Audiophile Reissues Or Original Pressings

[FreddieFerric]

I have to admit, that I'm not too much of a fan of these "audiophile" 180 gram reissuses that are available all over the place. These are the "new" titles that I've purchased within the last few months:

Eric Clapton, Slowhand
Alice Cooper, School's Out
Boz Scaggs, Self Titled
Doobie Brothers, The Captain and Me
Derek And The Dominoes, Layla
Madonna, Immaculate Collection

Granted, this is not (thankfully) a very long list, but I have to say I am not very impressed with any of these. Invariably, IMHO, they seem to lack dynamics and spaciousness. Overall, they seem to leave me unispired and uninterested in playing out the entire record.

I wonder if anyone else shares these thoughts. For me I guess, I'll take the cheapo thin originals any day.

[richteer]

Interesting. With only one or two exceptions, I've preferred the reissued version of a record. Alas, I don't actually have any of those that you mention for a direct comparison.

[analogapartment]

When I see the 180gm reissue, I'm less inclined to purchase it because I say to myself "Oh, I can find that anywhere".

The one case where I do cave and pick them up is on imports or artists that I absolutely love.

Great question btw

[FreddieFerric]

Originally Posted by analogapartment

When I see the 180gm reissue, I'm less inclined to purchase it because I say to myself "Oh, I can find that anywhere".

The one case where I do cave and pick them up is on imports or artists that I absolutely love.

Great question btw

Welcome to the site. FWIW, I saw that question posed on your own site and it prompted me to bring the subject up over here. This question about these 180 gram reissues has been on my mind ever since I picked up Slowhand about 3 months ago and absolutely hated it.

Is this new craze giving the vinyl hobby a bad name?

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by BluRayFred

Welcome to the site. FWIW, I saw that question posed on your own site and it prompted me to bring the subject up over here. This question about these 180 gram reissues has been on my mind ever since I picked up Slowhand about 3 months ago and absolutely hated it.

Is this new craze giving the vinyl hobby a bad name?

Hi Fred,

I know that Tom Port of Better Records normally prefers better original pressings to the 180 gm and half speed masters. He is of the opinion that generally the original label and engineer got things right and that the new engineer did not.

Rich

[dobyblue]

It's definitely something you should consider on a record by record basis and use sites like the Steve Hoffman forums, Audio Karma, etc., to help you with your decisions.

For example, the 320 stamper pressings of Nirvana's Nevermind which were released in Germany in 2003 and most recently Universal UK Back to Black 2008 absolutely blow away the original pressings, the MOFI pressings, the Japanese 200g pressing and the Simply Vinyl pressing. Having listened to the MOFI which a friend has, the Gold CD and the original CD and recently acquiring an EU back to black pressing I can concur that the 2008 pressing is as good as they say and it was mastered for vinyl in 2003 by Willem Makee.

The US Back to Black pressing of Axis also receives a lot of rave reviews being that it states it's an all analog (mastering, pressing, etc.) production whereas most of the original Universal US B2B pressings were pressed from CD-quality digital sources, or so it's assumed given how many they launched at the start.

The 180g Go Disc 2008 release of Portishead's "Dummy" is a repressing of the 320 Willem Makee stamper as well, it is supposed to be much better than some of the older pressings.

Plenty of original pressings will stomp the newer pressings, but it's still worth taking the time to find out as it's not a blanket statement and occassionally you'll find a newer pressing that's actually had the proper care taken.

Bob Marley, I think you'll consistently want to look for original pressings - I've not read anything great about any Marley repressings where the person giving the opinion also has original Island pressings.

[richteer]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

I know that Tom Port of Better Records normally prefers better original pressings to the 180 gm and half speed masters. He is of the opinion that generally the original label and engineer got things right and that the new engineer did not.

That's fair enough, but let's not forget that Tom Port is in the business of selling those über expensive "hot stampers". I don't doubt that some of his wares are better than some of the more iffy reissues, but he's not exactly a disinterested party!