I love finding still-sealed older records. The other day I broke the seal on Ravi Shankar's "Improvisations" in stereo on World-Pacific from 1962, found for $2 in a bargain bin. It really feels like a privilege to be the first one to spin pristine vinyl that's over 4 decades old, and this didn't disappoint. A couple of the tracks are collaborations between Shankar's Indian trio and a few of the WP West Coast jazz luminaries, Bud Shank, Gary Peacock, Dennis Budimir and Louis Hayes. Beautiful music and sound.
Another SS one I found this week was The Church's "Sometime Anywhere" double LP on Arista from '94. I've had the CD for years, but hadn't seen it on vinyl before. I was very surprised to find this pressing may have one of the quietest surfaces I've ever heard -- more than once I've actually done a double-take to check whether I selected the right input or turned up the volume enough after dropping the needle in the groove, because I didn't hear anything before the music began. I'll be interested to compare it with the CD when I get a chance, as some of the extended tunes cover an usually wide dynamic range for a modern rock recording, particularly the epic "Two Places At Once", also released as an abridged single. (I believe this may also have been The Church's last recording issued on an American major label.)
