I heard this Friday at the Genesis Dragon sendoff at Gary and Carol Koh's place. I was totally smitten and suprised cause I'm not a typical listener to that style of jazz(?) But I couldn't help but love what I heard.
So, which version to go for? An orig. mono, stereo or the Speakers Corner reissue?
IMHO the one to have is the Festival Australian (SAML-932,095) pressing - that's the one you heard on Friday. It's the most dynamic, and although on thin vinyl, sound is incredible. The SP-4116 and the SLH-84 are both highly compressed. The UK pressing and MFSL are supposed to be good, but I haven't done a direct comparison.
Hi Gary,
Thanks again for the invite. I found a mono A&M copy on Sat. and gave it a good cleaning. I couldn't wait. There's a used Speakers Corner reissue I'm considering.
Hey, I'm also looking for that Al Grey Lp as well!! That one, in stereo, will be a chore to locate. I ordered a few extra's of the Lucy Ann Polk I mentioned. One will have your name on it.
The 7 1/2ips, commercial release, "OR-4116" reel to reel A&M reissued between 1968-1971 (there was an original issue at 3 3/4ips made by Ampex when the album came out in August, 1966 but the dubbing is awful).
A&M's tapes were among the best in the trade during that era (the reason they had such a well-documented legal battle against pirates copying them at the time!) and, were taken from sources far more direct than the LP/RIAA cutting master. The A&M vinyl, however, with the best reputation (from then) is: the West Coast copies pressed by Monarch. These are identifiable by way of; having a glossy, light gold label and smaller print (vs. more common A&M pressings from Columbia's Pittman, NJ factory with a dull/ochre-color label and large print).
The A&M vinyl, however, with the best reputation (from then) is: the West Coast copies pressed by Monarch. These are identifiable by way of; having a glossy, light gold label and smaller print (vs. more common A&M pressings from Columbia's Pittman, NJ factory with a dull/ochre-color label and large print).
I have a copy of both albums -- but JUST SO HAPPENS, they have DolbyA encoding left on them.. I only have some metadata online, but it is a 1991 release. After DolbyA decoding -- they are wonderful. I wouldn't reccomend them without a decoder. If there is any request, I'lll see about putting a few 30-60 second snippets on Dropbox.