Whats on your turntable tonight?

Rushton, On the subject of the Cat Stevens, Teaser and the Firecat MoFi reissue (mine #0559) sounds splendid. I also have a first press of it on A&M SP4313 that sounds quite good yet isn't as quiet (surface wise) or timbre correct as the MoFi IMHO. So who is Tom Port and what is his issue with this beautiful record? Doesn't he like the MoFi?
Cheers!

Raytheprinter, Pardon me for interjecting. "The Mulligan meets Monk" performance is an unusual but cool east meets west (coast) juxtaposition. Thelonious is one bad cat as I'm sure you are aware.
Analogue Productions has not made one single dog or for that matter even a single So-so 45RPM pressing in this entire series including the Mulligan meets Monk title. I am receiving all of them as a member in the first 50 something numbered pressings from Chad and I can't say enough about how outstanding each and every one of these records is. They are some of the best pressings ever made IMHO.
Happy listening!

Gentleman, You sparked my curiosity, not being able to recall the sound in question. After listening to the side one ('Round Midnight) of "Mulligan meets Monk" I believe the sound you are referring to in the left channel is brush work "stirring" if you will, across a drum skin throughout the piece. It is subtle and falls behind both the piano and monk’s verbal antics almost leaving a vale of white noise but with somewhat more grain. If it were not for the holiday I am sure Chad Kassem would be handy for a reality check phone call.
Best wishes for the holiday!

An original brown label A&M pressing of "Teaser" is clearly superior to the MoFi. Not even close. I have both. The MoFi is a tad quieter but the A&M is simply much more dynamic.

Wc65mustang, I would agree with you in so far as dynamics are concerned. My A&M copy although very clean is not as quiet and the timbre characteristics sound a bit off compared to the MoFi IMHO. In almost every case a first pressing domestic seems to be more punchy and sometimes more forward than the comparable MoFi. I think this is the main cause for general distain by some for the OMR reissues, can't say I always agree.
Happy holiday!

R_f_sayles, thank you for confirming what I thought I was hearing. It does sound almost like veil of white noise, which on first listening confused me as to what was going on. That very quiet brush work and the baritone sax make for a very unusual combination of sounds to my ear, not being accustomed to this combination.

Also, I totally agree with your assessment of the Analogue Productions 45rpm Fantasy jazz series. All of these reissues that I've heard (about 15 or so now) have been superb. (I wish I'd managed to pick up a copy of "Waltz for Debbie" before it went out of print, but I expect the 33 will be lovely.)

As to Tom Port, he's a seller of new and used vinyl/CDs on the web. He has strongly held opinions, some of which I agree with and many I don't (e.g., his opinion of the Speakers Corner Mercury reissue series). While I've not liked many (perhaps most) of the MoFi reissues I've heard, "Teaser" is one I have liked. The criticism Port makes about this reissue is the naturalness of the sound. That is a problem with many MoFi reissues in my experience: very unnatural messing about with EQ. That's not the case on this one.

Bill (Wc65mustang), the brown label A&M may be more dynamic; I'd have to re-listen for that. And, there may well be brown label copies that sound better than my copy, I'm not trying to make a comparison. My priorities cause me to focus more on instrument timbre and inner detail, which is what I've liked about this version, and that is unusual for me given my reaction to most other MoFi's I've heard. When Port says "it's just a mess and should sound like a mess", that's simply not what I hear and is my only point.
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