any other pressing. It’s demo quality stuff.
My problem is that the original Artisan pressing is so good I haven't opened the AP yet. It's sitting and waiting for a special day.
I've definitely observed variation between pressings so I don't doubt there are extra-juicy original Artisans of Reckoning out there, but mine was lifeless compared to the AP Kevin Gray remaster. As for waiting on for a special day: it's Christmas Eve 2020, and I can think of no more special occasion to kick back in front of a crackling fire and enjoy some acoustic Dead.
Garcia 1972 Original WB Shield Artisan Pressing A: BS-2582 40053-1 [artisan logo] P B: BS-2582 40054-1 [artisan logo] The original Artisan pressing strikes again! This one, from the Pitman pressing plant, is simply fabulous. Sparkly high end, enchanting vocal realism, and a well-defined stereo image. 2014 Round Records Reissue Joe Gastwirt remastered this one and Kevin Gray cut the lacquer. Once again, the remaster sounds excellent overall but I think there’s something about the ear’s sensitivity to the human voice that allows us to perceive even the slightest loss of fidelity on an aging master tape. This pressing has a slightly unnatural sheen to the vocals that’s becomes obvious when A/B’d against an original.
That is surprising and says something very positive about the Plangent Process since the VMP is AAA and the 50th is obviously cut from digital files.
I had similar thoughts when reading that. No sonic difference AAA vs digital? And did the plangent really do much if there is no audible difference to pitch stability, etc? Hm...
Trying to resist buying this box for a copy of this. What are the chances we get a 40th anniversary reissue? AP prices have gone crazy if you can find a US copy. I’ve heard multiple reviews say that VMP hit it out of the park with this album in particular.
I just double-checked by comparing Attics, and the 50th AB with Plangent Process does have excellent pitch stability when they sustain those three-part harmonies for a long time. Is it detectably better than the AAA version from the VMP box? Perhaps ... but my non-blinded comparison cannot eliminate bias in my assessment, and the turntable itself (Technics SL-1210 mg5) will re-introduce some small amount of wow and flutter. In this case, we have one mastering engineer working on the same album twice in one year, once from a transparent digital file and once from the master analog tape. I'm sure he just consulted his notes from whichever version he did first and applied identical (or nearly so) equalization and mix parameters to the second, which probably has a bigger impact on the overall sound than the source. I do love the 2013 Plangent Process remasters of the studio albums, but that's off-topic in this discussion of vinyl pressings.
Yeah, the AP Reckoning has been one of my demo discs for almost a decade and I was shocked to realize the new VMP pressing sounded better. The box isn't perfect; some of the labels are clearly off-center, and the inner sleeves were all sloppily jammed in, so every single one is folded and wrinkled. That said, I had no non-fill or other pressing issues that would affect the sound quality. The big attraction for me was Without A Net, and I believe the current VMP pressings of that album and Reckoning are the best-ever vinyl pressings of those two albums and the best reasons to buy this box set. Terrapin Station might be in this class, as it sounds stupendous, but I don't have the AP Terrapin or any other pressing to compare. If VMP/Chris Bellman beat AP/Kevin Gray on Reckoning, which I didn't think possible, they might have done it on Terrapin as well. The VMP American Beauty and Workingman's Dead are terrific, on par with the recent 50th Anniversary pressings (also mastered by Chris Bellman), and in my opinion superior to the 21st century Rhino pressings, but can't compete with the 45 RPM MoFi pressings. The VMP Europe '72, Live/Dead, and Wake of the Flood are excellent. I don't have the Rhino pressings to compare, but given that I prefer the VMP AB and WD to previous Rhino pressings, it's likely these are better as well. Nevertheless, my favorite versions for each of these remains a nice USA (or, in the case of Live/Dead, UK) original pressing.
Grabbing the box is tempting - originally just for Live/Dead and Without a Net, but the comments on Reckoning are piquing my interest. Ideally, they would release these as stand alone black vinyl releases and I could grab what I want, but I’m not sure I want to bank on that. And the set is really overpriced, should be closer to $300 IMO.
