Vinyl Me Please Anthology

So, tell us Nathan, where you currently at in regards to buying this Anthology?
I’m not sure to be honest but I think I’m leaning towards a ‘No’, because I have Headhunters and don’t really care for 1+1 and The Piano too much. Also, I’m not the biggest fan of Rivers: The Joni Letters - it’s a good album but I know it’s an album I wouldn’t spin too much!

The only selections from that Boxset I really like are Future Shock, Maiden Voyage and the live album. That’s only 3/8 of the selections I’m content with!

If I didn’t have great sounding pressings of Takin’ Off and Headhunters, it would be 5/8 of the selections I’d be happy with! And I would purchase the Boxset, but 3 out of 8 of the selections is too low! The Piano is a beautiful album, but again, not one I’d spin a lot!

I’m more excited about the two John Coltrane verve Acoustic Sounds reissues than this Herbie Hancock Boxset...🤐

And I’m also very excited about the two upcoming Nina Simone Acoustic Sounds reissues as well!
 
Don't do it.
Buy the albums you want and you will be happy with.





...and any Herbie collection that doesn't include Inventions & Dimensions or any VSOP material is kidding itself.

People (at least on Reddit) keep thinking Herbie hand selected these albums from everything in this anthology but I’d be willing to be almost anything that they gave him a list of 12 albums they had access to and he chose 8 of them. There no way he chose these out of his entire discography.
 
People (at least on Reddit) keep thinking Herbie hand selected these albums from everything in this anthology but I’d be willing to be almost anything that they gave him a list of 12 albums they had access to and he chose 8 of them. There no way he chose these out of his entire discography.
You think so?!? I have a feeling he really did completely select these 8 albums!

What makes you think otherwise?
 
People (at least on Reddit) keep thinking Herbie hand selected these albums from everything in this anthology but I’d be willing to be almost anything that they gave him a list of 12 albums they had access to and he chose 8 of them. There no way he chose these out of his entire discography.
You keep posting reasonable thoughts that are making me rethink biting on this one... 🤷‍♂️
 
You keep posting reasonable thoughts that are making me rethink biting on this one... 🤷‍♂️

"These are great albums. The gems here are the following:
The Piano was released on vinyl in Japan only, one time in 1979. Median to buy a copy on Discogs is $45.
For 1+1, this is the first time it's been released on vinyl. Previously, this album was CD only.
Live Under the Sky (as VMP mentions on their page) has the tracks in a different order, plus an additional track has been added."

Someone commented this on reddit and I found it to be a bit reassuring for those that are buying it. Whether the albums are good or not might be up for debate, but there's a few decent "exclusive" releases here. If Headhunters and Maiden Voyage come out as solid pressings this anthology might be a decent buy if you don't have much Herbie in your collection already.

I personally only have "Takin' off" from the BN80 release so I'm considering buying this.
 
You keep posting reasonable thoughts that are making me rethink biting on this one... 🤷‍♂️
I bought two anthologies so far. I like both of them a lot. The pressings sound great. If you like Herbie and don’t own most or any of these, I don’t doubt that you’ll enjoy this. If you can afford it comfortably then I think it’s likely a good purchase!

in @NathanRicaud’s case, since he has some of these already in audiophile quality and doesn’t love the other choices, I say save your money and buy albums you truly love and will spin more!

I’m personally skipping out on this as I own pretty solid versions of the albums in here that I most like. I may go for the AP Head Hunters but I can live without the other albums in this box.
 
I bought two anthologies so far. I like both of them a lot. The pressings sound great. If you like Herbie and don’t own most or any of these, I don’t doubt that you’ll enjoy this. If you can afford it comfortably then I think it’s likely a good purchase!

in @NathanRicaud’s case, since he has some of these already in audiophile quality and doesn’t love the other choices, I say save your money and buy albums you truly love and will spin more!

I’m personally skipping out on this as I own pretty solid versions of the albums in here that I most like. I may go for the AP Head Hunters but I can live without the other albums in this box.
I’ve got the 33RPM Analogue Productions pressing of Head Hunters but I definitely want to grab the 45RPM Analogue Productions version for it! I would love to compare the two as well! 😇
 
"These are great albums. The gems here are the following:
The Piano was released on vinyl in Japan only, one time in 1979. Median to buy a copy on Discogs is $45.
For 1+1, this is the first time it's been released on vinyl. Previously, this album was CD only.
Live Under the Sky (as VMP mentions on their page) has the tracks in a different order, plus an additional track has been added."

Someone commented this on reddit and I found it to be a bit reassuring for those that are buying it. Whether the albums are good or not might be up for debate, but there's a few decent "exclusive" releases here. If Headhunters and Maiden Voyage come out as solid pressings this anthology might be a decent buy if you don't have much Herbie in your collection already.

I personally only have "Takin' off" from the BN80 release so I'm considering buying this.
Yes, they are all solid records.

I am taking a pass.

i have Japanese originals, Mastersound pressings, of Live Under The Sky and The Piano, and they are stellar sounding.

i am a fan of Grundman, but Grey does BN better - so I am happy with my MM Maiden Voyage and BN80 Takin Off.

The AP Headhunters cant be beat.

My Joni Letters first press is good enough for a record I havent listen to in a decade.

Good choices in this set for anyone new to Herbie.
 
I wonder if this proves it wrong that MM is holding up the license. Or maybe since it is part of a box set it doesn't apply.

That one seems like the only big get. This seems to be another sign of cutting costs, pressing black at GZ has no other explanation. Yet, they charge higher by average price than single AP pressing. I don't understand why they continue to think pricing themselves above AP and MoFi with lower quality is a good strategy.
MM cant hold up any license. There is no exclusivity except for their masterings. BN can do whatever they like with any title they own.
 
You think so?!? I have a feeling he really did completely select these 8 albums!

What makes you think otherwise?
No Anthology has been completely hand selected by anybody but the labels giving VMP albums to select from. I’d be surprised if Herbie was asked to tell his actual career anthology that these are the albums he would choose. Seems weird to leave out everything on Warner Brothers. I’d be surprised if that’s the VSOP album he chose. How would you leave off his work with Miles?

with every Anthology so far, it’s been revealed that VMP chose a label/artist to do an anthology on and the label gives them a certain choice of albums to choose from. I think the BN one, Don Was chose 2 albums from each era that hadn’t already been licensed out to some other company and Storf chose from there. I don’t think they chose any for Ghostly since they were all being reissued otherwise.
 
MM cant hold up any license. There is no exclusivity except for their masterings. BN can do whatever they like with any title they own.
I was under the impression that MM gets a license to press x amount of copies of certain albums. To go along with that, I bet that it behooves both BN and MM to not reissue a similar quality of the albums in multiple series. If MM wants to press Somethin Else, for example, BN wouldn’t do a Tone Poet of it. I’m hoping we see BN just completely skip over MM to press cheaper pressings of similar quality. They already have the TP team in place so I don’t see what’s stopping them in the near future.
 
I was under the impression that MM gets a license to press x amount of copies of certain albums. To go along with that, I bet that it behooves both BN and MM to not reissue a similar quality of the albums in multiple series. If MM wants to press Somethin Else, for example, BN wouldn’t do a Tone Poet of it. I’m hoping we see BN just completely skip over MM to press cheaper pressings of similar quality. They already have the TP team in place so I don’t see what’s stopping them in the near future.
I wonder if we will see box sets for the big albums in the coming years. I think that might go over well. Either that or they will just repress in the vein of the BN80 series and keep them in circulation for as long as possible.
 
Headhunters you can get the 33 rpm on 200g from Acoustic Sounds for$35. Or there is a 2xLP at 45rpm for $55.

The 45 RPM AP is stellar. Haven't heard the 33 RPM but it has good reviews as well. I have both 33 and 45s of AP pressings (some of the same album) and, honestly, there aren't miles between the two if a person wanted to save some $ by getting the 33 version of an album - the 33s are always still great buys.
 
I’ve got a job Dukey!

And guess what!??!? Baby Monster isn’t buying the Boxset!

I just can’t get passed 1+1 and Takin’ Off being chosen in this Boxset + no Mwandishi era albums, and the fact that Headhunters is the ONLY fusion album in there - an album which the pressing I have will sound better than the pressing that will be in this Boxset!

If they chose something like Sextant, Thrust and Mwandishi instead of Head Hunters, I’d actually buy it. But I’ve already got an AP pressing of Headhunters which sounds sublime! And the BlueNote80 pressing of Takin’ Off also sounds great!

I just wanted more fusion! When I think of Herbie Hancock, I think of fusion! When I think of Herbie Hancock and his music, I primarily think of Crossings, Secrets, Man-Child, Thrust, Sunlight, Sextant, Headhunters, Mwandishi! Those are the 8 albums I think of straight away with Herbie Hancock! And only 1 of those albums are in this Boxset and that album I have an audiophile pressing of.

So it’s a ❌ from me unfortunately. A bit heartbroken because I was looking really, really looking forward to this Boxset!
I wasn't drinking anything at the time of reading this. So, I stopped. Grabbed a bottle of water. Took a mouthful. Then read it again just so I could do a spit take all over my computer screen (don't worry it's a work computer).

Good on you!!!
 
The 45 RPM AP is stellar. Haven't heard the 33 RPM but it has good reviews as well. I have both 33 and 45s of AP pressings (some of the same album) and, honestly, there aren't miles between the two if a person wanted to save some $ by getting the 33 version of an album - the 33s are always still great buys.
I have the AP 33 Headhunters and it's one of, if not the best sounding record in my collection. I'll likely upgrade to the 45 at some point but I honestly cannot imagine how it could sound much better. So I can at least say that no one will be disappointed if they grab the AP 33 for a few dollars less.
 
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