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Strata East reissues

In my years of record buying, I've never come across Strata East CD reissues, so this is news to me. Even LP reissues are pretty rare and I've seen both licensed and pirated ones. In terms of availability and price, the Pure Pleasure ones are probably your best bet. I personally have a few even though I always prefer originals.
 
hockman said:
In my years of record buying, I've never come across Strata East CD reissues, so this is news to me. Even LP reissues are pretty rare and I've seen both licensed and pirated ones. In terms of availability and price, the Pure Pleasure ones are probably your best bet. I personally have a few even though I always prefer originals.
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https://www.discogs.com/search/?q=Bellaphon+SECD&type=all
I asked as the Soul Jazz Love Strata East compilation was licensed from Bellaphon.
 
Received 4 LP's today from Pure Pleasure: Charles Rouse - Two Is One, Shamek Farrah - First Impressions, Clifford Jordan - Glass Bead Games & Pharoah Sanders - Izipho Zam. I already have the Clifford Jordan & Pharoah Sanders on CD so that will be an interesting comparison. It's going to be a Strata East weekend!
 
Just playing Two Is One - what a stunning record. If this is a needle drop I'd be amazed but PP don't mention that it's from the Master tape so maybe it's just a very skilled mastering job by Ray Staff.
 
Seanm said:
No, thanks for bringing it up: hadn’t heard about the reissues and haven’t really heard much Strata East beyond a Soul Jazz compilation (20 years ago?) Will check some of these out.
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same here. That was a great comp.
 
Comparing Izipho Zam PP LP to Bellaphon CD. Both formats seem to have been mastered from the same source. Distortion about 1 minute in at the beginning of Prince of Peace. Surprised that I hadn't noticed that before when I played the CD. LP sounds a bit more dynamic but I'm pretty sure it's down to improved Mastering. The CD is from 1993, quite early in the life cycle of the CD. Pure Pleasure say this: *The Audio Source supplied directly from the owners of Strata - East*, Re-mastering by: Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London but I wonder what that source is?
 
That's a shame. I was hoping that either the CD or the PP reissue will be good.

As I mentioned earlier, I've heard that Strata East usually provides a digital file for reissues. And sometimes that file sounds no better than a needle drop...
 
Oh that looks interesting. I am grateful that someone out there is putting out decent reissues of these Strata East, Theresa and other less common records. Even if some originals are not that expensive, they are not so easily found in the wild.

I am just so tired of audiophile companies reissuing the same, safe choices over and over again...
 
For instance, this amazing Woody Shaw album that's a bit different from his usual ones and closer to the spiritual jazz of Strata East:

R-2478203-1350659926-5781.jpeg.jpg


I got mine cheap but Discogs currently shows only a few copies, all way over $100. And there have been very few previous reissues, LP or CD, around. Highly recommended though.
 
After too many years trying to get Glass Bead Game I eventually relented and bought the PP reissue. This is wonderful music. I would be surprised if it wasn’t needle drop though.
 
Reviving this thread, have you guys tried the newer Strata East & Nimbus titles on Pure Pleasure? I'd appreciate your views on the sonics.
 
John C said:
After too many years trying to get Glass Bead Game I eventually relented and bought the PP reissue. This is wonderful music. I would be surprised if it wasn’t needle drop though.
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I stumbled across a blog yesterday that includes a comparison of the original and reissue. The writer notices the occasional drop-out in one channel on the reissue but it's not clear if this is the result of digital restoration or tape problems.

https://www.hifiaf.com/glass-bead-games/
 
hockman said:
Reviving this thread, have you guys tried the newer Strata East & Nimbus titles on Pure Pleasure? I'd appreciate your views on the sonics.
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Nate Morgan’s Journey Into Nigritia should be with me Monday, I’ll report back. The music is tremendous, and the stream on Qobuz sounds clean and dynamic - high hopes for the vinyl.

I recently received Tolliver’s Impact which sounds great given the ambitious nature of the session, a real tour de force. Great themes and playing.

Plenty of recent titles I’m considering, esp from Tapscott and Tolliver.
 
No need to hesitate, Graham. Musicwise, Tapscott's Live at Lobero and Tolliver's live at Slug's are good (I have originals). Tapscott's Dial B for Barbra is interesting; my original is a single record while this is one contains 2 LPs. I see Kevin Gray remastered this so it should sound good.

One that may not be on the radar is the Creative arts ensemble. It's a surprisingly good spiritual jazz album. My version is a 2x45rpm reissue from Outernational which sounds great.W

With Pure Pleasure, it is not always clear what is the original source, but I have no complaints. I am just grateful these obscure albums are now readily available in decent sound (usually) at reasonable prices.
 
hockman said:
One that may not be on the radar is the Creative arts ensemble. It's a surprisingly good spiritual jazz album. My version is a 2x45rpm reissue from Outernational which sounds great.
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Thanks for that - now on my Qobuz playlist. My copy of Tapscotts Flight 17 is on double 45 rpm Outernational Sounds and sounds excellent.

This is the Tapscott I’m thinking about - first issue from what I can gather:

https://honestjons.com/shop/artist/...kestra/release/Live_At_Century_City_Playhouse

Nice soprano solo at about 4 mins:

 
hockman said:
Not sure if this has been posted here but this is someone's comparison between the original and the PP reissue of Glass Bead Games:
https://thevinylpress.com/clifford-jordan-glass-bead-games-shoot-out/
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I think that is a fair assessment - I’ve made similar observations regarding Glass Bead Games, but haven’t had the opportunity to compare with an original pressing. The idiosyncrasies of the Pure Pleasure pressing remain, especially the numerous drop outs on side 3 which correlate with the Qobuz CD stream. But as I’m unwilling to fork out for original copies I’m happy enough. It’s great music.

Interesting that the Vinyl Press review rates the Tolliver/Music Inc Live at Slug’s as borderline unlistenable - although I think the reference is an original. I might hold back on that one, more info would be welcome.

On a brighter chord Nate Morgan’s Journey Into Nigritia sounds excellent, with a nice sense of space and dynamic range and very little to get in the way of enjoying the music.

And LJC is giving this one a thumbs up:
https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2021/06/29/dadisi-komolafe-hassans-walk-1983-nimbus-west/
 
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