Wanna Talk About any Reissues?

[nobody]

I don't tend to go after too many reissues, but lately I have picked up a couple that I wanted to mention. They're vinyl releases and done very well...

Gene Vincent: Blue Jean Bop + Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps
First 2 Gene Vincent LPs reissued with the original cover graphics and even the original labels. These reissues are exactly the way they should be done in my opinion and show just what a good reissue brings to the table. Take classic records that are way too pricey on the used market for decent copies, repress them with no fancy extra graphics and other stuff, keep quality high and sell for 10 bucks a pop. I've also had At Home with Screaming Jay Hawkins, another one in this series for quite some time. Great stuff all around. I'd love to see these guys keep digging up the oldies in their original form for reissue. I can think of tons of titles that would make great additions.

The Congos: Heart of the Congos
Well, this record I had heard plenty good about, but had only heard one track off it. I saw it in the shop as a 2 record reissue from Simply Vinyl and decided to go for it. There was a recent Jamaican pressing right next to it, cheaper, but to be honest I've had some pretty spotty luck with Jamaican pressings. I have a pressing of Burnin' where the last song on side 1 cuts off before it should be over and plenty that are noisy. So, in this case, the combination of extra tracks, some dub versions and singles added on, and the promise of a quuiet, quality pressing had me springing the 20 bucks for the thick vinyl and fancy stuff. Worth it in this case, great music highlighted by fabulous percussion throughout, this is quickly becomming one of my favorite reggae releases. The pressing by Simply Vinyl is fantastic, flat as anything I've ever seen and dead silent. I'm not so wild about the packaging (they change to a new cover with a photo of the original burried in the graphics and the plasticy slip covers they use seem a bit brittle, mine tore already), but still a great release overall.

Anyone else got any reissues they were particularly impressed with lately?

[Dave_G]

I bought two Kansas reissues the other day.

"Kansas" and "Song for America".

Thus far I am disappointed with "Song for America". I was hoping for some beautiful clean up and refreshing, but it's about the same quality as the regular release (CBS Kirshner).

I dunno. Maybe I have too high expectations, or I haven't been in that "ideal" listening situation where all of a sudden "wow" happens, you know?

Anyway that's all I have got lately.

I do want to find that new Rush and the new Morissey, I will look at used stores, I am sure I can find them there.

Dave

[markw]

Without going into too great detail there areat least two brands that do a bang up job in general. http://www.legacyrecordings.com is an arm of Columbia/Sony that is currently miningther vaults for old masters, doinga slignt clean up and reissuing then, generally with a few unreleased extras. They sound pretty durn good. ...and they are cheaper than the high priced spread!

Lessee.. among many others, I've got BB & THC, Cheap Thrills, the entire S & G catalog, Louis Armstrong plays W.C Handy and tons of others.

Now, the cover art looks EXACTLY likethe run of the run of the mill Columbia release. Check the spines for "Columbia/Legacy", not just Columbia.

They also do Epic and afew other ancillary labels. II have Burton Cumming's first (laugh, and I'll have to track ya down and kill ya )by them and that's on Epic. I believe.

These are CD, not vinyl.

for vinyl, check out http://www.sundazed.com fot these. Basically obscure groups and garage bands from the60's, but worth a look.

Both of these labels are not audiophile priced, but do still have the sound.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

The Congos: Heart of the Congos
Well, this record I had heard plenty good about, but had only heard one track off it. I saw it in the shop as a 2 record reissue from Simply Vinyl and decided to go for it. There was a recent Jamaican pressing right next to it, cheaper, but to be honest I've had some pretty spotty luck with Jamaican pressings. I have a pressing of Burnin' where the last song on side 1 cuts off before it should be over and plenty that are noisy. So, in this case, the combination of extra tracks, some dub versions and singles added on, and the promise of a quuiet, quality pressing had me springing the 20 bucks for the thick vinyl and fancy stuff. Worth it in this case, great music highlighted by fabulous percussion throughout, this is quickly becomming one of my favorite reggae releases. The pressing by Simply Vinyl is fantastic, flat as anything I've ever seen and dead silent. I'm not so wild about the packaging (they change to a new cover with a photo of the original burried in the graphics and the plasticy slip covers they use seem a bit brittle, mine tore already), but still a great release overall.

This is great news as I just ordered this album from diversevinyl.com, I've had mixed results from Simply Vinyl, Nick Drake's Bryter Later and The Band's Music from Big Pink, both have very good sound, but Nirvana's In Utero sucks. The pressing quality and packaging have been universally great.

My turntable had been down for an extended period, so I haven't bought many re-issues lately, I think the most recent was a spate of Sundazed's Dylan mono re-issues, Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan all sound great and have very good pressing quality and packaging, with Freewheelin' the standout for sound, probably because of the intimacy of the performance. I'm probably going to order Blonde on Blonde and John Wesley Harding as soon as my credit card recovers. On the CD side I got the Rhino re-issue of The Violent Femmes a little while ago, good sound on the regular album tracks, and decent bonus material too, I still prefer the warmer sound on my orig. Canadian vinyl pressing though.

[nobody]

Well, I wouldn't necessarily say the Congos release has excellent sonics, but the pressing is superb. I think they seem to have done as good a job as possible, but you have to consider the tapes they had to work with.

I doubt you'll be disappointed.