Comments on: A Lexington Avenue Trio

By: woody

woody — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 20:56:23 +0000

Mac – I agree with you on the test pressing vs. commercial releases but there are a handful of Blue Notes that I’ve had a hard time putting in a category. They all have the “P” and Van Gelder Stamp but never went into production at that time. All of those sessions were released much later but not from Van Gelder’s masters as far as I know. Would the commercial releases be considered repressings then?

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 18:47:16 +0000

Some nice Strata East titles there GST – very rare you see those for sale from UK sellers. Shame it’s Vinyl House, puts them out of my price range!

By: GST

GST — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 16:39:44 +0000

Lots of good 70’s jazz listed by Vinyl House UK for anyone interested.

By: Mac

Mac — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 16:37:59 +0000

Woody – I don’t include test pressings as first pressings, as they are not commercial releases. It’s a prototype of sorts, and may or may not reflect the final commercial release … IMO. 🙂

By: Clifford Allen

Clifford Allen — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 14:44:24 +0000

yeah, there are audiophile collectors and hot stamper weirdos who clearly do not care or are quite disinterested with original pressings — it’s all about the Maxell syndrome.

I’d say that “first 12″ pressing” works well for titles originally on 78 or ten inch or whatever.

By: Abrasive_Beautiful

Abrasive_Beautiful — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 03:29:09 +0000

Daryl, I think it would depend on each individual collector’s motivations for collecting in the first place. There are so many reasons. I bet there’s someone out there who collects original Blue Notes exclusively for the cover art

By: Daryl

Daryl — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 01:20:38 +0000

This discussion raises for me the notion of the value of a “first” press or “first” edition. My understanding has been that the implicit value of such is that the sound quality is better than later pressings of any glory or ilk. If the “first press” of a record does not possess a strong quality of sound… who cares the pressing’s rank? If a “first press” sounds like a Pickwick “Best of”… I can only hope that collectors bite their thumbs at it. (Of course, there are likely “first press” collectors for “first press” collecting’s sake.) I value all of your thoughts.

By: woody

woody — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 20:59:41 +0000

Mac – There are some Blue Note sessions that have questionable pedigrees that I’ve wondered about also… Like Horace Parlan’s Happy Frame of Mind from 1963 that had a Plastylite test pressings but the session wasn’t released until 1968 as part of a Booker Ervin Two-Fer. Would that be considered a first pressing then?

By: Mac

Mac — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 16:10:21 +0000

Al, I am of the mindset that a first pressing exists for any series within a given format. So, there can be a first pressing of a 78, and a first pressing of a 12″. Both are correct. I guess I consider the RPM as the discriminating factor (so if a 12″ 45 RPM set was pressed later than the 12″ 33-1/3 RPM, I would consider it a repressing). Any takers?

By: Clifford Allen

Clifford Allen — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 14:36:21 +0000

The seller’s feedback rating is poor. I’d avoid.