I’m guessing your buying pre owned CD’s which is a great way to get physical music for a bargain, and unlike used vinyl they usually play well. The downside of course is the artists arent earning anything which makes buying used CD’s worse for them than streaming.
But we all do it
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Yes, all second hand stuff. A lot of used CDs I buy are no longer available, and some of them I have been tracking down for a while.
I still buy new records and CDs (direct from artist where possible) so I don’t feel bad about the artist missing out.
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Yes. Kevin is the proprietor and a nice chap. CD’s are a little disorganised but they’re getting there, especially with me visiting to clear some space for them.
Music Mania is also pretty good. Problem is I’m not usually able to get in that often, not being a member of the retired club yet. Probably just as well given the number of discs I’m buying.
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Wanderland by Sue the Night. Suus de Groot is a Dutch artist I’d never heard of before a track from this album popped up on Spotify.
I think this will be the last of my “never heard of them before, but I rather like that” Spotify-inspired purchases.
Given how little artists get from streaming services, not a lot of difference. I do buy new stuff as well, but a lot of older releases are often compressed remasters, so my only option is to buy used. I think they are missing a trick with remasters because originals often sound better, to my ears, as they haven’t destroyed the dynamic range in the process. The good thing about vinyl is reissues of older classics have often been tweaked for audiophiles whereas that is almost never the case for cd’s. You do have to pay through the nose though. I mean, £40 or £50 for an LP, come off it! I’d wear out the LP before saving enough for another copy.
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Well theres a lot that goes into the manufacture of vinyl records from mastering, cutting, plating, pressing etc. Its a skilled artisan process to do properly, that said there are quality records out there that arent in the £40 - £50 bracket (dont get me started on £150ish UHQR’s etc!)
Records wearing out is a myth imo if properly cared for and played on decent properly set up gramophones. I have cared for records in my collection bought when I was a mere urge in my dad’s trousers that still sound as new.
It does sometimes amuse me though that some “audiophiles” pay thousands for a gramophone then grumble about paying a relatively paltry £25 or so (let alone £40!) for a properly mastered and manufactured LP.
Anyway, back to CD’s and I agree about the compression, “remastering” and loudness wars. Often the best sounding discs are those from early on in the history of the format when the source was often just a simple straight flat transfer from tape, there often to be had for loose change.
Incidentally, the reason some early CD re issues of analogue era titles were criticised for being bright and harsh (nothing to do with compression or loudness back then, that was yet to become a thing) was due to the mistake of using an analogue cutting master (instead of going back to the original recording master) that had been EQ’d for a vinyl cut. Apparently when vinyl is cut and pressed some HF information can get rolled off as a side effect of the process so mastering engineers would apply a little HF lift to the cut to counter this. So you can see how that HF lift would still be audible on a flat transfer to digital, hence the bright, harsh or brittle sound detractors complained of. Anyway I digress as usual.
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Incredible to think they could be that ignorant of RIAA equalisation effects.
A lot of early DDD recordings were poor as well and I find AAD versions often sound better. There was definitely a sweet-spot in the 60’s and 70’s where recordings had character and quality, as well as a modicum of tape hiss. I always did wonder about the loudness wars and I know our amplifiers generally lost tone controls around this time but I don’t know of any that lost a volume knob as well!
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I think amps san tone controls go back a lot further than when CD mastering/loudness became a thing. Purist British amps like Naim of course for starters and often vintage valve pre amps were nothing more than simple passive gain circuits.
I agree about recordings from the 50’s, 60’s less so into the 70’s. Much simpler technology, purer signal paths and musicians playing pretty much Live in the studio. Engineers didn’t have all manner of studio trickery at their disposal and had to work hard to capture recordings with careful mic’ing studio set up, mixing live direct to master tape, no double takes, overdubbing etc
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24/7 internet + inexpensive SH product + obsessive compulsive behaviour = problem
I’m now stockpiling CDs without even ripping them. There’s some sort of 12 step programme for this, no?
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Melody Gardot and Muddy Waters == discerning tastes 
U2, needs help 
Some great stuff in those piles.
No Bring The Family?
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It’s there in the pile
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So it is, and rightly so.
Off to SS tomorrow.
Image courtesy of HMV
Just pre-ordered this from Amazon as part of Mrs BigAl’s Christmas presents. I feel slightly smug having got my Christmas shopping done, now. (Unless I see something else for her).
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In my last haul, there were 2 CDs I was super keen on getting - one was the soundtrack to American Graffiti as it’s been out of print and not on any streaming service (with the exception of ‘compilations’ that try to recreate the song list) It’s the definitive soundtrack of the 50s
The other was Nirvana: Unplugged in New York. I’d been looking for that one for a really long time and couldn’t find it. It’s odd as I remember it being really popular (and one of the last appearances before KC committed suicide)
Check out that cover - not what I was expecting!!
The Unplugged series I’m finding harder and harder to get. McCartney was another one that I couldn’t find - and once I did it was the Japanese pressing. Oh well…
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In case anyone thinks the Tina Turner CD is all I’ve got Mrs BigAl, it isn’t 
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King Crimson, Islands. It concludes their first period which began with the wonderful In the court of the Crimson King. The equally unmissable one with Wetton and Bruford will follow. In my opinion they wrote fundamental pages.
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I bought the Lorin Maazel "Ring Without Words " Graham 55 mentioned this .
The hairs on the back of my neck raised at one part -superb
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I have that on vinyl!
Great movie, terrific soundtrack.
4K release out shortly.
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