Heart- Little Queen Friday Music LP


I just purchased the remaster from Friday Music and IMHO it is quite good. I just wanted to pass my experience to anyone considering a purchase of this remaster.
bjbcab
I bought that when it first came out several weeks ago. I agree it's excellent. I've had great luck with almost all of the Friday Music reissues and I have a bunch of them.
So far I have also experienced good things with the Friday reissues. Journey Escape is bright but I think that is more of a function of the original recording. (You got to love the 80's and I did but that forward shrilly sound that everyone thought was cool gives me a headache)

I plan on purchasing more of their reissues. I see Kevin Gray and RTI are involved in a bunch of the projects.

Mofimadness, how is the Boston reissue? I have a SACD from a few years ago and was not impressed. I am considering the Friday reissue.
The Boston is very good also. I just got Heart "Dreamboat Annie" and Chicago "VI" is marvelous.
I must say that years ago I swore off any more FM purchases because of the darkness/muffled dynamics. This was years ago, I've since had several enhancements to my system. I've just recently thought about listening to them again.I'm enjoying them more now.

Here are the ones I own:

America "S/T"
Kansas "Leftoverture"

The hard part about my evaluation is that I don't own a copy of these two releases that aren't from anywhere near their original release. All I can say is they do sound much better than I once remembered.

I do have "Little Queen" on a WLP. I really find it hard to believe this one could sound better.

I'm intrigued by the upcoming 45rpm release of "The Yes Album".
Yes "The Album". I happen to have an extraordinary copy. The conundrum is... should I give in to the hype.. or just stick with my GREAT copy? I can only imagine my copy would be branded by Tom Port as a "White Hot Stamper" selling for $500.00 +!

No, I'm happy with mine. Actually, considering the audiophile labels I'm currently enjoying, Music On Vinyl outperforms Friday Music by a notch.
My bad.. I did find my early copy of America "S/T. It does sound better in almost every way compared to FM's. It's more light on it's feet, transparent, has increased transient response. The music sounds as if it has been freed!
The problem (as I see it) regarding the new crop of re-issues is to have a GOOD reference. This is where the music can be lost forever.

I hope all who are considering buying audiophile remasters, have a good reference to judge them buy. We are the one's responsible for handing off "great sound" to the next generation. I hope we can make a responsible/credible effort in doing so.
I listened to their re pressing of The Best of The Lovin Spoonful today and it sounds fantastic.i honestly feel.that there is anyway an original copy could sound this good.
Qdrone: Frankly, how a lp sounds is dependent upon several things:
(1) The listener's experience in (listening/discerning)
(2) The listener's biases
(3) The listener's room/acoustics
(4) The listener's systems' transparency
(5) The listener's reference (on any given lp)

All I can say is that from my 30 some years of listening to high-end systems and from my own system/room evolution, that the records I referred to are inferior on Friday Music. The vast majority of heavy-weight/re-issue/ re-masters have been suspect in the past. Some new ones have the benefit of the lp community rising up and speaking with our dollars and through forums such as this. Acoustic Sounds, Speakers Corner, Music On Vinyl are some of the very best that have emerged to bring us quality sonics from our favorite lps.

So, Qdrone, have you sought out an early copy of The Lovin' Spoonful" to compare? This is how/what we must do in order to educate ourselves in our own environment, thus we can then accurately make recommendations to others.
Qdrone: Here is a recent, personal example of what I'm talking about.

Bob Seger "Beautiful Loser". I had a M re-issue copy (green label) that sounded exceptional. But upon my experience, I realized it didn't sound analog. While it sounded clean, clear and without any flaws, so to speak, it didn't have the warmth, the soul that I knew should be available with this great record. I found a M copy,(orange label), first pressing and ordered it. Boy, am I glad I did. This is what I'm trying to convey. It takes a thoughtful, experienced listener that is willing to accept what flaws their system may have and keep this as their reference. Then, and only then, can we make a clear and concise judgement as to how the re-issues should sound.
I have no Lovin' Spoonful in my collection except various hits on rnr hit collection. I have a few original John Sebastian solo outings that sound very analog.
Did you adjust the vta on your tonearm in re: to Seger? Just curious,I have an et 2.5 on my back up table and on that arm it needs to be dialed in.
All I'm saying is in re:to this Friday Music pressing is its quite and the sonics are fantastic and I bought it on a closeout for 9.99. In my system a bargin.
Qdrone: First of all, thanks for your response! I can't comment on your findings of the Loving Spoonful lp. Only you can come to that conclusion based on your own experience. ( My point is that when we make a comment on how a lp sounds, we need to bring our unbiased experience along with a reference to make the claim).

As I noted earlier, my two experiences with Friday Music lps were "Leftoveture" & "America S/T". (Those two experiences were so dramatic to (me), that I swore off of buying any more). The later, I have an early pressing that blew FM away. The Kansas, I had only two re-issues that sounded no different than the FM. (From that + my experience, I draw a conclusion that a first pressing copy will blow that one away!) ( Also, Kansas was one of my favorite bands in the 70's and I saw them in concert twice).

The FM America sounded dark and uninvolving by comparison. (If you're familiar with America this band should not sound dark and compressed)!

I'm going mostly on my 30 some years of listening, buying lps and hours of ongoing listening to all kinds of music, and have come to realize very quickly what I presume to be worthy of my attention.

When I compare lps, I don't adjust anything. That is key to making comparisons. You want to have the same volume level as well.

What is great for you is that you bought great music at a bargain and are enjoying yourself. This is really the most important factor.

(by the way, I run my arm at 18.5 psi, look at my virtual system if yoy wish).

Thanks for your response!
Not to be too sappy...

After being into the high-end music reproduction in my home for around 10 years, I had a revelation... that was that I didn't really know how to listen to music. By that I mean, what musical qualities I should be listening for. (I felt that this was a revelation in as far as, I wanted to hear what I SHOULD hear and nothing else).I had to learn "how to listen". Music is so important to me that I want to be able to discern muddy bass from musical bass, ear splitting high frequencies from pleasant, involving high frequencies.(This is a very loose comparison, but valid). I hope you get my meaning. If I'm to spend thousands of dollars on equipment, I want it to be spent in the best possible way. I learned very quickly that component synergy was key. Then power line isolation in addition to isolating your power line components just as well or even better than your source components. And the beat goes on......
I realized late that room acoustics were more important than all of the above.
It's been a journey. A journey that I took in my own way and I suppose that was the best way, in looking back. I hope that the information I try to convey is taken in context with my journey and not in my seeming to know it all.

The one thing I'm sure of is that my WLP copy of "Little Queen" will blow away Friday Musics' without even hearing it! I'm confident!
by the way.. you can find a WLP copy fairly easy online for less than a FM copy. Compare for yourself.
Qdrone: I should have mentioned that since the two BS lps I was comparing were the same thickness, I did not adjust tonearm height either. The VTA is always a consideration that I'm well aware of and I have burnt into my memory on how to adjust per thickness of varying lps.
Bjbcab:I assume since you are the OP here, you either wanted affirmation of your experience or recommendations. This would be the time for you, IMO, to seek out a WLP copy and purchase the Music On Vinyl copy for your own comparison and knowledge. This is THE only/best way to gain knowledge for yourself regarding future purchases.

Have you ever had the experience of hearing the very first note after putting on an lp and, just from that one second, being blown away at how the music explodes from the speakers? This may be what you'll experience from the WLP.
I wasn'tlooking for anything four years ago when I posted, I was simply sharing an experience for anyone that cared. While I understand your points I am not sure that I could embrace your suggestion for every record I purchase because it would cost too much. Thanks for the suggestion.

Also, congratulations for the highest ratio of posts by one poster to total posts in a single thread. :-)
Bjbcab: I'll take your congratulations as a positive comment. Thanks for making me realize my post was to a (4) year old comment. (I really did not notice that) My passion is all things audio. I'm starting to realize that even though I replied to a "four year old post", that you are still interested in it? Also, I take this hobby , apparently, more seriously than most. I have a deep passion for it. I hope you and others will, at some point, come to appreciate this. I'm so sorry, that I have upset your life in this way!
Just curious,... If I'd had made all of my comments above, into (one) single post, would that have affected you so deeply, in the same way?

(If you didn't really want any responses, you really shouldn't have posted to begin with).