SH Spotlight "In The Wind" stereo SACD by Peter, Paul and Mary from Audio Fidelity. Mastering secrets post #271

Well I wasn't aware of that actually - but looking at their web site, by darned you're right - looks like IN CONCERT and ALBUM 1700, both in LP and hybrid SACD format, mastered by Kevin.

Good time for me to be catching up with the Peter, Paul and Mary catalog, apparently!

 

I sure would like to order these - all four of them - but it's like they're lost in space

 

Since it looks like you're a true fan and I'm just starting to explore - which of their albums are most essential - the ones to start with - in your view (I'm assuming probably the ones you're mastering but interested in others you might suggest too)?

 

Hopefully the powers that be are just randomly picking these titles on the way to doing them all, at least up to (and including) "10 Years Together".

I realize they want to maximize sales by doing all of the individual albums, and I will buy them all, but the greatest hits would likely outsell any of the others, maybe even all of the others combined (I'd buy that one too). If they would do the greatest hits album after all the others are released, it shouldn't hurt the sales of the individual albums, but it should bring in a lot of buyers who would never buy all the individual albums in the first place.

 

I am glad I am a subscriber. I wish it was on vinyl.

 

I've added this to my list of things to buy.

 

Me too, if it ever comes out!

 

The anticipation is killing me......

 

The fact that there are no vinyl counterparts to these releases is what's killing me.

 

There are vinyl counterparts to "In Concert" and "Album 1700" mastered by Kevin Gray that have been on eternal pre-order status at Acoustic Sounds

 

Acoustic Sounds has the Analogue Productions SACDs available for pre-order.

 

I found a very clean 1A/1A stereo pressing yesterday, my first exposure to this album. It caught my attention on first play - not just the organic, captivating Peter Paul and Mary sound but also the incredible sonics. I love the tonality on the vocals and strings, and how natural-sounding the final chord decay is on these tracks - absolutely stunning. I eagerly gave it a second and then a third listen, and look forward to future spins. The original stereo mix is one of the better ones I've heard for 1963, some hard-panned vocals and instruments, some centered, but cohesive and open-sounding. It collapses down to mono just fine (without any phase issues) but doesn't sound as vivid. The sound is so good on this 50 year-old LP despite the occasional pop/click. I can't wait to hear it on SACD and done right by our host.

 

I can't speak for PP&M records, but there are some gold label WB records from the '60's out there at the used book stores that sound amazing. Don't hesitate if you see them cheap.

 

The small record shop I picked mine up at had 7 used stereo copies, ranging from early pressings to 70's/80's pressings with that "Burbank/tree" WB label. None of them were priced over $5. This record was such a huge seller that finding a used copy in good condition should be fairly easy.

 

Super album. I have a mid '70s pressing of the vinyl. This will be a nice upgrade. Thanks for the heads up, Steve.

Agreed that AP made a strange choice in going for the In Concert LP. Album 1700 I understand. It was the best of their later records and has two huge hits in "Leaving On A Jet Plane" and "I Dig Rock 'n' Roll Music."

 

I thought I remembered seeing a vinyl reissue of In The Wind somewhere and, yes, I did. It is a two LP, 45 RPM version, mastered by Bernie Grundman, and being released by Original Recordings Group (ORG). You can pre-order it for $54.99 at Soundstage Direct here.

 

I don't know if I agree with you. By 1963 the Great Folk Scare was in full bloom. Folk music was all the rage. No band was hotter than the Kingston Trio. Folk music was all over the place. It was cool to be a folkie. Everybody was buying folk music, not just older people.

My experience may have been different than yours, Steve. My fifteen year old sister (I was ten in 1963) turned me onto PP&M and she certainly used a basic record player. I will be eternally grateful for her exposing me to both folk and soul music, her two favorites. I carry a deep love for those two genres to this day.

 

That's part of the "Eternal Pre-Order" PP&M Series, it has been on "pre-order" status for at least a year or two now (maybe three!), it seems all the PP&M reissues are part of the same series

 

Until the recent release of "Live in Japan, 1967", the "In Concert" album was the only live LP document of vintage PP&M available, and it is outstanding. Every album of theirs at least up to 1970 is great, their first album and the "10 years Together" compilation (my parents drilled that album into my head when I was a kid) are two of my favorites, but I listen to "In Concert" more often than the others.

I guess it would be more accurate to say that I may start out with one of their studio albums, but most of the time I end up playing "In Concert" before it's over

 

Different strokes, '67 Chevy. I certainly have listened to In Concert dozens of times myself. Some of the cuts, like A' Soalin' and If I Had My Way, are much better than their studio versions. I find other parts of the record weak. After all those plays, the comedy on the record has worn especially thin for me. I made a cassette tape of In Concert for both my sister and myself back in the 1980s where I cut out "Paultalk," "Blue," "Oh My Soul" and maybe one or two others. That tape I enjoyed immensely.