America s/t 180 gram vinyl release on Friday Music label

Is a decent copy of America all that hard to come by for some of you??

 

US WB green label. Certainly not $3 around here.

 

It's always been a pretty rarified event. There are some vintage LPs that are quite quiet but not most. There are plenty of very quiet new LPs but not all.

 

I just listened to my copy of the Friday Music America s/t album again, and I have no distortion what-so-ever during "I Need You".

I can say that my pressing is near perfect, pressing quality wise (flat and very quiet).

There are 2 times where I do get a "raspberry" type of sound (which I relate to the vinyl pressing), once during "Children" and once during "Clarice". They aren't that long or loud (but both times they occur in the left channel). Maybe that is what you are hearing during "I Need You".

I don't have any other version of this album to compare it to, since the only copy of this album I ever owned (and still have) is the original PRE-RECORDED cassette version purchased when the album initially came out in the early 70's. Suffice to say that I played this album to death when I first owned it, and probably had it ingrained in my memory; so that even though I haven't played the album since "I don't even know when", the first play of this new vinyl version found me knowing all the words and music like I just listened to it a week or so before getting the new copy.

The reason I mention that is because this new version sounds "good" - as I mentioned previously in this thread, yet it seems somewhat deficient in low-end response. At times the guitars have a very "bright" quality to them, and even has a slight popping sound to the strummed strings that doesn't sound natural. The most curious thing is that when the strings do have that bright popping sound, the vocals that are playing at the same time don't (and sound very clean and clear).

Overall, I have no complaints and am not sure what Acoustic Sounds would be referring to when they indicate the pressing had a lot of problems.

Now when I refer to the original post in this thread the OP indicates that the vinyl version was noisy with a lot of pops.

My vinyl is not noisy, but I wonder if the pops I hear on some of the strummed and plucked guitars are the pops that the OP is referring to? It doesn't sound like distortion to me. Someone would have to find out if that is the way the guitars are recorded on the mastertape, or whether the mastering of this vinyl version was done a bit too 'hot' to create that popping noise on the guitars. All that said, the popping noise on my copy is minimal and not very distracting (and it is clear it isn't the vinyl as much as it is the mastering).

Any other comments?

 

I have not heard back from Friday Music. Here is the sample I told them to listen to: http://ptgraphics.com/needledropsamples

Forgot to mention it's a AIF file.

Pat

 

Wow - ok. I don't have that distortion on my pressing, but it is quite similar to the two "raspberry" sounds I said I heard on my pressing. Your distortion seems to "mirror" the music, while mine was a short burst of "noise" (also in the left hand channel but not so intrusive) two different times that was not a "function" of the music.

I either got lucky in that I got a fairly good pressing, or my cartridge tracks differently so that I am not hearing the same distortion you are.

 

Just got this release, and the Doobie Brothers.

So far without any detailed listening I'm disappointed. I have a couple of previous albums by America on vinyl and have always been very impressed. This one sounds harsh and as if the music is kind of bunched together (compressed?) I'm going to giove it more of a listen.

It says manufactured by Rhino special products. Who are Friday Music anyway?

R

 

I found a green label America LP this weekend. Although it's a little noisy in the quite sections it does not sound as harsh as the Friday music label reissue.

I will keep my link to the sample I posted in my above post for a few more days if anyone else wants to hear what my LP sounded like. I returned it to the store as defective and I have yet to hear back from Friday Music about the noise in the sample.

Pat

 

I'd like to know too. I have a copy that my dad gave me, he bought it when it came out. It sounds GREAT, imo.

 

I bought a copy of the Friday Music middle of last year and had all the problems listed above. eg brightness, ticks, scrunchy noises. Returned to supplier who said more or less all were similar. Decided to go for original but the problem is UK copies don't have "Horse With No Name"- that british thing about singles not on albums still ran into the early 70's.

A couple of attempts at buying US green warner copies from US sellers on ebay were unsuccessfull due to poor quality/damaged vinyl ( and the yanks think brits overgrade on ebay !!!).

Couple months back saw another Friday Music with a UK ebay seller at a good price and decided to take the risk. Result. A perfect flat quite pressing and this one seems less bright than the first. Detail especially guitars is highlighted somewhat but I found it a very good listen. Overall it is quite smooth with good body of sound. Have changed cartridge in the meantime but I would have expected this change to make the record sound brighter.

So it appears pressings are variable or the problems have been sorted. On my experience I have to recommend the America Friday Music pressing as a good alternative in the absence of a nr mint original.

 

That UK pressing without AHWNN is not an issue of them leaving off the 45.....early pressings of that album did not include AHWNN. I can't speak for later UK pressings(I don't have one)but later US pressings included it....

JF

 

AHWNN was added pretty quickly. A lot of the -1 pressings I find marked RE on side one. Still, they sound nice.

 

I found a green label America LP yesterday as well for $2.99. Stone MINT all around (even has the original Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders inner sleeve). Just listened to it, dead quiet and great sounding. Puts the Friday Music version to shame.

 

I wish I had seen this thread before I bought the Friday reissue as well. My copy looks to be in great shape, but the sonics are so poor I haven't listened to it since the first play last year. Mine seems to have distorted mids and highs as mentioned before and is the most disappointing record I've purchased in memory. I should have returned it, but I'm not convinced a replacement would be appreciably better.

BTW, my cartridge tracks very well and has proven itself on many dynamic passages that have made others stumble.

Live and learn...

 

Yeah me too! One of the baddest reissue a bought so far and I bought a lot! I'm sorry to say but I wont Buy any Friday Music from now on....

 

duplicate post

 

If this Friday Music vinyl reissue doesn't sound good as some members here have reported, it's really a missed opportunity for us to have a good sounding pressing of this excellent album.

Steve and Kevin should consider this important title as a future release on Audio Fidelity/Analog Production vinyl, hybrid SACD or on Gold CD.