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

Did you/are you able to... give it a solid clean? Sometimes mint unplayed vinyl does that to me.

 

It seems to increase as down on the corner begins ….especially in the left channel. The record looks clean, so I guess I never gave much thought to giving it a thorough cleaning (at least I don’t remember one). As down on the corner ends the hiss seems to go away and is less noticeable (maybe not even there anymore) but it is definitely noticeable on down on the corner. Maybe a deep cleaning would help. Not enough time now but I’ll give it a thorough listen tomorrow and report back. Thanks guys!

 

My original press of “Willy” is the same. I attribute it to RCA hissy vinyl. I have a few other RCA pressings that do the same thing.

 

Glad to hear I am not alone….I gave mine a good cleaning tonight and sounds the same. Left channel is worse but can hear surface noise or hiss or whatever you want to call it in both channels. Might need to just try for another copy. It almost completely seems to disappear after “down on the corner concludes”. Almost completely gone in right channel, faint but still present in left channel. When i flip to side two “fortunate son” sounds terrible too….tons of surface noise and hiss. And on this side it seems to linger throughout. Any suggestions on what to look for or stay away from when acquiring a different copy? The remasters look to be pretty expensive nowadays, eh? Thanks all!

 

While some of my Fantasy pressing are very good, for consistency the AP issues can’t be beat. Those lp’s and SACD’s are my go to versions.
If you want a real experience find someone who has The Tape Project issue of Willie and the Poor Boys and have a listen. It’s mind bending.

 

The AP vinyls that I have seen are going for around $100. If a guy wanted a good shot to find a decent sounding copy for closer to say…the $20 range what should he look for?

 

I would love an AP copy if they weren’t so expensive.

what is the half speed mastered issue like? Done at abbey road studio by Miles showell. Looks to be about $30.

 

Steve, all the Creedence pressings I ever saw from the blue label and brown label era, and the Green 45 RPM pressings through early Brown label pressings were all pressed by RCA Victor in their plants, I have seen pressings from "H" (Hollywood, California) and "R" (Rockaway, New Jersey plants.

 

Likely that Circle Records pressing batch was for radio stations, and local area customers if extant.

 

Tape Project seems to have gone under. The website is non-functional past the home page.

I do have a Staple Singers tape from them that is excellent.

 

I had this two-fer from the late 70's and it sounded excellent. I sold it after I got the AP box set.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Creedence Clearwater Revival 1969

Also, the early 80's ORC reissues that I heard were good as well.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Willy And The Poor Boys

 

They are not gone, Doc b is out and Paul is retired however they occasionally will produce some of the titles while a license is still valid.

 

Tape Project has gone nuts and jacked up the tapes to $500. The CCR is still out of stock. Stage Fright was $450 last week.

 

Surprised to see this thread still open. Cool.

Decided to spin my Analogue Productions pressings of CCR. Fun stuff but...

Why does Green River sound so much worse? Great material but the SQ difference was jarring, to say the least. Since Kevin Gray and our host mastered it from the master tapes, I'm guessing this is as good as these songs will ever sound?... or is perhaps an original US pressing possibly slightly better (maybe due to fresher master tapes)?

Love the songs but disappointed with how that sound is likely baked into the recording. The first album was ridiculously nice sounding. Deep, warm, inviting, organic... Green River (in comparison to the S/T) sounded abrasive and sharp.

 

This thread explains it a bit

CCR Master Tapes Question for Steve

 

Agreed on all counts. Green River sounds very dull to my ears. No crispness in the acoustic guitars, no snap in the drums and muddy sounding bass. It’s a bit better on CD than vinyl,IMO.