Anybody heard the reissue of Hounds of Love (Kate Bush)... not sure if to go for an original or the reissue.

Yes.

I bought the Audio Fidelity reissue. It is quite good. We compared it with an "original" US issue and the Audio Fidelity was better. I do not know how it compares with an original UK issue.

Jay

Mussorgsky 'Pictures from an Exhibition' & Stravinsky 'The Firebird' : Riccardo Muti/The Philadelphia Orchestra

Label: Hi-Q Records Supercuts
Reproduced from the Original Analogue EMI Master Tapes, Cut at Abbey Road Studios, Pressed on the original EMI presses at The Vinyl Factory in Hayes, UK ( as advertised ) / HIQLP013
Made in EC
Re-mastering by: ??
Release date: 2011

Sound Quality:

Polished and refined but another squeeky clean reissue. A decent frequency extensions and *girth* but not much else happening in the midrange. A lot of theatrical sonic fireworks so you can show off the bass output in your system. Peaky piccolo and thin massed strings. Much too much bright overall tonal balance. The finale gets all bleachd out. Maybe it works for a system with a lazy warm disposition. 

I'm doubly annoyed with his performance, too. Expecting something better out of Muti. Interestingly, I've a Ormandy/Philly record from the 70s and whilst it's not super quiet, performance wise, there's much more going on than this cardboard rendition. I think I'm going to file this record along with Telarc's Shaw/Atlanta Symphony Demo disc. :x

The record surface is not as clean as it should (ticks and pops out of the bag ). Certainly not as low as Speakers Corner or MOFI. My copy came with a scratch deep enough to produce loud pops at a quiet passage and strange *cogging* noise closer to inner groove on side B. This record is going back to the supplier as a defect. 

Packaging Quality: 
Heavy weight card board outer jacket with aqueous gloss coating. Inner is plain white jacket and label design is not the original EMI.

Well, this was a major FAIL.

I am curious who's doing the mastering for the Hi-Q Records. I can't find a thing about them.

It can be title dependent but this record does not sound natural at all. ( it sounds overly processed to me )

Harvest Moon has been issued on vinyl, I have it. Unfortunatly it s not up to Neil Youngs usual high sound quality standards sounding thin and brittle. I recently learned that it was digitally recorded in 16 bit depth which explains the poor quality. Neil himself now seems to view Harvest Moon as a lost recording.

Hans

Thanks Jay.  I'm just ordering a copy of the AUdio Fidelity reissue now :-)

Robbo, personal taste of course but I wasn't that keen on the reissue - I'd go for an original if you can find one...

Kuma,

thanks for the review of the Muti Pictures reissue. On that basis, I think I'll keep my originals.

Talking of Telarc and Pictures At An Exhibition, one of the first digital recordings I bought was the Maazel Pictures with the Cleveland Orchestra.  At the time I thought it was fantastic on LP (and much better sounding than the earlier Maazel Direct to Disc showcase that Telarc issued), and when CD first came out, it was one of the first CDs I purchased.  It's a great performance and a great piece of engineering that still holds up in many ways today. It's a shame that the Soundstream digital system didn't catch on (although it could be argued there are similarities with DSD), because they are consistently some of the best sounding of the early digital recordings in my experience.  The CD is well worth picking up for not much money.  Only drawback is that it uses the old indexing system.  I think there was a remastered reissue some years back, but not sure how this compares or whether the indexing was dropped.

Thanks Hans,

That's puzzling cuz, US CD copy sounds pretty good. ( there is a slight emphasis on sibilance but as a whole, certainly cant say it's thin and brittle ) The vinyl is going for silly money on ebay as I guess there's only German copy made.

I've a Europe only release of Donald Fagan's 'Kamakiriad' in vinyl and it sounds pretty good.( made by Warner Bros. Europe.)

Are there any credits given to who manufactured the Neil Young Harvest Moon vinyl?

I bet you've got the original UK copy....

Richard,

I haven't come acrossed the Maazel's 'Picutres' but general rule of thumb, I stay away from the Telarc Digital. But interesting you say that it sounds better than their earlier demo disc. 

I've this 'Teldec' DMM complication album where some of the tunes are converted from analogue tape to the digital then back to analogue to put on a record.

I've an original analogue reissue on Handel Water Music where clearly, it sounds a lot better than this *digital* record reissue albeit the noise floor is a tad higher.

I know that the Telarc Robert Shaw/Atlanta The Firbird CD and Vinyl are highly regarded but I am not at all liking it both the performance and the sound.

Speaking of The Firebird, Reference Recording is back in vinyl business:

I've the HDCD for this and no doubt the sound on this record will be very good as the sound of CD is pretty spectacular.

However, Oue's direction, as I listen more different interpretations of this tune, is mundane and not very special. ( to me, at least )

Kuma,

I'd probably have to agree with your rule of thumb, however I guess every rule needs an exception, and I think the Maazel Pictures is it.  Certainly it is better than most all of the other Telarcs I have - and it's a really cracking performance too - one of my favourites.  As I say, the original CD issue (with indexing) is superb too, so see if you can track down a copy.

Anyway, how many still have a copy of the Telarc 1812 - and how many have either destroyed their copy or their cart thanks to the untrackable cannon shots?? (sorry if this is edging a little off topic...)

On a more topical note, I'm itching to try a non-classical Classic Records reissue.  I'm thinking of perhaps Genesis Selling England By The Pound, which still seems available here.  Any thoughts on this?

It states that it is manufactured by Warner Bros. Europe and is manufactured in Germany. I may have overstated my critique. When listening to it is evident that the songs and performances are good. However, the experience is always reminds me of listening to CD in the beginning of the 90s. It would be fine at first but after a while I would become restless and switch to vinyl. I seldom manage a whole side of it anymore. To see Neil Youngs view of it check the blog on the Linn forum.

Hans

Hi Kuma,

I've just checked my copy of Harvest Moon which I bought when it first came out and the details are the same as Hans, being made in Germany. I'm playing it at the moment and it is of rather poor SQ, as Hans said, thin and brittle. I would add it sounds 'cold' with lack of the usual warmth. Such a shame as this musically is a lovely album.

By the way I had a look at MyBriks.com. Peter mentioned you have good taste and that is reflected in your photos. Love the decor.

ATB

Steve

Kevin probably has a UK original which may well be better.

Personal taste obviously comes in as well.

Jay

Richard

As you have seen from earlier posts you have been a great help to me with a steer into some great classical recordings. I have bought nigh on 25 titles and am very pleased.

So I have done a bit of digging on your behalf regarding your quest. These Classic Records re-issues are getting very thin on the ground now. The Selling England I have yet to hear. I have it on order, but it is part of a larger set and will be a few days. Happy to let you have a review if you can wait a bit. But from my reading I do not believe it to be a 'special', or 'classic' Classic Records issue.

New copies of Peter Gabriel So, The Who Quadrophenia, and Who By Numbers are still available at standard prices (not mental ebay type money). Now I don't know if those titles are your thing but they are all 'special' and top examples. I have original pressings of Quad and By Numbers and the Classics are better in some ways. Really excellent.

If you give me the ok, I will let you know the online sites where these can be found on this thread. But if you prefer privacy, my e-mail address is in my profile.

Just say.

Cheers

David

Jay,

have a few original uk pressings and i still like the reissue as do many of my friends more.

Kevin seems to spend a lot more money on vinyl than he does on his cartridge or system ????

So it does make one wonder on how good his ears are?? 

Richard,

Thanks. I'll look for a CD copy.

I think Tchaikovsky has written much better tune than the 1812. :x

Steve & Hans.

Do you have a CD? I can't say my US copy CD sounds 'cold' either. I love the music on that album, too, particularly the title track. This might be a rare case that CD release might be better than the vinyl release if Reprise Record/Warner slipped on the QC. It has got to be the same Warner Bros. plant that the Kamakiriad was made. I could sort of *buy* Hans' 16 bit theory but then the CD sounds okey to me so it is a mystery why the vinyl version sounds so poor.

I do not have the CD. There are a lt of good sounding digital recordings in 16 bit that sound good ( and many that don't). In this case it seems that the digital to vinyl process wasn't done well. 

As the recording was done in 16/44.1 it seems unlikely that sound quality can be added by putting it on vinyl.

Hans

Hi Kuma,

Have just dug out the CD. This is the 1st CD I've played this year! I only have a CDX2, which although is a very good CD player, in no way comes close to my LP replay, but I have to say the CD on this occasion, does sound better than the LP. The LP is a typical early '90s rubbish pressing mass produced for the European market. I've generally found, with only a few exceptions, that pressing quality of albums from about the mid '80s thro' the '90s were of very poor standard. This I think compounds the problem when LP's were produced from poor digital recordings at this time. 

ATB

Steve

Hans,

True that digital recording done in 24/96 ( or higher ) then converted to the vinyl can sound very good. I wonder what bit rate the Kamakiriad has been done...

But then again a lot can go wrong even done in a fancy algorithm and higher bit/sampling rate...

Hi, new in this topic. really nobody likes the old, thin (!) first series mofi-pressings? i think the "white album" or some or many others are not so bad... . also the aqualung., which i find the best copy of this album ever made - my 45 classic was so noisy that i sent it back to my dealer.but the beatles are very special: i think it will be hard to find copies of this sound quality now or in the future.

christoph

.but the beatles are very special: i think it will be hard to find copies of this sound quality now or in the future.

I have Beatles For Sale and Abbey Road on MOFI, I purchased them together and wish I hadn't; they're awful, flat and lifeless. Both are also noisy pressings. Iwould honestly say a late '70s/'80s EMI pressing is better. There is absolutely no comparison to the 1st press copies I have. John Lennon Imagine, which I also bought at the same time, is only marginally better. I haven't bought another MOFI pressing since.

ATB

Steve

We all know as of last year their is a better Jethro Tull Aqualung vinly pressingl out there.

Stu.

And it is fabulous. One of my best sounding albums.

Lontano, 

Which reissue Label is this?