Audiophile vinyl recordings

[Mike Lindsey]

Mike, I'd be interested in a higher quality issue of Deja Vu (and other CSNY titles), too. I have, maybe, 4 copies of that album, and I am not satisfied with any. When I bought them, they LOOKED great. Makes me think a mint copy still wouldn't thrill me. It's a shame, I love that album.

Yeah... the one I have is just avg as well. Would be curious to know if Gary has this one and recommends it. There's only 188 MFSL pressings and it sounds like he has over 1/3 of them. []

Mike

[garymd]

Mike,

I own about 50-75 MFSL LPs (give or take) and about 25 or so of the other 1/2 speed pressings (Nautilus, Direct Disk, etc.). The MFSLs are the best overall but they're not all great as you have found out for yourself. If you want to know whether or not to buy one, shoot me an email or pm and I'll give you my opinion if I have one.

Like Allan said, it's hard to find an audiophile jazz LP reissue that will beat the original but I do have a few. The original Columbia 6 and 2-eye's are amazing and no reissue will top them. The Blue Notes differ depending on your setup. To me, many are a bit bass shy and sound better on cornwalls than Khorns and I tend to prefer the reissues on my downstairs system. Original Contemporarys are amazing and no reissue will top them. Prestige is closer to BNs IMO and are more system dependent. Some sound amazing while others are on the thin side.

One thing I can tell you for sure, try to find the Analogue Production LP reissues. Most are as good as any original I've ever heard.

Hi Gary,

Yeah, I knew you had a bunch. I guess the ones I was seriously considering from MFSL:

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Deja Vu

Donald Fagan - Nightfly

Earl Klugh - Finger Paintings

Earl Klugh - Late Night Guitar

Earl Klugh & Bob James - Two Of A Kind

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (have the MFSL CD)

Genesis - Trick Of The Tail

Hall And Oates - Abandoned Luncheonette

Jethro Tull - Aqualung

Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick (Limited Edition)

Lee Ritenour - Captain Fingers

Miles Davis - Someday My Prince Will Come

Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon (have the MFSL CD)

Pink Floyd - Meddle (Limited Edition)

Queen - A Night At The Opera

Rickie Lee Jones - S/T

Ry Cooder - Jazz

Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water

Steeleye Span - All Around My Hat

Steely Dan - Katy Lied

Steely Dan - Aja (have the MFSL CD)

Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle

The Alan Parsons Project - I Robot

The Doors - The Doors

The Eagles - Hotel California

The Moody Blues - Days Of Future Passed

The Moody Blues - Seventh Sojourn

The Who - Face Dances

Yes - Close To The Edge

From this list what do you have, and what's worth going after?

Thanks,

Mike

Deja Vu - I own the Classic 200 gram reissue and it's good enough for me. Never heard the MFSL.

Nightfly - Don't own but have the original which is a great recording. Why bother? I'm sure it's great though. Other SD - Aja is excellent, Katie Lied is terrible but better than the original.

Earl Klugh - All his originals sound great but I'm not a fan so I don't own any.

GBYBR - Very good. Much better than the original IMO.

Not a fan of either Genesis or Hall & Oates.

Tull - Both are great. TAAB is a bit bass shy like I said but the detail makes up for it.

Lee Ritenour - Never heard.

Miles Davis - Just get the original Columbia 2-eye. Can't be beat.

DSOTM - Best of all the releases. Blows away the 200 gram anniversary edition. Never heard Meddle.

Queen - A Night At The Opera - Very good. Worth it if you're a fan.

Rickie Lee Jones - S/T - Never heard but assume it's good like all her recordings.

Ry Cooder - Jazz - Never heard.

Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water - The Boxer is great. The rest is so-so. Beats the original crappy recording but not a winner IMO. Similiar to Moondance. Good detail but still on the thin side. Not good recordings to start with!

Steeleye Span - All Around My Hat - Never heard.

Steely Dan - Katy Lied - Poor

Steely Dan - Aja (have the MFSL CD) - Excellent!!

Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle - Very good. A definite buy but you can find them cheap if you're patient. Not killer detail but pretty darn good.

The Alan Parsons Project - I Robot - I have both the regular and UHQR. Both are excellent.

The Doors - The Doors - Very, very good. Especially 20th Century Fox.

The Eagles - Hotel California - Never heard.

The Moody Blues - Days Of Future Passed - Never heard

The Moody Blues - Seventh Sojourn - Never heard, I own the originals of both which are fair at best IMO.

The Who - Face Dances - Lousy. I gave it away.

Yes - Close To The Edge - OK but not worth the money. I'll sell you my barely played copy for $100.[]

There are so many great ones you didn't list!!! I'll play a few for you in October.

[Mike Lindsey]

Deja Vu - I own the Classic 200 gram reissue and it's good enough for me. Never heard the MFSL.

Nightfly - Don't own but have the original which is a great recording. Why bother? I'm sure it's great though. Other SD - Aja is excellent, Katie Lied is terrible but better than the original.

Earl Klugh - All his originals sound great but I'm not a fan so I don't own any.

GBYBR - Very good. Much better than the original IMO.

Not a fan of either Genesis or Hall & Oates.

Tull - Both are great. TAAB is a bit bass shy like I said but the detail makes up for it.

Lee Ritenour - Never heard.

Miles Davis - Just get the original Columbia 2-eye. Can't be beat.

DSOTM - Best of all the releases. Blows away the 200 gram anniversary edition. Never heard Meddle.

Queen - A Night At The Opera - Very good. Worth it if you're a fan.

Rickie Lee Jones - S/T - Never heard but assume it's good like all her recordings.

Ry Cooder - Jazz - Never heard.

Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water - The Boxer is great. The rest is so-so. Beats the original crappy recording but not a winner IMO. Similiar to Moondance. Good detail but still on the thin side. Not good recordings to start with!

Steeleye Span - All Around My Hat - Never heard.

Steely Dan - Katy Lied - Poor

Steely Dan - Aja (have the MFSL CD) - Excellent!!

Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle - Very good. A definite buy but you can find them cheap if you're patient. Not killer detail but pretty darn good.

The Alan Parsons Project - I Robot - I have both the regular and UHQR. Both are excellent.

The Doors - The Doors - Very, very good. Especially 20th Century Fox.

The Eagles - Hotel California - Never heard.

The Moody Blues - Days Of Future Passed - Never heard

The Moody Blues - Seventh Sojourn - Never heard, I own the originals of both which are fair at best IMO.

The Who - Face Dances - Lousy. I gave it away.

Yes - Close To The Edge - OK but not worth the money. I'll sell you my barely played copy for $100.[]

There are so many great ones you didn't list!!! I'll play a few for you in October.

Thanks for the detailed list! Good to know about the CSNY! I do not have the original Nightfly but will get it. Will pick up the DSOTM, EJ, Queen, Tull, Alan Parsons, Doors and Aja when I can at reasonable prices. I too have the Moody's originals and was not impressed, so that's why I wanted to know about the MFSL copies. As for the rest I can live without them.

Would be happy to hear some of your others while I'm up there, but am sure others are going to want to hear some stuff they like too. [] If some of these are worth having just let me know. I'll put them on my list.

Thanks,

Mike

[garymd]

Mike,

Just bring a notepad with you and we can go through stuff pretty quickly. I usually just play one cut off each LP when there's a group so we should be able to get to quite a few. I always pull the good ones ahead of time anyway.

[Mike Lindsey]

Sounds good, man! Really looking forward to that weekend! []

[Parrot]

Mike,

The Steve Hoffman forum (stevehoffman.tv) is an excellent place to read opinions on audiophile and original pressings of rock records. Of course they pretty much all say that everything pales compared to a Steve Hoffman remaster [] but once you get beyond that particular bias, there's a lot of good info. They get really anal about it, best stamper numbers and all that.

[Strabo]

That's funny. Is their site working yet? Took me 15 minutes to post matrix numbers this morning on the LZ IV pre-master CD with the correct channels.

I only have a few Mofi vinyls and can tell you to avoid the new Madeleine Peyroux. I was going to post a poll on SH.tv to see what other's experiences were with it. I've heard of a few proplems of noisy vinyl besides mine.

My first copy came out of the sealed jacket with many scuffs on both sides. Sent it back unplayed and waiting for a refund. Bought a second copy from Acoustic Sounds. That one looks ok but plays like popcorn. I haven't tried cleaning it yet, gave up and bought the regular CD which is spinning now.

I'd like to know what about the Mofi DOTM blows away the 30th Anniv edition. My comparisons gave the nod to the 30th Anniv. It's more dynamic and plays great. Some have reported tracking problems because of the dynamics. It takes a good cart set up properly to play it.

Kevin Gray via SH warned people that there is no top end limiting on the 30th. His warning was to those with ribbon tweeters that the vinyl has info over 30khz at the beginning of Time, so watch the volume when the chimes go off or risk burning up a tweeter.

Then again, I was using a well played VG+ mofi for comparison. IMO, don't waste your time or money searching for a NM+ mofi hoping it's better. Just get the sealed 30th and be done with it.

[garymd]

Interesting. I found the 30th to be muddy sounding. Not the detail from top to bottom I get with the MOFI. I must admit the MOFI isn't the best of the lot but I thought it smoked the 30th. Maybe I just didn't give it enough of a chance. I sent it with Colonial Hoo when he bought my Thorens.

I remember posting about it when I first bought it and someone else agreed with me. That was a long time ago and my memory ain't what it used to be. Wasn't it you that said, "Slap on side 2 and sit back."???? I remember you liked it a lot.

[garymd]

BTW - I just got a 1/2 speed master copy of Heart's Little Queen today and it sounds really nice. Brings back those old high school memories.[H]

[Strabo]

Like you, I got rid of my unwanted version of DSOTM. There is a limit to how many you can justify owning. I'll have to borrow a mofi copy for another listen. My room has changed considerably (for the better) since my last comparison so you might be right about the bass.

Shees, I'll have to try cleaning the Madeleine Peyroux disc too. Reading the current Stereofool last night I noticed Michael Fremer has the mofi listed second in his heavy rotation suggestions. Am I having bad luck with this pressing? Anyone else have issues with it?

[Strabo]

Shees, I'll have to try cleaning the Madeleine Peyroux disc too. Reading the current Stereofool last night I noticed Michael Fremer has the mofi listed second in his heavy rotation suggestions. Am I having bad luck with this pressing? Anyone else have issues with it?

Madeleine Peyroux update.

After a double cleaning (VPI fluid, scrubbing, and vacuum, followed by RRL fluid, scrubbing, and vacuum, followed by a liberal rinse and vacuum) on the VPI 16.5 the disc is at least playable. One more round of cleaning should get it to almost new condition.

Still not what I would expect for "Audiophile" vinyl though. For the record, I have a few other recent Mofi pressings that didn't have this problem.

[fini]

Madeleine Peyroux update.

After a double cleaning (VPI fluid, scrubbing, and vacuum, followed by RRL fluid, scrubbing, and vacuum, followed by a liberal rinse and vacuum) on the VPI 16.5 the disc is at least playable. One more round of cleaning should get her to almost new condition.

Geeze, I went right to the last post in this thread, and didn't read your quote, Strabo. I'd like a shot at double cleaning Madeleine Peyroux, too! (I did edit your post a tiny bit...[])