Spinning on the Turntable now...

[John Svensson]

I bought several of the MCA half-speed masters. IMHO, none were bad, neither did any of them sonically wow me, including the Pettys.

In '80, CBS began pressing 1/2 speeds. Vinyl was ok, mastering was ok, DR was ok. IMHO, few if any in that series sounded fantastic. I bought most of them. Boston, Memories, Guilty, Streisand Hits II, The Way We Were, Stranger, 52nd, Born to Run, Darkness, Miles' Man w/Horn, Daniels' Million Mile, Tony Williams' Fear of Flying, Heavy Weather, Chorus Line, and mono Yardbirds' Roger the Engineer. 3rd World's You've Got the Power was digital Mastersound release, not 1/2 speed. It sounds far better on regular vinyl. Regular LP had better bass, but noisier PVC.

MoFi and Nautilus 1/2 speeds had far better vinyl. Far better mastering, too, albeit not a flat transfer by any stretch. Direct Disc Labs vinyl sounded like popcorn. Several titles had manufacturing defects.

Moby Grape (1st) UK mono
Super Sonic Sounds - Sun Ra
Notorious Byrd Bros. & Sweetheart of the Rodeo - Byrds UK 2 LP BEST ANALOG!
California Soul - Tamba 4 unreleased LP by Brazilian jazz band, record store day exclusive

Have you bought any of the Abbey Road half speeds Linda? I think they are pretty fine and on hefty vinyl.

 

[Quad Linda]

OK, vinyl mavens. All great picks/pix! For some reason, Wall is the only one I hadn't bought. I made amends by buying Immersion.

Both Moodies and Steely Dan are the best analog 2ch versions. MoFi Future Past tops the MCA 1/2 speed. Katy Lied was royally screwed up, due to equipment problems. MoFi did a stellar job of cleaning it up. Not perfect, though much better!

The 2 Jeff Becks might be the best analog 2ch versions. SQ LP's are my most played copies. Boston is again the best analog. I got the 1/2 speed and 2 ch LP's upon release. 2 ch SACD single layer is my most played copy!

John, not sure specifically which Abbey Road pressing you're referring to. Didn't EMI/Uni do one(s)? I'll comment on the only 1/2 speeds I've heard and own. Again, I bought the MoFi 1/2 speed upon release. I had already bought the US LP, UK 2ch and mono (foldover) LP boxes. (blue and maroon UK boxes.)

2ch LP blue UK box was my point of reference. MoFi LP blew it away, though the blue box sounds stellar itself. I got rid of the MoFi LP after I a/b'ed it to the MoFi LP Collection box. They sounded no different. MoFi box sleeves aren't the album cover. Those are all presented in a LP size book. LP sleeves are pictures of the master tape boxes, front and back. Unbelievably, I got the MoFi LP box and over 100 other MoFi LP's for free in a sales contest they were running!

I rebought it on Japan Toshiba/EMI ('83) CD, US, UK (rolltop box), US remastered black paperboard box, and super duper box w/surround. IMHO, RBCD's all sound the same except 2000's CD remasters. Personally, I prefer the older CD's.

PS: Abbey Road is my fave fab four LP.

 

[Gimme 4]

Tommy Bolin - Teaser

 

[Gimme 4]

Bee Gees - Odessa

1969 pre-Disco days.

 

[GOS]

Bee Gees - Odessa

View attachment 79947

1969 pre-Disco days.

I have that one too. Nice, velvety jacket. Good stuff.

 

[Gimme 4]

I have that one too. Nice, velvety jacket. Good stuff.

Yep the don't make'em like that any more! Seven Seas Symphony just played before I had to get up and turn over the record. Absolutely Beautiful.

 

[Gimme 4]

The Beatles - Abbey Road
Green vinyl import

(This is what I started out to pull out and play and got sidetracked with Tommy Bolin and Bee Gees.)

 

[jefe1]

Ok Gimme 4 QQ wants your records......

 

[kap'n krunch]

Tommy Bolin - Teaser

View attachment 79945

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

 

[jefe1]

Someone is a teaser here and it aint Tommy Bolin.

 

[Gimme 4]

The Beatles - Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

 

[The Rang]

Gimme 4, you got me wanting to dive into my vinyl collection again, which is a major accomplishment

 

[Gimme 4]

Gimme 4, you got me wanting to dive into my vinyl collection again, which is a major accomplishment

Know what you mean. I went though many of my records about 10-11 years ago and here I go again...

 

[SyrinxTemple]

UK Vertigo Robert Ludwig pressing. Found this sucker for $4.99 at Waterloo Records in Austin. Don't think they knew what they had. Sorry for the dust.

 

[Gimme 4]

View attachment 79982

UK Vertigo Robert Ludwig pressing. Found this sucker for $4.99 at Waterloo Records in Austin. Don't think they knew what they had. Sorry for the dust.

I'll have to look at mine, tomorrow! I know it is not an import and I bought soon as it hit the record stores.

 

[Gimme 4]

The Beatles - Abbey Road
Green vinyl import

(This is what I started out to pull out and play and got sidetracked with Tommy Bolin and Bee Gees.)

View attachment 79955

Interesting thing that happened playing this record today. Side 2 about 2 minutes into "You Never Give Me Your Money" it started skipping! Repeating over and over, until it finally jumped ahead before I could get in there and stop it. Did that on repeated attempts to play it. Looked closely, nothing, got out my lithographer's loupe and looked closer, nothing seen. Was playing with my Stanton 881S with a long contact Stereohedron stylus. Plugged in a Stanton 681EEE elliptical, and it played through fine. Swapped back to the 881S and it played through fine. Even though both track the same 1 gram, the elliptical apparently pushed whatever it was out of the way. Phew ! What a relief! I would have thought the reverse would happen. Anyway, sorry to the moderator for going somewhat off topic.

 

[Gimme 4]

Bee Gees 1st

 

[GOS]

Holiday is such an amazing song.

 

[mrcond]

Bee Gees 1st

View attachment 79993

I just watched the Bee Gees documentary the other night. There is so much more to them than just Saturday Night Fever. I recommend anyone who hasn't seen it to check it out.

 

[Gimme 4]

Bee Gees - 2 Years On

This one's not bad either.
"Lonely Days" to me stands out.