Just go to amazon or other music site choose your album Click on it copy and paste.
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Oh dear look what we done to the blues blues blues.
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Well, I eventually heard from Decca/Universal’s customer services and today a new replacement box set was delivered. Looks good so far…
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Have you had a listen to any of them yet Richard? From what I understand, the CD equivalent sounds very good, but the vinyl is quite expensive so it would be useful to know what the records sound like before pulling the trigger…
Not yet Kev. The box only just arrived. I’ll give Mexican Green a spin first and compare with my original copy.
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I gave the first side of Mexican Green a quick listen last night just before preparing dinner. First impressions are pretty good, just a shame that the sleeves aren’t flip-backs like the originals - if Jazzman could do it for the Carr & Rendell reissues, then surely Universal/Decca could have done similar. Worse, is that the sleeves are made to look like flip-backs, but aren’t - like a photocopy. Also the covers are not particularly shiny either. Overall, they look a bit cheap, rather cheesey. A shame. At least the LPs within are immaculate, and always nice to see proper anti-static inners being used too.
I’d never considered my original of Mexican Green to be a particularly good sounding LP - it always sounded a bit compressed and lacking in bass and body, kind of like if you record something encoded with DBX and then replay it without decoding. The CD didn’t really improve on that, so perhaps expecting the latest LP reissue to do so was a hope too far. In the end, (and without doing a back to back comparison due to time limitations) it sounds pretty close to the original. So, no audiophile prizes here, but at least the vinyl is clean, quiet and pressed really nicely. No, what’s special here is the performance, and luckily that has survived intact.
The reissue is on the left, original on the right.
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I have the 2005 CD release of Mexican Green, the issue of which was project managed by Kevin Long. It doesn’t state who was responsible for mixing and mastering. The sound is fine, but nowhere near as good as the version in the latest box set, which was mastered by Caspar Sutton-Jones at Gearbox Records. The new version has greater depth and clarity than the 2005 version, as well as additional tracks. I think the CD is a good option here, particularly given the price difference.
In my case I play the CDs ripped WAV to a server and streamed, rather than played on a CD player.
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Clive,
I decided to go with the new CD box set because I had a few older CDs to compare against with a view to buying the vinyl set if I liked the CDs.
The CDs I’ve listened to so far all sound really good and I feel no need to splash out on the vinyl set at this point in time.
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Great Westbrook big band double LP culled from a 1974 Swedish Radio recording. Caspar Sutton-Jones at Gearbox has done a splendid job on this.
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Pre ordered the third part of the trilogy on vinyl.
Ian said looking good for April release.
NEW ALBUM - UTOPIAN -
PRE-ORDER NOW!
Utopian is the third part of a trilogy which began with Star Smile Strong (2017), and continued with Our Future In Space (2018). Ian feels he is at a creative zenith at this point and wanted to deliver a three-part knock-out, in which he believes he has succeeded based on the material already written for this new project. If you enjoyed the previous two releases we are sure you won’t be disappointed with this one. Many songs have been written for the album and new material keeps on coming. Some recording has been done but due to Ian’s road commitments in 2019 the hard work continues in 2020.
Some song titles: Boy, The Sun Came Out At Night, Jivin’ Miss Daisy, Swiss Army Knife Of Fuerteventura, Deserter, The Outlaw, No One Tells A Lie Like A Dude With A Tie, The Old Grey Lady, You Bring Good Things, Protection.
The album will be available on CD and 180g double gatefold vinyl. It will not be available for download or on streaming services until the initial run of physical copies has been serviced to pre-orders.
Thank you for your continued patronage.
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Two very different but both classic albums.
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Arrived today, 20th anniversary of White Ladder. Also purchased the limited edition box set but not opened that one yet as this is a very good recording I don’t feel the need except to hear the demo tracks.
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White ladder box set. The album on white vinyl sounds pretty good. Also a collection of “rarities and B Sides” which sounds fantastic and a book written by Gray giving some interesting insight into his early days and the success of White Ladder.
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I to bought both the double lp and the box set. Only listened to the double lp and very nicely remastered/pressed it is to.
I have listened to the box set demo tracks on Qobuz. Have you played the box set?
Orange Juice - Texas Fever
Original release in mint condition still in original unopened shrinkwrap, complete with Virgin Top 60 sticker. Must be old stock they got s hold of
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Yes. I thought the white vinyl was pretty good but maybe not as good as I was hoping as I’ve always thought this album was a prime candidate for a quality remastering job. The demo / b-sides discs sound really good and well worth the extra.
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