Blue Note LP Reissues?

[hungrych]

Does anybody know about these? I see new LP's of old Blue Note albums at the record store for 10-12 bucks. Some are 180/200 Gram Vinyl, and some come with cds. I'd love to know how these are, and if they use the newer SH/KG masterings, or RVG's, or what.

[tyrion]

I have a 3 or 4 of them. They are well worth the price, imo.

[LFF]

The 180 gram vinyls are just reissues as far as I know. I believe some feature remastering done by RVG. The newer SH/KG remasters are only the 45RPM 180 gram vinyl masterings done at AcousTech. Supposedly some of these are going to be released on SACD very soon.

[deepak]

If you like Blue Train you will love the Analogue Productions 45, and IMO the extra $20 is probably worth it. One of the best pieces of vinyl I own.

[tyrion]

If you like Blue Train you will love the Analogue Productions 45, and IMO the extra $20 is probably worth it. One of the best pieces of vinyl I own.

Isn't the AP 45 $50?

[deepak]

Isn't the AP 45 $50?

Yeah, I meant an extra $20 over the reissue he linked to.

[aardvark baguette]

Supposedly some of these are going to be released on SACD very soon.

It really would be a whole lot easier, as opposed to the mandatory bloodletting if they dont.

[hungrych]

The 180 gram vinyls are just reissues as far as I know. I believe some feature remastering done by RVG. The newer SH/KG remasters are only the 45RPM 180 gram vinyl masterings done at AcousTech. Supposedly some of these are going to be released on SACD very soon.

Grr, I wish they would release a slightly less fancy version on 33 or something. I don't think I could take turning an lp over so frequently, and 45 bucks per album is just too steep for me.

Is there any way to tell which ones are RVG's? IME most of them sound somewhere from kind of annoyingly treble boosted to near-unlistenable. I don't normally worry about these things but it's really bad.

[LFF]

Is there any way to tell which ones are RVG's? IME most of them sound somewhere from kind of annoyingly treble boosted to near-unlistenable. I don't normally worry about these things but it's really bad.

Anything RVG will certainly be marked either on the back or with a sticker. Blue Note has a particular sound that it is known for. All Blue Notes tend to be a bit on the bright side when done well. However, some engineers instinctively put a treble boost on everything, which makes these unbearable. If it were a title unavailable on CD, then I would just buy the LP and fix it myself.

[deepak]

Luis what do you think of the TOCJ CDs?

[LFF]

Luis what do you think of the TOCJ CDs?

I assume your referring to the Japanese Blue Note CD's. If so, well, I haven't heard any of them.

However, I would trust a Japanese CD over an American CD almost everyday of the week. The Japanese love to have "air" in their CD's, so that would be my only concern, but it is a minor concern since it is easily fixed.

[deepak]

edit: woops reading mistake.

[LFF]

Well, I did some research and here is what I found.

Direct quote from Steve Hoffman:

"It amazes me every time that Kevin threads up a BLUE NOTE master tape and lets it roll at how much better the tape sounds than any CD or LP of this material out there. I mean, SO MUCH BETTER! Do other mastering engineers working on Blue Note material crank up the treble and shave off the bass because they like that sound? Most Blue Note releases both digital and analog give me a giant headache. One would think that this is the "sound" of a Rudy Van Gelder Blue Note master (I used to think so) but it isn't, my friends, it ISN'T! These master tapes sound full, rich, warm and brimming with lifelike ambiance and coolness. They just need a slight "coax" to shine when we cut to 45 RPM. Trust me, they rule."

Are the Blue Note or other RVG tapes bright?

Steve Hoffman responds:

"No. Bright the tapes are not. That is a remastering decision."

So why are the LP's bright and CD's bright?

Steve said:

"Rudy Van Gelder recorded stuff to sound good THEN, not now. THEN is what counted! People had cheap phonographs or Hi-Fi's, nothing like what we have now.

Rudy did all his "tricking" right on the master tape so he didn't have to redub and lose a generation.. In other words, he didn't record something and re-dub it adding compression, echo, EQ, etc., he did it all live in real time while the music was being recorded.

Roy DuNann and Howard Holzer at Contemporary recorded everything flat and dry and the "tricks" were added during LP disk mastering.

So, a Contemporary master tape today sounds amazing while a Prestige or Blue Note master tape needs a little "reverse trickery" to get it to sound better.

At the time though, the RVG recording technique made those Prestige and Blue Note LP's sing!"

As for the LP's Steve said:

"I'm sure the tape sounds way better than an old Blue Note mono RVG cutting. That really is no indication of what the real deal sounds like; unless you love an extra 6 db at 5k on everything..And probably a 6db cut @ 10 or 12k and above to go with the boost @ 5!"

Hope that helps!

[aardvark baguette]

FYI it looks like they are scrapping Speak No Evil Music Matters release. They are replacing it with Wayne Shorter's JUJU album.

This was from an Elusive Disc email sent to me.

I regret to inform you that following item is not going to be pressed.

BNLP4194-45

WAYNE SHORTER/SPEAK NO EVIL

*BLUE NOTE 180g 45rpm LP* (2LP)

IS DISCONTINUED

Music Matters is instead pressing this one in its place:

WAYNE SHORTER/JUJU 180g 45rpm 2LP - elusivedisc

You do not need to do anything to get this title. It is going into the subscription and taking the other title's spot.

We wanted to inform you of the change.

Thank you!

Jason Marcum

Elusive Disc, Inc./General Manager

[aardvark baguette]

[Voltron]

I think they had a problem with the Speak No Evil master tape or something. There is much gnashing of teeth on Hoffman's site.

As for the original question, I typically do not like those RVG remasters but the alternative is an equally lame CD from earlier or finding used Blue Note LPs. The Music Matters () and Acoustic Sounds series are so phenomenal that the others I have heard pale in comparison. I don't think the AS hybrid SACDs will be vapor much longer, and their $30 price will be worth every penny even for CD listeners.

[LFF]

...the alternative is an equally lame CD from earlier or finding used Blue Note LPs.

CD's done by Ron McMaster are rather good and can be purchased rather cheap as well. I have done transfers of some Blue Notes from Classic Records and the sound is very good as well. As for original Blue Notes - they are usually very bright and in bad shape. However, with a little EQ here and there - they really sound great.

That being said, all of the above doesn't even hold a candle to the 45RPM Hoffman/Gray releases. Some MFSL's come close but the Hoffman/Gray version will win every single time.