I don't get it either, but plenty seem to be able to overlook it because of the artistry and historical significance. I respect that. It like my love for All Things Must Pass, despite it not being a stellar recording.
Got mine #90, no SRV.... but, is that distortion on the piano part of the recording? First time listening to this record.
The first side of disc 1 of Portrait in Jazz One Step is very eccentric, that is the reason why the piano in these two first tunes, Come Rain or Come Shine and Autumn Leaves, sounds out of tune.
I listened to mine a couple days ago and didn’t notice, but I wasn’t aware of the issue. Just checked it out on Apple Music and it’s clear as day even listening with Air Pods, e.g at about a minute into Autumn Leaves when LaFaro solos. I almost don’t want to know if it’s on the One-Step! It otherwise sounds quite good at least...
I don’t think that’s it...just listened on Apple Music and the piano on Come Rain or Shine sounds out-of-tune. Maybe it’s the tape?
You don't have to rebox, drive it to the PO etc. You contact them and they send you replacements, no need to return the defective stuff (at least in my experience with these, and every single one has had issues with either the sleeves or pressing errors).
5 string, thanks I listened to side 2 of the 1st lp and it was more musical and enjoyable but man I wish the piano was better recorded I do love his playing just find it disapointing with all the raving Ive heard about his catalog. After that I listened to the VMP/QRP pressing of Al Green's Call Me; now this is just great in every way
The (hopefully) improved mastering doesn't always mean that everything sounds perfect. What you want is a pressing that brings out the music the best. That doesn't always mean the best tone (although it has to be listenable). As I and @Gabe Walters have pointed out, the MoFi OneStep of Sunday At The Village Vanguard is superior in terms of how it presents the music. But you could argue that Evans' piano sounds tonally better on the AP. I might agree. But the boosting of the midbass needed to give Evans' piano more body results in muddying LaFaro's bass a bit. The bass comes across as a bit less agile and pitch specific.
I do find it interesting that this issue with SRV on side one is seemingly related to box #. I have seen discussions in this thread comparing matrix #s which have suggested that the box #s do not correlate to what order they were pressed. However, it does seem that within certain number ranges the box number correlated to a particular set of stampers, as this issue seems to be limited to boxes around the 1600-2000 range thus far. I guess this makes sense as the records are pressed and boxed in batches. 1682, 1820, 1822, 1975 reported as bad. 1481 and 2044 posted as not affected. I do not think anything in the 1481-2044 range has been reported as unaffected, though. It will be interesting to note how this plays out. Hopefully a semi specific range can be determined, to help buyers of sealed copies down the line.
Well written Greenmonster! It would be good to get some more info from you guys regarding the Box Numbers. We do not know exactly what goes on inside the pressing plant but from many posts it seems like they perform the boxing as well as the plastic sealing of the boxes? Anyway if you think of the process of manufacturing 5000 boxes and the order of what disks end up in which box and how it is numbered I guess that there is probably no correlation with the first LP from the pressing machine end up in number 1 Box. Most likely they build up a pile of LPs after cooling and when the machine or human person starts to put them in the inne bags they probably start from the top of the batch. And on the top of the batch they would find tha last pressed LP in the batch run. Then it surely depends have many times they are flippin the LPs in inner bags , directly into into the cartons (or building another pile first, then some guy numbering them close to the end. I guess numbering is made "in order" as to not get the same number twice. And depending on the batch sizes I guess that if you get the number 10 it is necessarily not better or earlier pressed that number 600. But I guess it "feels" better with low numbers. So keep the number coming please!
One of the most surreal and perplexing moments of my vinyl life was when I put on Side One of my new one-step Bill Evans Trio and wondered if the trio had been rocking out for the first song and where was the piano? Took me that long to suss out what happened but the logic of it baffled me. Truly awful quality control. Very little excuse to screw up this next level of LP expense.
Yes, you are absolutely right, the tape contains a lot of wow and flutter, but in the side 1 of the one step release the problem sounds worse due to eccentricity.
PIJ #3129 -- Good pressing and all Jazz (not that I do not like SRV, but I already bought his one-step ).
I’ve read quite a bit about the 8khz tone on PIJ on this forum and understand that up until now the only version that eliminated this was the AP 2x45 LP. I would have thought that if MOFI was going to create a one-step premium version of this recording they would have addressed this as well.... I appreciate all the discussion regarding scuffed sleeves, scratches, and especially the SRV miss-stamp. Fortunately, it seems Music Direct are trying to make good on these issues. They will not, however, be able to address this tone if it was not dealt with it in the remastering process. I'd greatly appreciate any feedback and comments regarding this tone - for example, is it truly throughout all the tracks and is there is any improvement in this regard vs other recordings, etc.
If you can list your number on the jacket, there are people here that like to analyze discrepant LP's.
I agree there is some weirdness in the piano on Side One. I just visually inspected and played Side One in an effort to understand what you mean by "eccentricity." My guess was you were suggesting the record was not centered but that is not the case on mine (#3671). What do you mean by "eccentric," please? BTW, in researching this phenomenon on the web (not this forum, not this record), I came across the story of a guy who, eccentric (off-centered) record in hand, would buy another copy because both sides of his record would not be eccentric in the same way. He rigged up a jig and cut holes in his vinyl to accommodate 7" 45s and cut his own center holes; then, using a 7" 45 adaptor, he was good to go. Where have all the flowers gone? Have we lost our ingenuity? Ha. Mentally substituting vinyl for horses, I'm reminded of the exchange from "The Horse Whisperer" between Annie (Kristin Scott Thomas) and Tom Booker (Robert Redford): Annie: I've heard you help people with horse problems. Tom Booker: Truth is, I help horses with people problems.
Sounds like a thinly veiled “we’re shipping it the same way we always do.” Be prepared to request a replacement! This issue really is mystifying to me. I have two businesses and that would drive me absolutely nuts, especially when the solution is what many have said here. Just another piece of that foam they already use would take care of the problem. Sounds like someone being very stubborn at MFSL.
That noise/interference was removed from the MFSL One-Step, as it was from the DCC gold CD and AP LPs. Steve mentioned he was able to do this using a notch filter.
