Original Blue Notes vs Reissues

Original Blue Note copies in well kept condition were never cheap, but in recent years they have become 'trophies for the rich' and prices have completely spiralled out of control. That's a most unfortunate trend for 'normal' record collectors. And for audiophiles too, as the originals do have a sound that even the best reissues have not managed to reproduce. 

Van Gelder's masterings - especially the mono's - were cut loud and stand out for their dynamics, bordering on distortion and sometimes crossing that border. If anything it's 'edge of the seat' stuff and modern audiophile reissues from Classic and Music Matters always sound too civilised in direct comparison. At least that's my opinion.

But given the expertise of guys like Bernie Grundman and Kevin Gray I wouldn't be surprised if their mastering work is actually closer to what's on the master tapes. And we can't rule out the possibility that these source tapes have deteriorated and lost some of their dynamic freshness after 50+ years, which would limit them in their attempts to recreate the original RVG sound.

What it comes down to for me is this: I always (need to) adjust my expectations whenever I put on one of those reissues, but never the other way around (except adjust the volume). That speaks - uh - volumes....

I own a number of the original Blue Note recordings and also a number of the Music Matters Reissues. Personally I usually prefer to listen to the reissue, simply because  the pressing is almost always quieter. OTOH, if the original is quiet, and I own several that are....I typically find that there really isn’t a huge difference between the original and the MM reissue. Unfortunately, I cannot say that for some of the other reissue labels compared to the original. I am going to be acquiring some of the Tone Poet series, should be interesting to see how they compare.

I agree