[]eep]

I love the Nino Rota album. Never heard is as Album, but I remember pieces of it. Great that they took the time to restore it.

And about Madonna, just to help you out in case anyone should get weird ideas caused by that title, here's what she looks like now after 40 years 'me-time'

Man, she creeps me out. And it's not even for Halloween She has definitely gone deeper and deeper into the wrong rabbit hole

 

[FYFL]

I love the Nino Rota album. Never heard is as Album, but I remember pieces of it. Great that they took the time to restore it.

And about Madonna, just to help you out in case anyone should get weird ideas caused by that title, here's what she looks like now after 40 years 'me-time'


Man, she creeps me out. And it's not even for Halloween She has definitely gone deeper and deeper into the wrong rabbit hole

I’ll get to listen to that album later today. Will let the community know my thoughts and if it sounds as good as I’ve hoped it would.

You caught me of guard a little with that picture….. For a second I thought it was …… lol

I got that album bc it’s super rare and depending on condition, it can go for $30 or $200.
And new reissue packaging looks ridiculous. Besides, this one is gatefold and two 180g LPs. So, possibly a better choice over 2022 cheapo.

 

[FYFL]

I’ve never owned this album on LP. But, even CD back in the days when I actually listened to CDs sounded quite amazing. Hope they didn’t mess it up.

Just had to…… lol
So good!

 

[FYFL]

Just gave it a test run on my headphone rig. Mostly looking for flaws and archival reconstruction signs.
With that being said, I need to point out to our Italian friends behind this release an importance of centricity. Come on guys, you have build Colosseum, Ferraris, Ducati, concept of a circle shouldn’t be hard to grasp these days….. Yet, you centered it as if it was a pizza pie.

First LP was the biggest offender but the second disk was just slightly better.
My second pet peeve is with your choice of bonus material.
Really?

Have you seen the fox on the cover of the jacket? Have you seen the movie? You supposedly spent all that time and effort restoring those original tapes. Would a photo of those tapes hurt selling us on this project?
Desgraciado! Lol

That should be enough for now as far as QC goes.

Records are flat and relatively low surface noise. Wished you left a little more headroom to get even more dynamics out of this fascinating soundtrack. But I do understand that there has been some enormous work put in with patching tape fragments and sound leveling various cuts. I could certainly tell that you worked with less than optimal tape quality. Interestingly side C and D is available on vinyl for the first time and imo it sounds substantially better than most of the first LP (side A/B). Perhaps more effort went into restoration of those forgotten tapes?
Was it all analog AAA mastering/tape restoration? I don’t know about that? But I can certainly hear tape hiss at times. I’m just not sure if getting sound levels to match and seamlessly stitching tape was at all possible to do without a digital step?
Don’t get me wrong, I do understand. I would just like to know more about that restoration process.
Sound varies in quality between musical pieces and records. From somewhat dull to crisp and effortless.
There are moments of repetition and sameness with occasional sound of a captivating score. I’ll get into it more tomorrow with my final thoughts.

Overall pressing quality - 4 on crutches
Flatness/noise - 4.5
Packaging - 4.5+
Extras - ??? depends on your definition
Restoration - 4.65

 

[]eep]

You said pizza but did you forget the Florentines also gave us the leaning tower of Pisa?
Italian QC is sometimes so so. If the chef says it good you eat it. Their engineering is often just enough, not like the German solid engineering. That is a well known fact in Europe when it comes to kitchen appliances, machines, tools, cars etc. They care more about how it looks than how long it will last.

Restoring is working with what was left. Take a look at the result of restoration of Fritz Langs 'Metropolis'. Most of it looks remarkable but some fragments look as if they were rescued from an open fire.

 

[The Jester]

Reminds me of the joke ….
Some suggestion of putting a clock on the leaning tower of Pisa ?
No point in having the inclination if you don’t have the time …

 

[FYFL]

I think @]eep nailed it. They were sooo close to make it exceptionally great but decided to call timeout and went for cup of latte just inches before the finish line.

 

[CJG888]

You’ll just have to buy one of those DS Audio centre hole re-orientation gadgets for $$$$$, then…

 

[FYFL]

Later today l’ll put all those technicalities aside and see how it performs in tuned for enjoyment and musicality speaker rig.

 

[FYFL]

You’ll just have to buy one of those DS Audio centre hole re-orientation gadgets for $$$$$, then…

Not likely.

 

[CJG888]

How do they even begin to justify the price?

 

[]eep]

A pen knife or a round file (rats tail we call it) wouls remedy a excenter hole or too narrow hole just as well.. No need to turn it into rocket science. I can't recall to having to do that more than once or twice in my entire collection.

 

[FYFL]

How do they even begin to justify the price?

Better question is, how many off-center records do you have to own to justify the asking price?
I doubt they’ve sold more than a dozen.

 

[FYFL]

A pen knife or a round file (rats tail we call it) wouls remedy a excenter hole or too narrow hole just as well.. No need to turn it into rocket science. I can't recall to having to do that more than once or twice in my entire collection.

Never found the need to do that.
It’s not a common problem in vinyl production these days.

 

[]eep]

How do they even begin to justify the price?

I can think of a few things that fall in that category that still are being waged. ..

Shall I fill up my gastank? Should I buy this steak? Or should I put the heating on 21°C?

Just to quote JFK

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”​

BTW, in our language 'we are going to the moon' means unequivocally 'we're all going to die'.
(it just occurred to me that is an old pagan/catholic belief, reincarnation)
Sound like a leaning towards self-destruction. I'm sure that's not what he meant but happened nonetheless. Or, is happening.

I'm listening to another 35 year anniversary album; The Communards. Happy music for unhappy people who thought they had a tough time then. I have both original albums so not something I consider buying again. My copies are both mint and sound awesome. Music like this is the reason I am an 'audiophile'.

Yesterday I wstched day one of Michael Fremers report of the Warsaw audio show in the Sobieski hotel. (thanks to Jan for saving Europe, which no one seems to remember)