Blue Note 45rpm reissue

Jloveys, the licensing with EMI, who now own the Blue Note catalog, determines the number of copies Music Matters and Analogue Productions are allowed to press. This is a very expensive undertaking, and from Joe Harley's comments posted on the Hoffman Music Forum it is quite apparent that EMI is monitoring the quantity pressed quite strictly. Could they have contracted to press a larger number? Possibly. But they are the ones who had to pay the entire press run licensing fee up front and find the capital to do that, not you nor I.

"Remember, we have our life savings in this venture. It's our asses on the line, no one else."
Joe Harley, post at Steve Hoffman Music Forums

As to the sonics of these 45 rpm stereo reissues, The folks behind this effort are quite clear on their objectives: they are trying to put onto vinyl the best sounding pressings of these master tapes possible, not trying to match what folks may be used to hearing on the originals, but to put out something as close as possible to what one hears when playing back the original master tape. They openly acknowledge that these will not sound like other pressings of these recordings that people may be used to hearing. Joe Harley notes in one of his posts:

"We definitely encourage that [a direct comparison between a mint original and these new re-issues] Audiolab. Between Ron and myself, we have mint copies of practically the entire Blue Note catalog. As you can imagine, one of the first things we did when the mastering process began was to make those comparisons."

I will tell you that these pressings sound different from the originals. I'll leave it for you to decide whether they are better or not."
Joe Harley, post at Steve Hoffman Music Forums

Dear Rushton, I certainly don't want to argue about the fact that this reissue is better or not than the old ones. I just give my personal impressions and I certainly wish succes to Music Matters because they certainly do a nice job.
I was just giving my humble opinion.
No doubt the sound of these new 45 reissues is awesome . Just not to my taste.

I disagree with you a bit, Jloveys. Yes, you have expressed your opinion. But you have also attempted to disparage this series and the folks who put it together. You come off as having an agenda. Perhaps that is not your intent, but that's what it comes across as.

Also, I think you chose the the worst of the lot to comment about soundstage. I agree the the Parlance LP is somewhat disintegrated. The Kenny Drew Lp is much, much better in this regard.

Jloveys, I certainly did not intend to offer any criticism of you commenting on what is important to you for enjoying the music. That is truly fair game and good to share, and I've enjoyed the portions of your comments that focus on that. If I came across otherwise, I apologize.
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I, for one, don't think Jloveys had any agenda with respect to his original posting and appreciated his comparison with original or close to original pressings of the same performance. I felt he was evenhanded in his criticism and detailed what he heard without being nasty. There are lots of raves about the new BN reissues but almost all of them do not compare the reissues to originals.

Obviously, this is a subjective hobby and one person's better may be another person's worse. I'll be purchasing selective titles from both the MM and the AP reissues (unless I run into quality control issues) as I think, in the worst case scenario, they'll represent good value relative to originals costing $200-$500.

One must also bear in mind that recording quality was not absolutely consistent even with the Blue Note label; it depended on how things were set up that day at each individual recording session. So it is likely that, regardless of the quality of these performances, there will be qualitative differences in recording quality (regardless of what a fabulous job Mr. Hoffman and Gray do) with the master tapes.

MM and AP are to be commended for taking on the project and making this music available at semi-reasonable prices even if some people feel the originals sound better. I don't have a problem with that.