The Real Gone UK Duane Eddy collection uses the Ronco 1979 re-recording of Movin' and Groovin' rather than the original which is illegal for a European PD label to do.
You're right, Disky don't count, they are a long running budget EMI sub-label releasing tons of legitimate classical music as well as cheapo pop compilations. Also, Snapper are/were in some way related to Peaceville Records (i.e. the latter is a subdivision of the former or vice versa), so Snapper surely DON'T belong to such a list either.
Membran occasionally license some stuff too. I have at least one classical box set by them which is a modern digital recording.
But the classic early Louis Armstrong stuff issued on the "non-original" JSP label has never sounded better (despite the multiple attempts of the "original" labels to reissue it). A case-by-case basis applies.
Re: Hot Fives and Sevens: here again it's a matter of opinion as though I like Davies' work a lot, I think the Columbia box sounds better to me on my system. I think Chronogical Classics, Neatwork and Masters of Jazz (Media 7) should be mentioned here as grey market labels.
JSP's Louis Armstrong set was mastered for them by the late John R.T. Davies (and so were their Bix Beiderbecke and Jelly Roll Morton sets), back in the days when JSP didn't "borrow" other labels' transfers/masterings.
I think "PD labels" would be a better term than "grey labels", as the latter suggests that they're doing things that are illegal, which isn't the case in Europe, where they or most of them are based - unless they're releasing bootlegs, of course.
Here in the states gray market has long been the term for these. They aren't really legal there, though they proliferate (the US has a long history of this sort of legal ambivalence in sales etc.).
I had a Caravan anthology CD on Disky in the mid-90s that was wretched. Thankfully Decca reissued them all. I do own several of the JSP pre-war blues boxes and I keep my Dixon-Goodrich-Rye discography handy.
RPM Distribution is a Canadian organisation that distributes media from a number of sources. I don't think it has any connection with RPM in the UK which is an excellent reissue label of fully licensed product.
I'm sure you're right. I wonder if its intentionally misleading? Makes me think of the Real Gone Jazz label, from Europe, which is completely different than the Real Gone label that posts here occasionally about its new issues. My sense at this point is that we will not see more Eric or Hit Parade label releases, because the grey market labels have killed them in their specialized areas (50s and early 60s). But I still hope we may get the next year of the 1960s instrumentals series.
I know, and his work is truly remarkable. Still, in a sense, transferring and remastering any old material, 78's included, does mean "borrowing" something that was already "mastered" by somebody, even if at the time of Hot Fives & Hot Sevens mastering mostly meant straight recording/cutting.
BTW, I'm quite surprised that nobody mentioned Naxos and Le Chant Du Monde (Harmonia Mundi) which do a lot of PD stuff (AFAIK, utilizing their own in-house transferring and mastering engineers).
You're right, of course, but what I meant is that JSP (and other labels) often "borrowed" transfers/masterings that were done and paid for by others (Mosaic, Bear Family, to name just two) in more recent times - but I'm sure you know what I meant
Yep. AFAIK, Membran also tend to "re-use" existing transfers adding ridiculous amounts of noise reduction to them. I'm probably done with their PD stuff because of that and I'm hardly interested in anything JSP released after the passing of Davies.
Yes, the Membran releases I've heard were smothered by unbelievable amounts of noise reduction. Their Ellington CDs come to mind. It always amazes me that some people actually like the sound on those - makes me take their opinions on sound quality with a bag of salt
Naxos often hires Mark Obert-Thorn for their PD releases. As far as I know he's an independent engineer who's doing work for other labels as well. John R.T. Davies was also independent, he mastered a lot of stuff for labels other than JSP.
Seeing a few albums in a couple local shops. There is a sticker on the front presumably written by shop owner that reads "euro repress". I've seen Neil Youngs "on the beach", Kinks "village green", Tom waits "Bone Machine" amongst others. All going In the 30 dollar range. Something just seems a bit off with the pressings. Assuming these would be bootlegs?
Yes, IIRC, Mark Obert-Thorn also worked for Pearl and probably other labels as well, so the term "in-house" in his case probably wasn't the best match (I rather meant the "in-house" process of transferring and remastering). The Naxos PD jazz series also seems to use unique transfers and mastering, albeit there's a bit more NR (still applied rather tastefully) than on their classical releases.
The Naxos disc of the Spike Jones Murdering The Classics material, retitled Spiking The Classics, is the recommended disc of that material because of the original 78s used and kept in mono while the RCA CD uses the rechanneled LP master. http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...lassics-original-recordings-1945-1950.272850/
