LPs

[snuffbox]

Now I've started getting back into vinyl I thought I'd start looking at the market for s/h and new stuff.
I'm finding myself a little confused at the mo as I fancied getting a bit of Dusty Springfield,now on ebay there Dusty in Memphis.
One nos copy several hundred pounds one new 180gm £20 and one is a 2lp 45 rpm copy at about £60.

What are the best sort of value for money copys to to go for,I'm a little confused here.
I chose the Dusty lp just as an example.

[AlfaGTV]

Personally i think the most fun can be had scoping through flee markets in search for the "never played", mint condition, UK first pressing of 'what-have-you' This will of course most likely never happen, but the possibility is still there! :)

If you are looking for a particular LP, then i would go for perhaps discogs.com, flee-bay or similar. I'm not sure if it's a swedish thing but there are quite a lot of record-shows taking place also, where the absolute majority of goods is vinyl.
Personally i was at one last weekend and did some shopping.
These guys mostly have quite good control over what they have in their carts and boxes if you are looking for something particular.

For me, most reissues are disappointments, victims of the loudness war. There are always exceptions of course, but in general... :zzz:

I generally prefer an original pressing, a little hiss and an occasional scratch i can easily live with, and even a dutch or german pressing can be good.
Start there, enjoy the music, and then when you stumble upon the "perfect" first issue, you make your decision! :scratch:

Best of luck to ya!
/Mike

[Macca]

Now I've started getting back into vinyl I thought I'd start looking at the market for s/h and new stuff.
I'm finding myself a little confused at the mo as I fancied getting a bit of Dusty Springfield,now on ebay there Dusty in Memphis.
One nos copy several hundred pounds one new 180gm £20 and one is a 2lp 45 rpm copy at about £60.

What are the best sort of value for money copys to to go for,I'm a little confused here.
I chose the Dusty lp just as an example.

It's a rarity and it's in demand so prices are high - I bought it on CD for that reason (to replace a cassette copy) but I didn't realise there was 180gm re-issue, possibly not out back then - I'd get the re-issue, £20 is not far off reasonable and no record is worth sixty squid.

[Spur07]

Not all reissues are poor, at least not from what i've purchased recently. It's often best to do a bit of research if there's something specific you're after - the Steve Hoffman forum is a good place to run searches.

[jostber]

I would get it from Honest Jon's for £14.99.

http://www.honestjons.com/shop.php?pid=31048

This reissue is by 4 Men With Beards which have made many fine reissues in later years.

[The Grand Wazoo]

I have a copy of that 4Men pressing and it's pretty good.

[PaulStewart]

One thing to beware with re-issues, even 180gm audiophile ones, is how they are mastered. *To my ears direct metal mastering DMM, never sounds as good as traditional laquer. *Also on a vintage cut the varipitch was adjusted using the signal from a leading analogue head on the master tape. *Later systems used the direct signal for the groove varipitch and sent a digitally buffered signal to the cutting head. *IMO, this was never as good, it was like cutting from a CD. Best to get a mint or ex original and save the money spent on audiophile pressings to buy a RCM.

[Audioman]

Now I've started getting back into vinyl I thought I'd start looking at the market for s/h and new stuff.
I'm finding myself a little confused at the mo as I fancied getting a bit of Dusty Springfield,now on ebay there Dusty in Memphis.
One nos copy several hundred pounds one new 180gm £20 and one is a 2lp 45 rpm copy at about £60.

What are the best sort of value for money copys to to go for,I'm a little confused here.
I chose the Dusty lp just as an example.

Well best value is the 45 rpm for £60 (Analogue Productions). The £20 one (4MWB) is overly bright sounding (digital ?). An original Dusty In Memphis should not cost hundreds. I'm sure an ex copy can still be picked up for £20 to £40. The AP is a superb reissue but a mint UK original is close. Avoid the 180g 4MWB and go for the AP 45rpm if you can't source an affordable original.

[snuffbox]

Thanks for all the good advice,my wife picked up a best hits lp from a charity shop for £3 and its a cracker.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dusty-Memphis-Sealed-LP-Dusty-Springfield-OG-SD-8214-Son-Preacher-Man-/170801131673?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item27c48a7099
This is a bit over the top but would you open it and play it or just keep it as is and look at it.

[Disles1]

Over the past few years I've purchased quite a few LPs (relative to my budget) and was quite interested in the reissues mainly because of availability and the advertised benefits of thick, virgin, quiet new vinyl. I found many to be good but others not as good.

I then started to look for good clean original copies. I think that a lot - in terms of quality - depends on the time period of the music you like. For example, if you like music that was recorded in the mid-1980s onward then this was not a good time for LPs and it will show up in the quality of the vinyl. We were going through the oil crisis so record makers were reducing the quality and amount of vinyl in a record. CDs were the next big thing so vinyl was shifted to the back-burner. It might be useful therefore to choose a reissue over an original for that period.

However, older era music (1950s-1980s) was pressed on better vinyl - if you choose a higher end label - so you can obtain excellent used records that may outshine the reissues.

There are several good sources on-line for vinyl, one being GEMM.

[morris_minor]

Thanks for all the good advice,my wife picked up a best hits lp from a charity shop for £3 and its a cracker.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dusty-Memphis-Sealed-LP-Dusty-Springfield-OG-SD-8214-Son-Preacher-Man-/170801131673?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item27c48a7099
This is a bit over the top but would you open it and play it or just keep it as is and look at it.

I'm one for playing the music. Any LP that comes in gets ripped to my server for putting out to the various Squeezeboxes around the house, and the vinyl comes out for proper listening sessions. 180gm stuff gets played a bit less often, but should it get really knackered (accidentally) I've always the high-res rip to fall back on; not a total replacement, but better than nothing.

Collectors who keep LPs shrink wrapped are like folk who buy an expensive painting and keep it locked out of sight. An LP is there to provide musical entertainment. If you could go to a Dusty Springfield concert you wouldn't want her to just sit on the stage and not sing in order to preserve her voice . . . :)

[The Grand Wazoo]

Well best value is the 45 rpm for £60 (Analogue Productions).
The £20 one (4MWB) is overly bright sounding (digital ?).
Avoid the 180g 4MWB and go for the AP 45rpm if you can't source an affordable original.

May I ask how you come to know this?
I own a copy of the 4Men pressing & it sounds remarkably similar to several old copies I've heard.
If 60 quid is best value, then surely there's something wrong?

[Audioman]

May I ask how you come to know this?
I own a copy of the 4Men pressing & it sounds remarkably similar to several old copies I've heard.
If 60 quid is best value, then surely there's something wrong?

Chris.

I purchased all 3 mentioned. The 4MWB sounds fine intill you hear the new AP version or an original. The sound is all wrong - thinner and brighter. AP is taken from original master tapes. The AP / Quality Records pressings are amoung the best reissues available. Sold my 4MWB on ebay for decent return so offsetting some of the cost of the AP. You can get an AP for £45 if you look around. It is a lot cheaper than some of the ridiculous asking prices for original UK or US pressiings. It that context it is good value if you want a great sounding copy of this title.

Paul.

[Haselsh1]

I have to agree with the comments on the Dusty 4MWB issue as I find it all very thin and harsh sounding. I have however just bought an original, collectible Steve Hackett 'The Voyage of the Acolyte' for a tenner from Amazon. As already commented on in this thread, I find most of today's re-issues victims of the loudness war that seems to have taken over the whole of music reproduction these days. Does anyone know what the recent Pink Floyd 'The Wall' re-issue sounds like...?

[The Grand Wazoo]

OK, thanks for that.
Still, even though Dusty in Memphis has to be one of the best albums I know , there's no way I'd pay that kind of lolly for it. There are still reasonably priced standard issue used pressings about - Ebay is not the only game in town. A CD can be had for under a fiver as a stopgap till one turns up.

[Spur07]

Over the past few years I've purchased quite a few LPs (relative to my budget) and was quite interested in the reissues mainly because of availability and the advertised benefits of thick, virgin, quiet new vinyl. I found many to be good but others not as good.

I then started to look for good clean original copies. I think that a lot - in terms of quality - depends on the time period of the music you like. For example, if you like music that was recorded in the mid-1980s onward then this was not a good time for LPs and it will show up in the quality of the vinyl. We were going through the oil crisis so record makers were reducing the quality and amount of vinyl in a record. CDs were the next big thing so vinyl was shifted to the back-burner. It might be useful therefore to choose a reissue over an original for that period.

However, older era music (1950s-1980s) was pressed on better vinyl - if you choose a higher end label - so you can obtain excellent used records that may outshine the reissues.

There are several good sources on-line for vinyl, one being GEMM.

Not all 80's vinyl was poor, I've got many excellent sounding albums from that period. The quality of reissues vary for sure, and not many I've got are that quiet either.

[Audioman]

I have to agree with the comments on the Dusty 4MWB issue as I find it all very thin and harsh sounding. I have however just bought an original, collectible Steve Hackett 'The Voyage of the Acolyte' for a tenner from Amazon. As already commented on in this thread, I find most of today's re-issues victims of the loudness war that seems to have taken over the whole of music reproduction these days. Does anyone know what the recent Pink Floyd 'The Wall' re-issue sounds like...?

I am awaiting a replacement copy as mine had a scratch. So first impressions based on one play - very good and heard some extra details that i'm sure aren't clear on the original. However I think there is some loss in dynamic range. Like all the current Floyd reissues this is from a high res digital remastering but I have to say digital done good. Apart from the fault I had it is very quiet. I think most people will love the Floyd reiissues though a clean first press is going to be better (not easy to find and costly now).

[Audioman]

OK, thanks for that.
Still, even though Dusty in Memphis has to be one of the best albums I know , there's no way I'd pay that kind of lolly for it. There are still reasonably priced standard issue used pressings about - Ebay is not the only game in town. A CD can be had for under a fiver as a stopgap till one turns up.

Just my view but I recommend spending the extra to get the best SQ especialy for a favourite recording. On the garbage in garbage out principle this will improve your musical enjoyment more than several £000 of techie upgrades.

[The Grand Wazoo]

.........this will improve your musical enjoyment more than several £000 of techie upgrades.

Hahaha! Don't worry, I don't see me spending a single penny any time soon on upgrading a TT that I don't own!

[AlfaGTV]

Does anyone know what the recent Pink Floyd 'The Wall' re-issue sounds like...?

I actually have bought all of the reissues released since september and IMO The Wall is the "worst" one :(
Not bad, but definently less alive and dynamic than my original pressing, even the german ones...

"Dark Side.." and "Wish.." are better sounding in my system, also when comparing to early UK and swedish pressings.

"Dark Side" from september sounds very similar to the 30 Years reissue in 2003. Have both on 180Gr releases...
None of these beats the UK 2nd edition though in audio quality, even if they are quieter regarding "snap, crackle and pop"... ;)

All in my experience of course and YMMV depending on quality of your references...

BR /Mike

[peelaaa]

I bought a couple of original gerry rafferty albums recently from late 70's and the sound recording is so pleasant to listen to.

A lot of re-issues I have are generally quiet but don't have that warm sound of 70's recording in particular.
I have a recent copy of elbow-seldom seen kid that is 45rpm and that sounds fantastic, so not all bad in the newer recordings.
Also richard hawley seems to have good mastering, it all depends on artist and label I assume.

[snuffbox]

My wife saw that our local hospice has a shop that sells vinyl so I popped in for a perusal this afternoon and came away with a near mint Led Zep4,Man Tran Pastiche,Joe Jackson Look Sharp,Robert Cray Band,JJ Cale Okie and a UB40 for 25 notes,not too shabby thought I.:)

[Audioman]

Update on Pink Floyd Wall reissue. Second copy is clicky toward end of side 4 similar to first and no visible marks. So obviously a plating or pressing flaw on some copies at least. Rest is pretty flawless but do agree about dynamics. Cut at much lower level than an original. This reminds me to moan at the frequency of minor flaws like this on modern pressings. More frequent a problem than the oft reported warped pressings on forums.

[snuffbox]

I fancied a copy of Muddy Waters The Folk Singer.
After a bit of sorting out my albums the other day what did I find and its one of those MFSL posh ones with a gold limited edition label as well.
Forgot all about buying that ,must have been oooh 15 ish years ago.:)