Quality of Get Back Records releases?

It's a difficult thing to search for.

Tower has several records that look interesting but they're on Get Back Records from Italy and I'm unfamiliar with the quality of their pressings. It says "Audiophile Remastering," whatever that means, and are on 180 gram virgin vinyl but are they any good or are they a waste of money?

 

The only one I have, the Todd Rundgren "Something/Anything" which is out-of-print, sounds great except for some problems with sibilance on a few tracks.

 

Thanks John.

Does anybody have a web address for them? I can't seem to find out anything about them. Googling "Get Back Records" is obviously not an easy thing.

 

Jamie, here's a list from a net place that handles their stuff. I've NEVER ordered from this place.

http://www.forcedexposure.com/labels/get.back.italy.html

mud-

 

I was wondering the same thing. I've seen their LPs on www.amusicdirect.com

I want to get their T. Rex - The Slider LP.

 

Thanks Mud.

 

YW!

mud-

 

T. Rex Solid Gold is one of them records I'm looking at. If I buy it I'll let you know how it sounds.

 

Brother Jamie, you're the designated tester outer for Get Back vinyl! There I go, spending your money again.

 

I advise caution.

I believe Get Back!, Earmark and Arkarma are all related labels. I'm sure we've had a discussion about one of these labels recently, but after a search I couldn't find it.

I had an Earmark reissue of "Something Else by The Kinks": beautiful packaging, nice press and extremely dicey, probably digital mastering--sibilance, thin, harsh, not pleasant at all. I got rid of it.

Dale

 

Here's a thread on Earmark's Kinks reissues:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=13373&highlight=Kinks+Earmark

 

I purchased all four of Get Back Records' reissued Sam Cooke LPs. ("Sam Cooke," "Encore," "The Wonderful World Of Sam Cooke" and "I Thank God.")

In each case, all of the tracks sounded superior to every other version I have of those same tracks ... with the exception of the few songs that also appeared on the Abkco SACD compilation, "Portrait Of A Legend." The SACD versions of those few songs are clearly better than the Get Back LP versions. That said, I have the original Keen pressings of these four albums, and the Get Back versions are far superior.

Overall, I was very satisfied with their product. I don't know whether Get Back had access to the master tapes, but I wasn't expecting much in the way of sound quality because I know the history of how those tracks were recorded and I know how the original vinyl sounds.

I think I paid $16 for each LP, and I considered that to be a bargain.

Clark
www.ultimatesamcooke.com

 

Get Back is part of the Abraxas family of labels(the website is under construction, but the catalog is complete). I have most all of their ESP-Disk' reissues and a few Dagored soundtrack LPs and judging by those, I would say Get Back has a few quality control issues, in both packaging and pressing. I would advise proceeding with caution.

 

I'd be interested in any info on who handles mastering for the Abraxas and the various labels, and what source material they have access to. They pick some great titles, but certainly get mixed reviews quality-wise.

My experience has been with:
Small Faces - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake - stereo (Get Back )
13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of.. (Get Back)

Both are painful to listen to. At the time I bought them, they appealed as visual objects, and the heavy vinyl gave me the sense that surely it must be audiophile (I'm still swayed by that factor despite knowing better these days).

The Small Faces replicated the original dye-cut sleeve, and the 13th Floor Elevators a glorious psychedelic gatefold. Based on only limited direct comparison, my gut instinct is that Abraxas are targeting folks that are paying more attention to the print quality than sound quality and are looking for nostalgia objects. We should be grateful that they play at all when placed on a phonograph. In fact, I had trouble getting the Small Faces LP over the spindle. The hole was made too snug.

With all that, positive things are being said about Abraxas product, so there could be exceptions, just as with Simply Vinyl.

Why is it that the quality control among US labels and disclosure about source material, equipment, pressing plants, etc., is all out in the open, and the Europeans (this Italian group, UK's Simply Vinyl, the BYG Actuel reissues, and even the outstanding Speakers Corner), seem to get away with rarely having to "reveal their hand". It leaves me suspicious about their product.
-David

 

I bought one or two of these erissues years ago and being terribly disappointed by the sound. It definitely sounded digitalm and bad digital at that. I have stayed clear of them since.

I seem to see more of their product around no and they'er pushing the 'audiophile' stickers more.Maybe they've had an awakening

Richard

 

I picked up The Slider over the weekend. The only other copy I have is the Rhino 2CD set. The Get Back vinyl beats the new Rhino CD. The Rhino disc is very harsh. The Get Back is smoother. The vinyl was nice and quiet.

And it looked cool too.

 

I think P-funk's one nation under a groove lp reissue was Get Back
that was pretty good

 

Really, sounds good?

Maybe they used the MFSL CD set for their cutting masters then.

 

Like the Earmark vinyl reissues, all Get Back releases are mastered and pressed by GZ Vinyl in the Czech Republic. GZ uses a digital delay for all analog transfers and to make matters worse they master from manufactured CDs for the majority of Get Back and Earmark releases. Stay far away. Total waste of money. You are paying to have some east European factory make you a cheap CD to vinyl rip.

 

There is a sadness about this. The young kids who hear us vinyl lovers stating why we love the sound of vinyl are buying these fake analog reproductions, and will never really know what the fuss was about. They will eventually drift back to CDs thinking that they have "been there and done that" and it's no big deal!

 

This is what I suspected. What's your source for the info?
Can anyone else confirm?

 

I have talked to GZ Vinyl. They don't even have a 1/2" tape machine, only a 1/4" Telefunken M15 and they always use a digital delay. I got this information directly from the source. Furthermore, I have a King Diamond LP "Black Rose: A Night of Rehearsal" that was mastered and pressed at GZ from a manufactured CD. Metal Blade Records own the rights to that recording and the company that released the LP just ripped it from the CD. They never officially licensed it from Metal Blade. King Diamond's management confirmed this. a lot of albums that Earmark and Get Back have reissued on vinyl were mixed on 1/2" 2-track tapes and GZ has no way of playing these so mastering from manufactured CDs was the only option. Even if you can confirm that they used the original 1/4" 2-track tapes for a certain reissue, it is still fake analog due to the digital delay.

GZ has a lot of experience in mastering vinyl from manufactured CDs.

 

That's a shame.

Like I said, the T. Rex LP sounds better than the Rhino CD. I don't have an old Reprise LP to compare it too.

 

What they ought to do is to browse Goodwill where one often finds original pressings.