I'm a bit late to the party on this one, as this Craft reissue was released in 2025, but maybe this will help someone...
I love Wes Montgomery and own several of his albums, but I didn't own a copy of Boss Guitar. I picked up a new copy of the Craft reissue at my local record shop yesterday (mastered by Kevin Gray and pressed at RTI), cleaned it, and settled in for a listen last night - and boy, was I disappointed.
At first, my disappointment was due to the fact that I thought the power failure at our house the night before had possibly taken out the right channel of my integrated amplifier. I could hear almost no sound from the right channel while listening to the LP. I moved closer to the right speaker and could hear some sound, but it had a muffled quality. I was already picturing boxing up the amplifier and sending it off for repair.
But I put on another LP that I'm familiar with and was quickly relieved to find that my amplifier was just fine. So, was my copy of the LP defective?
I did a Google search and quickly found my answer: lots of comments on Discogs and other websites complained about the soundstage being significantly skewed to the left. It's not clear whether this is how this album was originally recorded or whether it's a rare mastering gaffe by Kevin Gray. Either way, the LP isn't enjoyable to listen to because it sounds as though almost all of the music is coming from the left channel.
Some Discogs commenters said the 2015 OJC reissue is also skewed slightly to the left, but nowhere near as badly as the 2025 Craft reissue. It really is a shame because the music, the performance, and RTI's pressing are all excellent.
I'm planning to return this LP to my local retailer (if they'll accept the return) or directly to Craft. This really is unacceptable for a nearly $40 LP.
