SH Spotlight Pressing and mastering quality of Creedence Clearwater Revival albums*

I think I may've seen one or two - with markings pointing to an RCA Hollywood pressing.

 

yeah. Don’t know why I mentioned the AP name. But wondering how much better the half speed masters are compared with a good original release.

 

I have original US pressings of most of the CCR albums, I also have all the Analogue Productions versions and then I threw a complete wobbly and bought the Creedence Clearwater Revival Half-Speed Boxset (which includes all the LPs and a beautiful book for €200. Now I see the individual titles for around €35 in the record shops here.

I was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality of the half-speed mastered LPs, because generally I don't like half-speed vinyl.



JG

 

How do the half speed cuts sound compared to the Back on Black reissues?
Want to pick up the S/T, at the very least.
Looking, initially, for the best copy I can buy that's still in print.

 

Also interested in 2nd and 3rd studio albums.
Feel free to recommend.

 

Interested to hear about the 2015 Decca reissues if anyone can compare?

 

Tom Fogerty, Doug Clifford and Stu Cook participated more in the production of Pendulum and the album did sound somewhat different than previous CCR releases. John Fogerty was still the producer of the music, but the band members were now individually in charge of the sound of their instruments. Doug Clifford came to Studio C with the Ludwig metal snare drum he'd used on CCR’s first two albums instead of the larger wooden Camco snare drum he’d played on the previous CCR recordings I’d recorded for the band. Also, we removed the front head of the bass drum and placed a blanket against the batter head to achieve a percussive smack, a technique that other drummers had been using in the recording studio for quite some time.

 

Thank you so much for that specific info on the drum sound! To my ears, this was-and is-the primary difference between the sound of this album and the few that came before it. "Clean" is the best way I can describe it. Thanks again.

 

I bought a New Cosmo's Factory reissue LP a couple of weeks ago and was trying to determine if it was a 2008 vs. 2015 reissue, went to check the Matrix Numbers and there are none, deadwax was blank, both sides .. anyone else hear of this one please ? no biggie, just very curious LOL

 

went back and studied the disc under light, found the # very faint almost laid upon the surface like a silk-screen, I'm used to seeing the obvious scratches ... very fine work, 2008 it is

 

I only have one CCR album on vinyl, this ‘69 pressing of Willy & The Poor Boys, and it sounds fantastic:

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Willy And The Poor Boys

 

Steve, an audiophile friend whose taste and intelligence I greatly trust has lately been extolling the virtues of the "hot stamper" thing. Over the years, I feel like I've done my homework on the mysteries of the deadwax as much as most, and of course this has transformed the way I assess and buy records. That said, I've never been fully sold on the notion that one biscuit could plop down at exactly the right combination of heat and pressure and form a record so that it sounds meaningfully better than any other identical, say, Lee Hulko pressing that was produced in the Monarch plant from the same stamper in whatever several week period in the early '70s.

In any case, I thought my reasonably deep collection of CCR pressings -- buncha original/early Hollywoods amidst a complete set of your AP versions -- would be an interesting A/B experience for my friend and me. Long story short, speaking for myself, there was only one original Hollywood that stood up to the APs -- the first press of Willy and the Poor Boys retained a certain charm and immediacy for us both.

But, as I continued to listen even after my friend had gone home, in every other instance, your versions were the more musical, immersive and listenable. No contest. Moral of the story, folks -- if you've got the system for it (and the cash to buy those now dearly-priced, OOP records on the secondary market), save your time and buy Steve's versions on the Analogue Productions label.

 

Fascinating insight into why the hottest CCR stampers are your masterings. Like the kids say, it's just science.

 

Huh. That is very interesting.

 

Jings, that is absolutely fascinating stuff no other forum delivers this kind of insight!

 

Well just sayin' fwiw it appears their (CCR) entire studio album catalog was done at Tape One in 1984 and it might have been a small run as there ain't hardly none, for sale.

 

I wish we had more threads like this one: informative, fun, and almost free of unecessary opinion- based conjecture.

I've always felt that there was a weird midrange boost on the first few LPs, and the provided RCA studio EQ info proves that!

 

What a band

 

It's early yet?

 

Old thread but so much good info, and I have a questions that has been bugging my for a long time. When I started collecting CCR, I went out of my way to find a nice clean fantasy of Willy and the Poor Boys”. And the disc looks great! But when I put it on, best could be described, sounded with the background hiss of an FM radio station stay wasn’t tuned properly! Love the songs but I almost never listen to it because the background hiss drives me nuts! I tried to get the matrix off the dead wax (side b was especially tough to make out, so I had my daughter and her younger eyes read them to me. My question is: do have any tips to help me avoid a noisy sounding record like this ? Or did I just get unlucky? The music it’s self sounds full and dynamic….but that darn hiss! Sounds much worse on side 1. It appears to be a Rockaways. Thanks for this amazing forum!
1sr

F-2762-1

BIA or 3IA

R is printed at top of dead wax

2nd
F-2763-2

AA

R is printed at top of dead wax

 

In addition to the two Canadian pressed 2nd and 3rd LPs I found my Dad also had/has a Fantasy single of Have You Ever Seen The Rain/Hey Tonight. Discogs says it's the Hollywood pressing in my hands, and he did visit California, and also had a DJ fan who would throw him stuff, but I expect he bought this new. Both sides are hammered looking... he would learn songs for his own band this way involving lifting the needle and putting it down again over and over to get the lyrics, plus the guitar part, and I remember they did both these songs. Earlier he'd make a duplicate on reel to reel or cassette of most vinyl (or off air radio) but this one for some reason they didn't. I also remember my Mom playing a Lynn Anderson Rose Garden 45 in our basement until I was totally sick of the thing while she tried to figure out an organ part.