The MoFi Mess and TAS rolling over for them

BTW the 4 LP set goes for over $300 on Discogs...

@sokogear: Another guy did a shoot out between the Classic Records "regular" 45 RPM Kind Of Blue (NOT the single sided boxset) and the Analogue Productions 33-1/3, and felt the latter was superior overall (I don’t remember on what basis). I don’t like 45 RPM (I want the original release musical "flow", impossible of course on a 45 RPM pressing), and am willing to forfeit the relatively small difference in sound quality. All the Classic Records and Analogue Productions Kind Of Blue LP’s were made using the exact same metal parts that Grundman made back in 1997.

I have only one Classic Records album, the 2-LP Whiter Shade Of Pale by Procol Harum. It’s a keeper! The Classic Records LP’s that fetch REAL money are the Led Zeppelin albums, especially the one of the entire catalog housed in a flight case. Around twenty thousand, last I heard. Kassem has a couple in his collection. Good thing I don’t care for Zeppelin ;-) .

@bdp24 - you're a higher roller than me if you don't think $3-400 for the 4 LP KoB isn't real money. When you are talking $20K, then you are talking about an investment....Zeppelin is OK, but I don't have any of their stuff and have non interest in it.

I always prefer 45s - they sound better without exception (all else being equal). I don't mind getting up twice as often to flip the record or push a button to change speeds on the Power Supply Unit to 45 (exercise is s good thing). I really just care about sound quality. Not collecting/investing and reselling, memorabilia, boxes, etc. I'd rather have the money go into the pressing.  Although the 1Steps do have all the boxes, it's a better pressing process. You can argue over the digital mastering aspect (I challenge anyone to actually hear that - understanding some thinking there is deliberate deception involved), but not cutting out steps in pressing the vinyl.

Every 45 I own is among the top in my collection (Mofi's as well - The Dylan Greatest Hits one sounds like Bob is in the room). Never heard a bad 45 or got one that had any issues - warpage, noise, although there are seam splits on the top of the jackets of the Carole King One Step I have so I stopped using the folders inside the jackets. 

@sokogear: In the world of rare LP collecting, $3-400 is not at all uncommon. Original 1950’s Blue Notes in Near Mint condition now sell for more than that, and even more rare records into four figures. I myself don’t swim in those deep waters, and was speaking in terms of the price of rare records in the collectors market.

I like superior sound quality as much as the next guy, but respecting and preserving the nature of the album creator’s musical ambition in the album side’s programming and flow takes priority. Bob Dylan had the Sony engineers make him multiple test pressings (in the early days) or cassette tapes/CD’s (in the later), each with a different song running order. He would decide which order he preferred after living with them awhile, and the album would be made to his request.

I don’t like to mess with the artists musical creation, but rather want to give him "final cut". If I have a choice between a 1-LP 33-1/3 RPM version of an album and a 2-LP 45 RPM, I ALWAYS choose the former. I chose the single disc version of the AP Tea For The Tillerman, and the Kind Of Blue, both also available in 45 RPM. I will admit, however, that I did get the 1-Step of Tapestry, which is of course a 2-LP 45 RPM set. But in that case, one was given no choice. The $125 for that album was the most I’ve ever spent on a record. Most of my LP purchases are in the $5 to $10 range, used. For new $20 to $40.

@bdp24 - understandable, but I would argue that the 45s are not changing the order of the songs the artists prefer, only the pacing between them.

Many of my jazz 45s only have a song or two on a side anyhow. This only other pop/rock 45 I own (aside from the Simon and King 1Steps and the Dylan one I mentioned) is Rumours - just a Reprise issue recently repressed. It is significantly better than a Nautilus one (33) I sold that paid for the new one! I traded old audiophile and other records I never listen to on the 1 Steps because I was curious as to how good they sound. so my out of pocket net was around $30-$35 each. I never owned Tapestry so it is hard for me to say how great it is compared to any reference point, but I did have Still Crazy on a standard release (sold it) and the 1 Step of that is phenomenal. The most I have ever spent out of pocket was $60 for Brubeck Time Out AS -45, and it is great. Back when I got KOB it listed for $60 and got it 10% off with an AS sale before they stopped discounting Mofi.

Being a Steely Dan obsessed fan (I’ve seen them 20+ times including Fagen solos and Dukes of September concerts, read Fagen’s book and met him briefly at a book signing- he’s not what I would call sociable) I am afraid I will break down for 2-3 of the UHQRs coming out. My copies of Royal Scam and Pretzel Logic were standard issues, so they’re definite candidates. I have Gaucho an an excellent Japanese pressing so that’s out, I have Can’t Buy from Speakers Corner, which is fantastic, Katy Lied on an Original Mofi that doesn’t sound great, but is my 2nd from the bottom favorite, so I’ll stick with that, and Countdown is at the bottom, and even though it’s on a standard pressing, it sounds decent and I won’t be paying $150 for that. That leaves Aja. In my mind a top 10 album of all time. I have it on an Original Mofi, which I will probably end up selling and buying that UHQR.

I wish they would issue Kamakiriad on vinyl, and Morph the Cat reissue in the US (it previously was released in Europe and the prices are not worth it for my least favorite album of Fagen). Of course Nightfly is a classic, only outshone by Aja (I have it on an excellent Japanese pressing so didn’t go for that One Step which I hear is unbelievable), Sunken Condos was issued on clarity vinyl (or at least the vinyl is clear) and is second to The Nightfly, but not that close in Fagen’s solo offerings (were really SD albums but don’t get the same notoriety.

I have record store day issues of SDs 20th century albums, and they are excellent sounding, so I will stick with them. I even have a pre SD Fagen/Becker album that was really a movie soundtrack - You Gotta Walk it Like you Talk It that is kind of like a fossil that had maybe one SD worthy track. I think I’ve played it 2-3 times.

In all of the 13 albums in their catalogue of mine (I didn’t mention the Northeast Corridor live album I bought the day it came out) aside from You Gotta Walk it, there is only one song I skip. It’s a Becker (RIP) song and vocal and it’s easy to do so as it is the last song on side 1 of Everything Must Go, their last album. 

I can’t say that about any other group, even the Beatles.

Please help me…..