Adding to what Jdaniel says, German pressings of early EMI classical records also can't match up to liveness of British EMIs.
Japanese Vinyl Pressing
I just returned from Japan and I must say I have fun at the Disk Union stores in Tokyo. They have a Disk Union store for all Genre. I spent hours at Jazz and R&B stores. I also like the fact that they clean the records and add new sleeves, at least the ones I went through. I ended up buying 30 LP's after going to the stores three days straight. But here is the interesting thing. It seems to me that the Japanese pressed records sounds better than most of the ones I bought here in the USA. The Japanese pressing sounds clearer and crisper, no darkness in the sound, and the bass not bloated at all. I am wondering if anyone have any comments on this, or have the same experience with Japanese pressing.......