Can you guys please help me with a vinyl conundrum.
I'm just starting to rebuild my record collection from scratch and have been quite lucky with charity shops and market stalls so far but I'm attracted to the idea of getting a few favourites on heavy vinyl.
There are hundreds of LPs available on the 180g stuff and many of those titles are available through more than one label.
For example:
Beach Boys Pet Sounds is on Simply Vinyl at £16.99
and Diverse Vinyl offers an "audiophile" version(tho it doesn't say 180g) of the same LP on Capitol for £23.90
Similarly
Portishead Dummy is on Simply Vinyl for £16.99
and Diverse offers an "audiophile" version on Universal for £19.90.
I'm sure there are scores more examples so my question is - is there a rule of thumb, ie "all repressed simply vinyl beats any other version" or "always go for the original label's heavy version".
I'd really appreciate some guidance. If, as I suspect, it varies from title to title has anyone compared the above two titles?
I also fancy the Led Zep titles on Diverse - how much better than the original pressings will they be?
Hope you can help
Cheers
Tony
Posted on: 29 November 2002 by Former member
The good news is you will have a great time rebuilding your collection, because the days when you find, cheap, a favorite lp with incredible sound will put a smile on your face that will last a month. And your Nitty Gritty will make a huge difference in this process (I've had a VPI 17 for over a decade).
The bad news, in my experience, is that there are very few hard and fast "rules" to guide you, and my experience has been like that of some of the other posters: it depends on which record you're talking about. Rather than generalize, here are some things I've noticed over the last thirty years of lp collecting:
1. By and large, the original pressings are going to sound better, especially in the glory days of vinyl, late 1950's to late 60's.
2. You're lucky to live in the UK. Many of my best sounding lp's came from there. Here are a few: Pink Island pressings of Stand Up, Traffic (self titled). I have a ton of Marvin Gaye, including white label promo's, but far and away the best sounding copy of What's Going On I've heard was the UK pressing. Much thicker and better vinyl than the the Tamla/Motown, and killer sound.
3. Mobile Fidelity did issue wonderful sounding lp's, but not all of them were to die for: am I the only person who thinks the Rolling Stones box is not that great?
4. At the risk of starting a whole new topic, the mono pressings of records sound better than the stereo in almost all cases (although I was sorely disappointed in the Parlophone mono Sgt. Pepper, that record probably was engineered for stereo from the get-go, and the Mobile Fidelity lp is wonderful, as is the whole MF Beatles box)
5. You will probably not be disappointed in any Columbia 360 Sound (red label) lp, most are pretty close to master recordings. Some are still bargains, e.g. Highway 61 Revisited stereo or mono should still be plentiful and cheap, same with Blonde on Blonde, altho mono has climbed the last couple of years.
6. After trying 3-4 different resissues of Pet Sounds, I found the original mono (T) Capitol to sound as good as any of them, and for a lot less money.
7. I won't spend big $$ anymore on Led Zeppelin white label promo's because I haven't heard one yet that sounded any better than the 1990 6 lp box set Led Zeppelin, Atlantic 7 82144-1. $30.00 new, and in retrospect a steal. Still available on eBay at or around that price.
8. Anything with Rudy Van Gelder's name on it as producer is going to sound very good, and will be mono.
9. If Delmark records (a blues label in Chicago) has released an lp that didn't sound great, I've not found it. The guy that owns that label is owed a debt of gratitude by all of us.
10. Radio station copies, or white label promos, are usually the best sounding. And the Atlantic/ ATCO Mono DJ pressings are especially sweet sounding.
11. Some lp's were just not recorded/pressed well and I doubt we'll ever get a pressing or reissue that does the artist right. Two examples that come to mind whenever I play them: Layla and Tapestry (Carol King).
12. Most Stax/Volt lp's are very good, most Motown mono's are very good. The Verve lp's from the 50's, especially the Microgroove ("MGV") pressings are excellent, and everyone should have some of Ella Fitzgerald's "Songbooks" (try Cole Porter for starters) and her Ella and Louis lp's.
13. The Frank Sinatra Mobile Fidelity box has great sound and is not that sought after (compared to the Beatles and Stones boxes).
14. If it's from Memphis, Motown, or Muscle Shoals, it's probably going to be worth taking a chance on.
Happy hunting, vacuuming and listening. I would love to have 1000 pounds and a three day weekend to prowl London's vinyl haunts. You guys are lucky.
