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Blue Note Classic Vinyl Reissues

This is all very disappointing. I’d have hoped the pressing plant would have learned their craft by now as returns is the absolute last thing any business wants, plus it is obviously the least ‘green’ aspect of modern vinyl production. There are a couple of upcoming ones I want (the 70s soul jazz and the late 60s couple, can’t remember off the top of my head). I hope they sort things out by then!

PS Out To Lunch is an audiophile gem, one of the best sounding Blue Notes IMO. I’ve got a Japanese copy, I’d love to hear an RVG stamp of this one just to see how he dealt with one of the real outliers in the catalogue!
 
This is all very disappointing. I’d have hoped the pressing plant would have learned their craft by now as returns is the absolute last thing any business wants, plus it is obviously the least ‘green’ aspect of modern vinyl production. There are a couple of upcoming ones I want (the 70s soul jazz and the late 60s couple, can’t remember off the top of my head). I hope they sort things out by then!

PS Out To Lunch is an audiophile gem, one of the best sounding Blue Notes IMO. I’ve got a Japanese copy, I’d love to hear an RVG stamp of this one just to see how he dealt with one of the real outliers in the catalogue!

Tony, bar one incredibly tiny click on Page One, I've had a 100% strike rate on these. Passed on OTL, as I've a nice early-ish copy that fills the gap just fine for me, but every other release has been genuinely flawless. Most from my local indie, but a couple from Wax & Beans, which I know you frequent. I wouldn't give up just yet!
 
Tony, bar one incredibly tiny click on Page One, I've had a 100% strike rate on these. Passed on OTL, as I've a nice early-ish copy that fills the gap just fine for me, but every other release has been genuinely flawless. Most from my local indie, but a couple from Wax & Beans, which I know you frequent. I wouldn't give up just yet!
Same for me - no bad experiences with these pressings (including OTL), also all bought from my local indie.
 
@Mignum

What does non-fill sound like? I played my Horace Silver - Song For… last night and it seemed perfect for 75% of it until on the last track there were three moments of strange distortion like a scratchy buzzing. Also I noticed the last few piano chords had a lot of distortion audible from both speakers.
I had the same experience with my Song For...., just that last track.
 
Got a copy of Sonny Clark's Cool Struttin' through earlier. Unfortunately it has about 30s-1m of popping through the first track so it's going to have to go back. So that's 2 out of the 3 BN Classics that I've bought thus far have been defective. Not a great strike rate, really.
 
Some of the Classic Vinyl Series are becoming available again it seems. I hope so anyway as the series is going back more to the philosophy of the BN80s and away from the real 'classics'. I just picked up Soul Station - and it's perfect I think :)
 
I've had a terrible time with these. On a positive note, my replacement copy of Takin' Off was ok as was my first copy of Indestructible by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. However:

Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage: second copy has a massive 4cm gash across the first side and the third copy has similar non-fill to the first. I've now given up on this one.

Rueben Wilson - Blue Mode: first copy had a small scratch on the inner grooves of the first side causing a repetitive pop and some dismal non-fill distortion on side B. Second copy's first side was flawless but then similar terrible non-fill distortion on side B as per the first copy. Given up on this one.

Sonny Clark - Cool Struttin': both first and second copies damaged on side A to the extent of 30s-45s worth of repetitive, loud popping. Not trying a third, so that's that.

So for this 80/Classic series, that's 7 titles purchased of which only 3 were good at the first attempt, one was ok on first replacement, two were still bad after two copies and one still bad after trying 3 copies. That's a terrible batting average by anyone's rationale.

Someone let me know when these are being pressed/re-pressed elsewhere and/or modern-day pressing plants as a whole actually know how to press and handle their records properly because I'm done with them.
 
This is all very disappointing. I’d have hoped the pressing plant would have learned their craft by now as returns is the absolute last thing any business wants, plus it is obviously the least ‘green’ aspect of modern vinyl production. There are a couple of upcoming ones I want (the 70s soul jazz and the late 60s couple, can’t remember off the top of my head). I hope they sort things out by then!

PS Out To Lunch is an audiophile gem, one of the best sounding Blue Notes IMO. I’ve got a Japanese copy, I’d love to hear an RVG stamp of this one just to see how he dealt with one of the real outliers in the catalogue!

If my experience is anything to go by, I'd hold off Tony.
 
Norliss,
You certainly seem to having more than your fair share of bad luck with these even allowing that the Classics QC seems to have been poor on average. I saw your SH forum posts on this as well. I had zero issues with the BN80's though and I bought most of them. I have passed on most of the Classics as I thought I had good enough pressings. I did buy two though 'Back at the Chicken Shack' and 'Maiden Voyage' and both were fine so I seem to have been lucky. In fact 'MV' was a much greater improvement over the two pressings I already had that I would be tempted to a few I had passed on if it were not for the likely average of getting a bad pressing now. Let's hope they sort the QC out when they get around to repressing.
 
Norliss,
You certainly seem to having more than your fair share of bad luck with these even allowing that the Classics QC seems to have been poor on average. I saw your SH forum posts on this as well. I had zero issues with the BN80's though and I bought most of them. I have passed on most of the Classics as I thought I had good enough pressings. I did buy two though 'Back at the Chicken Shack' and 'Maiden Voyage' and both were fine so I seem to have been lucky. In fact 'MV' was a much greater improvement over the two pressings I already had that I would be tempted to a few I had passed on if it were not for the likely average of getting a bad pressing now. Let's hope they sort the QC out when they get around to repressing.

Yeah, I have done. I wish I had your luck! Then again, perhaps it's just as well since I'd have bought as many of these as I could get my hands on were it not for the pain barrier they've put me through. The Optimal plant should rename itself to "Sub-optimal".
 
I've just rather impulsively picked up a copy of Maiden Voyage while having a browse in my local indie this morning. I've already got the BN 75 edition but that was the only one of that series I was unhappy with ( it was the non download edition - I can never remember which way round they are in turns of pressing - EU or US) .

Anyway, on first spin the Classic is a huge step up in terms of presence and dynamics. I did a quick A/B and the 75 is very flat sounding by comparison. A worthwhile upgrade IMO and no pressing issues that I can detect - maybe not quite as silent between tracks as the TPs but nothing to bother me too much.
 
I've just rather impulsively picked up a copy of Maiden Voyage while having a browse in my local indie this morning. I've already got the BN 75 edition but that was the only one of that series I was unhappy with ( it was the non download edition - I can never remember which way round they are in turns of pressing - EU or US) .

Anyway, on first spin the Classic is a huge step up in terms of presence and dynamics. I did a quick A/B and the 75 is very flat sounding by comparison. A worthwhile upgrade IMO and no pressing issues that I can detect - maybe not quite as silent between tracks as the TPs but nothing to bother me too much.

I gave in the other day too, the vinyl is a touch (only a little) noisy on my copy so I'd agree with that but it's a wonderful pressing (as is out to lunch)
 
I also found it is a bigger improvement than I expected as I noted above. 45 -RPM-Audiophile thinks the that the MM SRX and the AP 45 are a bit better still in this comparison, but I'm more than happy with this pressing and both the others are too expensive for me now. I have MM 2x45rpm of Out to Lunch and that is excellent so didn't need the Classic, but thinks that is a closer run thing.

 
Do you think CBS have original tapes of the Miles Davis 1965 -68 quintet? Hearing this remaster of Maiden Voyage and the way it has added even more detail and timbre to Tony William's drumming has got me wanting similar quality pressings of ESP and Miles Smiles. I've only got 1980's editions of both. The Freedom Dance Bootleg suggests they do have good quality tapes and hints at what a good quality vinyl remaster and repress might sound like. I wonder what the chances are of them jumping on the bandwagon following the seeming success of Tone Poets and the Impulse reissues?

Are there similar issues to some of the BNs in tapes already being rented out??

Out To Lunch was also in the rack. I have a decent enough '80s French BN of this in a nice heavy sleeve but am now quite tempted.
 
Do you think CBS have original tapes of the Miles Davis 1965 -68 quintet? Hearing this remaster of Maiden Voyage and the way it has added even more detail and timbre to Tony William's drumming has got me wanting similar quality pressings of ESP and Miles Smiles. I've only got 1980's editions of both. The Freedom Dance Bootleg suggests they do have good quality tapes and hints at what a good quality vinyl remaster and repress might sound like. I wonder what the chances are of them jumping on the bandwagon following the seeming success of Tone Poets and the Impulse reissues?

I assume the two-track masters fell apart for these as all CD-era stuff to my knowledge has been remixed from the multitrack. It’s been done at least twice. These albums have all received a very highly rated MoFi release in the past decade or so, but I’ve not heard them nor do I know what they were mastered from. They change hands for good money now though!
 
Ready for Freddie is another great one - no SQ issues for me.
I didn't think that was due for release until next week - at least not according the the Blue Note website. A record out ahead of schedule :eek:

My pre order of the Kevin Gray remaster of Nina Simone's Little Girl Blue has just been delayed for the third time.
 


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