House Of Vinyl vol. II

[Sharp Dressed Man]

I deleted the old thread a while back, as it was slowly becoming a mirror thread of the "What are you listening to thread" and "Post your latest CD/DVD/Vinyl/Cassette purchases here!" threads. I am as guilty as anyone, so I'm not pointing fingers! Consequently, I felt the thread needed a reboot - which took a lot longer than first planned.

Anyway...

This thread is basically going to be the go-to place for vinyl discussion. Want to post some of your favourite records? This is the place to do it! Want to talk about turntables? Again, this is the place to do it! Anything vinyl related is welcome, just stay on topic and, again, please try not to just copy and paste content from the threads mentioned above.

With that being said. Long live vinyl!

 

[Slick Willie]

Hello all!!!
I'm one of those crayzee dead wax readers who purchases different pressings to compare and find the "best" - which of course is subjective.
I've been lucky to find members from another forum who trade vinyl (outside the US) and a few in the US where we loan each other some of the primo/hard to find pressings, With vinyl prices these days that has been a big budget saver!
My focus is in the classic rock all analog years area.
I welcome questions and look forward to others insights on the subject.
Rock on!!!

 

[Slick Willie]

As I see hardware is also a topic of this thread, I thought I would share my latest hardware acquisition.
A Technics 1200G table. Also I purchased two carts to use, an Ortofon 2M Black and a 2M blue, along with an additional headshell.
Only planned upgrades at this time are some higher level interconnects. And I will probably pull one of my Venom 3 power cords to see what I can see.
Just a couple of weeks with it, but I'm loving it so far!

 

[Slick Willie]

One more post for today.
Thought I would share my latest acquisition, a UK press of Rush's Hemispheres.
As a big fan of early (through Moving Pictures) Rush, I have sought out the better masterings of their albums.
They range from the US, UK, and Canada depending on title.
I had a nice US press using the Masterdisk G.K. (Gilbert Kong) cut. Yet from lessons learned on some of the other titles, I looked to the liner notes and this title was mixed at Trident Studios in the UK and mastered by Ray Staff at Trident. Then a bud loaned me his UK press and I knew I had to have one. So much richer and natural sounding than the other cuts I have heard.
Sadly on this title, the initial mastering was not exported to other countries so a UK press is the only way to get it.
IMO if this title is of import to you, the UK is worth the hunt!!!
My action shot pic.
.

 

[Slick Willie]

This post is concerning Yes' mega hit album Fragile.
While I had heard the single from the album before, this was my full album intro to the band back in the day.I was immediately drawn to the single from it playing on my AM radio, but when I saw the album cover in the store, I just had to use my hard earned (?) allowance to purchase it.
Thus began a life long love affair with the album. That copy is sadly long gone. So upon my re-emergence into buying new & used LP's, this was one of the first titles I purchased. Later I got into the ol' looking for the 'best sounding press' of an album disease, so I have accumulated multiple pressings of the following.

• US unsigned cut, 1841 B'Way address
• US Piros signed on both sides B'Way address
• US Porky side one(from UK plates) and Piros side two (white label promo and stock label) 1841 B'way address
• Analogue Productions Kevin Gray/Steve Hoffman mastered press
• UK plum label (1st issue)

While I like them all, the UK plum is the one...more natural sounding vocals, more fluidity in the presentation. IMO, 'natch.
Runner up for me is the Porky/Piros US cut.
Action shot of the UK plum labeled press:

White label promo:


AP Gray/Hoffman cut: