Latest Prerecorded 2ch Cassette or Reel, What's Yours?

[EMB]

My wife digs '80s/90s country, and she found a few tapes by the Judds and Suzy Bogguss. Not in my repertoire, but pleasing.

ED

 

[Q8]

Pete Fountain The Blues (7 1/2ips)

 

[jefe1]

Soul Asylum Grave Dancers Union....cassette

 

[jefe1]

Etta James At Last! Chess cassette rerelease on HIQ dolby HX Pro.

Some other recent cassette finds:
Zombies Odessey and Oracle on Rhino
Warren Zevon The best of Asylum
Rampal Bolling Suite for Flute and Jazz Columbia on CrO2 tape
Nightnoise Something of Time Windham Hill on BASF chrome and dolby hx pro
Woodlands Narada label on Cobalt tape and hx pro.

I have found that the last generation of cassettes got very improved sound if not always better build quality. I think cheap slip sheets has always been the weak element in cassettes

 

[neil wilkes]

I have a couple of wonderful old tapes that have never, ever seen digital versions.
All time favourite is the Academy Of Ancient Music's version of Vivaldi's 4 seasons, played on authentic instruments as originally written, not played the "modern" way.
Christopher Hogwood is the chap in charge, and it's a 1983 decca version that still sounds amazing to me - the performance is awesome and is to my ears streets ahead of any other version.

The other one is an oddity - picked up Fashion's "Twilight Of Idols" and the cassette version has a stack of alternates & extended versions that never made it to the CD release, and are superior sounding masters to the CD as well.

 

[winopener]

I have a couple of wonderful old tapes that have never, ever seen digital versions.
All time favourite is the Academy Of Ancient Music's version of Vivaldi's 4 seasons, played on authentic instruments as originally written, not played the "modern" way.
Christopher Hogwood is the chap in charge, and it's a 1983 decca version that still sounds amazing to me - the performance is awesome and is to my ears streets ahead of any other version.

This one?

http://www.aam.co.uk/#/recordings/discography/vivaldi/vivaldi-the-four-seasons.aspx

 

[neil wilkes]

That's the one.
I wonder how good the CD is.......so many CD reissues have been badly remastered for volume......

 

[winopener]

"You'll never know until you try" (America, Only In Your Heart).
It has been released on CD in 2007... but for what i know classical music hasn't been so plagued by loudness war, at least not so hard as modern stuff; what has really plagued classical stuff is a sh*tload of NoNoise, extra reverb and bad EQ. Have some first hand horror stories/experiences about that...

 

[kap'n krunch]

Lazarus...raise after 10 years!

Cassettes sound GREAT! I love them! My Yamaha double deck makes them sound very sweet and IZOTOPE RX does a great job getting rid of the hiss...I always like to leave a bit in to remind me...

This is my latest...it's Chrome too although it don't say anywhere...you can tell by the tape color...

https://www.discogs.com/release/13827358-Rush-Hold-Your-Fire

BTW, this was Rush's (Mark II) finest moment...even though it's an early digital recording and mix I am sure it will improve by remixing it in Surround, taking into account how much better DACs are nowadays..."Turn the page" is one of their best ever!

Also love the "Coverdale-Page" album on tape, it sounds so much FULLER!

 

[atrocity]

A friend just gave me a still-sealed reel of Lynn Anderson's Big Girls Don't Cry. The album is from 1968, but I have no way of knowing when the Ampex reel was manufactured.

Sadly, while "still sealed" meant the box couldn't be opened without removing the shrink wrap, the shrink wrap was sufficiently damaged that all that terrific new tape smell had apparently dissipated long ago.

Took a little bit of babysitting to digitize it, but by and large it was fine after possibly as long as 56 years.

 

[kap'n krunch]

A friend just gave me a still-sealed reel of Lynn Anderson's Big Girls Don't Cry. The album is from 1968, but I have no way of knowing when the Ampex reel was manufactured.

Sadly, while "still sealed" meant the box couldn't be opened without removing the shrink wrap, the shrink wrap was sufficiently damaged that all that terrific new tape smell had apparently dissipated long ago.

Took a little bit of babysitting to digitize it, but by and large it was fine after possibly as long as 56 years.

just the fact that it was AMPEX would have dissipated the doubts regarding its condition...
love it when they are still working!

 

[Simon A]

A friend just gave me a still-sealed reel of Lynn Anderson's Big Girls Don't Cry. The album is from 1968, but I have no way of knowing when the Ampex reel was manufactured.

Sadly, while "still sealed" meant the box couldn't be opened without removing the shrink wrap, the shrink wrap was sufficiently damaged that all that terrific new tape smell had apparently dissipated long ago.

Took a little bit of babysitting to digitize it, but by and large it was fine after possibly as long as 56 years.

The tape would have been released pretty much at the the same time as the record would have been. I have many Columbia Reel To Reel tapes from the 60's (even some from the Columbia Tape Club) and they all sound lovely.

 

[Rstaylor]

A friend just gave me the The Best of Bread volumes 1 & 2 on reel to reel. Both are 7½ ips and they sound great!