The single most important figure (imo) in the vinyl LP reissue business.

“The single most important figure (imo) in the vinyl LP reissue business”

1000% ~ I have long admired his dedication, passion and commitment. His production house was one of the main reason why I went back to Vinyl. 70% of my collection comprises AP records and they are worth the money if you value high quality playback. 

As @mgattmch pointed out, UHQR versions are outstanding. 

@bdp24 

Thanks for posting the link.  A very interesting clip.

I have to give a special mention to all of us consumers that never stopped buying vinyl.

The problem with naming who I consider the "single" most important figure in the vinyl reissue business is that there is room for only one name. I couldn’t very well name both Kassem AND Fremer, now could I? I used that statement as a headline for the video. Sheesh, I am once again reminded that you can hardly make any statement without someone taking issue with it.

Kassem and Fremer (and Michael Gray) are both major players in the enduring viability of the vinyl LP business and their availability, as are---as @slaw pointed out---all of us who kept buying albums on vinyl into the 1990’s. I didn’t get a CD player until the music I wanted in my collection was not being made available on LP. There was a lot of great music being made in 1990-2015 (a quarter century!), much of it not being available on LP’s.

Thanks to the resurgence of vinyl, new releases are being offered in both LP and CD formats, while reissues of older albums are being made in LP pressings FAR superior to originals. One such example are the two albums hitting the store shelves just this past Friday: Muddy Waters The Best Of, and Moanin’ In The Moonlight by Howlin’ Wolf, both released by Chess Records in association with Acoustic Sounds. Reissue supervised by Chad Kassem, mastered at the Mastering Lab, pressed at QRP. I have Chess Records originals, and these reissues put them to shame. Retail priced at $38.99.

While the quality of LP reissue pressings has improved, the pressings of new releases varies far more than we would like. Luckily a lot of the music I favour is being made by companies who make some of today's better pressings.

When The Houston Kid by Rodney Crowell was released by Sugar Hill Records in 2001, it immediately became my favorite album in many, many years (and remains my favorite of this century. I love saying that). It was released on CD only, but got an LP release in 2024 by Vinyl Me Please (VMP), a subscription LP company (now out-of-business). The owner of VMP consulted with Chad Kassem throughout the life of the company, and would surely not have started VMP had Kassem not proven the financial viability of such a business (though Acoustic Sounds is not a subscription-based company). QRP did a lot of the LP pressings of VMP titles, which were generally excellent.

I can now listen to The Houston Kid on either CD or LP. Most of Crowell’s albums following The Houston Kid were offered in both CD and LP formats, for which we owe all involved in bringing the LP format back to life a debt of gratitude.