Quality Rock record releases

Increased supply will reduce demand. There are plenty of people on there complaining about labels who reissued limited editions years after the first run because it lowered the value of their first run copies.

 

I have one on order and my full intent is to listen to it

 

If you're a fan of Pink Floyd, all the 2016 vinyl remasters by Bernie Grundman have been excellent. They're digitally sourced (even though it says remastered from the analog tapes on the hype sticker they did use a digital stage), but honestly you would never know.

Just be aware that for some reason Wish You Were Here was released in the US as a repress of the previous Doug Sax mastered vinyl, still digitally sourced, and it does sound different than the Bernie Grundman one released in Europe. However, they both sound good, it's just a matter of preference. I went with the Sax one because I didn't feel like importing.

The Division Bell was also repressed from a previous Doug Sax master, which I believe was actually AAA, and by all accounts sounds excellent (but I wouldn't know because I'm not paying premium vinyl prices for The Division Bell).

 

I've been eyeing those Pink Floyd remasters, but I've been holding off as I the Steve Hoffman forum has been a little hard to read through as these have been pages upon pages of things written there, but the consensus is a bit hard to find. Thanks for the summary.

 

Yeah, that forum could really use more adroit moderators. The two big issues I've read about are dished copies and some sleeves having the wrong record in it (like Atom Heart Mother in a copy of The Dark Side of the Moon sleeve, for example). Since they're all in print, shouldn't be difficult to get a replacement if you have an issue.

The only other thing I've read about is that some batches of the EU Wish You Were Here have kind of a whooshing/rumbling sound on side two. Apparently it's not affecting all copies but something to be aware of if you're planning to import that title.

I'm listening to The Wall right now and it sounds terrific. Very clean and dynamic.

 

Slight off topic but since the Mofi one step Abraxas tangent is in this thread.....

Got this email on Friday:
Dear Customer,

We regret to inform you that just today we were notified by Mobile Fidelity that they would be unable to send to us anything remotely close to the quantity of one-stepSantana/Abraxas LPs that we'd ordered. As a result, we have no means of selling you the copy that you'd preordered with Acoustic Sounds. This, of course, is extremely disappointing news and we share in what we assume is your extreme frustration.

We had been in continuous contact with Mobile Fidelity, repeatedly checking on the status of these LPs and reminding them of the quantity we had on order. There was never any indication of such a massive under-shipment given to us until today's notice. While we're embarrassed please understand that there is nothing we can do. Our only suggestion is that you call Mobile Fidelity/Music Direct as soon as you can to see if you can secure a copy. That number: 800-449-8333.

We're very sorry for such an inconvenience and disappointment.

Sincerely,
Chad Kassem
Acoustic Sounds, Inc.

So I am at the gym today, my phone rings and the number shows Salina, KS. I figure it's an Acoustic Sounds sales rep calling about my Abraxas order; pick up the phone and it's none other then Chad Kassem himself on the other end! Long story short he wasn't very happy about the situation and is calling people who ordered personally.

More importantly though he mentioned that Acoustic Sounds has plans to bring back something like the Mofi UHQR system for certain releases. In short... one step process INDIVIDUALLY PRESSED records on a perfectly restored manual press. In fact he was talking about having a little youtube video of your actual record being pressed. Very cool. Anyhow, I signed myself up to get one of the first ones so unlike the Abraxas I will be able to give you guys the scoop.

Edit: I still managed to pick up the 1step Abraxas from MusicDirect/Mofi.

 

That's a shame, especially since most of the copies being sold are for resale purposes. But very cool scoop on the individually pressed Acoustic Sounds, I'd be very curious to see what titles they can get for that.