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RSD 2022 List

paulfromcamden said:
Has anyone heard this issue from the UK 'Atlantic Years' reissue series (late 60s/early 70s)?

https://www.discogs.com/release/3447165-John-Coltrane-The-Atlantic-Years-Vol-5-My-Favourite-Things

Horrible sleeve but I'm tempted to add some of this series to the Coltrane Shelf if they sound good.
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Paul,
Yes that is one I have, but in near mint condition including the cover. It sounds pretty good, but I haven’t done any comparisons. I think I bought it New in the early 70’s and it would have probably been under £5. The ones on your Discogs listing in similar or slightly worst condition than mine are listed at over £30 though.
 
poco a poco said:
Paul,
Yes that is one I have, but in near mint condition including the cover. It sounds pretty good, but I haven’t done any comparisons. I think I bought it New in the early 70’s and it would have probably been under £5. The ones on your Discogs listing in similar or slightly worst condition than mine are listed at over £30 though.
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Thanks Jim - that's good to know. I have the Heavyweight Champion box so no urgency, just one more for my mental want list if I stumble across it.

Thankfully Discogs asking prices don't always correlate with 'lucky finds at record fairs' prices ;-)
 
Don’t overlook bog-standard early to mid-70s US Atlantic pressings. The ones with green, white, orange labels and tip-on sleeves. They are very good IME and don’t command anything like the price of ‘60s issues. With most things the further from country of artist/recording origin the more tape generations are likely and with US jazz I tend to rate US pressings first followed by Japanese. The UK is a bit down the list though can be good.
 
The mono is terrific sounding - by now or cry later to quote our friend. Dynamics are comparable between the pressings. It's not so well recorded and there is a lot of overload on the mics so it's never going to be 'audiophile' if that's what people are looking for in the perfect pressing.

Jim - timings are as follows (measured this morning)

Mono
1. 13.37
2. 5.39
3. 11.28
4. 9.32

Stereo
1. 13.34
2. 5.37
3. 11.26
4. 9.28
 
A very little different, but surprising little. They must have rehearsed this quite a bit. Is there much difference in their playing between takes? Any preference? Possibly not worth it to get the alternate takes?
 
poco a poco said:
A very little different, but surprising little. They must have rehearsed this quite a bit. Is there much difference in their playing between takes? Any preference? Possibly not worth it to get the alternate takes?
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I suspect that it was perhaps recorded in mono and stereo simultaneously akin to what RVG was doing? I have working memory trouble so I can't tell by A/B listening.
 
paulfromcamden said:
Thanks Jim - that's good to know. I have the Heavyweight Champion box so no urgency, just one more for my mental want list if I stumble across it.

Thankfully Discogs asking prices don't always correlate with 'lucky finds at record fairs' prices ;-)
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Paul,
I played and compared my copy mono copy to 7” 45 RPM single part 1 & 2 in the Atlantic mono box of (re the ‘What are you listening to thread’. I think this copy sounds very good, up with a few other Atlantic releases from 70’s I have at least. My copy though has a different Atlantic label (all purple) and matrix number than the one on Discogs. It perhaps sounds better than Gav. is reporting about the recording of the new reissue above. I wouldn’t say it was a poor recording. It is very dynamic and there is some mike overload on Coltrane’s sax at times, but not much and I wouldn’t say very much with this pressing on my system (played with my dedicated Cadenza Mono). I wouldn’t say it is a bad recording at all. Good front to back depth on my mono and good clarity on all instruments throughout. It sounds much better than the 7” single although that may be a bit ‘cleaner’ with the mike overload. The single though is a bit problematic on my system though. That is very thin compared to my LP and sounds very bass heavy and lacking in clarity for the bass in comparison even after I raised the VTA to more than compensate.

If you can find a similar good condition one at a good price I would definitely grab it. At least all this confirms I can safely pass on the new reissue. :)
 
For what it's worth, someone on Hoffman says:

"I just spoke with Joe Harley a bit ago and he confirmed that both the stereo and mono versions are indeed AAA. He even saw the tapes that Kevin used. No wonder it sounds so incredible!"
 
Seanm said:
Is it just me or is the Heavyweight vinyl pretty dull-sounding?
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I compared Plays The Blues with an early-70s US pressing and preferred that to the copy in HC, but there wasn’t a huge amount in it. My conclusion was these just aren’t that great recordings. There is obvious distortion on the piano and other instruments at times. I decided to stick with the HC which was very cheap at the point I bought it (some crazy close-out deal for £50 or so IIRC) and is good enough. I stuck the copy of Plays The blues in the shop so its long gone.

I’d love to hear a US 1st press of a couple of these titles as I’m convinced you need to factor artistic intent into the equation and that is often lost over the years, especially once the hi-fi geeks get to things. This being why I’d personally take a US RVG-stamped Blue Note or Impulse over any audiophile reissue. I don’t really care what’s on the master, I want to hear the music as the artists behind it intended, and that very much includes the final cut eq IMO.
 
Tony L said:
I’d love to hear a US 1st press of a couple of these titles as I’m convinced you need to factor artistic intent into the equation and that is often lost over the years, especially once the hi-fi geeks get to things. This being why I’d personally take a US RVG-stamped Blue Note or Impulse over any audiophile reissue. I don’t really care what’s on the master, I want to hear the music as the artists behind it intended, and that very much includes the final cut eq IMO.
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It's food for thought. I wonder how much input the musicians of the time had into the recording and mastering of their records. I suspect there's a world of difference between how Coltrane was treated at Impulse and, say, a Bobby Timmons session for Prestige. And I wonder how much the average session leader cared? Prestige were notorious not only for providing no rehearsal time but also the quick cash in hand advances that made them popular with musicians with habits to support.

I do agree though that with RVG stamped vinyl you can be reasonably sure you're hearing the recording as the engineer intended.
 
paulfromcamden said:
It's food for thought. I wonder how much input the musicians of the time had into the recording and mastering of their records. I suspect there's a world of difference between how Coltrane was treated at Impulse and, say, a Bobby Timmons session for Prestige. And I wonder how much the average session leader cared?
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I suspect with jazz it was more a label ‘house sound’ thing, e.g. a Blue Note sounds like a Blue Note, an ECM sounds like an ECM. Each having an engineer with a vision. Rock & pop is far more down to artist or management sign-off and cuts are very regularly rejected. It really is astonishing how much a good cutting engineer can bring in focusing a song or album. I view the two-track master tape as an intermediate step in many ways. The mix is nailed down, the final EQ and compression is still very much up for grabs, and that can absolutely make or break a piece of music.
 
Slight aside but last night I heard Stan Sulzmann talk briefly about his experience recording for ECM. He said Manfred Eicher had very clear ideas about the sound he wanted but wasn't interested in getting 'perfect' clean performances - so no edits or overdubs to correct mistakes and often the take used was the first one, mistakes and all, because that was where the music was. I was surprised but really happy to hear that.
 
I haven't been able to find much on the 'lost tapes'. I think it's clear that the masters were lost and my money is on these being artists' copies from the sessions belonging to the Coltrane family - probably 15 ips on 1/4 inch tape - that the engineers would have made for them.
 
I believe I inadvertently bought records from a split out HC box set a few years ago. Can’t really understand how this happened, probably a shop with stock they couldn’t sell? Discogs couldn’t reconcile my copies at all.

I just bought the Bill Evans - ‘Inner Spirit’, definitely recommend it, disc two is far better in SQ terms though.

The above are live performances from 1979 in Argentina, very close to the end of his life but the quality never really dropped with Evans.
 
Woodface said:
I believe I inadvertently bought records from a split out HC box set a few years ago. Can’t really understand how this happened, probably a shop with stock they couldn’t sell?
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Likely pressing/handling faults, if someone returns a box due to one damaged record the others still have resale value. Part of being a record dealer is spotting this stuff, one learns where stuff belongs!
 
Tony L said:
Likely pressing/handling faults, if someone returns a box due to one damaged record the others still have resale value. Part of being a record dealer is spotting this stuff, one learns where stuff belongs!
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I think I only paid £10 per record so no big deal to me.
 
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