New Otis Redding "The Definitive Studio Album Collection" Vinyl Box Set! (MONO)

Stax post 1970 is not owned by Warner. It is owned by Concord., This happened when Atlantic Records was sold to Warner Brothers/Seven Arts in that era.

 

I think the switch occurred in mid-1968 (not 1970).

 

Just had an email from Amazon UK, release date pushed back to 15th Dec. - same as US and Canada

 

It did happen in mid 1968, the last Stax label under Atlantic being the green label.

 

Really excited about this release, my favorite Soul singer and one of my favorite singers period! Just ordered it off Amazon for $104, which included my tax, with a delivery of 12/20...Happy Holidays indeed!

I almost bought the live BF RSD release for $25 that day but decided to put that money towards this box, think I made the right decision.

All I have by him on vinyl is the Sundazed "The Soul Album" in Mono and that sounds decent and the 2 LP Atco set, The Best of, but that one is Stereo of course and oh how I love this kind of music in original Mono!

 

Just got confirmation that Amazon lowered my cost to $86, with free shipping and delivery date of this Friday (street) so really happy about that. Will give feedback after I receive and spend some listens...

 

Just ordered mine from Amazon, since I had a $20 gift card there. Can't wait to get it!!!

 

So I noticed after my copy shipped yesterday it changed the delivery to this coming Monday, not Friday. I noticed they sent it USPS not UPS and realized they did this because of the shipping costs, since this is a 7 LP set. They do not even offer two day shipping right now, and even if you choose one day, it still will take more than that. But the two day shipping was available when I ordered...

So I called them, called them out, they said they were sorry and gave me a $20 credit, so not bad at a final cost of $66...

 

These SH forums are an indispensable source for accurate info (after parsing it out) and I eagerly await the reviews on this box set as well as any info if Rhino / Atlantic did this well or not. Also if the UK versions match the US versions.

 

Took delivery of my set today from Amazon from the bargain sub £70 price, so less that a tenner per album.

I'm suffering from flu at the moment so my hearing is a bit shot, but spinning the Pain in My Heart LP first and it sounds nice so far.

Of note: All 7 records are just single sleeve, no gatefolds and no inserts. Each record comes in a plain white sleeve, uses quite thick paper, but not polylined.

I've check all my pressings are flat and had a look at the cutting info, which I'll briefly summarise below...

Pain in my heart / Otis Blue - TML-M (The Mastering Lab)
Sings Soul Ballards / The Soul Album / Dictionary of Soul / King and Queen - (printed MASTERED BY CAPITAL) with IS (Ian Sefchick
Dock of the Bay - CB (Chris Bellman)

 

None of them were gatefolds to begin with, so that's fine.

What are the sleeve like, though?

Recent Rhino reissues of Pain In My Heart and Dock of the Bay had nice heavy sleeves, but the sleeves for recent issues of The Soul Album, King and Queen, etc. have all been printed on thinner stock.

 

The all use the same stock, I'd say heavy

 

So I got lucky and received my copy yesterday. Here is my early feedback...The slip box is nice, nothing spectacular, with album pictures/songs on the back. I always just cut the shrink on the side, so the shrink stays on cover with the hype sticker.
UPC on the slip box itself.

All of the covers are true to the originals, with no UPC bar codes on any of them. Here is one little critique, besides the original year printed on the cover and the vinyl itself, Rhino had to also put 2017 on them as well, which takes away being total authentic. Also, thick white paper inner sleeves which is being cheap for a release like this, already all cleaned and in rice paper, but come on Rhino.

All my copies are nice and flat, with the exception of side two of "Pain In My Heart" which is slightly warped, but my clamp helped and there is no notice to the sound, so all good.

Sound quality - of course nice having these in their original Mono form, and I have only played "Otis Blue" all the way through and a few songs from other titles, but over all the sound is really good. Nice and quiet with almost no surface noise at all. Not sure what source these were from.

Coming from someone that spent his entire career in Music Retail, it is obvious this was put out like this to take advantage of the holiday season. They kept the price down (well worth the $86) but I would have paid a little more if they included a nice booklet with photos/info and nicer inner sleeves. No big deal to me if 180 G or standard vinyl though with this type of release.

I will be spending my afternoon playing all of them from start to finish and will give my final opinion (for what its worth) in a day or so. But very happy my wife gave this to me for an early Christmas present! What a voice this man had! Absolute magic!

 

I checked my rhino reissues to compare and here’s what I see:
Pain in my heart (rsd) - Looks like an HL at the end of the machine stamp matrix. Very faint stamp on both sides
Otis blue (RSD) - TML-M
Complete and unbelievable (b&n blue) - just machine stamp matrix
Dock of the Bay (RSD)- finally figured out the thing that looks like an 89 is CB, I assume for chris bellman.

So it looks for some of these they reused the some but not all of the older mastering which should be a good sign, I think those sound outstanding

 

Thanks for the initial thoughts Scotti... really helpful. I’m on the fence with this release as I have 3 of the albums on mono already and so will look forward to your final opinion with interest.

Disappointing to hear of the cost saving approach from Rhino with the paper inner sleeves... there’s really no excuse particularly as a number of their recent Otis mono reissues came with decent poly-lined inners. A box like this for an artist like Otis deserves a bit better.

 

mine is hopefully being delivered today, but I ain't had much luck with Amazon recently, or more specifically, whichever bunch of cowboys Amazon see fit to carry out the delivery, so we will see!

fingers and toes crossed

 

Got mine this afternoon.

Pain in My Heart starts off a tad dull, sound-wise, with the title track. So I compared it to my original and had to stand corrected; bass was fuller, and recording was smoother on the new one. These Arms of Mine sounded more muted on the new one than on the version found on that blue vinyl release from a few years ago called Lonely and Blue. But again, a good critical listen revealed that the Lonely and Blue version was probably boosted; the new one is just more balanced. So the first lp of the set is better than previous releases, I think.

Now, ...Sings Soul Ballads and Otis Blue are startlingly good. Wow. The best I’ve heard, previous vinyl or cd reissues included. This is the way Otis is meant to be heard. This is Stax.

My conclusion is that Pain in My Heart has been redone the best it can be, and it’s good. The next two are sounding definitive.

Vinyl is dead quiet, dead flat, and what I’m so very pleased about is the generous runout groove; no inner groove distortion here on any of the last tracks on a side. Jackets are not tip-on, but it’s nicely printed on cardboard.

Nice job, Rhino.

I’m very pleased. The next 4 are going to be a treat, I can just tell.

 

So I was able to listen to all 7 LPs from start to finish and then came back and was able to listen to Pain In My Heart and Otis Blue a second time as well...can give a much better opinion now...

All LPs pressed in EU., so just one version of this set and very nice for us in the US to get the most always preferred Europe pressings of our vinyl, at least I do. These are so quiet with really no surface noise anywhere to speak of.

The sound - absolutely fantastic! In regards to the great feedback from "Chemguy", there is a really cool rawness that is laced throughout, especially in the vocals that just add to the overall feeling of the music! That through me off a tad at first until I realized this is the way this music should be heard. Reminds me a little of when I used to spin my 45s of Otis back when I was 9 or 10 years old. And to hear Booker T and The MG's/Mar-Keys instrumentation kicking it in, up and all around throughout, just smokes big time!

The bass is absolutely fuller and the more you crank these, the bottom end really shines! As for as these being digital or analogue transfers, I still can't find any word on that. If these were indeed pure analogue, I am surprised this was not called out on the hype sticker or solicitation info regarding the release. So will be happy when this is confirmed, but that will not stand in my way of enjoying this bad a@# collection!

I realized I have given the negatives on the packaging earlier, but this set is worth every penny! "Munross1969" I know you said you already have 3 of these already, I had only The Soul Album (which I'm giving to one of my sons) but I would highly suggest you give this some more thought as it really is a wonderful set!

Nice reading all of the posts on this thread and I just fired up my system (gotta warm it up) for some more awesome listening to it this afternoon! A nice ride on the Bob Marley caboose and a few cold beverages later should make for one heck of a music day I say!

 

Has anyone had a chance to compare these to the Sundazed reissues? I've got most of these, and am wondering if this new set is worth an upgrade.

 

yeah, same here! Anyone?

 

I can only compare them to all the originals. I have now finished listening to all 7. Absolutely fantastic. King and Queen has a perfect, rounded sound; Dictionary of Soul is oh so fine. If the Sundazed ones are better, then they must be quite amazing.

I’m going to give my 7 originals away to friends. The reason I got the box is because I was hoping it would be better than the bass-shy, veiled originals.

They are. Wonderfully so.

 

Isn’t it nice when a significant purchase like this yields such a pleasurable result, Scotti?

 

Thanks Scotti, you’ve convinced me..!! Order placed. I’ll look forward to blasting this over the festive period

This is exactly the kind of thread that gets me excited about listening to music again. Thank you.

 

I have the Sundazed Mono,of the Soul album, will compare back to back today with the new Rhino release and share my thoughts...good question.

 

I'm very curious to hear your thoughts!