Vinyl Me Please Classics

I am considering picking up some of the older classics listed below and was hoping you guys could share your opinions and/or rankings on the sound quality and content for the albums listed below. I know the last two on the list were AAA and from everything I've seen the sound quality on those two are top notch. Thanks in advance.

C07 - Little Milton - Waiting For Little Milton
C09 - Koko Taylor - I Got What It Takes
C11 - William Bell - The Soul of the Bell
C13 - Darrell Banks - Here to Stay
C14 - Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Soul Makossa
C17 - Donald Byrd - Fancy Free
C18 - Eddie Floyd - Knock On Wood
C25 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Gospel Train
C27 - The Isley Brothers - Go For Your Guns

My favorites from this list are Darrell Banks, Koko Taylor and Little Milton, but as others have said it depends on your taste. You really can't go wrong with any of them though.
 
I really like this Art Blakey album. I'm going to get it but I'm scared, because I really can't afford to go down a Jazz rabbit hole.
It’s an atom bomb to your financial standing, but welcome to the wonderful world of Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Bobby Timmons and Jymie Merritt.

Definitely check out Indestructable, Free For All & Moanin’. All by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.
 
It’s an atom bomb to your financial standing, but welcome to the wonderful world of Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Bobby Timmons and Jymie Merritt.

Definitely check out Indestructable, Free For All & Moanin’. All by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.
I'm keen to pick up these, but curious which pressings are decent without breaking the bank? Indestructible is getting a Blue Note 80 release so that's easy. Free for All is MM or OG press? Moanin' looks like it's had like a million pressings over the years, including Blue Note 75, which I'm told to stay away from? It's all so overwhelming!
 
I'm keen to pick up these, but curious which pressings are decent without breaking the bank? Indestructible is getting a Blue Note 80 release so that's easy. Free for All is MM or OG press? Moanin' looks like it's had like a million pressings over the years, including Blue Note 75, which I'm told to stay away from? It's all so overwhelming!
Check out Japanese pressings of them. The King ones (1977-1983) are great as are any others from the early 70’s. It’s just the shipping from Japan that kills it most of the time. ($15-17). So perhaps find a discogs seller with both? I’ve seen the ‘77 King Moanin’ recently for around $40 including shipping.

Really looking forward to that BN80 Indestructible landing in a few weeks here, hopefully it’ll land around the same time The Freedom Rider does. :)
 
I'm keen to pick up these, but curious which pressings are decent without breaking the bank? Indestructible is getting a Blue Note 80 release so that's easy. Free for All is MM or OG press? Moanin' looks like it's had like a million pressings over the years, including Blue Note 75, which I'm told to stay away from? It's all so overwhelming!

It really depends on what your goals are for your collection. When I started getting into jazz I bought several BN75s and only had QC issues with one of them. No, they’re not as good as those albums can sound, but I was not (still am not) in a position to buy audiophile-level reissues.

The main thing to stay away from are the European black market labels that are simply CD rips. I have a few of those (including Moanin’) and wish I didn’t because the quality is so low.

Jazz is a whole world. Prepare to be blown away as you start identifying the players you like, track down who collaborated with who, all that stuff. It’s a really different, enriching, humbling experience. I’ve been into jazz for only about 4-5 years, have over 150 jazz LPs, and I still consider myself a newbie. There’s so much out there.
 
Yes, stay away from labels like DOL and Wax Time. The BN80 titles have been very good so far, quality wise and price wise. Great place to start. Enjoy the rabbit hole
DOL, Wax Time, Vinyl Passion, Not Now, Jazz Images, Jazz Wax Records...
Sadly more and more of these guys keep popping up. I hate that these keep showing up at my local shop.
Talking with the owner, he basically justifies it saying people love them and it's low entry into Jazz.
To me, it's just garbage.
They are trying to get on various hype trains including limited colour variants and alternate artwork.... wait, that sounds like someone else I know...
 
Check out Japanese pressings of them. The King ones (1977-1983) are great as are any others from the early 70’s. It’s just the shipping from Japan that kills it most of the time. ($15-17). So perhaps find a discogs seller with both? I’ve seen the ‘77 King Moanin’ recently for around $40 including shipping.

Really looking forward to that BN80 Indestructible landing in a few weeks here, hopefully it’ll land around the same time The Freedom Rider does. :)
It really depends on what your goals are for your collection. When I started getting into jazz I bought several BN75s and only had QC issues with one of them. No, they’re not as good as those albums can sound, but I was not (still am not) in a position to buy audiophile-level reissues.

The main thing to stay away from are the European black market labels that are simply CD rips. I have a few of those (including Moanin’) and wish I didn’t because the quality is so low.

Jazz is a whole world. Prepare to be blown away as you start identifying the players you like, track down who collaborated with who, all that stuff. It’s a really different, enriching, humbling experience. I’ve been into jazz for only about 4-5 years, have over 150 jazz LPs, and I still consider myself a newbie. There’s so much out there.
That's good to know. I'll check the Japanese pressings. Maybe I can finally convince my boss to send me to Tokyo for a week for training :p

I guess my goal for collecting is to just own good pressings of albums I either like or know I'll like. I know I like Blakey's stuff already so I'm willing to go in for that and maybe a few others.
 
That's good to know. I'll check the Japanese pressings. Maybe I can finally convince my boss to send me to Tokyo for a week for training :p

I guess my goal for collecting is to just own good pressings of albums I either like or know I'll like. I know I like Blakey's stuff already so I'm willing to go in for that and maybe a few others.
If you're just a casual fan I think there is nothing wrong with the BN75 releases. I have several of them and I like them fine. You can get them for half the price of MM releases and to me that makes sense. I'm not saying they are amazing but I'm saying they are plenty good for me.
 
I am considering picking up some of the older classics listed below and was hoping you guys could share your opinions and/or rankings on the sound quality and content for the albums listed below. I know the last two on the list were AAA and from everything I've seen the sound quality on those two are top notch. Thanks in advance.

C07 - Little Milton - Waiting For Little Milton
C09 - Koko Taylor - I Got What It Takes
C11 - William Bell - The Soul of the Bell
C13 - Darrell Banks - Here to Stay
C14 - Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Soul Makossa
C17 - Donald Byrd - Fancy Free
C18 - Eddie Floyd - Knock On Wood
C25 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Gospel Train
C27 - The Isley Brothers - Go For Your Guns

They are all great and priority obviously depends on what type of music (soul, blues, funk ,etc) you like best. Out of those options, my favourites (and most spun) are Koko Taylor and William Bell. If you're into the blues, I'd also recommend Big Bill Broonzy, which was a RotM before the three tracks, but fits the Classics profile; I thought it was gone, but I saw it scrolling through swaps.
 
If you're just a casual fan I think there is nothing wrong with the BN75 releases. I have several of them and I like them fine. You can get them for half the price of MM releases and to me that makes sense. I'm not saying they are amazing but I'm saying they are plenty good for me.
This is super good advice. When I started out with Blue Notes I would save for earlier pressings, pick one up, then begin saving for the next. At such an early stage a scattergun approach of picking up cheaper pressings (I would recommend the French DMM's for this - as well as the BN80's which are superb) to establish which type of jazz recordings you enjoy is the best move IMO. If you end up loving a particular artist/era/label etc then you can start pooling your money into a single big purchase and/or upgrade your cheapo pressings.
 
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