[TimJo]

There are a couple of Van Morrison reissues that I recently picked up that I can certainly recommend.

Astral Weeks (WB R1 1768)
Moondance (WB R1 1835)

They are both part of the Warner Brothers vinyl reissue series, that is slowly making its way into production.

The albums have the original artwork, beautifully reproduced, as well as the vintage dark green WB labels. They are pressed on 180 gram vinyl at RTI, and my copies are flat and quiet.

Both albums were cut by Kevin Gray at AcousTech Mastering and the dynamics are stunning.

Moondance was remastered by Steve Hoffman from the original analog tapes, and he restored the original version of "Into The Mystic" that was mixed on 12/10/69, but due to a screwup at A&R Recording a month later, was left off the production lacquers. Only the very first cutting of Moondance actually contains the "tambourine version" of this cut, and so for the first time in almost 40 years, you can hear this album the way Van meant it to be heard. Even if you are lucky enough to own a first pressing, my guess is it is pretty worn out, and this new pressing will blow it away...

If your intested in the details, check out this link: The True Story of the "INTO THE MYSTIC" mixing goof on Van Morrison's MOONDANCE album

 

[jsaliga]

[size=small]Humble Pie - Performance: Rockin' the Fillmore[/size]

Some people just don't get it. In this case I am referring to Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AMG, who gives this album a measly 3 stars. Yeah, it's only one person's opinion, and I usually find myself on the same side of the fence as Erlewine on most rock music. But this is Humble Pie live! Maybe you just had to live through that period of time to really appreciate it as a rock fan.

The Fillmore East was a legendary performance venue. Bill Graham had many legendary performers playing there: Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Who, Buddy Guy, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Frank Zappa, Traffic, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, Faces...you name it...including Humble Pie.

Back then going to concerts was an important part of life as a rock fan. I missed the Fillmore East days by a couple of years, but I did see Led Zeppelin twice (and many other top rock acts of the 1970s) at other venues. Listening to rock records was done certainly for its own sake because we loved the music, but also it made us look forward to a band's upcoming tour. As the tour dates approached we found ourselves listening to that band more and more.

I never saw Humble Pie live, but was always a fan (and saw Frampton live as a solo act). One of the things I hated about the CD era was how thin and tinny this album sounded. Every CD release of this that I have heard has been terrible. I kept hoping that Steve Hoffman would get his hands on this one some day and do it justice. But the next best thing has happened.

Classic Records has remastered this album and issued it on a pair of 180g vinyl LPs. While I have had issues with defective records from Classic Records, I have never had a single complaint about any of its mastering. Like The Who's Quadrophenia, Humble Pie's Rockin' the Fillmore has never sounded better. If you really want to develop some appreciation of what a great hard rock band was like live in the 1970s, then get this vinyl reissue from Classic Records and crank up the volume.

--Jerome

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

I recently got the Back in Black release of Appetite for Destruction by GNR and it sounds pretty good to me. I think its definitely worth 20 bucks. The vocals might sound a bit thin compared to some other vinyl releases, but the bass definitely gets good treatment (Paradise City really stood out).

Oh and it looks like Pink Martini - Sympathetique is now available on Vinyl. One helluva recording, really eager to get hold of this one.