Was this Miles Davis Steamin LP a rare find?

11-03-15: Fjn04
Johnnyb53- Which Beach Boys Mono do you hav?"

My only BB monos right now are recent Capitol issues of Pet Sounds and Smile!, and although they may not match the AP's, I think they're pretty good on 180g vinyl and a nice rich tonal balance. The vocals are wonderful on both as well. When I got the mono cart, Smile! and Pet Sounds are two of the first mono LPs I played.

Brian Wilson has been deaf in one ear most of his life, so the story is that he always favored mono.

It's nice to see that the Beach Boys back-catalog has been getting the same sort of respect for the original intendted analog mixes that The Beatles' catalog finally got. I will have to pick up some more. These early BB albums transport me to my early adolescence when I was crazy for cars and our family (in Cincinnati) vacationed in SoCal annually.

Instead of paying the big bucks for audiophile reissues, that I admit can be really great, try some of the Fantasy reissues of the great jazz albums.They are readily available used on Ebay. Especially good are the ones that the Contemporary Studios recorded. Also, if you can find the original recordings still in good shape pick them up. I've found that a lot of used record stores that lean toward rock sometimes don't know their jazz and classical ... and underprice them. The Miles Davis "Round Midnight" album I mentioned above was bought in a used record store in Santa Monica for under a buck. I guarantee that album played on your system would knock yer socks off.

Contemporary or Riverside are two of the best jazz labels, and I agree that Fantasy reissues can be very very good.
I own "Art Pepper + 11" on original Contemporary, and I like it so much that I later on bought the 45-rpm re-issue. The latter is maybe a little "smoother" for want of a better adjective, but it's really no better overall.

Thanks Lewm, I would love to have some Art Pepper in my collection. I have heard +11 is an outstanding recording. The QRP Steamin LP was all I could have hoped for. Warm, but not that fuzzy, lack of detail type warm. Piano was just right, with good decay. Bass and drums nicely balanced in the mix, with Miles trumpet having just the right amount of bite. I had the DCC gold CD of Steamin, but this LP is pretty special. Kudos to Chad and the QRP team. Oreganpapa- I know at 30 bucks, these aren't cheap. But that Miles 1st press you picked up was a lucky day. Most of the Original press top jazz stuff is pricey. Thanks for the suggestion on that Miles LP. I should mention the record shop I was in was The Jazz Record Center in NYC. If jazz is your thing, don't go to NYC without checking this shop out. Cheers -Don