What's the Latest CD/LP Added to Your Pile #2

[fredblue]

Styx / The Grand Illusion
(Half-Ass Mastered, for Quadiophiliacs only! )

 

[DuncanS]

What does it sound like through the Surround Master, anything Quad-ish?

Styx / The Grand Illusion
(Half-Ass Mastered, for Quadiophiliacs only! )

 

[fredblue]

What does it sound like through the Surround Master, anything Quad-ish?

No idea Duncan! I can't do any Surround Master stuff until either the CD-4 demogitator or the new stereo pre-amp I ordered turn up..! Grr..!!

 

[Bob Romano]

So in the past few weeks I have been in a record buying frenzy since I found out that Barnes & Noble have a pretty groovy (get it??) vinyl selection.

And their prices are better that FYE (include a 10% discount for being a B&N member and BOOM... not a bad price)

Beatles 1962-1966
Beatles 1967-1970
Beatles - Mono Masters
Led Zeppelin - Song Remains The Same (4 disc half-speed mastered by Stan Ricker)
David Bowie - ChangesBowieOne
The Cars - S/T
Zombies - Odessey & Oracle
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - Greatest Hits
Boston - Boston (Friday Music pressing)
Jimi Hendrix - Smash Hits
Tegan & Sara - Love You To Death (LOVE this album)
Kinks - Best of (1964-1970)
Sun Ra - Space Is The Place

They also told me that within the next week or so they will be expanding the vinyl section even further to the point that they may even move albums to sections like Jazz. Classical, Rock, R&B etc.

 

[MyCuff]

Picked up six LPs online sale from a company that says they "import CDs".

Led Zeppelin - Presence
Muse - Drones
Queen - Queen
Led Zeppelin - Coda
Yes - Progeny
Queen - Kind Of Magic

These are all new, undamaged and sealed pressings. Muse is a double LP, Yes is a triple LP, and I paid less than $40 total including tax with free shipping. This Muse album is incredible!!! It's like a combination of U2, Radio Head, Queen, and maybe just a dash of Marilyn Manson. Holy Cow the Brits have been keeping this band a secret. I am looking forward to the Yes Progeny album as the sound quality is supposed to blow away their other triple LP - Yes Songs. Anyway, the sale still going, with a few gems. lots of Bob Marley albums too.

 

[GOS]

Picked up six LPs online sale from a company that says they "import CDs".

Led Zeppelin - Presence
Muse - Drones
Queen - Queen
Led Zeppelin - Coda
Yes - Progeny
Queen - Kind Of Magic

These are all new, undamaged and sealed pressings. Muse is a double LP, Yes is a triple LP, and I paid less than $40 total including tax with free shipping. This Muse album is incredible!!! It's like a combination of U2, Radio Head, Queen, and maybe just a dash of Marilyn Manson. Holy Cow the Brits have been keeping this band a secret. I am looking forward to the Yes Progeny album as the sound quality is supposed to blow away their other triple LP - Yes Songs. Anyway, the sale still going, with a few gems. lots of Bob Marley albums too.

Muse is awesome - you should check out their live concert blu-ray. It's outstanding.

 

[MyCuff]

My previous six recent additions, the last three from a record store in Okoboji Iowa. In total very much a mixed bag but all strong players. I had forgotten how much I did not like Goat's head soup, but it was only a buck, as was KC and ELP. Beggars Opera, never going to find that first one in a Vertigo Swirl but my Verve pressing sounds good enough to my ears. I have their first four albums - what a strange yet compelling band. Greg Kihn I bought for the breakup song. Very Very Good when played loud.

Beggars Opera - First Act
Clash - London Calling
Greg Kihn, Rockihn Roll
Rolling Stones Goats Head Soup
KC and the Sunshine Band KC and the Sunshine Band
Emerson Lake Palmer Brain Salad Surgery

I have well over a thousand LPs now so I guess I am now officially a collector, i.e. one who does not have the time to listen to what he has but keeps buying more. But still - Compared to many of you all, I am just a novice!

 

[MyCuff]

Muse is awesome - you should check out their live concert blu-ray. It's outstanding.

Saw a couple live cuts from a 2015 concert called download. They are an amazing live band. I immediately bought the CD of Drones with live DVD, and then bought the double album since it was so cheap. Now if the Blu Ray was in 5.1 maybe I would go for that too...

 

[GOS]

Saw a couple live cuts from a 2015 concert called download. They are an amazing live band. I immediately bought the CD of Drones with live DVD, and then bought the double album since it was so cheap. Now if the Blu Ray was in 5.1 maybe I would go for that too...

The one I have is Live At Olympic Stadium and yeah, 5.1. Not sure if Amazon still carries it or not...

 

[kap'n krunch]

Styx / The Grand Illusion
(Half-Ass Mastered, for Quadiophiliacs only! )

??????
First of all, great find, cause I wasn't even aware that A&M did their OWN "Half-Assed, er, I mean, Speed Mastered" LPs...
I was aware of the Columbia ones that were a SNAFU (they did not change the EQ when mastering), and the Nautilus ones..but never A&M ...obviously , the real thing being the MFSL ones
WHICH
coincidentally
issued THIS LP , (which I've had since the early 80's and sounds incredible-just like the rest of them....)
but I don't see any MFSL markings or clues in yours,
AAMOF
they use the same LOGO as the COLUMBIA(CBS) ones...curiouser and curiouser..

One thing that the Columbia ones did do was include a full color sheet (or B&W, depending on the release) of the INNER sleeve; something MFSL NEVER did...Does yours come with the lyrics sheet?

Still, does it sound any good?
Is it translucent vinyl?
Is it WORTH it?

 

[fredblue]

??????
First of all, great find, cause I wasn't even aware that A&M did their OWN "Half-Assed, er, I mean, Speed Mastered" LPs...
I was aware of the Columbia ones that were a SNAFU (they did not change the EQ when mastering), and the Nautilus ones..but never A&M ...obviously , the real thing being the MFSL ones
WHICH
coincidentally
issued THIS LP , (which I've had since the early 80's and sounds incredible-just like the rest of them....)
but I don't see any MFSL markings or clues in yours,
AAMOF
they use the same LOGO as the COLUMBIA(CBS) ones...curiouser and curiouser..

One thing that the Columbia ones did do was include a full color sheet (or B&W, depending on the release) of the INNER sleeve; something MFSL NEVER did...Does yours come with the lyrics sheet?

Still, does it sound any good?
Is it translucent vinyl?
Is it WORTH it?

Oh I've no idea how it sounds or anything like that kap, sorry, I've disconnected my turntable again until either the CD-4 demogificatator or stereo preamp I've ordered turn up (they're taking their sweet flipping time coming, they've probably gone walkies in the mail..!!) meantime, what piqued my interest most about this record (and I'm surprised none of the eagle eyed amongst you have spotted it already) is all the pretty little rainbows all the way thru the vinyl (which I was given to be a sign of, wait for it, CD-4 encoding.. though it may just be the extended high frequency pallava, I dunno!? The plot thickens, like gravy! Yum! :yikes )
Oh and wrt worth/value, it was only £4 (no lyric sheet inside btw or I'd have taken a snap for the forum) so even if it sounds like bollocks and isn't a stealth CD-4 copy after all I'm happy-ish, even though I didn't really need another copy of the album!

 

[DuncanS]

That must be really frustrating, and all those LPs to listen to!

No idea Duncan! I can't do any Surround Master stuff until either the CD-4 demogitator or the new stereo pre-amp I ordered turn up..! Grr..!!

 

[fredblue]

That must be really frustrating, and all those LPs to listen to!

Well Duncan, would you believe, the demogitator just turned up tonight within hours of my last post in this thread! Yeay! :yikes

..and what was the first thing I did? I hear you cry..!! :ugham:

Well I had a beer, of course.. to steady my nerves (prepared for a CD-4 disaster! )
turns out I needn't have worried, after a quick spin of the setup disc I had it locked onto the 30k warble tone like a good'un.. and a little bit of fiddling about with the L & R screws later and.. well blow me down but it bloody works! :worthy

What I can't get it to do, so far, is throughput a "non-CD-4-demodulated" 2ch signal.. but hopefully the stereo preamp I ordered will come soon and I can just split the signal with a Y cable or something and send it off to the preamp and then into the Surround Master for everything other than CD-4. That's the theory anyway, in practice it may just mean me plugging and unplugging the turntable into and out of the various decoder setups.. bit loathe to do that.. ho hum.. dunno yet, I've not thought about it too deeply tbh.

Anyway.. So far I've tried out a few CD-4's and the highlights have been> Graham Central Station "Ain't No Bout A Doubt It" (WOW! what a surround mix!!), Rock The Boat from the Hues Corporation album (not for the surround-ness of the mix particularly, its nothing jaw dropping.. but the sound quality is like no version I've ever heard!) and the less familiar (to me) material off the Roberta Flack album was lovely too.. all sounded v.nice and all very Quad-dy.

Fingers crossed I can get the Surround Master back up and running soon, I'm lost without my little black beauty!
Right, off to walk the dawg.. woof woof, he's into woofers like his daddy!

 

[DuncanS]

:yikes The power of a post on the QQ forum is amazing

Well Duncan, would you believe, the demogitator just turned up tonight within hours of my last post in this thread! Yeay! :yikes

..and what was the first thing I did? I hear you cry..!! :ugham:

Well I had a beer, of course.. to steady my nerves (prepared for a CD-4 disaster! )
turns out I needn't have worried, after a quick spin of the setup disc I had it locked onto the 30k warble tone like a good'un.. and a little bit of fiddling about with the L & R screws later and.. well blow me down but it bloody works! :worthy

What I can't get it to do, so far, is throughput a "non-CD-4-demodulated" 2ch signal.. but hopefully the stereo preamp I ordered will come soon and I can just split the signal with a Y cable or something and send it off to the preamp and then into the Surround Master for everything other than CD-4. That's the theory anyway, in practice it may just mean me plugging and unplugging the turntable into and out of the various decoder setups.. bit loathe to do that.. ho hum.. dunno yet, I've not thought about it too deeply tbh.

Anyway.. So far I've tried out a few CD-4's and the highlights have been> Graham Central Station "Ain't No Bout A Doubt It" (WOW! what a surround mix!!), Rock The Boat from the Hues Corporation album (not for the surround-ness of the mix particularly, its nothing jaw dropping.. but the sound quality is like no version I've ever heard!) and the less familiar (to me) material off the Roberta Flack album was lovely too.. all sounded v.nice and all very Quad-dy.

Fingers crossed I can get the Surround Master back up and running soon, I'm lost without my little black beauty!
Right, off to walk the dawg.. woof woof, he's into woofers like his daddy!

 

[Odys]

All vinyl additions.

Beck - Odelay
Beck - Mellow Gold
Elliot Smith - XO
Elliot Smith -Figure 8
(All limited numbered reisdues on colored vinyl from Bong Load Records)

King of Comedy - Soundtrack
Donnie Darko - Soundtrack
In Spite of Ourselves - John Prine

 

[Quad Linda]

Apparently CBS pressed this German half-speed mastered LP. A&M Canada did have a half-speed mastered LP series which had a gold circle engraved into the front cover. There was another A&M half-speed series that had a gold border on the jacket.

Nautilus, Mo-Fi, and Sweet Thunder also had half-speed mastered titles licensed from A&M.

The Grand Illusion was also issued as a A&M Canada half-speed.

The A&M Canada half-speeds were an improvement over their standard pressings, just as CBS Mastersound was, though not up to the Quality of Mo-Fi, Sweet Thunder or Nautilus.

Sweet Thunder did Frampton Comes Alive and a wonderful pressing of Tom Scott's Great Scott album, albeit without the die-cut cover, instead using its' back cover artwork for the front.

??????
First of all, great find, cause I wasn't even aware that A&M did their OWN "Half-Assed, er, I mean, Speed Mastered" LPs...
I was aware of the Columbia ones that were a SNAFU (they did not change the EQ when mastering), and the Nautilus ones..but never A&M ...obviously , the real thing being the MFSL ones
WHICH
coincidentally
issued THIS LP , (which I've had since the early 80's and sounds incredible-just like the rest of them....)
but I don't see any MFSL markings or clues in yours,
AAMOF
they use the same LOGO as the COLUMBIA(CBS) ones...curiouser and curiouser..

One thing that the Columbia ones did do was include a full color sheet (or B&W, depending on the release) of the INNER sleeve; something MFSL NEVER did...Does yours come with the lyrics sheet?

Still, does it sound any good?
Is it translucent vinyl?
Is it WORTH it?

 

[kap'n krunch]

Dan Reed Network

Fight Another day

their first one after 24 years!!!
One of the pioneering late 80's Hard Rock/Funk bands that never made it big cause they got signed to the "wrong" label; Phonogram (who spent ALL their money promoting Def Leppard).

They're a KILLER band..I've mentioned it before...saw them in 88 opening for (of all people) UB40 and the place was EMPTY, until the headliners came...we were a few rows away but they saw us ROCKING to their stuff (we went to see THEM , not UB40)...I was working in Tower Records, Boston...(Carolyn Jones -my blonde workmate who was with me in the gig..where are you?)...

http://danreed-network.com/fight-another-day/

 

[hwkn]

Johnny Cash-The Greatest Years 1958-1986[original Columbia cd from 1987 bought it today for $11]

 

[von kulper]

Yeah, a little late to the game, but I finally got this:



Very good sound quality, shame they didn't do a 5.1. I'm on my first listen and only a few songs in, so I don't really have much of an opinion on it yet, but it sounds like there's plenty of proggy goodness to be had here.

 

[Simon A]

Dan Reed Network

Fight Another day

their first one after 24 years!!!
One of the pioneering late 80's Hard Rock/Funk bands that never made it big cause they got signed to the "wrong" label; Phonogram (who spent ALL their money promoting Def Leppard).

They're a KILLER band..I've mentioned it before...saw them in 88 opening for (of all people) UB40 and the place was EMPTY, until the headliners came...we were a few rows away but they saw us ROCKING to their stuff (we went to see THEM , not UB40)...I was working in Tower Records, Boston...(Carolyn Jones -my blonde workmate who was with me in the gig..where are you?)...

Great band indeed! There were a few tracks I liked from their Bruce Fairbairn produced debut album but it's their second one, Slam (produced by Nile Rogers) which I played constantly after its release. For those unfamiliar with the band, imagine a mix of Bon Jovi and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. A unlikely mix of Funk and Hard Rock but which actually worked pretty well.