Definitive Audiophile pressings

Noticed this list on Discogs... anyone care to comment? Many of these look legit.


Spinning the Ramones "Road To Ruin" 2011 Rhino reissue right now and it's really fantastic. Chris Bellman cut. Pressed at Rainbo, but I'd be damned if it would be any better from RTI.
 
Noticed this list on Discogs... anyone care to comment? Many of these look legit.


Spinning the Ramones "Road To Ruin" 2011 Rhino reissue right now and it's really fantastic. Chris Bellman cut. Pressed at Rainbo, but I'd be damned if it would be any better from RTI.
haha I have this list bookmarked on discogs. I have a good amount of these pressings. Talking Heads sound great, as do the Grateful Dead reissues. The Van Morrisons are awesome. Marquee Moon is also great. The most annoying part is that some are pressed at RTI and others are not but they have the same UPC. No way to know until you open. Same with the Van Mo--some are digital, some are AAA and you don't know until you open them and look at the deadwax (KG @ ATM are AAA, KG@ CA are digital I think) but both sound great.
 
Yea--I'm talkin OG pressings, not reissues. The original Talking Book was a George Marino cut that is supposed to be pretty solid. And agreed--you can find a lot of OG pressings of his stuff in the US for pretty cheap, although they have been climbing up in price for clean copies lately at least at my locals.
Ah gotcha. Yeah the original pressings sound great and are plentiful.
 
Ah gotcha. Yeah the original pressings sound great and are plentiful.
I agree with ya though...I have a few Tamla reissues and they are just.....okay...I have a feeling that most are not AAA and aren't anything special. It's a shame Stevie won't let some reissue label touch the tapes and do proper reissues. I have a lot of early pressings of his but most aren't NM or anything and have a bunch of noise on them.
 
Noticed this list on Discogs... anyone care to comment? Many of these look legit.


Spinning the Ramones "Road To Ruin" 2011 Rhino reissue right now and it's really fantastic. Chris Bellman cut. Pressed at Rainbo, but I'd be damned if it would be any better from RTI.
If you have any interest in Moondance by Van Morrison in particular, I'd try to snatch up one of the KG@ATM pressings. Supposedly the tape is shot which is why the 2020 reissue uses a digital remaster by KG. PopMarket/DD and so on say they have the 2008 ATM pressing but it's the KG@CA one instead. It seems that once those KG@ATM pressings are gone, any ones moving forward will be digital remasters. The digital still sounds great, but...
 
If you have any interest in Moondance by Van Morrison in particular, I'd try to snatch up one of the KG@ATM pressings. Supposedly the tape is shot which is why the 2020 reissue uses a digital remaster by KG. PopMarket/DD and so on say they have the 2008 ATM pressing but it's the KG@CA one instead. It seems that once those KG@ATM pressings are gone, any ones moving forward will be digital remasters. The digital still sounds great, but...
I have the digital KG@CA, it sounds great to my ears. Enough so that I don't care to try to hunt down an AAA version.
 
If you have any interest in Moondance by Van Morrison in particular, I'd try to snatch up one of the KG@ATM pressings. Supposedly the tape is shot which is why the 2020 reissue uses a digital remaster by KG. PopMarket/DD and so on say they have the 2008 ATM pressing but it's the KG@CA one instead. It seems that once those KG@ATM pressings are gone, any ones moving forward will be digital remasters. The digital still sounds great, but...

That's the Van Morrison I'd get. Such a great pop record. I've been avoiding getting his records lately though because he's been rubbing me the wrong way with his various stances.
 
I have the digital KG@CA, it sounds great to my ears. Enough so that I don't care to try to hunt down an AAA version.
I agree--I have the KG@CA and sounds great to me still. I was hoping I'd get the AAA one though. I think it was under $20 shipped from Popmarket and I just kept it instead of trying to find the AAA. I have the AAA of Astral Weeks which is amazing and the SYEOR pressing of His Hand And The Street Choir (which is also an AAA it seems from the ATM plates) and that one is awesome too. Most of his albums sound great to me though. I have an OG of It's Too Late To Stop Now and it's phenomenal.
 
Also, I'm playing the MOFI Brothers in Arms right now... I think my issue with my quick scan-spin yesterday is specifically with the opener "So Far Away". The mids and highs are tinny to my ears on it, making it sound quite digital, but I guess it's probably the way it was recorded. But Money For Nothing is just so full and amazingly detailed. Best I ever heard it. Walk Of Life sounds fantastic too... that's where I'm at right now.

EDIT: So this is a great pressing. My only issue audio remains the way So Far Away sounds, but I'm pretty sure that was the intent. I just never noticed before. The rest of the record has a better bottom end and more natural sounding mids and highs. Unfortunately, my side 4 has a bunch of little audible srcratches. Not sure what happened there since it was in a proper inner. Anyway, it's not crazy or anything, but I'd expect better QC and handling for this type of product.
 
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In the US thankfully most of his most popular albums are relatively easy to come by in the used record bins at your friendly local record store.

I'm sure they do. In the city where I live, there's not a ton of used vinyl and not really a record store. The marijuana dispensary has a vinyl section and so does our guitar supply store, but extremely limited and more focussed on new over used.
 
Also, I'm playing the MOFI Brothers in Arms right now... I think my issue with my quick scan-spin yesterday is specifically with the opener "So Far Away". The mids and highs are tinny to my ears on it, making it sound quite digital, but I guess it's probably the way it was recorded. But Money For Nothing is just so full and amazingly detailed. Best I ever heard it. Walk Of Life sounds fantastic too... that's where I'm at right now.
Brothers In Arms is digitally recorded I think. I only have the self-titled MoFi and think it sounds quite good. Probably all the Dire Straits I need, to be honest haha.
 
Noticed this list on Discogs... anyone care to comment? Many of these look legit.

Does anyone own either version of Remain in Light? The one on this list is Rhino’s US/RTI release, but there is also a later European version pressed by Optimal, apparently cut from the same source.

Reviews are positive, but some say it’s not as alive/vibrant as an OG. But ionic ready to spring for a good quality OG.
 
Does anyone own either version of Remain in Light? The one on this list is Rhino’s US/RTI release, but there is also a later European version pressed by Optimal, apparently cut from the same source.

Reviews are positive, but some say it’s not as alive/vibrant as an OG. But ionic ready to spring for a good quality OG.

I have the RTI and it's amazing.
 
I agree--I have the KG@CA and sounds great to me still. I was hoping I'd get the AAA one though. I think it was under $20 shipped from Popmarket and I just kept it instead of trying to find the AAA. I have the AAA of Astral Weeks which is amazing and the SYEOR pressing of His Hand And The Street Choir (which is also an AAA it seems from the ATM plates) and that one is awesome too. Most of his albums sound great to me though. I have an OG of It's Too Late To Stop Now and it's phenomenal.

Yeah the AAA rhino releases (there are 3 I think) all sound great. So do all the OG ones I’ve got for most of his other stuff. The MOV of his debut is decent too. The VMP Veedon Fleece is by no means bad but a good way behind all the others I have.

Im glad I picked those Rhino AAA ones up years ago back when I started collecting!

I kinda knew from friends of friends of friends who’d worked with and for him that Van Morrison was a grumpy old shit years back so this latest nonsense sadly doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. Thankfully all but the 5 reissues were bought on the secondary market!
 
Yeah the AAA rhino releases (there are 3 I think) all sound great. So do all the OG ones I’ve got for most of his other stuff. The MOV of his debut is decent too. The VMP Veedon Fleece is by no means bad but a good way behind all the others I have.

Im glad I picked those Rhino AAA ones up years ago back when I started collecting!

I kinda knew from friends of friends of friends who’d worked with and for him that Van Morrison was a grumpy old shit years back so this latest nonsense sadly doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. Thankfully all but the 5 reissues were bought on the secondary market!
Big Daddy Kev didn't cut that Veedon Fleece as far as I know (not sure who did actually...) and I agree it's not bad at all. I actually quite like that album and glad I got it but the other titles from Rhino are better overall albums and pressings. I might eventually track down Tupelo Honey and then I have all the Van Mo albums I want. That live album smokes. So glad I picked it up at my local a few months ago.
 
Big Daddy Kev didn't cut that Veedon Fleece as far as I know (not sure who did actually...) and I agree it's not bad at all. I actually quite like that album and glad I got it but the other titles from Rhino are better overall albums and pressings. I might eventually track down Tupelo Honey and then I have all the Van Mo albums I want. That live album smokes. So glad I picked it up at my local a few months ago.

It was 96/24 digital transfers of the masters done DMM at GZ. Considering that it’s actually a surprisingly good sounding record!
 
Brothers In Arms is digitally recorded I think. I only have the self-titled MoFi and think it sounds quite good. Probably all the Dire Straits I need, to be honest haha.

I only had S/T prior to this, but it's the Bernie Grundman Back-to-Black MPO pressing. Honestly, it's really good, so there's no rush upgrading it (but it's my favorite Dire Straits). Anyway, I'd probably get Communique or Making Movies next.
 
Big Daddy Kev didn't cut that Veedon Fleece as far as I know (not sure who did actually...) and I agree it's not bad at all. I actually quite like that album and glad I got it but the other titles from Rhino are better overall albums and pressings. I might eventually track down Tupelo Honey and then I have all the Van Mo albums I want. That live album smokes. So glad I picked it up at my local a few months ago.

Tupelo Honey was breaking my heart for a good year. The only one I couldn’t find the right quality for the right price on cogs. Then I walked into my local and they had 1 NM for €20. The most I paid for a second hand one in store and the 3rd most expensive VM record I’ve bought (the three rhinos were €16.99 each here on release) but delighted to have it! Living in Dublin has some perks lol!
 
I only had S/T prior to this, but it's the Bernie Grundman Back-to-Black MPO pressing. Honestly, it's really good, so there's no rush upgrading it (but it's my favorite Dire Straits). Anyway, I'd probably get Communique or Making Movies next.
Yea--I grabbed the self-titled because it was $35 from the Target sale. Probably wouldn't have sprung for it otherwise, to be honest. I also wonder how the recent SYEOR Rhino 33RPM reissues sound compared to the MoFis. They are AAA from 2010 Bernie lacquers and $20 instead of $55...And the 2010 Bernies were pressed at Pallas apparently.
 
Yea--I grabbed the self-titled because it was $35 from the Target sale. Probably wouldn't have sprung for it otherwise, to be honest. I also wonder how the recent SYEOR Rhino 33RPM reissues sound compared to the MoFis. They are AAA from 2010 Bernie lacquers and $20 instead of $55...And the 2010 Bernies were pressed at Pallas apparently.
I have the SYEOR version of Making Movies and I think it sounds great.
 
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