Led Zep 4: worse than original pressing.

Abba Voulez Vous: still poor quaity but at least a concentric pressing!

I hope this thread lasts okay... and not just for negativity - i was thinking of starting a thread called "What was the last duff vinyl purchase you sent back for refund"  but i think a more balanced approach would be far more interesting : )

Here's a recent purchase i am very very pleased with...

BOB MARLEY Legend (Original release 1984)

The Best Of Bob Marley & The Wailers (2009 US reissue 14-track LP pressed on 180gram VIRGIN VINYL, issued as part of Universal's 'Island 50' series, includes the classics 'No Woman No Cry', 'Get Up Stand Up' and 'I Shot The Sheriff', presented in sealed picture sleeve, housed in 'Island 50'-stickered resealable PVC outer bag).

Plus -

Nice poly-paper innersleeve with no 'static'

Perfectly flat vinyl disc

Very acceptable (quiet) surface noise

Fantastic SQ (and fantastic music too : )

Available from HMV for £9.99

Debs

Ah, I think you need to be more specific.  There are many, many Led Zeppelin reissues out there, don't know about Abba...

The Pink double limited to 500 pressings of this classic vinyl album,That came out this year.

Sounds wonderful.

Steven Wilson worked his magic on this.

He also worked his magic on this reissue of one of his this year.

Blackfield 1.

He has also worked his magic on this vinyl.

Stu.

My experiences are in the positive.

I loved:

* Pink Floyd - WYWH (2011)

* Pink Floyd - DSOTM (2011)

* Black Sabbath - RHINO re-issues 

* Rage against the machine - S/T

* The Cure - Disintegration

* Ramones - The first 4 on RHINO

* Slayer - The vinyl conflict

* Metallica - LOAD (Grundman)

* Metallica - ReLOAD (Grundman)

....

Excellent:

* Jethro Tull - Aqualung, Classic Records 45rpm

* Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue, Classic Records

* Fleetwood Mac - Rumours, USA 45rpm

* Cannonball Adderley - Somethin' Else, Classic Records 45rpm

Good:

* Pink Floyd - WYWH

* Davy Graham - Folk, Blues & Beyond, MOV

* Jimi Hendrix - AYE, Axis, Electric Ladyland

Poor:

* Led Zep - TSRTS box set

* Bob Dylan - Highway 51 Revisited, Sundazed

* The Byrds - Dr Byrd & Mr Hyde, Sundazed 

Cannonball Adderley: Somethin' Else

Classic Records Stereo Reissue: QUIEX SV-P 200 gram premium vinyl,replica of the DG (deep groove) -BLUE NOTE RECORDS INC · 47 WEST 63rd · NYC
Remastered by Bernie Grundman( BG initial in dead wax )

Release date: 2009

Sound Quality:

I've got to listen to this side by side with the original mono reissue and if I couldn't have that, I am perfectly content with this stereo reissue. Mono original had a very immediate natural feel that stereo pressing doesn't but the Classic Record reissue has ultra low self noise and stunning presence.

I haven't heard a 45 rpm reissue ( also done by Classic ) but this is a fine combination of contents and fidelity are in near perfect state.

Packaging Quality:

There's not much to this. Sturdy cardboard outer with a plain white paper inner. No liner notes.

Their are some songs on this new double vinyl album release that are on her others.

So you could call it a reissue of sorts.

The Diff is,

They are 180g/ 45rpm LPs.

And they sound wonderful.

Stu.

Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here

EMI Records Remastered Collector's Vinyl LP:
Sourced from the Original Master Tapes, Cut by Doug Sax, and Overseen by James Guthrie

Release date: 2011

Sound Quality:

"Stunning Dynamics, Giant Soundstage, New Details, Dead-Quiet Surface"

Well all the hype is true. Compared against the original UK and US pressings ( albeit not the first pressing ), this new release from the EMI sounds a lot closer to the original UK pressing. With a drastically lowered noise floor, a lot of details I could not hear before are presents. Unlike so many of reissue vinyls this one dose not sound artificial and hifi retaining a lot of natural balance of the original UK pressing. This is better than many of current MOFI pressings. I am glad that they did not follow the US pressing EQ which I think has an artificial overall balance. ( which btw, I've noticed for the first time that it has a different cover art from the UK version )

Packaging Quality:

A high quality printing as well as paper stock as good as the original. A few tschotskes thrown in. ( so that young kids today can also experience the excitement I had when I first got the record today, I guess )

Cannonball Adderley: Somethin' Else

Classic Records Stereo Reissue: QUIEX SV-P 200 gram premium vinyl,replica of the DG (deep groove) -BLUE NOTE RECORDS INC · 47 WEST 63rd · NYC
Remastered by Bernie Grundman( BG initial in dead wax )

Release date: 2009

Hi Kuma,

I have this LP and it's very good. This is one of my top 10 Jazz LP's but the standard in SQ has been increased by a dramatic margin by the 45rpm Analogue Productions Blue Note Series mastered by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffmann at Acoustec. The SQ blows your socks off. The Classic Records issue was my favourite until I played this baby 2 days ago.

ATB

Steve

Steve,

Yes 45 rpm records by Analogue Production are very good. I'd probably add two more  for those.  I still have a few before I switched over to a 'Geddon.

Eventually tho, I got tired of getting up too often so after the novelty wore off, no matter how good they sounded I cuoldn't deal with them. I found it somewhat distracting just as I was getting into the groove, you know what I mean.

A friend has a library of high-res. rip from those 45 records and I reckon they can be very good if 1.) if the recording was done correctly in a high res. format  2). with a decent DAC.

Can't stand the Analogue Productions reissues I have heard. They have great sound but no PRAT, rhythm, swing. 

Jay,

Do you have any recent reissues you'd like to recommend?

Can't stand the Analogue Productions reissues I have heard. They have great sound but no PRAT, rhythm, swing. 

On my system there is plenty of rhythm and PRat. There may be differences between some recordings but the Somethin' Else LP is excellent and by far the best copy of it that I have(70's Blue Note and Classic Records). I also have John Coltrane 'Love Supreme' and that is also excellent but with this one I don't have another copy in my collection to compare it with.

Happy listening

Steve

I'm generally unimpressed with the pressing quality of new vinyl. Things should have moved on with newly available materials, but it doesn't sound like it to me.

The technological marvel of pressing a CD has become pretty cheap, and the old-tech stamping of a bit of plastic, relatively expensive - at least for the customer.

I guess it's a 'volume production' issue to some extent.

John.

I have bought a ton of vinyl reissues over the last ten years, mostly jazz, so I will make a few generalizations.

Yes, 45 RPM is sonically superior, everything else being equal, but it really is a pain to get up and change the record every 8-10 minutes.  On my "big rig," the turntable is right next to the listening position, and I can flip records on the fly without powering down, so it's okay.  But in the living room, with the TT located 20 feet from the listening position, forget it.

Still, to distinguish among 45 RPM reissues, Analogue Productions is sonically excellent, but occasionally slightly deficient in PRAT.  No problem if the deck (table, arm, cartridge) has adequate PRAT.

Nevertheless, the Blue Note reissues from Music Matters are superior in PRAT.  Plus, the musical selections are more adventurous (Eric Dolphy, for example), with less schlocky pablum.  Audiophiles are not exactly the most adventurous jazz fans!  Interestingly, the mono reissues are consistently superior, even though MM has documented that Blue Note mono issues in the stereo era are simply mixdowns of the stereo master.  But simply pressing the mono button on one's Naim preamp does not yield the emotional satisfaction of a mono lp.

The very best 45s have been from Classic Records, with their one-sided pressings (so 1 album = 4 disks).  The first CSN album, for example--wow!  The classical RCA reissues are great also.

Sundazed does a lot of cool reissues of vintage rock, especially garage (Barry and the Remains! Yeah!), but the sonics are just okay.  Fremer in Stereophile never seems to be willing to acknowledge this obvious truth.

Finally, I've really liked the Four Men With Beards reissues, mostly due to great music selection.  They have covered my favorite jazz group, Art Ensemble of Chicago, and now are reissuing vintage 1970s electric Miles Davis.  Dark Magus has just come out, with Pangaea and Agharta (both live in Japan) soon to follow.  The intensity of this music has seldom been matched, IMHO.

Of course, in almost all cases, early pressings of the original releases are preferable to reissues, but we take what we can get.

I have quite a few audiophile re issues on mofi,dcc,classic etc. I know they are not always rated highly by some other members but if you don't have the original vinyl it may be the only option.

I agree about Caravan Grey and Pink marvellous album and sounds great. some of my other faves

Elivis costello 45rpm mofi Get Happy, really good much better than the original. Also Aqualung 45rpm box on classic. Also have same album on mofi and Dcc. the classic version is my favourite the DCC is also very good. Just got REM Lifes rich pageant on MOFi. I had never heard it before and really enjoyed the album, how it compares to the original soundwise I don't know but I am pleased with it.

Mofi are doing some Dylan stuff at 45rpm coming soon. I have pre ordered Blonde on Blonde,Freewheelin,Bringing it all back home & another side of, Lets hope they are good. These are all stereo versions. I have a couple of sundazed mono versions which were merely ok in my view.

The 45rpm Fleetwood Mac Rumours mastered by Steve Hoffmann is excellent. It seems Mr. H knows something about mastering. The Rumours cut is fabulous and makes my 180g Warner pressing sound dull and lifeless (which I've always felt sounded dull and lifeless anyway).

The Music on Vinyl pressing of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue is similarly excellent. I heard it on Saturday driven by an LP12 (never my fave) and it sounded just gobsmacking. This is a 24/96 digital master! It comes as a double LP, the first having the corrected speed album and the 2nd having outtakes from Sketches of Spain. I haven't heard the 2nd disc, but the first is so good, it's worth the £22 asking price on its own. The quality of the vinyl also seems particularly good - totally clean. This was a friend's copy. Mine is on its way from Amazon...

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Interesting to hear the various comments, particularly about the 45rpm reissues. I totally agree that changing the record every 10 minutes or so can be a pain, especially with the single sided Classic Records issues. However the superior SQ makes up for it, but I wouldn't play them for background music.

The issues I have been consistently disappointed with are MOFi and Sundazed LPs. Flat and boring would best describe them. The MOV issues are variable and I have found the US issues of the same LP's to be better pressings, but they are still reasonably good. 

In general, issues that have been mastered in an analogue manner are far superior to those that are digitally ruined, I mean remastered.

With regard to aht's comments about the MONO Blue Note reissues, I have the Kenny Burrell 'Midnight Blue' and John Coltrane 'Blue Train' mono Classic Records issues. The soundstage on both are excellent with amazing 'separation' of instruments. It sounds just like a band is playing as a unit rather than the artificial R-L split of the early stereo recordings.

Another surprise was Caravan 'ITLOGAP' reissue from Universal which I bought on Stu's recommendation. It's really rather good. Thanks Stu (even if you did call me an old hippy!)

Steve

Jellyfish: Spilt Milk

Omnivore Records Remastered Green Vinyl LP:
Sourced from the Original Analogue Masters. ( so it says on the vinyl )

Release date: 2012

Sound Quality:

Reasonably low self noise ( no. you don't get an inky background you get from Analogue Production or MOFI records from this ) but dynamic and well balanced mix. I don't have the original pressing to compare it to but this is miles better than an original US CD release I have.

Natural voices, well focused imagery albeit it has that power pop EQ feel, the engineers didn't smother the rhythmic strength of this album offers. Altho, I have a sneaking suspicion the original UK pressing might be better. ( they usually have more natural feel and not so *manufactured* smiley-faced US pressings.)

There is a slight congestion in trebles ( also in the CD ) and upper midrange vocals sound overloaded but other than that, whilst it's not in the EMI Pink Floyd pressing calibre, I think it's pretty good. Plus it is so hard to find the original in the US!

Pakaging Quality:

Nice and bright printing with no registration problem assuming they've duplicated the original packaging. Nothing fancy single jacket with a printed cardboard inner.

The vinyl itself is a translucent green vinyl. I reckon it's a virgin vinyl.

Steve,

I've heard a lot of the Sundazed LPs and find them anything but flat and lifeless. In particular Otis Redding Blue and Aretha Franklin's debut album are cracking cuts I think.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Hi Frank,

In the interests of fairness I have just revisited the 2 Sundazed albums that I own; The Byrds "Dr Byrds & Mr Hyde" and Bob Dylans " Highway 61 Revisited". I played them against the other copies I own, the Byrds well played original 1st press and a 70's issue of the Dylan album. I thought I would give them another chance as I have had a major upgrade of my system since I last played them. 

I'm afraid to say that my opinion hasn't changed. Even the Dylan LP couldn't touch the 70's issue. There is a very flat presentation and lack of dynamics with both LPs and this reaffirmed my decision not to buy any more.

ATB

Steve

Steve,

What turntable and cartridge are you running?

Frank,

How is the new KOB reissue compared to the Classic reissue of the past?

Kuma,

I haven't done a side-by-side comparison. It's been some years since I heard the Classic version which I couldn't justify on expense grounds.

However, this version was easy to justify.

Steve, those are two of the Sundazed albums I haven't heard...of course!

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

What turntable and cartridge are you running?

LP12/Radikal/Superline/Supercap2/Ekos SE/Akiva/552/300/300/B&W 802 Diamonds with Airplugs, Hiline and Powerlines.

KOB?