Interesting stuff in the thread on the art/science of reissues/remastered LPs..What do you think some of the best and worst reissue labels are (current, or past)It seems 4 Men With Beards is a pretty obvious choice for some quality reissues - I have Les McCann - Layers and a few others - they sound great. These are some of the only new vinyl presses that seem to have the heft and 'brittleness' of the older deep groove and similar presses from that era. But - the only one I have an OG copy of is layers and it's VG at best so I can't really do an A/B with it but I'm fairly sure the 4 Men would win.What about..Simply Vinyl (always seemed suspect to me for some reason despite their audiophile marketing speak)EarmarkSundazedGet BackScorpio!!!Light in the AtticRhinoTrafficBest? Worst?? Also - how could Scorpio issues all be bootlegs? How could they bootleg the entire Sun Ra catalog? You don't think any of these are licensed? AND any idea on where the various reissues and labels are pressing their vinyl (IE which factory). I've always wanted to figure out which factory or factories were putting out the good stuff and which were bad. There are not that many factories left right so you would think in theory you could identify a factory by the look, feel, sound, or matrix information.
Best / Worst Reissue Labels
- Thread starter ZachD
- Start date
i was going to start a thread today about the Numero group and how good their label reissues are.
i have the capsoul, deep city, and big mack ones. great packaging (though i have dubs of the cap and dc one). informative, good pictures, great sound quality.
i would buy whatever they sell due to just the quality theyve put into the three labels ive mentioned above.
keep up the amazing work yall...
i have the capsoul, deep city, and big mack ones. great packaging (though i have dubs of the cap and dc one). informative, good pictures, great sound quality.
i would buy whatever they sell due to just the quality theyve put into the three labels ive mentioned above.
keep up the amazing work yall...
WORST: Collectables.
BEST: Sundazed; Norton; Numero Group; Charly (now defunct); Solid Smoke (if this label had lasted into the CD era, they would have compiled some smokin'-hot reissues, but the albums they did put out weren't bad for the late 70's-early '80s); Ace.
GOOD, BUT A LITTLE SHYSTY: Radioactive.
EXCELLENT, BUT JUST GOT BOUGHT OUT BY A LARGER CORPORATION SO LORD KNOWS HOW THEY'LL SURVIVE: the Fantasy/Prestige/Milestone combine (which also gives us Stax and Specialty).
IN THE MIDDLE SOMEWHERE: Rhino (mostly digital versions of dollarbin shite I could care less about, but every now and then they knock that joker out of the park, as on their recent funk box).
BEST: Sundazed; Norton; Numero Group; Charly (now defunct); Solid Smoke (if this label had lasted into the CD era, they would have compiled some smokin'-hot reissues, but the albums they did put out weren't bad for the late 70's-early '80s); Ace.
GOOD, BUT A LITTLE SHYSTY: Radioactive.
EXCELLENT, BUT JUST GOT BOUGHT OUT BY A LARGER CORPORATION SO LORD KNOWS HOW THEY'LL SURVIVE: the Fantasy/Prestige/Milestone combine (which also gives us Stax and Specialty).
IN THE MIDDLE SOMEWHERE: Rhino (mostly digital versions of dollarbin shite I could care less about, but every now and then they knock that joker out of the park, as on their recent funk box).
I recently bought the Art Yard reish of Sun Ra "Sleeping Beauty". Good sound, nice package. I'll def check their other Sun Ra titles and the Salah Ragab album they put out.
Were Simply Vinyl the ones behind those MPS reishas? If so, I rate them as well.
I'm happy with the stuff I've got from Soul Jazz too. Maulawi etc.
I try to stear clear of crappy reissues, so I wouldn't know about the worst labels.
Were Simply Vinyl the ones behind those MPS reishas? If so, I rate them as well.
I'm happy with the stuff I've got from Soul Jazz too. Maulawi etc.
I try to stear clear of crappy reissues, so I wouldn't know about the worst labels.
Radioactive is now defunct and releasing under the name "Fallout". It's a boot label but their stuff doesn't sound too bad really.
Numero, Ubiquity, Rejoint, Jazzman, Light In The Attic, Now Again, Soul Jazz, Soundways, the company that does the Ethiopiques series. I'm sure I'll think of more later.
Agreed, but they get bonus points for their Handmade division, which is excellent.
Yeah, but I'd subtract them same points just for the fact that they aren't around for long and are only obtainable thru mail order.
I've been very pleased with all the above to an extent.
The most dissatsfied I've been recently has been with Finders Keepers Susan Christie "Paint A Lady". First listen, sheer disappointment. Couldn't believe I had to up the volume twice what I normally do, flat hollow sound and supposedly from the masters. My peers have express same dismay over the entire catalog, with some exceptions given to source material not from the masters.
My perspective is, simply put, reissues could be better than originals in most cases, and should be. My lesson learned...don't buy until you hear it.
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