One of the best Clash lyrics......
Mobile Fidelity, ‘One Step’ etc
- Thread starter Tony L
- Start date
Tony L
Administrator
Fascinating watching Michael 45 discovering the magic of 1st pressings from country of origin. Very surprised Get Happy beat the MoFi 2x45 as that is a very long-playing album and I’d have expected it to enjoy the extra space.
PS This isn’t Michael getting on the “lets bash Mo-Fi” bandwagon, he has found this with the Abbey Rd series too. It’s where I am most of the time and I put it down to artistic intent, e.g. I feel the likes of RVG, Porky etc really add some magic by better understanding EQ, compression etc.
PPS My copy of Get Happy has the poster. Ha!
gavreid
Pretty Words...
Nice one! I have an A2/B2 a very nice Tim Young cut too, Get Happy's not a Porky. Actually Imperial Bedroom was Noel Summerville, which also sounds fantastic. There were a handful of great cutting engineers back then.
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I am not beating up on Mike Ludwig (he seems like an earnest and likeable enthusiast) but he's one prime example of audiophiles so far up their own behinds wrt audiophile reissues. And there are many of these guys around. How reliable can most of them be when they have spent so much money and time 'investing' in and praising such reissues to high heaven without ever comparing them with original or early pressings? I understand if the originals are rare or very expensive but many of these reissues are of fairly common albums; often the originals may be found cheaper than the reissues.
I guess better late than never but selfishly I hope that this realization doesn't drive up prices of original pressings even further. I have very little interest in audiophile reissues.
I guess better late than never but selfishly I hope that this realization doesn't drive up prices of original pressings even further. I have very little interest in audiophile reissues.
Graham H
pfm Member
Case in point - Get Happy, NM, 1st UK press from 100% UK Discogs seller - less than £20. If only that were true of Blue Notes, Strata East, Impulse, Saturn etc....
gavreid
Pretty Words...
Virtually all of the New Wave era albums Squeeze, Madness, Costello etc are cheap as chips these days - most were really well done too.
Tony L
Administrator
Some stuff is hopelessly undervalued e.g. Joe Jackson, Graham Parker, Squeeze etc, but some is worth a lot now and not just Factory, Rough Trade etc. I do see Costello going up a fair bit if you want genuine first issues, e.g. laminated yellow-back of My Aim Is True, the single and competition etched run-out with This Years Model, the fold-out cover, single and post cards with Armed Forces, poster with Get Happy etc. I suspect you could pay quite a bit for really nice examples of those now. There are a lot of represses of all of these that are obviously much cheaper.
PS Missing the 7” from TYM, got the rest!
paulfromcamden
Baffled
On the other hand most Saturn releases were hardly audiophile products. They're fantastic objects but if we're purely concerned about sound quality I don't feel too hard done by listening to the CD.
Tony L
Administrator
Yes, there are certainly many examples of records that could be improved upon. I have to admit I’m astonished MoFi couldn’t beat Get Happy with a 2x45 given it has ten (admittedly fairly short) tracks a side. It is certainly well over the length groove excursion becomes limited by space and cutting level needs to be reduced. I’d have expected huge gains from spacing that one out. Maybe 2x33 would have been a better option?
gavreid
Pretty Words...
No me neither, they were quite limited if I remember
Tony L
Administrator
Another one of these comparison videos from another channel. One thing I’m noticing is many audiophiles really do not understand what compression is in a studio or mastering context. I’m prepared to bet the dull and lifeless sounding MoFi has far less compression and is likely a ‘flat transfer’ (i.e. no additional EQ or compression). It is what I’d describe as a ‘pre-cut master’. What one pays the really good cutting engineers (e.g. Porky, RL etc etc) to do is to bring their considerable experience and to use EQ and compression to really breathe life into the end-product. Tasteful well applied compression equates to ‘punch’, well applied EQ brings weight, slam, presence etc. It is art, this is all part of the available paintbox. It all went to hell later with the CD loudness wars, just insane overuse, but folk should never blame the tools.
PS I’ve got a UK 1st press of the Cars album and never wanted to look further. It is a great sounding record. No interest in H&O.
paulfromcamden
Baffled
100% agree with this. In fairness, compared with say EQ, it's not completely obvious how compression works in practise if you've not spent any time fiddling with compressors.
ToTo Man
the band not the dog
Hopefully not before they get the rest of their Eagles One Steps and SACDs out!
Graham H
pfm Member
Couldn’t disagree with that Paul, but the point I was making in response to Hockman’s post was they (Blue Note, Impulse, Strata East, Saturn) are very desirable and very expensive - sometimes reissues/audiophile reissues are the only way to go if we missed out first time around. (I have half dozen or so original Saturns and the sound quality can be very good, but pressing quality is dreadful on all of them).
With regard to Sun Ra on CD, I actually like some of the Evidence CDs, (some great, well researched sleeve notes), and I’m not convinced that all the recent 24 bit remasters are always preferable. Some of the 24 bit reissues sound a bit thin to my ears, in most instances closer to source tape, but perhaps mastered on a less than adequate equipment. Or maybe I’m used to Sun Ra in Lo Fi, as if the music is being transmitted from another planet.
I think probably most people on these threads dip in and out of the reissue/audiophile reissue/remaster market at will, unwilling to pay daft money for originals and governed by the music. I don’t get the impression that we have die hard audiophile purists here, as evidenced at Hoffman and the likes of Michael45 (although from the sound of it he appears to be changing his views).
Tony L
Administrator
He’s certainly spent some money! His record collection is way, way bigger than mine and I’ve been collecting for about 45 years now. Admittedly I do sell a lot too. I have always viewed it as fluid and try never to retain multiple copies of albums I like, let alone albums I know I’ll never play again etc.
palasr
>>>...<<<
I do own multiple copies of the same LP, as differences in pressing (UK vs US) can be quite interesting, and often stark.
I am not surprised in the least. I tried two of the Mo-Fi Dire Straits 2x45s, 'Love Over Gold' and 'Making Movies', and they were absolutely dreadful compared to a nice UK first pressing. I sat on them for a few months, and doubled my money on Discogs after they went out of print. I have at various points over the years owned perhaps 50-70 Mo-Fi releases going back to the Stan Ricker days. Today I own none (I would try Abraxas however). Originals have always sounded better - more infused with life and vitality, more organic. Perhaps it's something intrinsic in the 1/2 speed mastering process that I don't care for (I feel the same about the recent Abbey Road reissues - they're sonically dead).
I am not surprised in the least. I tried two of the Mo-Fi Dire Straits 2x45s, 'Love Over Gold' and 'Making Movies', and they were absolutely dreadful compared to a nice UK first pressing. I sat on them for a few months, and doubled my money on Discogs after they went out of print. I have at various points over the years owned perhaps 50-70 Mo-Fi releases going back to the Stan Ricker days. Today I own none (I would try Abraxas however). Originals have always sounded better - more infused with life and vitality, more organic. Perhaps it's something intrinsic in the 1/2 speed mastering process that I don't care for (I feel the same about the recent Abbey Road reissues - they're sonically dead).
Graham H
pfm Member
And from what’s been happening at MoFi and other audiophile labels he probably still is digital - without realising it. Oh! the irony!
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Paul R
pfm Member
It would be better if 45rpm, the In Groove and others would produce samples. I'm left wondering if Michael simply didn't turn Elvis up enough on the MoFi.
If one were looking for yet another copy of Rumours, (899) The Best RUMOURS Vinyl Version Ever? - YouTube would actually be quite useful. It might cost them a few dollars in demonetisation but it's for the good of the community....
If one were looking for yet another copy of Rumours, (899) The Best RUMOURS Vinyl Version Ever? - YouTube would actually be quite useful. It might cost them a few dollars in demonetisation but it's for the good of the community....