[Scott F.]

Well, not looking to start a pity party but I've got to get this off my chest.

Most of you know I absolutely love vinyl. Of late I'm really starting to get (more than) perturbed with it. I love the fact that when I walked into my local vinyl shop (Euclid Records, St Louis) today, they had a complete section dedicated to brand new vinyl, fresh from the stamping plant. Guessing, there had to be a solid 750-1000 titles to choose from. Granted most of it was rock and of that, I knew maybe 15-20% of the groups. That's all good though. I'm just happy to see all kinds of new vinyl being pressed.

So like a kid in a candy store, I start flipping through all of Euclid's offerings. I settled on three, brand new pressings. Jeff Beck - Live at Ronnie Scott's, Jack Johnson - Sleep through the Static, and Lou Donaldson - Lou Takes Off (45rpm Classic reissue).

So I grab these, pay for them and hustle out the door to go meet Thunderbrick (Bob) at my house. Bob was dropping off a couple of boxes of vinyl to get distributed to the local guys at next weekends gathering at my house. So I get to the house, fire up the table to get the bearing nice and warm and go and greet Bob. After visiting for a while, Bob and I start listening to the system.

After a few sides I decide to slide on the Lou Donaldson 45 reissue. Wow, I'm completely underwhelmed. Not that it sounded bad by any stretch but at $55, I sure as hell expected more. To demonstrate why I was disappointed, I popped on Louis Armstrong Plays King Oliver (Classic 45) and then the RCA Living Stereo Claire de Lune (Classic 45). Those two releases are absolutely stunning on a good system. The Donaldson was kinda ho-hum...at best. grrrrrr

So then after some Kraftwork (autobahn) I slipped on the Jeff Beck. Well, it was another complete dud. The sound was closed, rolled off, unmusical...almost MP3ish. Actually, I think an MP3 would probably sound better. Crap, there goes another $25 clams.

Disgusted, I decided not to listen anymore. Well after a couple of hours I decided to go down and clean off my workbench. I just got a pair of Bob Crites crossovers form my reboxed Cornwall's (the Cornzilla's) and I want to bypass the caps with some vitamin Q PIOs before I install them. Rather than working in silence, I saw the Jack Johnson sitting there and thought, what the heck. I dropped the needle and walked towards the shop and actually had to stop. WHOLLY CRAP! This release is killer! Now, I still need to give it a good scrubbing to get the mold release out of the grooves but this release is absolutely reference material 

Now, my beef (and reason for writing this) is with the G*d awful lack of quality control measures in the vinyl industry. If these record companies and plants can't hire people who can at least hear, why the hell are we supporting these jerk-wads? It just pisses me off.

Its not just this trip to the vinyl store. A few weeks ago I picked up a fair amount of new pressings. Of those, I'm batting about the same 333 average. I picked up the new Gov't Mule on yellow vinyl...meeah. I also got Dream Theater Systematic Chaos and Black Clouds and Silver Linings. Neither of those two are worth writing home about either. I could go on and on about all the crappy recordings I've picked up over the last few years.

All that said, I know vinyl has always been a crap shoot. So much of the sound is directly attributable to the vinyl mastering technician, that and the other major factor in the sound is making sure you get a copy that was cut before the stamper starts to wear out (white label promo's are the best). Getting that copy that is fresh off a new stamper is impossible unless you buy strictly from the guys like Classic (and others) who do (generally) limited pressings and charge considerably more for their product. I also realize not all are happy with some of those labels but as a whole, they seem to be far safer to buy from than these mass market pressings.

I guess it all comes down to caveat emptor.


Sorry about the rant. Just needed to vent.

Hey, if nothing else, you guys now know what (of those albums) are worthy 

[Blackmore]

I remember that Dream Theater disc when you first got it.  Pretty blah sound and even more disappointing after hearing the older Dream Theater record we played next; that one was great.  (still haven't bought that one yet.)

If they were cheaper it wouldn't hurt so bad, but a $25-45 record that sounds worse than iTunes is a bitter pill to swallow.  Sorry it happened to you. 

See you next week for Obscure Vinyl night and good luck with the Crites crossovers for Cornzilla.

[Letitroll98]

Rather than working in silence, I saw the Jack Johnson sitting there and thought, what the heck. I dropped the needle and walked towards the shop and actually had to stop. WHOLLY CRAP! This release is killer! Now, I still need to give it a good scrubbing to get the mold release out of the grooves but this release is absolutely reference material 

Wow, after reading about the first two slabs, I was waiting for the slam on one of my fav albums.  Glad you found it to be worthy.  I wasn't much of a JJ fan until I bought this release, I agree wholeheartedly, awesome album pressing and a musical revelation for the artist.

For the more general point, I also agree, but I don't sweat it so much.  I do try to read some reviews of the new release to see if it has any merit, and I like to stay with labels I trust, Sub Pop for one, but that doesn't mean I haven't got a couple of dud purchased on impulse.  The National  for instance.  Great Cherry Tree EP on vinyl got me lovin' the band, loved the Boxer CD, the vinyl album release sucked mightily.  Go figure.  I just take it as a given that new vinyl can be a crap shoot and if it bothers you a lot you should stay with releases recommended by trusted reviewers.  I hope you have better luck next time. 

[Scott F.]

I'm with you, I wasn't much of a JJ fan either until I bought that CD for my son. After listening to it, it really grew on me. The vinyl version is really good though I have to say I haven't listened critically, I just noticed how well mastered it was as I worked in the background.

You're right about the impulse buying. It seems that the majority of those (if on an unknown label) are less than spectacular. As you mentioned, I probably should have read Fremer's write up on Lou Donaldson (that I just read last night), if I had seen the 8/10 on the sound quality (for the 33rpm) I probably would have passed on the album.

...then again, I was really jones'n to by those couple of Goldfrapp LPs they had   

[Bob in St. Louis]

Scott, thanks for "taking one for the team" Sir.
As a big JJ fan, I now know which one to get (when I'm ready to start paying for new vinyl that is). 
Also good to know the Gov't Mule sucks, cause there's a decent chance I'd have bought that one too.

Paying $40 to $55 for the Lou Donaldson, Gov't Mule, and JJ only to find out they sucks would have sent me over the edge. May have involved a high powered scoped rifle from the bell tower. That's just plain wrong to charge that much for a form of media that's expected (in this day and age) to be the best of the best. What is it exactly these people are expecting to receive from issuing crap? Because you, I, them, and the general public know there's only a handful of people in the world currently listening to vinyl. That being said, you'd *think* they'd go the extra mile for those of us that actually care how it sounds. For, after all, that's why they're still pressing vinyl....isn't it?
Otherwise, why bother. Just release the music on the website for .99 cents a song on mp3 and be done with it. 

Bob