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Revisiting Old Albums

My old friend willed me his 60s, 70s, 80s albums. They are in very good condition. Some have the "Last" coating.

I nor he were big Zappa fans. Just listened to his radio play songs in a rare moment.

So FZ's Apostrophie ( see what I did there, lol) is in the collection. For old time sake I gave it a spin. Now I have a very respectable Mid Fi system. Brings out the best or worst of recordings. This was 1st time I heard this lp on a good system and I was like wow, this is a good recording. I got a whole new appreciation for Zappa. Great rock guitar riffs fused with crazy jazz along with twisted and or funny lyrics. 

This was a gem in the collection though. Alot of the recordings from that era are just ok at best. Seems to be hit or miss. No particular band or label that stand out. A few other goodies are ZZ Tops El Loco, Billy Joel The Stranger, Phil Collins Face Value.

Sadly the whole Zepplin collection not so good, Asia Asia, Eric Clapton Layla, Utopia Utopia are terrible recordings. Maybe there are some MoFi versions out there that give these great songs new life.

 

bikefi10
markmendenhall
246 posts
 

actually an original ATCO recording of Layla is quite good, not a bad recording at all

 

larsman's avatar
larsman
3,123 posts
 

@mashif - It was probably also engineered to sound correct in his recording studio! It possibly amused him to think of people following his instructions and running around trying to buy JBL 4311 speakers or an equivalent to listen to the album on, and adjusting the controls when he had no idea what their listening environment or other gear was or hearing was like.  

russwill
55 posts
 

If you get a chance listen to "One Size Fits All". It's a very well recorded album! His playing on it is phenomenal! He was a stickler for the whole process.

He told an interviewer once that all the label had to do was give him an address and he did the rest.

bikefi10 OP
113 posts
 

@russwill Ok thats 2 for One Size Fits All.

Im getting the bug to hit some antique and used record shops.

@larsman Your probably right. FZs comment about eq settings was more of a joke.

Found another gem in my inherited collection. Moody Blues Days of Future past. An early MFSL Japan pressing in very good condition. Pressing from original master tape. Sounds very good, but not quite up to par of my newer MoFi pressings. Im guessing not all recording studios had state of the art equipment. I looked it up and this pressing sold for $150.00 recently. Crazy, my buddy probaly paid $15 back in the 1970s.

tony1954's avatar
tony1954
1,317 posts
 

"I looked it up and this pressing sold for $150.00 recently. Crazy, my buddy probaly paid $15 back in the 1970s."

$15 in 1970 is equal to $125.25 today.

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