Kuma, I’m just relaying info elsewhere on the 'net. If it was cut at Optimal, then yes, I think it’s digital (not necessarily a disaster). However, if it’s cut by BG then an all-analogue chain is possible I guess, and I assume Optimal just get sent the metalwork to press the vinyl.
Got it.
Tho, I don’t know what Bernie can improve from those old Warner recordings.
These days, i am leery of any newish reissues or remastering because the Universal lost a huge catalogue of original masters in the fire back in 2008.
I read that NYT article on the Lost Universal master tapes - horrible!
I was really impressed with what BG did with the Kate Bush vinyl reissues, so hopefully the JT reissues will be good too. The UK always got second best (or worse) with the warners originals, US cuts usually sounding much more vivid and alive, so a nice mint set of the reissues may make more sense for buyers over here.
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Nope it isn’t Kuma. I did my record there… Optimal are well-known for the excellence of their electroplating, pressings and finishing. If they are doing these reissues, they should be very good.
It is quite possible Richard, that Optimal will get sent a lacquer from which they will make their own metal masters. That’s what they did for us, and a very good job they did too.
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Conversely a record originally recorded in the UK, mother country pressings usually sound better.
I was comparing US and UK pressing of 10cc ‘How Dare You’ last week and as usual UK pressing sounds better. ( More natural, as US pressings tend to have a smiley EQ applied ).
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That’s good to know Kevin.
I was thinking GZ Media. That’s the outfit not too great IME.
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Yep GZ are in the Czech Republic, Optimal are based in Germany and they operate with a typical Germanic attention to detail. 
They did the Beatles in Mono vinyl LPs.
Mr Kevster, do you know how the Dire Straits/ Communique reissue, remastered by Bernie Grundman, was done? Because i find the original pressing more lively and analog like. The reissue was pressed at Pallas, Germany.
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FR, as I posted on the old forum, I found that of my US Pallas pressed reissues of the Dire Straits first four albums, Communique was much the most disappointing. As you say, the original is much more lively and engaging. I’m not sure why that is - possibly down to the tape used or maybe something went a bit awry during the process.
thanks Richard, i remember now.
Often, @kuma, an xth generation master tape was sent across the Atlantic from which US engineers cut their own metalwork after adding EQ etc.
5th July
“… Mr. Green was, however, on hand and truly on form for the band’s January 30, 1970 appearance at The Warehouse in New Orleans, where Messrs. Green, Kirwan, Fleetwood, Spencer and McVie played a stunning set as support to the Grateful Dead. Mac’s complete performance was recorded for local broadcast too, and from this source comes this superb CD featuring one of Fleetwood Mac’s finest available live recordings from this period, an era sadly destined to come to a close soon after this quite extraordinary gig.”
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Should be interesting…
A previously unreleased Miles Davis album called Rubberband will see light later this year.
The origins of Rubberband date back to the mid-1980s following Davis’ departure from Columbia Records. In October of 1985, he entered Los Angeles’ Ameraycan Studios with producers Randy Hall and Zane Giles. As a press release notes, “the musical direction Davis was taking during the sessions marked a radical departure, with the inclusion of funk and soul grooves [and] with plans to feature guest vocalists Al Jarreau and Chaka Khan.” Eventually, the album was shelved and Davis went on to record Tutu , which was released in 1986.
Now, after 30 years, Rhino Records is set to give Rubberband its own proper release. The album was recently completed by original producers Hall and Giles along with Davis’ nephew, Vince Wilburn, Jr., who played drums on the original sessions for the album in 1985-86. Additional contributors included Ledisi and Lalah Hathaway.
Rubberband was previewed earlier this year via a four-song EP released for Record Store Day. The full 11-song set will be available digitally, on CD, and as a double vinyl beginning September 6th.
In anticipation, take a listen to the opening track, “Rubberband of Life”, and a few different variations below. Also, check out the album’s artwork, which is an original painting by Davis.
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Bat For Lashes - Lost Girls. Out on 6 September 2019.
Lost Girls is a ten-track album described as being “full of romance, an homage to Los Angeles, to being a kid in the 80” and we are promised “heavy bass lines, synth arpeggios, Iranian pop beats, cascading choruses” and some of Natasha’s “finest songwriting to date”.
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The readability of the title lettering on that cover design is terrible! L’s that look like V’s and a G that looks like a lowercase ‘a’. Why make the T so long to fit when the downstroke of the L in lost is so short? I like the principle of the hand drawn look but the execution couldn’t of been worse! Perhaps they wanted it to be unclear.
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Agree, for someone who is design literate, her choice of hand drawn/ painted type is rather dominant over what is quite an interesting photo. The red tinted snake drawing / engraving is almost lost too!
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New Jamie Saft should be out in June…