I own a number of the original Blue Note recordings and also a number of the Music Matters Reissues. Personally I usually prefer to listen to the reissue, simply because the pressing is almost always quieter. OTOH, if the original is quiet, and I own several that are....I typically find that there really isn’t a huge difference between the original and the MM reissue. Unfortunately, I cannot say that for some of the other reissue labels compared to the original. I am going to be acquiring some of the Tone Poet series, should be interesting to see how they compare.
Original Blue Notes vs Reissues
I am trying to understand the hype with original Blue Notes sounding better than say Music Matters, Classic Records Reissues, or Tone Poets reissues. I have many originals and I am trying to figure out other than the collectibility of the record, the Original Blue Notes really just different sounding, certainly not better than the newer reissues mentioned above. Unless you can get the original for about 20 bucks, I see no reason to spend thousands of dollars on originals. Most of the time, they are not as good anyways, noisy, and not in the best shape yet many really push those older pressings, why? Other than collectibility, why?