Author Topic: Michael Fremer - 100 Recommended All-Analog LP Reissues Worth Owning  (Read 1384 times)

Offline tmazz

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I ran across this article from 2019. Fremer talks about 100 in print LPs that he thinks we all should own. Part of the point of the article was that they were all in print and available at MSRP, not collectors prices. Well a lot of that has changed since 2019, but it is still a list of good sounding albums.  It is not put out there as a definitive list of the best LPs , just that they were all good ones and at least at the time , available LPs. ( IMHO it could NEVER be  considered a complete list seeing as it does not contain even one version of DSOTM, an omission that I take as a personal affront. :slap )


https://www.analogplanet.com/content/100-recommended-all-analog-lp-reissues-worth-owning


If you scroll to the bottom of the page there is a YouTube video where Fremer talks about each of the LPs on the list. I found it entertaining, but rather long. It's something that you would probably skip through or watch in smaller chunks rather than in one sitting.


When I looked over the list I probably have in one form or the other at least 90 of them, if not on Vinyl in some digital form or at least as part of my streaming service favorites library. And a number of them I picked up or bookmarked and never got around to listening to, so this list has given me a roadmap of things I need to catch up on.
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Offline dflee

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Re: Michael Fremer - 100 Recommended All-Analog LP Reissues Worth Owning
« Reply #1 on: February 11, 2022, 06:35:09 PM »
Just read the list, Wow.
Also just got an annual on Quobuz and now have an incredible list to listen to.
Thanks for the heads up T.

Don
"Enjoy pleasure, not because it is fleeting, but because it exists at all." Sacrament, Clive Barker.

Offline tmazz

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Re: Michael Fremer - 100 Recommended All-Analog LP Reissues Worth Owning
« Reply #2 on: February 11, 2022, 08:15:24 PM »
Don you will find most of them on Qobuz.

Happy listening.  :thumb:
Remember, it's all about the music........

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• Sunfire True SW Super Jr (2)
• McIntosh MC 275
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Offline S Clark

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Re: Michael Fremer - 100 Recommended All-Analog LP Reissues Worth Owning
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2022, 08:55:43 PM »
Looked up the availability of Paul Desmond  "Desmond Blue" on Analogue Spark... our of print, available on Discogs for $199.  Guess I'll make do with my original copy. 
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Offline tmazz

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Re: Michael Fremer - 100 Recommended All-Analog LP Reissues Worth Owning
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2022, 11:02:06 PM »
That is the unfortunate side effect of these lists. Most of the records on them are small batch limited editions, so when the list hits the street there is a run on the albums which makes them go out of print faster. And once they are out of print being on then list drives up demand and therefore prices much higher than they may have otherwise been.

It also tends to cause a feeding frenzy among the flippers who will snatch up whatever they can get their hands on in hopes of turning a profit once the original runs are depleted.

I got several Acoustic Sounds gift cards for Christmas and thought I would use part of them to buy one of the UHQR pressings of Kind of Blue. I saw it was still available the week before but when I went to order one the day after Christmas it was listed as out of print with not stock remaining. Normally I would have just figured that Christmas shipping gobbled them up but within a few days I began to see dozens of listings for them on eBay with Buy it Now prices approaching double the original cost. And quite a few of them were showing 10 or more copies available. The same thing happens every Record Store Day. by 9AM all of the good titles are sold out and before lunch they are all up on eBay for stupid prices. I can't blame Chad, or the record store owners, they are very happy to sell out their inventory a full price, but it really suck for those of us who really want to enjoy the music to get squeezed out by people who just want to take advantage of us to turn a quick buck. As much as internet sales have made it easier for us to find things, it has also made it easier to create artificial competition that prevents us from getting things.

As the old saying goes, there's no such thing as free lunch.
Remember, it's all about the music........

• Nola Boxers
• Sunfire True SW Super Jr (2)
• McIntosh MC 275
• ARC SP-9
• VPI HW-19 Mk IV/SDS/SME IV/Soundsmith Carmen Mk II ES
• Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 DAC/Rasp Pi Roon Endpoint
• DigiBuss/TWL PC&USB/MIT Cables

Offline steve

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Re: Michael Fremer - 100 Recommended All-Analog LP Reissues Worth Owning
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2022, 09:49:07 AM »
Tom,

Any idea if the original recordings are better or worse than the new prints? I ask because I do have
an original no. 14, Dave Brubeck LP.

Thanks for the link Tom.

steve
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Offline tmazz

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Re: Michael Fremer - 100 Recommended All-Analog LP Reissues Worth Owning
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2022, 03:04:04 PM »
In the video Fremer makes some comments about the SQ of the newer vs older ones, but Time out was not one of them. I happen to have a six eye stereo Columbia pressing of Time Out as well as the Analogue Productions 45 RPM version. The six eye has a CL2 at the end of the matrix number. I am not that well versed in Columbia pressing lingo to know how early of a pressing this is, but it is an original six eye.

IMO the 45 version is significantly different in a number of ways. The bass line is much clearer. I would think that this might have something to do with LPs of that era being mastered with reduced bass because the arms and TTs of the day could not track them otherwise. Just a guess, I could be wrong. There is a much clearer sense of air and space on the 45. The 45 had a slight edge in detail, but not by a wide margin.

I specifically have not said that one pressing is "better" than the other. I can describe the differences, but it is up to each of us to decide which is better based on our own taste. I could understand arguments in either direction. I can see some people saying that the 45 is better from an audiophile perspective. But I can also hear others saying that the extra detail and air of the 45 is just the result of the record being overall too bright and that the level of detail it presents is much ore than one would be able to hear from the seats at an live performance and the level of detail and room acoustic in the original is more "real".

One thing that I can say for certain is that the pressings that Chad makes at his QRP plant will provide you with a freedom from surface noise that will be very hard to match in a vintage LP, even if you could find (or afford  :roll:) a sealed copy.

Steve, I know you are an accuracy guy but unfortunately we have no way of knowing which one is closer to the what it actually sounded like in the studio as the recording was made or which one is truer to the sound of the master tape. We can only go by which one each of us personally likes better and that is the one that is right for us.

And of course even beyond that I would say that most of us have a copy of this album in one form or the other which leads to the further question of even if we do think the sonic differences of the 45 make it "better"  is  that better SQ worth the $60 it will cost to own a copy of the 45. Another personal choice that must be made by each of us for which there is no definitive right or wrong answer. Decisions, decisions, decisions...........

All that said on either pressing it is still a great recording and the music is nothing short of legendary. And either one will provide a level of SQ that is more than enough to appreciate and enjoy this album.
Remember, it's all about the music........

• Nola Boxers
• Sunfire True SW Super Jr (2)
• McIntosh MC 275
• ARC SP-9
• VPI HW-19 Mk IV/SDS/SME IV/Soundsmith Carmen Mk II ES
• Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 DAC/Rasp Pi Roon Endpoint
• DigiBuss/TWL PC&USB/MIT Cables

Offline steve

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Re: Michael Fremer - 100 Recommended All-Analog LP Reissues Worth Owning
« Reply #7 on: February 13, 2022, 08:49:16 PM »
Thanks Tom. I was just wondering if Fremer might have had an idea, or opinion.

I happen to own a late 60s version of Time Out, red, columbia on top in white, one eye on each side and
two 360 sound in white on the bottom. Just curious.

Thanks Tom.

steve
Steve Sammet (Owner, Electron Eng, SAS Audio Labs, Ret)
SAS "V" 39pf/m 6N copper ICs,
SAS Test Phono Stage
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SAS 11A Perfect Tube Preamp
SAS 25 W Ref Triode/UL Monoblocks
2 way Floor Standing Test Speakers