Definitive Audiophile pressings

Joe Mac said:
Do you think so? I feel AP has almost a narrower focus than MoFi, jazz or jazz or jazz or the odd blues and sure let’s do Pet Sounds. I feel that my jibes on curation are equally applicable to each.
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I think the complaints about curation are definitely applicable to both. But AP does jazz, rock, soul and blues. MoFi, as of late, seems to just do Dylan, Dylan, Crosby, or just other formats of titles they have already pressed (do we really need a 33, a 45 and a One Step of Pearl?). I also appreciate that AP seems to keep things in print longer and worry a bit less about the whole "limited to 3,000 copies" nonsense. And I just straight up like the titles they tend to press more in many cases but it's a little biased since I do like jazz.

Both definitely need some new A&R people though.
 
MikeH said:
I think the complaints about curation are definitely applicable to both. But AP does jazz, rock, soul and blues. MoFi, as of late, seems to just do Dylan, Dylan, Crosby, or just other formats of titles they have already pressed (do we really need a 33, a 45 and a One Step of Pearl?). I also appreciate that AP seems to keep things in print longer and worry a bit less about the whole "limited to 3,000 copies" nonsense. And I just straight up like the titles they tend to press more in many cases but it's a little biased since I do like jazz.

Both definitely need some new A&R people though.
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When was the last time they did a few soul or rock albums though? It’s nearly all jazz! Given it feels like they press a lot more titles, on their various lines, than mofi it seems even more stark in some ways. Agreed on pressing numbers. I’d ban the words limited and the concept of pressing numbers if I had the power to do so.

Classic rock overload with the odd jazz or jazz overload with the odd other old thing. Neither is particularly good for me beyond the fact that I quite like Bob Dylan and Pet Sounds 😂
 
Joe Mac said:
When was the last time they did a few soul or rock albums though? It’s nearly all jazz! Given it feels like they press a lot more titles, on their various lines, than mofi it seems even more stark in some ways. Agreed on pressing numbers. I’d ban the words limited and the concept of pressing numbers if I had the power to do so.

Classic rock overload with the odd jazz or jazz overload with the odd other old thing. Neither is particularly good for me beyond the fact that I quite like Bob Dylan and Pet Sounds 😂
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I'm going a bit more on what they keep in print and what gets restocked I suppose than new releases--Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, the Doors, Beach Boys, Nina Simone. Those artists interest me a bit more than the MoFi choices, but both need lots of improvement. Looking at their 2020 and 2019 releases, they did Jethro Tull (which is definitely a MoFi pick haha), Steppenwolf, Hendrix Axis UHQR, some classical, Muddy Waters and a bunch of jazz. I'm actually surprised at how few "new" titles AP itself does now that I look at the discogs list in order. It's a lot of represses. The Acoustic Sounds series definitely makes the jazz outweigh any other genres they do though.
 
It hasn't been too long since MOFI did A Salty Dog, and the Miles and Dylan series are still pretty fresh.

AP seem to have been recycling 15 year old Bernie Grundman Clasic stampers a lot though - Hendrix, Aqualung, etc.

IMO neither are anywhere near as interesting as Speakers Corner and Pure Pleasure.

Even (gasp) VMP is more interesting last few years than AP or MOFI, at least my collections shows more of those - and few of them are retreads or recycled warhorses.
 
MikeH said:
I used to be on team OG for a long time but have almost given up on trying to find clean OGs on a lot of older stuff, especially if there's a good AAA reissue. A lot of times, especially on Hoffman, I see everyone always say things like "you can't beat the OG UK 1st pressing", but the likelihood of me finding a very clean OG (especially one that is affordable) can often be nearly impossible. With jazz, I missed out on a lot of the AP stuff like the Prestige series monos which are now $100+ for certain titles. When someone like Craft comes along and presses a One Step of one of those titles, I will usually grab it if I love the album. The prices on some of those jazz APs have gone insane so it makes it a little easier for me to justify spending $100-$125 on a One Step. And I'm glad I got a lot of the MoFis I did when I did. I have a lot of the Miles Davis ones (shout out to that strange discogs account from the old forum that sold tons of MoFis for really cheap haha).
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Again, lots of variables ;)
 
RHANDMJ said:
It hasn't been too long since MOFI did A Salty Dog, and the Miles and Dylan series are still pretty fresh.

AP seem to have been recycling 15 year old Bernie Grundman Clasic stampers a lot though - Hendrix, Aqualung, etc.

IMO neither are anywhere near as interesting as Speakers Corner and Pure Pleasure.

Even (gasp) VMP is more interesting last few years than AP or MOFI, at least my collections shows more of those - and few of them are retreads or recycled warhorses.
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A lot of the VMP interesting titles seem to be from Craft (part of why I'm cautiously excited for their One Steps and other reissues). I agree that Speakers Corner is one of my favorites though lately and I definitely prefer their curation to MoFi/AP's new stuff. Nothing from VMP in the past year or so has truly made me excited though, especially in terms of the ROTMs. Very few exclusives too.
 
MikeH said:
A lot of the VMP interesting titles seem to be from Craft (part of why I'm cautiously excited for their One Steps and other reissues). I agree that Speakers Corner is one of my favorites though lately and I definitely prefer their curation to MoFi/AP's new stuff. Nothing from VMP in the past year or so has truly made me excited though, especially in terms of the ROTMs. Very few exclusives too.
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With a few companies going the "audiophile" route it'll be good for the consumer in the long run, while I like a lot of the MoFi's, AP has helped fill the gaps and competition, although it makes you wonder if at some point it becomes a "Ok, we'll do the One-Step version and you do the regular audiophile 45rpm version" because they do both sell each others pressings.

And also, the selections will expand overall, which is a great thing..........of course it will end up killing our wallets, but that's gonna happen one way or another, lol
 
MikeH said:
A lot of the VMP interesting titles seem to be from Craft (part of why I'm cautiously excited for their One Steps and other reissues). I agree that Speakers Corner is one of my favorites though lately and I definitely prefer their curation to MoFi/AP's new stuff. Nothing from VMP in the past year or so has truly made me excited though, especially in terms of the ROTMs. Very few exclusives too.
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In terms of what id like to see more of Spiritualized was the perfect example in terms of importance in its time and place and era. Precious little else has piqued my interest though over at the very meaty Pizza Hut.
 
Joe Mac said:
When was the last time they did a few soul or rock albums though? It’s nearly all jazz! Given it feels like they press a lot more titles, on their various lines, than mofi it seems even more stark in some ways. Agreed on pressing numbers. I’d ban the words limited and the concept of pressing numbers if I had the power to do so.

Classic rock overload with the odd jazz or jazz overload with the odd other old thing. Neither is particularly good for me beyond the fact that I quite like Bob Dylan and Pet Sounds 😂
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Don't forget that AP does a lot of classical music represses too. Which kind of shows where their range of reissues generally falls. I.e., they lean more towards the "audiophile" preferences, those being classical and jazz, with a smattering of blues and rock (Doors, Beach Boys, Hendrix, Tull).
 
MikeH said:
www.discogs.com

Aretha Franklin - Young, Gifted And Black

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2021 Vinyl release of "Young, Gifted And Black" on Discogs.
www.discogs.com www.discogs.com

Might have to pick this one up...looks like a Big Daddy Kev cut.
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Nice. I have that one on order along with Roots and ...America Today. Looks like the latter is also a KG cut. No deadwax info on Roots but I'll check it when it gets here today. Might just be a repress from their box, which was also supposed to be great.
 
MikeH said:
I used to be on team OG for a long time but have almost given up on trying to find clean OGs on a lot of older stuff, especially if there's a good AAA reissue. A lot of times, especially on Hoffman, I see everyone always say things like "you can't beat the OG UK 1st pressing", but the likelihood of me finding a very clean OG (especially one that is affordable) can often be nearly impossible. With jazz, I missed out on a lot of the AP stuff like the Prestige series monos which are now $100+ for certain titles. When someone like Craft comes along and presses a One Step of one of those titles, I will usually grab it if I love the album. The prices on some of those jazz APs have gone insane so it makes it a little easier for me to justify spending $100-$125 on a One Step. And I'm glad I got a lot of the MoFis I did when I did. I have a lot of the Miles Davis ones (shout out to that strange discogs account from the old forum that sold tons of MoFis for really cheap haha).
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I’ll echo your thoughts. This one I was very excited about getting, and when I put it on, I was greatly disappointed with it. I remember listening to the record as a kid when it first came out, and I just loved how rich it sounded, full of life, so I figured that a MoFi would undoubtedly sound so much better, but boy was I wrong. I found a cheap German OG recently that’s supposedly a great pressing, should arrive to me later this week.
 
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Mather said:
I've been looking for a decent copy of Songs From the Big Chair ever since that Mofi went out of print. The Wilson mix is crazy expensive too....
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I think it was mentioned a ways back, but the original UK pressing is quite great. I love it. It sold a shit ton and it’s not super hard to find a good copy for $20-30. They don’t turn up a whole lot in the US though and that’s probably the case in Canada too. I’d be surprised if that didn’t get a reissue or repressing again soon though. I’d like to pick up the MoFi and Wilson mix too.
 
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