By: Troy Grooms

Troy Grooms — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 02:52:31 +0000

“London Calling” nailed it. I concur with all of his observations, which took me a couple of years and a couple of benjamins or so to figure out. Solid blue label blue notes are usually the best value. I snag any mono white/blue label United Artists label I need and anything under $30 for such a pressing, in my mind, is a bargain.

By: London Calling

London Calling — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:03:28 +0000

Over on this side of the pond Blue Note original issues are rare as hens teeth and rapidly priced out of reach. There is a pecking order of reissues and its helpful to know whats what before putting your hand in your pocket.

1st Re-issues from Liberty still sound damn good to me, and are around in sufficient quantity priced at £25 – 35 according to rarity.

Jap pressings are huely admired with King still the king, but the later EMI Toshiba still sound very good – available occasionaly at £30-40

Blue labels from the United Artists period are the most affordable of acceptable quality and tend to cost between £15 -20

Now the bad news. The most commonly available are the horrid French EMI France pressings ot the mid ’80’s, and their Manhatten equivalents with DMM . I have four and they are uniformly horrible.Thin lifeless shallow, everything a Blue Note should not be. Vinyl’s mistaken answer to CD .

The saving grace of this darkest period are the very first French pressings under Pathe Marconi. Made before the DMM-mania took hold, they are an absolute bargain and still sound pretty good, though not up to the Liberty reissues.

And now we see the facsimile cover cd to vinyl transfers (Scorpio). Worse than horrible, and selling at £8 in numerous distributors.

Please keep writing about the real stuff, but bear in mind day to day many of us are still trying to find acceptably priced quality reissues.

Comments on: Tracking Prices For Later Blue Note Pressings

By: Troy Grooms

By: London Calling