July 2nd, 2024
Category:
NewsGreat titles, oft-released, first time on UHQR. What else is there to say? At least until we get to hear it.
2024-07-02 11:35:02 PM
bwb wrote:
well, that's it. I know everyone has their own point of saturation, but I have officially reached mine. I have the 45 rpm set then had to buy the Craft version because it was the definitive version and now this... Happy for all those who will be giving this an 11/11 but I'm going to start spending my limited funds on things I don't already have the definitive version of sitting along several other previously anointed definite versions.
And I know I'm not the first to say this, but is the back catalog of great music so shallow they have to keep releasing the same titles over and over?
Now excuse while I go compare my 33rpm UHQR Kind of Blue to my 45rpm UHQR Kind of Blue to my multiple Classic records versions, and my mono versions
2024-07-03 01:29:27 AM
bwb wrote:
and please excuse me for replying to myself but since you can't edit here...........
I would be doing the same thing as Acoustic Sounds if there was money to be made and I had the rights to release these.... I get that part of it
2024-07-03 01:48:00 AM
Spin The Black Circle wrote:
I couldn’t agree more, and thanks for saying it! I’m so tired of the same titles being released over and over, and over again! And then again.
2024-07-03 12:44:09 PM
PTG wrote:
So true... it's the free market at work though... Then again, consider ourselves so fortunate that we have so many choices and the option to accept or decline new offerings...
2024-07-04 07:22:45 PM
PeterPani wrote:
it is time to play the tape from the end to the beginning and release a sensational new view on 1000 gramm vinyl!
2024-07-03 02:23:10 AM
Kevin Jones wrote:
On the fence also, got previous editions and wondering if I should wait for the UHQR 45 rpm but Single-Sided version?
2024-07-03 08:36:00 AM
Tim wrote:
I couldn't echo the above comments with more enthusiasm. This needs to stop.
There are 10,000 worthy albums which are sitting, waiting to get something "special" done, but instead we (the loyal consumers) are subject to release after release of the same top 100 Audiophile albums... enough is enough.
I can understand that the record labels are probably safe guarding their tapes with more enthusiasm in 2024 than before, but where there is a will there is a way. Do better.
2024-07-03 08:50:10 AM
Tim wrote:
Rant #2:
These releases, do little to inspire the next 3 generations of consumers that support the vinyl industry.
It's safe to say (no offense intended) that a large majority of Audiophile vinyl releases target Baby Boomers, with sprinklings of Gen X... {those with the cash and have their musical roots most closely bound to the albums being released again and again}...
Gen X, Y (and Z!), will, within 10->15 years, be the largest consumers of these vinyl... Give that crowd something they can sink their teeth into..
Its not as if all great music was released before 1978...
If you look at Mofi and Classic Records, and evaluate what they did in the Heydey: the albums they released were CONSIDERABLY more current' (relative to the album's release dates), than what is being released now. And should this be surprising? NO! Because they are releasing the same god-damn 'audiophile albums' 30/40 years later!!!!
2024-07-03 09:36:46 AM
James Ellis wrote:
I wonder if anyone here remembers this, but Acoustic Sounds announced UHQR / clarity vinyl of Waltz For Debby and Sunday At The Village Vanguard in the Winter 2012 catalog. So these have been planned for some time!
2024-07-03 01:07:22 PM
PeterG wrote:
I agree that these are a big yawn, great as the albums may be. Especially Waltz, where the latest version is already a Fremer 11. But not so sure these take away from other artists/generations. At $150 a pop, there are an extraordinarily small number of artists that reach the bar from a marketing perspective, great as their work may be.
Perhaps UHQR will lose relevance over time as it is forced to stick with only the most prominent, most overdone albums. Maybe the audiophile future is the lower price points--Atlantic 75, Rhino Hi Fidelity, and similar.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to check the shipping scheduling for the fifth time on my third version of Joni's Hissing (VMP 45!)...
2024-07-03 02:18:08 PM
Mr. Audio wrote:
Agreed! There are so many excellent titles out there. This needs to STOP!!! I was really hoping Shane would be our savior with Intervention, but that has kinda fizzled out a little.
2024-07-04 01:13:44 AM
Michael Fremer wrote:
Shane has many new releases cooking...
2024-07-03 05:33:17 PM
Spin The Black Circle wrote:
Currently the Rhino High Fidelity reissues are the best option for us audiophiles who are completely fatigued with the same albums being re-released to death! They offer compelling titles, excellent quality, and they are fairy priced, relative to these $150 UHQR reissues. I do like the AP Atlantic 75 series. The titles are much more appealing than the same ones over and over again!
2024-07-09 04:49:55 PM
Tomato Sandwich wrote:
That series is terrific and shows wjat can be done at a reasonable price point with OG-style packaging devoid of the silly boxes and inserts.
2024-07-03 06:06:09 PM
Jeff 'Glotz' Glotzer wrote:
While I wholeheartedly agree with every single poster here, I think perhaps the $150 price is so subliminally accepted by all of us, which where norm used to be $100 or $125 for the 1-Step from MoFi. If this was $100, perhaps I would be interested. I've never bought either of these on LP, so I would have if it was a bit less and money wasn't tight. More of a Brubeck fan than an Evans...
I didn't get in on the original craze with the MoFi Vanguard as it went pretty fast. UHQR has to be better than digitizing the same tape. Sooooo, outside of an original, wouldn't this be the best or next to best edition of this (as MF states above)?
But I did notice how crazy all of us went back then. When was that, anyways? 7 years ago? I think it obvious price is an issue here.
I do side-eye Chad and his label with the new norm of $150, though. I can't help but think that even the coolest companies around really aren't that cool. (And the only way I would believe any inflation rebuttal is one that is itemized to the penny!)
2024-07-03 06:34:13 PM
Jeff Richards wrote:
Well there’s a market for it and the completed mastering is reused time and again. Easy money. Fills a need. I quit double dipping long ago. I’m going to be unpopular but this is likely Jazz’s last hurrah due to generational tastes and money. Buy while you can. This will not continue indefinitely. Jeff
2024-07-03 07:16:07 PM
Tom wrote:
I’m out….. I bought it, again and again and again. Personally I’m done with every again getting a 45 reissue. I’m 70 and retired you want my money give me well sourced, mastered and pressed 33 albums that haven’t been done to death. Craft/OJC is on the right track. Hopefully they’ll get around to some of Evans other Riverside albums. New Jazz Conceptions Moon Beams Explorations How My Heart Sings!
2024-07-03 08:08:24 PM
bwb wrote:
Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original analog tapes in the spirit of piling on, what does that mean ??
Mastered from the original tapes could be just about anything. If AAA seems they would be flying that flag pretty high.
Maybe I'm wrong, but if it doesn't say AAA after the MoFi debacle, then I assume it is not. Not that it may ultimately matter, but why not tell us what the process is? For $150 a pop (plus shipping) I think we deserve to know.
2024-07-04 01:15:03 AM
Michael Fremer wrote:
It is AAA. I don't know how it can be more clearly stated.
2024-07-04 03:55:56 AM
bwb wrote:
You are kidding.. right?? How about stating they are AAA? That seems more clearly stated to me.
How about when Mofi clearly stated “Original Master Recording” and "The advantage of course is that you’re one generation from the tape." and "All titles on our main label are sourced from the original master tapes… We do not use digital sources except in cases where the title’s original master was digital itself" they didn't tell you there was a DSD step?
Like I said. "Mastered from the original tapes" could be just about anything.
2024-07-04 06:50:50 PM
bwb wrote:
not to belabor my point.. .. .. .. .. ..OK, I am belaboring my point.....
from the Rhino High Fidelity series we get AAA Cut From The Original Stereo Master Tapes By Kevin Gray but on this we get Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original analog tapes
the former is obviously much more clearly stated than the latter
2024-07-04 07:24:00 PM
Come on wrote:
I have absolutely no doubt it’s AAA in case of AP. Chad always tells if in rare cases it’s not. And this usually just if when the recording was digital from start.
2024-07-04 07:29:09 PM
PeterPani wrote:
At so many different reissues it clearly comes to mind that a DSD-file is used again and again. Otherwise they would over-use the mastertape for senseless reissues. Which would be reckless.
2024-07-03 09:35:30 PM
Come on wrote:
Usually I’m tooting the same horn, did a lot.
But this time, although I have the AP33, AP45, Craft 33, Mofi 1step and even the old Alto 33 from many years ago, I must say, those two are musically and sound wise so outstanding and some of those recordings I really listen to frequently, that I already ordered them.
Did so because so far the UHQR (with one exception I didn’t order, Prezel Logic, as I have the OG) always were absolutely worth the purchase, even against the exact same mastering on AP 33 or 45. Those UHQR are truly next level.
But yes, I’m also scared of upcoming UberHQR’s as 1step 78RPM.
By the way, I was always wondering why the UHQR are not done 1step…did Chad talk about it?
2024-07-03 10:08:19 PM
Josquin des Prez wrote:
Oh! My! God! We just sooo need these two new reissues, for only some $350 shipped. After all the horrible lackluster remasters of these two titles that have come before, it's about time we get something decent at a reasonable price. Oh, wait....
I just don't get the point of this reissue, not even for a millisecond. UHQR looks a lot like a silly money grab by Chad? Good for him I guess. I'm sure he'll sell them. Not to me though. But I don't really care what he reissues now as UHQR. I'm just not in for paying $175 per single album.
2024-07-03 10:19:20 PM
Josquin des Prez wrote:
I will hand it to AP though. At least they provide decent tip-on gatefold releases so we can throw the massive boxes in the basement where they belong. Unlike the cheap, embarrassingly cheesy/crappy packaging of MoFi's One-Step releases.
2024-07-04 12:49:21 AM
Come on wrote:
Nah folks, complain about some others. Those like Chad or Impex are the good ones (yes although they also work for money).
How about complaining about PP, who didn’t get out a single release bettering an original or other reissue (except those few done by SH)? Or ERsee selling unmastered releases for 350 bucks which are usually worse sounding than a 40$ Craft/AP or good other ones? Or about obscure spicy stampers sold for big money? Or a famous studio named by a Beatles record, who supply us with quite inferior digitized analog recordings?
Just a few suggestions and just my opinion certainly. Don’t diss the really dedicated ones who more or less started to provide quality reissues!
2024-07-04 01:16:42 AM
Michael Fremer wrote:
Most of the ERC classical and jazz titles are really great. The rock ones are more difficult to understand. Their fans see to want a copy of the original doc. I'm not sure that makes sense but that's what they want.
2024-07-04 07:34:35 AM
Come on wrote:
I’m fine with this point of view. Let’s say the price related, assumed sound quality and production effort difference of say an ERC reissue compared to a 40 or 80$ AP, Craft (or you name it release) as well as their whole business model is at least questionable. More so than in case of any other label I know.
But you can say, “there’s a market for this” and there is, so…
2024-07-04 05:07:41 PM
Tomato Sandwich wrote:
Just a money grab. The Craft releases came out less than 6 months before these. They're superb and you don't have to pay for the silly packaging that Kasem forces you to pay for. Let's not forget the shipping upcharges for these.
So lame.
2024-07-04 05:07:44 PM
Tomato Sandwich wrote:
Just a money grab. The Craft releases came out less than 6 months before these. They're superb and you don't have to pay for the silly packaging that Kasem forces you to pay for. Let's not forget the shipping upcharges for these.
So lame.
2024-07-07 07:50:13 AM
Musigny wrote:
Am I the only one who likes digital? These two albums from Bill as PCM 24/192 downloads sound terrific, for a lack of a better word. Air, 3D soundscape, atmosphere, timbre, layers, detail, weight, balance, richness, and more - it’s all there.
2024-07-08 11:31:41 PM
Malachi Lui wrote:
these recordings are so great that they're basically impossible to ruin, so of course the hi-res digital will also sound great. i believe that the all-analog vinyl is next-level, however; the craft OJC 'waltz for debby' is one of the best sounding records i've ever heard.
