Definitive Audiophile pressings

[Joe Mac]

I’ll be curious to hear your results. I’ve got recent presses of Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs In the Key Of Life, and never had any issues that I recall, but I may have not listened with a keen ear to check either, and it’s been a while since I’ve spun them.

I don’t think it’s pressing defects. From what I gather Stevie guards over his master tapes obsessively and no fucker is getting hold of them for love nor money. Hence there hasn’t been any really high quality remasters and so the originals are prized. I’ve paid an average of €20 including postage for these (and 5 are coming from Japan) so it’s not like I’m going way over the new prices either, they’re still cheaper.

 

[JohnnyCashFan]

I would honestly find a couple of these, all the big band you will ever need and they sound wonderful and can be grabbed for cheap.View attachment 103630

Seconded! And you can find them at yard sales, or Thrifts for next to nothing.

 

[zdkaiser]

So so so so

I’m always hearing that Stevie Wonder represses after the mid 80s are shit and the Mofi’s have gone too pricy. So I did a thing:

5 Japanese OGs (Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Fulfilingness’ First Finale, Songs In Key of Life and Hotter Than July)
1 U.K. OG (Innervisions)

None was extortionate, in fact 2 or 3 of the Japanese were cheap, and all sound like they’re in good condition so I’m really excited to see what I’ve got my hands on! Will report back in due course!

From my experience buying Japanese pressings from Japanese sellers, these sellers tend to grade extremely accurately and on the conservative side. Ive been very impressed with Japanese sellers on discogs with nice jazz collections for sale. Hopefully you'll have a similar experience,

 

[ThePakoBuelna]

From my experience buying Japanese pressings from Japanese sellers, these sellers tend to grade extremely accurately and on the conservative side. Ive been very impressed with Japanese sellers on discogs with nice jazz collections for sale. Hopefully you'll have a similar experience,

Japanese in general tend to take care very well of stuff. There is no shortage of second hand stores that sell pristine items. I've bought clothes, shoes and video games while there for real cheap.

Man I miss Japan...

 

[Joe Mac]

From my experience buying Japanese pressings from Japanese sellers, these sellers tend to grade extremely accurately and on the conservative side. Ive been very impressed with Japanese sellers on discogs with nice jazz collections for sale. Hopefully you'll have a similar experience,

Yeah that’s been my experience too, I bought a few Tom Waits pressings from the same store earlier in the year and they are in a beautiful condition for their age.

 

[Turbo]

Curious about your takes of the Grant Green "Born To Be Blue" Tone Poet.

I picked it up recently and I'm a bit disappointed with how the drum brushing sounds on several of the tracks. Comes out like swishing static to me. To the point where I thought there was something wrong with my pressing.

I'm guessing this is how they were on the tape, right?

 

[JohnnyCashFan]

Curious about your takes of the Grant Green "Born To Be Blue" Tone Poet.

I picked it up recently and I'm a bit disappointed with how the drum brushing sounds on several of the tracks. Comes out like swishing static to me. To the point where I thought there was something wrong with my pressing.

I'm guessing this is how they were on the tape, right?

Do you have a phase switch by any chance ?

This is a Green I do not have even on digital, but judging from a quick scan of the recording on youtube the brushes seem to sound ok ?

 

[Turbo]

Do you have a phase switch by any chance ?

This is a Green I do not have even on digital, but judging from a quick scan of the recording on youtube the brushes seem to sound ok ?

I don't think I have a phase switch. I don't know what that is?

I played some of the parts in the video you posted and the brushing does sound better there. For example at the 57-58 min mark. On the LP, the brushing feels more to the front on my system. It's sort of static-y in the video, but comes out more prominently when I play it from the vinyl. Everything else sounds great on the vinyl though.

 

[HayesWeighsIn]

Pretty sure Calbi doesn’t do Vinyl any more, you’ll see his credit on a lot of stuff and some one else does the vinyl, Ryan Smith or Joe Nino-if it’s done at Sterling.

Usually what'll happen here is Calbi does a digital master, and then a vinyl premaster that's a digital file with the brickwall limiter taken off, sometimes they'll back off some of the bus compression, EQ a bit differently, and that file will be given to RKS for example, the lacquer cut from that.

 

[keylime_5]

Curious about your takes of the Grant Green "Born To Be Blue" Tone Poet.

I picked it up recently and I'm a bit disappointed with how the drum brushing sounds on several of the tracks. Comes out like swishing static to me. To the point where I thought there was something wrong with my pressing.

I'm guessing this is how they were on the tape, right?

The cymbals on this are very bright, possibly one of the reasons why it was shelved and not released until 1985. It's the recording. The worst violator of the super bright, static-y sounding cymbals is on Tina Brooks' Minor Move. Great music on both though if you can get past the weird cymbal and snare sound.

 

[JohnnyCashFan]

Thinking about getting my Neil Young vinyl game going soon (I have the Official Release Series on digital). Was thinking about starting with current Greatest Hits and a good Harvest pressing, any other thoughts, suggestions, deals, ideas on this, must haves ? Thanks

 

[wmeugene]

Thinking about getting my Neil Young vinyl game going soon (I have the Official Release Series on digital). Was thinking about starting with current Greatest Hits and a good Harvest pressing, any other thoughts, suggestions, deals, ideas on this, must haves ? Thanks

I've never heard a bad NY pressing, so let the deals and your preferences guide you.

 

[Russ I]

Thinking about getting my Neil Young vinyl game going soon (I have the Official Release Series on digital). Was thinking about starting with current Greatest Hits and a good Harvest pressing, any other thoughts, suggestions, deals, ideas on this, must haves ? Thanks

Check the online deals thread for a couple of current bargains. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, On the Beach, After the Goldrush, Tonight’s the Night are some good places to start.

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

Thinking about getting my Neil Young vinyl game going soon (I have the Official Release Series on digital). Was thinking about starting with current Greatest Hits and a good Harvest pressing, any other thoughts, suggestions, deals, ideas on this, must haves ? Thanks

All of the Neil Young Archives releases are legit. Most, if not all, cut by Chris Bellman and pressed well at Record Industry. I have some good OG pressings from back when I started collecting but if I was just starting to pick up Neil Young albums now I would start with those, most can be found from between $20-$30. The hardest NYA to come by at this point are some of the early live releases.

If you enjoy rawkus live Neil Young, you should go scoop up Way Down In The Rust Bucket that was released earlier this year. It a 4xLP Boxset and is currently going for around $35 via Amazon.

 

[keylime_5]

Thinking about getting my Neil Young vinyl game going soon (I have the Official Release Series on digital). Was thinking about starting with current Greatest Hits and a good Harvest pressing, any other thoughts, ideas on this, must haves ? Thanks

If I could go back and do it all over again I would just buy all the NY ORS vinyl box sets instead of grabbing them individually. They all sound so great. They go in and out of stock ,but they appear to be perpetually in-print so grab the ones you want before they have to repress it, because sometimes it's about a year or so before they pop up again.

 

[MrChad]

I know it’s been mentioned in this thread multiple times, but the Hendrix family releases are phenomenal. I picked up Electric Ladyland last week for around $18, and the pressing, packaging and sound quality are top notch. It would be worth it at twice the price.

 

[bettim84]

Check the online deals thread for a couple of current bargains. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, On the Beach, After the Goldrush, Tonight’s the Night are some good places to start.

Agreed. There are probably 10+ Neil Young albums I’d reach for ahead of Harvest.

 

[JohnnyCashFan]

Check the online deals thread for a couple of current bargains. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, On the Beach, After the Goldrush, Tonight’s the Night are some good places to start.

If anyone has links could you please kindly pm them to me ? I'm horrible at searching and my searches on my usual places did not warrant much.

Agreed. There are probably 10+ Neil Young albums I’d reach for ahead of Harvest.

It's just a personal favorite.

If I could go back and do it all over again I would just buy all the NY ORS vinyl box sets instead of grabbing them individually. They all sound so great. They go in and out of stock ,but they appear to be perpetually in-print so grab the ones you want before they have to repress it, because sometimes it's about a year or so before they pop up again.

Appreciated but these are just a bit out of reach budget wise for me and I am only seeing the last one available (135) in a few places. I have the digital versions already too.

 

[keylime_5]

Insider tip, especially if you have a (B&N membership that gets you free shipping), but barnes and noble is a good place to find some records that are usually sold out elsewhere @JohnnyCashFan :

Harvest

Barnes & Noble® has the best selection of Music - Rock Classic Rock Vinyl LPs. Buy Neil Young's album titled Harvest to enjoy in your home or car, or gift it to another music lover!

www.barnesandnoble.com

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

If anyone has links could you please kindly pm them to me ? I'm horrible at searching and my searches on my usual places did not warrant much.

Harvest looks like it is currently out of print. I am sure it will be repressed soon. I found this on eBay…

Harvest by Neil Young (Record, 2009) for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Harvest by Neil Young (Record, 2009) at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

It’s listed for $31, I would say retail is typically $25 but you’d get free shipping so it evens it out.