[DaveyW]

Hi All,

There's been a quite a few comments made on the "Catch of the day" and "What've you listened to" threads re. the apparent differences in US v's Euro pressings.

It's something that I'd not really thought about too much before.

What's the general concensus here?

The vast majority of my 1500+ discs are UK pressings, a few European and a handful of US (mostly Warner I think)
I'll have to hunt them out and try and see for myself, unfortunately I don't believe I have any US/Euro duplicates to do a proper check.

Looking forward to your thoughts

Dave

PS listening to a very nice English pressing on RCA of Renaissance - Turn of the Cards while typing this 

[LM]

Dave,

Being from Oz, most of my (early - most new are imported) vinyl was pressed in Australia.  I have very few US, UK or other country pressings at all to compare with.  Only reason I say this is that there are probably more potential differences in quality than just the two you mention.  I have read that Japanese pressings are held in high regard but personally have none.

[DaveyW]

Quite right LM - Just running with the topics in the threads mentioned.
Of course this should have an international flavour.

Appols
Dave

[orthobiz]

In general the UK pressings are more desirable. If you read threads elsewhere critically comparing, it always seems that the original UK pressings win out with respect to the better sound quality. The US has much heavier cardboard, less glossy surfaces to the jacket and the US inner sleeves are squared off and not tapered like many UK releases. Also, sanitized covers and even album names over here. Like NIck Lowe Jesus of Cool was Pure Pop For Now People over here. And Golden Earring Moontan...let's just say the US release shows an ear with an earring and the UK version shows places where people now Put earrings!

I don't know if it's purely the engineer mastering the pressings, the meticulous attention to making the vinyl, the composition of the vinyl or what.

Then of course you have different versions of the same albums, like songs appearing on British versions of Beatles albums. Or the subtle differences in ov half the songs on Lene Lovich's Stateless that make owning both versions an absolute necessity.

Yo, Davey, wanna trade collections? You send yours over first...

Paul

[Wayner]

All of the master tapes used for LP production of US produced music, pressed else where is probably a third generation daughter of the very first master. They may chose to have different selections for different countries for god knows how many reasons. All the cardboard, modified artwork and sleeves are from local suppliers of the region.

I have many German cut LPs and they do not seem to be sonically superior to their US counterparts. I do have a couple of UK pressings, XTC - Nonsuch and Thomas Dolby - Astronauts and Heretics that do seem to be sonic marvels.

Wayner 

[neobop]

The vast majority of my records are jazz, so my perspective is very different. Back in the late '60s I bought rock albums, but Sgt Pepper, Fresh Cream, Hendrix etc were all US pressings. I only have a couple of British jazz pressings. They are budget re-issues and it might not represent the quality of other Brit pressings. So I have to abstain on that as well. I do have some French pressings, mostly Blue Note, that seem consistently brighter than the orig issue or the US re-issues. Maybe it's lack of bass or difference in VTA/SRA, because the top is clear and detailed. The German pressings are mostly a few classical and also seem bright, sometimes painfully so. I've also found that classical tends to have the greatest variation in arm height requirements going from label to label. Over the years I've avoided European pressings for that reason. Almost forgot, I have a few Spanish pressings that are more like US pressings.

I do have a number of Japanese pressings, mostly all jazz. These are, in general, my favorites, along with orig US pressings. The overall quality seems as high as vintage US audiophile pressings, only I'm not stuck with the limited program material. Some people say that their Japanese pressings are bass shy. My jazz pressings are just the opposite. Bass is full and tends to sound a little more forward. This is vastly superior to me, than bass that gets drowned out. The Japanese Blue Notes even rival original issues for sound quality. If you have or can find a mint original, it will probably sound a little better, but at what price? I'd rather have 3 or more Japanese for the price of 1 orig issue.

So many records - so little time.
neo

[TONEPUB]

There's no hard and fast rule....

Sometimes they did a better job, sometimes we did.

That's what makes this all fun (and aggravating!)

[DaveyW]

Thanks all for your responses - looks like a very mixed bag of experiences here.

I dug out a lightly played US Warner pressing (Uriah Heep's Innocent Victim) but no chance for a serious listen as yet.
Will give it a spin when I get a chance and compare to the UK pressed discs pre & post this one and report back if I spot anything of interest.

Cheers,
Dave