Question for Grant

Hi Grant as you are appearantly an R&B lover (see post Vinyl Forum) could you list some of your Vinyl Favourites from a sound quality point of view.
It may also be: Funk, Soul, Rap or any other balck music.

(Other people may suggest as well)

 

Heh! Heh! You said...vinyl...!

I'm going to sidestep the vinyl issue. This is hard because while many R&B/soul, whatever albums sound better on vinyl, many sound good on CD. The music has by and large not been treated that well on any format. Bear in mind that whith soul music it isn't about the sound quality, it's about the feel of the music itself, it's "groove" factor.

I could list what I believe to be quality-sounding recordings on any format.

Marvin Gaye-What's Going On (Deluxe Edition)
any current James Brown compilation on Polygram or Uni


As I just stated, it's not about the sound so much...

Now, I can tell you what to AVOID!

 

Re: Re: Question for Grant

Please!

 

Correction: I can tell you what I believe should be avoided.

CDs:
Kool & The Gang-Ladies Night
Rick James-Street Songs (Deluxe Edition)
Curtis Mayfield imports on Charley
unless you gotta have 'em, avoid any 80s era Arista CD
Any Motown Al Green
the new Jackson 5 two-fers

I'll be back with more.

You know, the silver lining of not having so much R&B product on the market is that the companies have had fewer chances to get it wrong. But, when they do, there's fewer chances for them to get it right a second time unless the artist is Michael Jackson.

 

Hmm, many R&B might sound good on CD as well,

Well the only ones I have to compare are these:

Commodores - Midnight Magic and .... Can't remeber the one with Flying High, (my) LP versions are a lot better.
Same for EW&F, I'am, Raise, All in All and Best-off (Where I have most US pressings and one Dutch pressing and the Dutch is better but all are better than CD.
Michal Jackson: Thriller LP vs Special Remaster CD or somthing, The CD is not GOOD. I also have the History remaster which is better for the songs that are on Thriller.
For the other artist I can't say that I have anything to compare.

I Agree with the Rick James, that's very bad
Cool & The gang I have on CD, but always listen to it in the car so i can't tell if it is that bad.
What's going on I have on CD, Like the music but don't like the sound. I also want to get: Let's get it on.
I have some Cameo LP's which are to sharp from sound.
I have Mtume, You me and He which is good.
Some George Clintons that sound good. Actually I have a lot of albums and cd's fromabout 78 to 87 I guess that was my funk/soul period.

 

Midnight Magis sounds bad on CD. I did a vinyl transfer of "Flyin' High" to CD-R. It does sound good.

I guess you haven't heard the newest US remasters

I have TONS of soul LPs from the 70s that will never make it to CD.

 

Grant is right, the original CD's of The Commodores studio albums should be avoided at all costs. They're poorly mastered from 2nd or 3rd generation tapes. I've been pestering Harry Weinger at Chronicles to reissue their albums. It looks like it's working. I just found out that Motown is reissuing The Commodores "Live" album later this month(first time on CD), along with Diana Ross' first solo album(extra tracks included), and a two-fer album from Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, and a Supremes album.

As far as the Jackson 5 2-fers, I was disappointed with those myself. The UK 2-fers especially "Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5/ABC" is definitely superior to the US counterpart. Not real easy to find, but worth seeking out.

The Earth Wind & Fire reissues that have come out in the last 3 years are great also. Theywere remastered either by Joseph Palmaccio or Mark Wilder and were supervised by Maurice White. I'm hoping they'll do the rest of the catalog soon. The currently available versions of "Raise" and "I Am" are really flat and dull sounding. The vinyl is much better on both of those albums. Another one of their albums I'm hoping to see remastered is "Faces". Great album and very underrated.

Grant, The Commodores album with "Flying High" is "Natural High". I always liked that one. Another favorite cut on that one for me is "Say Yeah".

 

You know Jeff, I always though a good mastering job was one that made you forget about the sound quality when listening. For me, the Commodores LPs do that. They were engineered well, though they were also nothing special, either.

I have been looking for old LPs of their earlier albums and they are next to impossible to find, at least in decent condition.

As I stated before, my only successful LP-to-CD-R transfer was "Natural High". This was on a commercial CD when Motown was distrubuted by MCA but disappeared.

I saw some imported two-fers of the Supremes and the Temptations at Borders just a couple of days ago. I didn't see any titles I was especially interested in picking up at that time. If I find some 70s albums I will buy them. I really want to replace some of those US J5 two-fers remastered by Shur Gur. Like the Rick James CD he compressed the sound. I guess as long as it sounds different...

The original LPs were all dry-sounding, as Berry Gordy HATED compression. Yeah, you'd never know it from the 60s singles, but...