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Analogue Productions announces May 21st release of ultimate Kind Of Blue LP

What makes this version the ultimate Kind Of Blue?

- Source is the 3-track master tape.

- The three songs recorded at a slightly incorrect speed (the multi-track recorder, unbeknownst to the recording engineer, was running slow!) have been speed-corrected. The speed issue was not noticed until Classic Records did their release of the album, back in the 1990’s. All pressings prior to that have the three songs playing slightly out-of-tune!

- Mastering done by Bernie Grundman.

- Analogue productions owner Chad Kassem acquired the rights to the UHQR name and process from MoFi awhile back. This LP is manufactured in the UHQR fashion at QRP, each LP being 200 grams of Clarity vinyl. Clarity vinyl LP’s have a opaque milky white appearance, the vinyl being 100% free of the carbon element in non-Clarity vinyl. The quietest LP’s in the history of LP manufacturing. The LP pressing cycle is a very long (by LP manufacturing standards) 1.5-2 minutes, allowing the warm vinyl to cool before being removed from the press. That time minimizes the chance of warped LP's.

- The album is a single disc that plays at 33-1/3. Hallelujah! I think breaking up an LP side into two halves destroys the flow of the music as it was meant to be heard. I prefer to sacrifice the small increase in sound quality that 45 RPM affords to keep the music intact.

- The LP is packaged in a deluxe box (each copy numbered), with a booklet containing historical information about the album.

The album is limited to 25,000 copies worldwide. MoFi’s 1-Step pressing of Carole King’s Tapestry album, announced a coupla months ago at a retail price of $125.00, has sold out prior to release date. Kind Of Blue is a much more sacred album in the minds of many music lovers, so if you are interested in this new AP pressing of the album, I wouldn’t wait too long to order it. It is listed on the Acoustic Sounds and Music Direct websites, but not on Elusive Disc.
128x128bdp24
edcyn
1,876 posts
 
Do I lose all audiophile cred by admitting I only own one copy of Kind of Blue, a regular production LP I bought in the 1970's? Which I still play more often than I should?
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,055 posts
 
Thanks for posting but I’ll pass, already own two great sounding (import) copies. 
audiodwebe's avatar
audiodwebe
208 posts
 
I don't know why people keep rebuying KOB in every new and improved format.  Count me out.  I've already got far too many copies (yeah, I know.  I was one of those who kept rebuying.)

The tapes are 60+ years old.  I can't imagine it hasn't degraded to the point where the earlier pressings will sound better.


syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
I think they have already milked “Kind of Blue” to death

No, wait for the next reissue …. Which will be better, of course

The tapes are 60+ years old. I can’t imagine it hasn’t degraded to the point where the earlier pressings will sound better.

True
Based on that fact, the first reissue is the one to go for (when done right… for example classic records first run 180gr)
The originals get the ok from the artists when the mastering is done … so that one is authentic, all others are something else …. Shifting / boosting frequencies are not original … when you like that, go for CD and save a small fortune





bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
9,408 posts
 
The LP is now available from Elusive Disc. If you haven't bought from them before, orders over $99 ship free, and you pay no sales tax.

Expensive LP reissues aren't for everyone, but neither is a high end audio system. Analogue Productions owner Chad Kassem has a massive record collection (his taste runs to Blues and Jazz), and goes to great lengths to make the best sounding version of every Analogue Productions release that has ever been offered to consumers. From the LP's of his I've bought, I can testify he has.

His Beach Boys albums are way, Way, WAY better than any others that have ever been available (I've heard and owned them all), and in making his Tea For The Tillerman reissue discovered that all previous LP pressings (including any White Hot Stamper) had been mastered from a tape those involved thought was Dolby-A encoded. It wasn't, and running it through the Dolby decoder reduced the level of high frequencies dramatically. And no one before Chad had noticed?!

I had for years been mystified by the praise the UK Island TFTT LP had received (especially from Michael Fremer and Harry Pearson), as I found the sound very odd: the cymbals sounded cheap (I know very well the sound of Zildjian and Paiste cymbals), and the kick drum thin and wimpy, lacking weight and punch. Now we know why! I sold my Island copy and got the Analogue Productions LP. Vastly better, in every way. My Island LP had been pressed when the tape was brand new, yet Chad's reissue absolutely kills it. So much for the argument that old tapes can't make LP's superior to original pressings. That is a myth.

An individually hand-made LP is a very different thing from a mass produced one. I appreciate holding in my hands an Artisan-quality product, and am (in specific cases) willing to pay for it. Pride of ownership, ya know? My main tastes in music are more rural than urban, and my interest in Jazz perhaps far less than most here. If you can believe it, I own no copy of Kind Of Blue. I always figured I'd get around to adding it to the library, and what better time than now, with this release?
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