@bslon: If you think the U.S. pressing (it’s on A&M Records, not Epic) of Tea For The Tillerman sounds great, wait until you hear the Analogue Productions LP!
For years the first pressing on UK Island Records (with a pink center label) was considered the best sounding version, but the AP pressing easily beats even it. One reason for that is that when mastering engineer Bernie Grundman got the master tape to cut a lacquer for the AP reissue, he discovered that the original mastering was done assuming the tape had been Dolby A encoded, Dolby therefore used in playback to the cutting head. Grundman further discovered that the tape had NOT been Dolby encoded, so the replay circuitry had drastically rolled off the high frequencies, thereby robbing Cat’s plastic-bodied Ovation acoustic guitar and drummer Harvey Burns’ cymbals of their harmonic overtones (and the upright bass and kick drum of their fundamentals).
Played back without Dolby engaged the recording sounded much brighter, and Grundman told AP owner Chad Kassem he wasn’t sure audiophiles would like that sound. He made a lacquer with some compromise high frequency roll-off, and sent a copy to Michael Fremer (who had long praised the sound of the UK Island pressing, as did Harry Pearson, who included it in his well known Super Disc list). Fremer advised Kassem to cut the lacquer flat, as that was presumably the sound Cat and producer Paul Samwell-Smith intended.
The Analogue Productions Tea For The Tillerman is available in both a 1-disc/33-1/3RPM pressing, and in a 2-disc/45RPM version. Both versions will cost you less than a pink label Island copy in good condition. The cost of either AP pressing is well worth it, because you're right: TFTT is an unusually good sounding recording.
