Vinyl Buyers: The Premium Price Vinyl v. Cheap Vinyl Ratio

Speakers Corner (Germany) is doing some great reissues, the latest being Ry Cooder’s Warner Brothers debut. The Analogue Productions catalog is simply amazing, and their Beach Boys LP’s by far the best sounding versions ever made, by a country mile. I have original 1960’s "rainbow label" Capitols (terrible), DCC reissues (mastered by Steve Hoffman, and pretty good), and some later Capitol pressings (US, UK, Japan), all of which I no longer need. The AP Tea For The Tillerman is an audiophile delight, far better than the Island original, even the "pink label" pressing. For a great pink label Island, look the second Traffic album.

One under-acknowledged group of LP’s are the "swirl-label" Vertigos. I can’t speak about their Black Sabbath LP’s (which reportedly "rock" ;-), but the Manfred Mann Chapter Three album (’69 iirc) is fantastic (musically and sonically). If you like English Rock/Jazz fusion (I as a rule don’t, this being the sole exception), keep your eyes open for a copy.

The Mobile Fidelity titles introduced after the company’s purchase by Music direct are in general good, though there are exceptions. The older pre-MD MoFi LP’s should in general be avoided, as Stan Ricker had a signature sound he was after, featuring bloated bass (he played upright). The MoFi Beatles LP’s are not good. Music Direct hired Tim de Paravicini (EAR-Yoshino) to completely redo the MoFi mastering chain (he had previously done it at Pink Floyd's London recording studio), and you can hear the fruits of his labours. If you think non-audiophile labels care that much about the sound quality of their LP's, sorry, you are mistaken. There are also a number of non-reissue labels making great records containing new music, number one being Acony Records, owned by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.

The whole Analogue Productions catalog is nothing but a playlist of Chad Kassem, his personal choice, it was confirmed in many interviews. Old gentlemens might find it awesome, but younger people will find it awful as Country, Rock, Blues, Mainstream Jazz and Classical is not for everyone (especially Country:) I’ve noticed that many of his titles available in 50 more different versions while some very interesting rare records (that will never be a part of Analog Production catalog) are not available at all and only made once in 500 copies ~40 years ago on a small labels somewhere in America, Africa, Colombia or Brazil.


The business model of Analog Production is completely different from the business model of some small reissue labels. Chad is trying to make super mainstream records better (sonically) and he must sell many thousand copies to justify the effort. But musically it’s nothing special, everybody heard those titles before.

Some small reissue labels try to spread the light on virtually unknown stuff, and they will press only 500 copies on a “7 inch single in a plain white sleeve. This is a different business model. It’s also a different style as those records are not something from old billboard charts. It can be unknown Caribbean Funk, Disco from Africa, Latin music from Colombia or Samba Rock from Brazil… that is attractive for younger audiences today and previously unheard of by anyone except for serious record collectors.


Some records available only as original press (reissues do not exist at all).

Most of the audiophile reissues I have purchased (usually under $50) have been good. But there have been some real bad ones… I remember getting one of my favorite albums from my youth, Who’s Next, and being completely disappointed… thick vinyl, terrible sound. 

Yeah, I've had trouble finding decent price good-sounding Who albums, both early pressings and reissues. One exception is this reissue of Quadrophenia
https://www.discogs.com/release/3353094-The-Who-Quadrophenia

Cheers,
Spencer

@millercarbon 

I'd love to hear your Hot Stampers! Would there be a 2 drink minimum cover charge to contribute to the $600 Mingus? :)

I tell ya though, I am curious about them. But paying $300 on up for a standard issue will take a special record to me that I know the sonics of very well to even consider.