Sun Ra saturn re-issues

first of all, thank you. incidentally I landed on this site through Google, but I have always wondered who made the reissues and how they were made.

so, Alton Abraham did all this? great.
but even when many of them were made from the original tapes, it surely will be quiet different from the original. transferring tape, A/D (I guess it won´t be a fully analogue process until the master-lacquer), and of course cutting and pressing all will make the difference. does this matter? to some, to others not.

we definitely have to ask what "better" sound is by the way. I love recordings such as these old Saturns as close to what they (Ra, Alton etc) heard back in the 60s and 70s on their monitors, so I love the original pressings. but what´s "original" by the way? I consider f.e. my Thoth version of Cosmic Tones... as original although the first version was with a different cover, and surely a different sound as well.

I want to point out that Saturns/Thoths did NOT sound bad over-all, like so many tend to write in their ebay or whatever descriptions. it´s just an excuse for a bad copy. I have about 10 Saturns/Thoths so far and they all sound fantastic. I know there´s bad ones, but that´s NOT the majority.
I´m audio engineer and quiet a critical listener, although I do not consider myself as an audiophile. I can perfectly live with a dirty 4-track machine sound if it represents what was going on on that particular recording.

maybe someone has even more details on the reissues, how/where they were mastered, and who exactly is doing them? is Alton Abraham just giving his ok or is he at the helm for these reissues?

and, there have been stolen quiet some mastertapes in the 70s, this should also be considered...

Josch753: Alton Abraham did not do all the reissues, just some of them and maybe most of them. I am not sure which. They kept the liner notes the same as the originals down to the letter, so it does not say on the jacket. He certainly had the access to the master tapes. Albums like "Strange Strings" were transfered from master discs, and you can hear surface noise on it. Maybe they were metal, maybe not. The early saturns were on tape for sure though, as you can hear the hiss. I am glad they left it.

I think that the saturns are a mixed bag, but personally I love them all. I have lived with them so long that even the 'flaws' have beauty. They are a rare and wonderful thing.

Josch753: you probably know this, but there is a CD release called "The Lost Albums (lost tapes?)" in this series. It has 2 of those stolen albums from the 70's. They are phenomenal and sound fantastic. One is called "Cymbals" and it is pure space blues with some rockin Ra organ. My favorite in that space blues genre: "Night of the purple moon".

thank you, interesting!

as for the CDs: I don´t have a CD player. I mean, I have one in my computer (with the RME Hammerfall A/D), but no real CDplayer in my audio system. I don´t buy CDs. they simply don´t do it for me. I love vinyl.
in general I don´t listen to CDs as well as CD-Rs or mp3s, I´m really an oldschool vinyl lover.

listening to Sun Ra albums that I don´t have would be too bad, because I would hate not having them on LP, hahaha. so I don´t listen to such at all.

my general taste and "knowledge" about music is enough for me sometimes, or most of the times, to judge upfront (and then buy on LP) if I like something or not, when I read about the musicians, the date of recording or the label. so I often (most of the times) order without having heard the recordings before. every now and then I don´t hit my own taste (f.e. I have bought the Descendants Of Mike & Phoebe on Strata east for much money but hated it because of the "opera"-style vocals:) but most of the time I´m ok. I have to admit I do use the internet for MP3 previews, just those 30 sec. samples that you can listen to legally.

hey, so you own a lot of Saturns? I have a question, because I´m at the moment not sure if I have a bootleg or not. maybe you can help me with identifying it.
can you send me an email? ttabigorATgmxDOTat is my adress. would be great to talk about a few Saturnian matters then!

Yes Josch753, I have many many original saturns from the earliest to the lastest. I also have a really complete discography and record of recording dates not pressed compiled from Ra's own people, and I have a few discographies that just cover the records.

In terms of the saturns, what you have to be careful about is mislabeling. It was common. The later ones with the plain white covers were especially vulnerable to this. The only way to know for sure is to listen and comapre with the record label, which might be incorrect. When it comes down to it is is knowledge of Ra's material.

If you can send me a file somehow of what you need identified I can try. If not, I know several people more knowledgeable than myself you can pass it on to.

The white cover LP's look like bootlegs, but are actually saturns. Check the label first.