Definitive Audiophile pressings

TenderLovingKiller® said:
I’m aware. Waxtime releases are an understandably derided, they are grey market, digital transfers but for $12 bucks the few I’ve owned over the years have sounds pretty good. Obviously not audiophile but still better than lots of modern releases.
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The best "super cheap" option in my opinion are the Deagostini "Jazz At 33 1/3" series. The UK market became flooded with them a few years ago when Zavvi had a really affordable bundle deal. Anyway, the sourcing is a bit of a mystery but the general consensus is that it isn't a grey market label and they have the licensing rights. In fact, I have seen a few sources state that some of their releases are AAA, which I cant confirm but what I can say is that every copy on the label that I have heard is incredibly good.
 
Selaws said:
The best "super cheap" option in my opinion are the Deagostini "Jazz At 33 1/3" series. The UK market became flooded with them a few years ago when Zavvi had a really affordable bundle deal. Anyway, the sourcing is a bit of a mystery but the general consensus is that it isn't a grey market label and they have the licensing rights. In fact, I have seen a few sources state that some of their releases are AAA, which I cant confirm but what I can say is that every copy on the label that I have heard is incredibly good.
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LOL. ZERO of these are AAA. Like - ZERO. And based in Italy, with weak rights laws, there are none licensed.

General consensus - online boards? Discogs? Hoffman? Sure thing.
 
Selaws said:
The best "super cheap" option in my opinion are the Deagostini "Jazz At 33 1/3" series. The UK market became flooded with them a few years ago when Zavvi had a really affordable bundle deal. Anyway, the sourcing is a bit of a mystery but the general consensus is that it isn't a grey market label and they have the licensing rights. In fact, I have seen a few sources state that some of their releases are AAA, which I cant confirm but what I can say is that every copy on the label that I have heard is incredibly good.
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Those are quite good. And cheap like you said. I have some that are Ron McMaster cuts that sound quite good!
 
RHANDMJ said:
LOL. ZERO of these are AAA. Like - ZERO. And based in Italy, with weak rights laws, there are none licensed.

General consensus - online boards? Discogs? Hoffman? Sure thing.
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I'm not saying you are wrong, but are these comments backed by anything? Just because its based in Italy, doesn't mean its using "weak rights laws". The whole of the EU has different laws when it comes to copyrights, doesn't mean everything is grey label. I would love to read your sources if you wouldn't mind sharing, I've been struggling to find anything concrete.

Anyway, I stand by my point that they are great pressings for the price. Certainly better than the BN75 series from those which I have heard and I would say on par with the BN80's. As @MikeH said, some are mastered by Ron McMaster like the "Somethin' Else" which is brilliant.
 
Selaws said:
I'm not saying you are wrong, but are these comments backed by anything? Just because its based in Italy, doesn't mean its using "weak rights laws". The whole of the EU has different laws when it comes to copyrights, doesn't mean everything is grey label. I would love to read your sources if you wouldn't mind sharing, I've been struggling to find anything concrete.

Anyway, I stand by my point that they are great pressings for the price. Certainly better than the BN75 series from those which I have heard and I would say on par with the BN80's. As @MikeH said, some are mastered by Ron McMaster like the "Somethin' Else" which is brilliant.
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I don’t think they are grey label from my knowledge of them. They are a mail order, and sometimes supermarket for bigger stuff, magazine with a thing company. They branched out into records a few years back, they did the whole monthly magazine with a record thing for all of The Beatles catalogue, I have those pressings for the 3 anthologies. My guess is that they had a similar jazz series that didn’t sell that well and they broke out the records and zavvi bought them in bulk. Sourcing will always be an issue with companies like this because it’s not going to be their primary concern but I’d be shocked if they weren’t licensed.
 
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RHANDMJ said:
LOL. ZERO of these are AAA. Like - ZERO. And based in Italy, with weak rights laws, there are none licensed.

General consensus - online boards? Discogs? Hoffman? Sure thing.
Click to expand...

RHANDMJ said:
LOL. ZERO of these are AAA. Like - ZERO. And based in Italy, with weak rights laws, there are none licensed.

General consensus - online boards? Discogs? Hoffman? Sure thing.
Click to expand...

About copyrights in Italy, I suggest watching Mixed By Erry. It's on Netflix.

 
Joe Mac said:
I don’t think they are grey label from my knowledge of them. They are a mail order, and sometimes supermarket for bigger stuff, magazine with a thing company. They branched out into records a few years back, they did the whole money magazine with a record thing for all of The Beatles catalogue, I have those pressings for the 3 anthologies. My guess is that they had a similar jazz series that didn’t sell that well and they broke out the records and zavvi bought them in bulk. Sourcing will always be an issue with companies like this because it’s not going to be their primary concern but I’d be shocked if they weren’t licensed.
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Yep they also did Queen’s catalogue. They aren’t getting away with doing the entire Beatles catalogue and Queen’s catalogue without any licensing. The BNs use all the blue note imagery, logos, etc. they are definitely licensed. I doubt they are AAA but with Ron McMaster doing some of the blue note titles, it was thought that maybe some are AAA.

It was a mail order subscription series like you said and was also weirdly available at supermarkets in the UK. They sold leftover stock to Zavi before their licenses expired.
 
MikeH said:
Yep they also did Queen’s catalogue. They aren’t getting away with doing the entire Beatles catalogue and Queen’s catalogue without any licensing. The BNs use all the blue note imagery, logos, etc. they are definitely licensed. I doubt they are AAA but with Ron McMaster doing some of the blue note titles, it was thought that maybe some are AAA.

It was a mail order subscription series like you said and was also weirdly available at supermarkets in the UK. They sold leftover stock to Zavi before their licenses expired.
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D’Agostini do all sorts of those subscriptions. I remember when I was a kid getting one about the human body that went for like 2 years where you got bits of a model of the body that showed all the internal organs as well together with a magazine that explained that weeks body part. As magazines the ones they thought would sell best, or that did sell best, were available in newsagents and supermarkets magazine sections. The ones that were a bit more low key either started, or later moved, to mail order only.
 
Joe Mac said:
I don’t think they are grey label from my knowledge of them. They are a mail order, and sometimes supermarket for bigger stuff, magazine with a thing company. They branched out into records a few years back, they did the whole money magazine with a record thing for all of The Beatles catalogue, I have those pressings for the 3 anthologies. My guess is that they had a similar jazz series that didn’t sell that well and they broke out the records and zavvi bought them in bulk. Sourcing will always be an issue with companies like this because it’s not going to be their primary concern but I’d be shocked if they weren’t licensed.
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MikeH said:
Yep they also did Queen’s catalogue. They aren’t getting away with doing the entire Beatles catalogue and Queen’s catalogue without any licensing. The BNs use all the blue note imagery, logos, etc. they are definitely licensed. I doubt they are AAA but with Ron McMaster doing some of the blue note titles, it was thought that maybe some are AAA.

It was a mail order subscription series like you said and was also weirdly available at supermarkets in the UK. They sold leftover stock to Zavi before their licenses expired.
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This is the viewpoints I have as well. Deagostini are pretty well established. As @Joe Mac said, they aren't just releasing records with magazines but also diecast models, etc usually with a large scale franchise attachment such as Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings. I fully imagine they have the licensing for the stuff they put out, it would be far too easy for one of these large scale companies to just sue them to oblivion.

These Jazz At 33rd releases were definitely part of a magazine series, as you both said. They mention the magazine on the stickers and insert that comes with them. Zavvi definitely just bulk bought a ton of them to resell as bundles. Really great value as well, I seem to remember each coming out to only a few quid per record. Lots of us here bought them at the time and swapped around.
 
Selaws said:
This is the viewpoints I have as well. Deagostini are pretty well established. As @Joe Mac said, they aren't just releasing records with magazines but also diecast models, etc usually with a large scale franchise attachment such as Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings. I fully imagine they have the licensing for the stuff they put out, it would be far too easy for one of these large scale companies to just sue them to oblivion.

These Jazz At 33rd releases were definitely part of a magazine series, as you both said. They mention the magazine on the stickers and insert that comes with them. Zavvi definitely just bulk bought a ton of them to resell as bundles. Really great value as well, I seem to remember each coming out to only a few quid per record. Lots of us here bought them at the time and swapped around.
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This jazz serie was available in France too under a different name. They may have pressed tons of records thinking there will be a huge demande but then it slowed and they ended with a huge stock.

Miles Davis' Kind of Blue was the first in the serie and was sold for less than 3€. Then price increased slowly to up to 20€ if I remember well. I took the risk on the first volumes only.
 
Skalap said:
This jazz serie was available in France too under a different name. They may have pressed tons of records thinking there will be a huge demande but then it slowed and they ended with a huge stock.

Miles Davis' Kind of Blue was the first in the serie and was sold for less than 3€. Then price increased slowly to up to 20€ if I remember well. I took the risk on the first volumes only.
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Yep they were available in France Spain and the UK. The zavvi deal was crazy. Think it was 5LPs for $30 or so shipped to the US. Quite nice sounding pressings! I think I had around 15-20 at one point. I saw quite a few in shops in the UK last time I was there for under £10 each
 
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