The Blue Note Thread

I keep seeing Elemental Music pressings of Blue Note albums pop up here and there, anyone know anything about them?

Elemental is a European label that licensed some Blue Note titles. They did not use master tapes for their releases, which were mostly pressed at GZ.

In a sense, their releases are similar to Blue Note records put out by Scorpio in the late 1990s and the early 2000s in that both offer reasonably good sound at affordable prices but are subject to a higher rate of defects.
 
Elemental is a European label that licensed some Blue Note titles. They did not use master tapes for their releases, which were mostly pressed at GZ.

In a sense, their releases are similar to Blue Note records put out by Scorpio in the late 1990s and the early 2000s in that both offer reasonably good sound at affordable prices but are subject to a higher rate of defects.
Yeah this is my understanding of the label too. I have a couple Brazilian reissues (Jorge Ben and Caetano Veloso) from that label. They sound quite good but I think are digitally sourced. The vinyl was good quality though and I think you will be happy with any title if you can get it for cheap (I wouldn’t pay more than $20 for a sealed copy). I was tempted to get Bobby Hutcherson’s Dialogue but I got lucky with an early mono copy the same day on EBay so I passed.
 
Elemental is actually partially run by Zav Feldman, who is one of the guys behind Resonance Records that always releases those great archival releases on RSD. Definitely sourced from digital files, but I remember reading that they at least were from high quality ones (not sure about the exact file format). The releases are fully licensed and consensus on the Hoffman forums is that they are better than the BN 75, mainly due to better QC. Not MM or Tone Poet quality, but for under $20 certainly a good deal depending on the album and how expensive or how hard it is to find a better version.
 
Did anyone else's Mr Shing-a-Ling get shipped like this? 8187

This is my second since the first arrived with the box absolutely crushed and the jacket creased in three different places. Was amazed the album wasn't damaged. This time, the jacket has one corner with minor dent damage, so I'll keep it.
I've never had Amazon ship an album like this. Cornbread arrived double boxed like I usually get albums from Amazon.
 
Did anyone else's Mr Shing-a-Ling get shipped like this? View attachment 8187

This is my second since the first arrived with the box absolutely crushed and the jacket creased in three different places. Was amazed the album wasn't damaged. This time, the jacket has one corner with minor dent damage, so I'll keep it.
I've never had Amazon ship an album like this. Cornbread arrived double boxed like I usually get albums from Amazon.
I got Contours loose in a box with a 25 lb bag of cat food and a 40 lb bag of dog food, miraculously it survived, I have received records in that condition, it has been about 50/50 if they are okay.
 
Did anyone else's Mr Shing-a-Ling get shipped like this? View attachment 8187

This is my second since the first arrived with the box absolutely crushed and the jacket creased in three different places. Was amazed the album wasn't damaged. This time, the jacket has one corner with minor dent damage, so I'll keep it.
I've never had Amazon ship an album like this. Cornbread arrived double boxed like I usually get albums from Amazon.

Yeah mine shipped that way too. And a couple others from 'zon. I haven't had any totally destroyed except for crushed corners at worse. It's actually kind of surprising, they can throw it in a random box and it shows up fine... but a Discogs seller ships in a legit record mailer and it still gets crushed. Just the way luck rolls I guess.
 
Did anyone else's Mr Shing-a-Ling get shipped like this? View attachment 8187

This is my second since the first arrived with the box absolutely crushed and the jacket creased in three different places. Was amazed the album wasn't damaged. This time, the jacket has one corner with minor dent damage, so I'll keep it.
I've never had Amazon ship an album like this. Cornbread arrived double boxed like I usually get albums from Amazon.
Mine did. No creases or anything though. Spinning it now and it’s flat and plays beautifully. I did wonder what was in the giant box when I received it though.
 
Mine did. No creases or anything though. Spinning it now and it’s flat and plays beautifully. I did wonder what was in the giant box when I received it though.

I haven't had a chance to listen properly, but both the new TP's (Cornbread & Shing a ling) seem to have the drums coming out of the right speaker, is it the same on the original pressing / mix, or do I need to look at my system set-up?

Anyone recommend a good test album for hi fi set-up?
 
I haven't had a chance to listen properly, but both the new TP's (Cornbread & Shing a ling) seem to have the drums coming out of the right speaker, is it the same on the original pressing / mix, or do I need to look at my system set-up?

Anyone recommend a good test album for hi fi set-up?
So, yes. Shing a ling is definitely right speaker dominant. Probably not your set up If everything else sounds good. I know mine does. I checked it out with headphones too and it was too distracting to even listen to. I too would like to know if it’s the mix or if it’s an issue with the pressing. I haven’t listened to Cornbread yet.
 
I am not an expert by any means, but having listened to a bunch of BN lately, it seems like on most stereo recordings, the drums are pretty far to the right. (Sorry not sure if that helps)

You are correct as the engineer Rudy van Gelder always placed drums hard right on his stereo mixes. After some early experiments, he ended up with the following stereo positioning setup for jazz quintet recordings: trumpet left, piano and bass center, and saxophone and drums right.
 
You are correct as the engineer Rudy van Gelder always placed drums hard right on his stereo mixes. After some early experiments, he ended up with the following stereo positioning setup for jazz quintet recordings: trumpet left, piano and bass center, and saxophone and drums right.

That sounds right, but it does sound a bit weird, more prevalent with the latest TP’s. I’ll give them a proper listen when I get home at the weekend. The set-up might make it sound worse than it should.
 
I finally got in my first BN80s (Takin Off and Grant's First Stand) and TPs (Cornbread) over the weekend. Thoroughly impressed with all of them, maybe even more so with the BN80s for the price point (although those Gatefold photos on the Tone Poet are gorgeous 😍). I don't have a very expensive system by any stretch of the imagination, but sound wise they are all pretty close to Music Matters pressings on my setup.
 
Does anyone else have the Speak No Evil Music Matters press? After a cleaning yesterday, I am still hearing very light surface noise in “Infant Eyes” and under a bright light notice lots of light hairline scratches.

Anyone else with he same light crackle?

Pretty disappointing for a $75 record before shipping. My window for asking for replacement or return is most likely closed too.
Shouldn’t have waited so long.
 
Does anyone else have the Speak No Evil Music Matters press? After a cleaning yesterday, I am still hearing very light surface noise in “Infant Eyes” and under a bright light notice lots of light hairline scratches.

Anyone else with he same light crackle?

Pretty disappointing for a $75 record before shipping. My window for asking for replacement or return is most likely closed too.
Shouldn’t have waited so long.

Oof I have it, I'll take a listen tomorrow. I don't remember having the same issue though.

Guys I finally bit the bullet and got a RCM. Been on my list to buy for a long time and all these old dirty ass Blue Note records finally pushed me into it.
 
Oof I have it, I'll take a listen tomorrow. I don't remember having the same issue though.

Guys I finally bit the bullet and got a RCM. Been on my list to buy for a long time and all these old dirty ass Blue Note records finally pushed me into it.
Nice! Congrats. I got a VPI a few years ago since I had massive Amazon credit from an Amazon credit card I had at the time. It has made me buy more records because I no longer fear dirty records haha
 
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