Black Friday RSD 2011 has come and gone!

That curiously American pagan feast to obese consumption comes once again this Friday, Black Friday as it is oddly (or aptly) named, and Record Store Day is there to partake in the spending orgy. 

Odd at best that Thanksgiving in America has become not about giving thanks at all, but in lining up and fighting it out with one's neighbors to get the most bargains, and get them first. I think it's pretty sick, but then again, I'm not American, and I certainly did spend a bunch on this year's stuff.

So here is what I have to show for this year - my early Record Store Black Friday :

The Beatles singles box:

It has a cute apple 45 adapter, 2 of the singles are on the Capitol label which I find unfortunate, the others on Apple, the sleeves are nothing to write home about nor are the actual label reproductions, as we expect from Citicorp/EMI the pressings are rather mediocre too, and it will set you back at least $50. There is a lame poster. The sound is actually very good. Not as organic as originals, biut dynamic and clean. Ticket To Ride is a bit worse for the wear, gritty and sibilant. Hey Jude and Something are very impressive. C+.Wait for the vinyl remasters which will emerge at some point.

Pink Floyd The Wall singles box:

Kind of like the Beatles box but only 3 singles, another 45 adapter and lame poster, the box is kind of a wall cutout, another $50 minimum cash grab. D+.Citigroup has a lot of debt to take care of and a lot of bonuses to pay out. Help them out, please.

Bob Dylan mono singles box:

Much better value - I paid $36, the sleeves are nicer, the sound is superb, and it is all around a much higher quality product. B+.

Wheedes Groove singles box:

This is really one of the true finds of RSD that make it interesting. 10 singles in cool sleeves and a really well made box, inserts, a CD, a nearly 100 page super well done booklet, and a full download code, all for $60 (well, I paid $55).  Fabulous old school soul, nice sounding, decent pressings, all around a super set. A+. A bonafide bargain, the only one actually on Black Friday.

Sundazed singles - The Byrds, The Yardbirds:

2 by each, the Byrds ones are really interesting and powerful alternates, maybe $9 each is steep but these are well worth having, a solid B+.

Mr. Gasser & The Weirdos on Sundazed:

Curiosity value perhaps, fun, cool covers that dredged up some long lost memories of 'ratfinks', I wouldn't think these would get a lot of rotation from most but an A for effort here. Hot Rod Hootenanny is the better of the three, Rods and Ratfinks has a certain pervese charm though. My copy of Hootenanny is pretty warped, playable though. Happens a lot from Sundazed. Sound is superb on both.

 Tom Petty Kiss My Amps:

Awesome long EP. Comes with a download code for a FLAC file. Rocks like a bitch. A+.Super record. A real prize. Essential.

Dream Theater Metropolis Vol. 2:

Unlike the abominable Roadrunner Dream Theater vinyl titles, this Rhino pressing sounds super good and is nicely presented. A. Rock solid. Good value at under $30.

 Grateful Dead Europe '72 Vol. 2:

Paid $60 for mine, 4 nicely pressed RTI vinyls continuing from the well done Bellman mastered Europe '72 set of a few months back. A+, this is for me a better set overall. 

Brendan Benson Upstairs At United:

Cool all analog 45 12 inch featuring great renditions of Bowie, Costello, Randy Newman etc. songs, nicely packaged, a bit steep at $15 but very worthwhile. One of the better finds, a solid A.


Iron & Wine Morning Becomes Eclectic:

Generic sleeved 12" 33 rpm EP, includes a CD, great value at $15, very interesting sides and good sound, worth picking up. Good B+.This is what RSD should be actually.


Black Keys Lonely Boy 12" 45:


Not terribly good value - two short songs cut at 45 on a 12" vinyl, not even a download and I paid $15. It is a novelty at best as it plays from the inner groove out to the outer groove, something you really better be careful about. Good tunes that build anticipation for the new LP. Interesting, and good songs and sound, but an expensive novelty still. B for the curiosity.


Last - the Mick Rock - Syd Barrett box, for $35, a pretty decent booklet in a tin case, the 2 track yellow vinyl single being almost a throw-in. For Syd completists only, with includes me I guess. B-.


Aside from the Wilco single, Soundgarden EP, a second Upstairs At United and the Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings LP that haven't arrived yet, I guess that's all for me this American Black Friday 2011. For the Wheedles Groove and Brendan Benson alone, as well as the Petty, Dead and Dream Theater, reasonably worthwhile but I did drop $500 - and really - have not that much essential to show for it. 

Until spring RSD....

Crosby Stills & Nash on Audio Fidelity gold CD - an early warning!!

Announced on the Steve Hoffman vanity board by the vanity master himself - Crosby Stills & Nash debut album coming soon on Adio Fidelity 24k gold CD.

Hoffman himself on his board has stated that his new remastering is, aside from Bernie Grundman's Classic 200g vinyl of a few years back, the only use of the true master tape on CD...as the great guru states:

"Well, WSP told us that they came from Stills not Nash. Does it matter? The CS&N gang had them, let's just say that. At any rate, we used them for our disk and Classic used them for their vinyl cutting. That's about it for use so far, I think. Maybe we'll use them again for our 78 RPM vinyl version.."

So, essentially, what Huffy is claiming is that his new version is the only CD taken from the true master tape. Whatever - that in itself is not unusual, but in this case, Hoffster and Audio Fidelity are actually competing against an audiophile release on gold CD from over a decade ago, that Atlantic put out, remastered by Joe Gastwirt. The booklet of that one states "From the original master tapes" and shows pictures of the original master tape boxes.

It would make sense for Hoffman and AF to want to cast aspersions on that version. The audiophile market is a rather limited one, and many potential customers will already have that version, and collectors pay pretty big bucks for it these days.

Personally, I don't care. The older Atlantic gold disc sounds superb, with a very true tonality capturing the dry, difficult acoustic Martin tone very accurately. It is a great mastering job.

Hoffman has not the slightest clue  what tape was used previously. He's just doing his usual salesman job of casting doubts to pump up his version.

I have heard too much of this half truths and little subtle putdowns by Hoffman to get sucked in again, so I will stick to my trusted Atlantic gold CD and avoid Audio Fidelity, whose track record is, to say the least, not very good.

The Monkees "HEAD" on Rhino 180g vinyl - a must have!

I am NOT a Monkees fan. I was a child when the show was on TV, it was kind of a kiddie show and by the time I was a teen hard rock, prog, and all sorts of cool stuff was in vogue where I grew up and The Monkees were really for the worst kind of geeks. Still, there was always a guilty pleasure to many of the songs that kept popping up on AM radio in my parents car.

Head is a very different matter. It's a remarkably cool, funny, trippy record that holds together very well and is a really fun listen. It is a period piece. It's pretty sincere, pretty psychedelic if at times trying too hard to be hip, has some good songs, and overall it's a trip.

Well remastered, although can be a bit bright, by Chris Bellman. A good RTI pressing for Rhino. A very cool reproduction of the original mirror cover that is a bitch to get a good picture of. Highly recommended. You might find yourself listening to it more often than you would expect.

Pink Floyd Vinyl 2011 Part 2 - Wish You Were Here 180g new pressing.

Yup, here comes part II of the 2011 Pink Floyd vinyl reissue campaign - Wish You Were Here quickly follows the disastrous (for all except Michael Fremer) 2011 pressing of Dark Side Of The Moon. Unlike that trainwreck, this one has been well pressed at RTI - I guess someone at Citicorp/EMI was paying attention. Surprising seeing as there are pretty much only lawyers and beancounters at the new Citicorp/EMI, at least until it gets sold. So that is the good news - a good pressing, and the packaging is excellent ( I am showing the back in the picture, the front is just like the original outer wrapper). A new poster is added, showing the flaming 2011 WYWH image (seen on the SACD) - cool.

That's all the good news. Like DSOTM the mastering leaves much to be desired. It, at times, has detail popping out from a rather flat background, that detail sounding a bit jarring. There is almost no air around the sound, the staging is flat and one-dimensional. Occasionally there is a roughness, a crude edge to the sound. Altogether, my 1970's vintage Japanese pressing has everything this one does not.

For the price, I guess the packaging is pretty cool. For listening, have another copy, like a Japanese original, in your collection.

ABOUT THOSE TOSHIBA JAPAN BLUE NOTE 200g vinyl reissues - I was dead wrong!

I posted a few days ago about the new series of vinyl mono Blue Note titles from Toshiba Japan, and got a bit of flak from readers saying they are from 24bit digital files.

I protested that pretty heavily - if there are any folks in the world I would believe without hesitation, it is the Japanese.

Which is why I am terribly saddened to have found out this afternoon, from absolutely direct and unimpeachable sources, that in fact this new vinyl Blue Note Series is not only from 24 bit hi res files, they are actually from 24 bit files originally remastered by Rudy Van Gelder as part of the 24 bit RVG CD series of a few years back.

That's right - these are not even sourced from original blue Note mono tapes, digitized. They are actually folds of RVG mastered digital files!

To say that Kevin Gray has done miraculous work on the two titles I have is an understatement. The Maiden Voyage, for which I understand the true master tape has not existed for over 20 years, sounds very good. The Soul Station is not bad either, although not near as good as the Music Matters.

Leave it to Citigroup/EMI to be the ones to, for the first time, turn even Japanese record companies into dishonorable crooks. I am beyond shocked and feel shamed for the Japanese record buyer.

Whether they sound decent or not is immaterial. These are a sham. There is no doubt that these vinyl pressings are a complete crock. Avoid.