Collectables Records-bad experience

[Dan]

A warning to all!

This afternoon I bought one of Collectables Records jazz releases; Chick Corea's "Tones For Joan's Bones" coupled with Miroslav Vitous' "Mountain In The Clouds".

WOW! Is this CD bad!

It didn't sound that bad when I had it on in the adjoining room. I put headphones on a few minutes ago and that's when the horror began.

Obvious noise reduction being used, but not only that, it's gated so you can hear the gate open and close slightly. Probably mastered from vinyl!

The noise reduction (and possibly some compression) also creates a weird out-of-phase sensation with cymbals at times.

I could have done a better job with a slab of vinyl and Sound Forge or Cool Edit Pro.
I'm not buying anything from them again unless I audition it first.

CD's like this make me appreciate DCC more and more!

[BradOlson]

I've had lots of good luck with Collectables. They have the best Billy Joe Royal compilation of Columbia recordings out on the market right now.

[Dan]

Bradley,
I'm glad you have had decent luck with their releases.

I did a newsgroup search and found a few posts from people who had been stung like me on several releases.

Hit and miss I guess........

[Vivaldinization]

Collectibles is VERY hit and miss....very bargain bin, almost. Their psych comps tend to be on the stuff nobody else'll touch due to its extreme miscellaneous factor, for example.

-D

[indy mike]

Definitely a crapshoot with Collectables, but they have been slowly upgrading their releases. They tend to go for pretty obscure stuff that the majors tend to ignore, so sometimes they're you're only chance of getting some oddball stuff. I bought a comp that was supposed to be rockabilly, but turned out to be a bunch of hee-haw burgers with no backbeat or howling hellbillies involved - an email brought a quick response to mail it back to Collectables and pick a replacement disc of my choice, so at least they'll work with you if something reeks... Avoid early releases before the mid 90's as they tend to rely a lot on vinyl or grungy source material.

[Grant]

The oddest album Collectables ever put out on CD is the 1975 Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lets "Get Dancin'". The thing is a monstrosity! The bunch that did that album must have had loads of fun!

The sound, while not perfect, isn't bad. But, the B.T. Express CD I bought by them was awful.

[BradOlson]

I listened to a cassette dub of one of their psychedelic comps (Texas Punk), and the sound is horrible on that.

[indy mike]

Oooh, those Collectables/Cicadellic garage comps tempt me but I gotta hear 'em first. A lot of garage stuff came out on tiny labels where tapes got lost, stolen, misplaced or just plain pitched. Many times the comps are dubbed from well worn vinyl and I hate stuff like that (took me 15 years for my favorie garage tune "We're Gonna Love" by Sir Winston and the Commons to make a legit from tape appearance). If you come across any Collectables stuff at a used store ask to listen with some headphones - a test drive can save you some dough... ;)

[Sckott]

Their Jazz 2fers aren't bad. Actually, they're very good in almost every case....

..so far.


And yes, I too have had good/bad luck with the Collectibles series. Their 45's for jukeboxes are also hit n miss too.