The Doors new LTD edition 45rpm vinyl box set: a review
Could this possibly be the finest recordings on vinyl ever produced?
Having taken delivery of mine yesterday, I've been having a good listen to all the albums included and, quite frankly, I'm gob-smacked at just how good these records sound!
The awesomeness of this legendary music should be taken as a given, as it's amongst some of the best rock music ever produced, so in order to inform potential buyers, who may wish to add this vinyl set to their collection, this review will concentrate instead on its aesthetic and sonic qualities.
This box set features the band's six legendary studio albums, cut from the original analogue sources by Doug Sax and original engineer Bruce Botnick. The set is supplied on 12 x 200g 45rpm LPs at Quality Record Pressings, which are claimed to set new standards in all areas of vinyl music reproduction and collecting. The production run has been limited to 2,500 numbered copies, therefore considering the likely huge demand amongst aficionados for this product, I'd expect the timescale for the availability of stock to be finite.
As soon as the stylus hits the grooves on any one of these 200g black slabs of gorgeousness, what strikes you immediately is the vividness and sheer lifelike clarity of vocals and instrumental detail, not to mention the penetrating and crisp 'thwack' of drum sounds, which provide a 'shock factor' that, on a good system, take your breath away.
You can tell that valves and the best vintage analogue equipment have been used judiciously throughout the recording process, as musical information sounds uncannily natural and lifelike. All the detail is there, but the sound is never 'forced' at you in the artificial way of some 'audiophile quality' re-mastered CDs. Small nuances and musical clues, framed in a beguilingly inky-black backdrop, emerge 3D-like from the musical mix and shimmer rather spookily between the speakers, such is the quietness of these vinyl pressings.
Played on a good turntable, which adds as little as possible of its own 'sonic signature' to proceedings, the audio quality here gets you about as close to the sound that left the studio as one would imagine is possible from any form of recorded music. All in all, therefore, sonically and aesthetically, I would have to agree that the high-quality pressings in this box set are amongst the best I've ever heard (or seen) - and by quite a distance!
On the latter note, there is normally a slight opaque quality to the appearance of even new vinyl, until you run it through an RCM (due to the effect of mould release agent on the record surface, left from the manufacturing process), but not with this stuff.
The vinyl here possesses a glossy sheen not normally achieved until records are run 3 or 4 times through an RCM - we're talking veritably mirror-like here! This is most certainly prime-quality virgin vinyl. Also, when slipped from their Mobile Fidelity-style bags, the records themselves are completely free from static and 100% flat, with nary a 'ripple' visible, when observing their edges while the platter is turning. The attention to detail and striving for excellence undertaken here, by those who have produced this box set, is beyond question - fabulous stuff!!
In terms of the overall packaging and artwork, it is in the top rank. The box itself (a high-quality, textured, 'slipcase type') is, artistically, beautifully presented and feels reassuringly tactile. Access to its contents is achieved via gently pulling open magnetic tabs on the side of the box, and when done, pops opens with a satisfying 'thunk', revealing the treasures inside in an entertainingly memorable way, as if one were about to expose some important and ancient manuscripts. This level of attention to detail certainly turns accessing the records themselves into somewhat of an occasion.
Once revealed, each album is individually wrapped and sealed, and when unwrapped, one is presented with album art that near-resembles the quality of an original painting (without the texture of such, of course), but the depth and tone of the colours is quite amazing, all printed in a glossy sheen on very thick cardboard, which one would assume would be most resilient to the effects of use over the years.
To hold one of the albums itself is to have in your hands a product of the highest quality, born as the finest example possible of a symbiotic relationship between the best of modern technology (involved in producing the superb quality of the packaging and artwork), and the best of old technology (involved in producing the recordings themselves). You can almost feel the love that has gone into producing this whole package. It is quintessentially *the* perfect advert for the unique benefits, visually and sonically, of physical music media. Accessing music files on a computer, quite simply, does not evoke this priceless emotional connection between the music itself and the listener.
The new Beatles re-masters I bought recently were superb, in terms of the packaging, artwork and the sound quality of the recordings themselves, but this Doors 45rpm box set inhabits a different league altogether and is unquestionably not only the most beautiful looking collection of music I own, performed by very talented artists, but also the finest sounding - we're talking reference audiophile standard here. I sincerely doubt that, sonically, there are better recordings on vinyl out there - ANYWHERE. Rest assured that the sound quality of these albums will completely take your breath away!!
If you're a Doors fan, own a high-quality turntable and system, and want to hear their music in all its glory, getting as close to the sound of the original master tapes as possible, then you owe it to yourself to obtain this rather special limited edition 45rpm vinyl box set.
It's a wonderful advert for everything that's best about vinyl music replay, so much so that being in a state of rapture is virtually assured every time the box is opened and the delights inside that await you are revealed in all their glory. To see it is to want it; to hear it is to adore it. No serious music and high-fidelity audio vinyl lover should be without it. I can give this box set no greater compliment.
To obtain your numbered, limited edition copy, before they run out, contact Scott Nangle: http://www.scottnangle.co.uk/
Price for this beautiful limited edition box set is £270.
Marco.
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Originally Posted by Marco
. I'm a total convert and I think I'd have to spend a lot of money to better it.
