This is some really good information from Matt. I don't want to lose it; so cross posting here. Craft Recordings Vinyl Reissue Info and Reviews
They should reissue John Lee’s Live At Cafe Au Go Go recorded with Muddy Waters and his band. It’s killer.
I had a twofer CD of that with Live at Soledad Prison (which is even better!) Love those albums. I think Live at Cafe Au Go Go is ABC Impulse/MCA though aka owned by Universal Music not Concord/Craft.
I thought Au Go Go was ABC/Bluesway? At least originals which is what I own. My copy is at my practice space so I can’t check it at the moment.
Yeah that's what I meant. Bluesway is managed by Geffen which is owned by Universal now. Different company that Concord/Craft.
I’ll probably *skip* the Skip James as I have the VMP Vanguard box, but this is extremely exciting news as a blues guy. So many classic blues albums have been oop since the 80s or even longer ago, especially AAA. Count me in for most of these, especially at the price point!
That just got a pressing this last RSD. I have a copy - it's good! I've got a few Bluesville pressings but will keep an eye out on this series. I can definitely suggest Roosevely Sykes Honeydripper if that gets a repress. Really hoping they do this one from Scrapper Blackwell - clean copies can get kind of pricey. https://www.discogs.com/master/501779-Scrapper-Blackwell-Mr-Scrappers-Blues
It must be kind of annoying how much overlap there has been with VMP boxes, and the titles being released individually later. I chose to pass on the Vangauard box since i'm not a fan of coloured vinyl, but it makes it hard to commit now when it seems like the anchor titles in these sets come out again. They're really working the room, aren't they!
I bought the VMP Vanguard box thanks to one of those ridiculously tempting 40% off sales. The biggest draw was the Skip James album, since it wasn't readily available anywhere else, and while I'm excited for this series I was a little deflated to see that it would be one of the first two albums. The VMP verison is mono, at least, and I suppose that might work better for this era and style of music, although I'm sure the Craft version will sound great as well. That being said, I have a '70s stereo reissue of Mississippi John Hurts' Today! and I can hardly imagine it sounding better in mono or stereo. That album would make for a good entry in this series.
Fortunately I got it on sale, and I was mostly after the mono mixes of Skip James, Buffy, and Doc Watson. I only wish I would have waited until it was in swaps and got the whole box for under $40…
- Pressed at QRP - 180-gram LP - OBI with notes written by Scott Billington - Paper-wrapped tip on jacket
The odds of grabbing one of those in swaps was so slim, nearly impossible. 40% off on that box is great. I do wonder why Craft chose Skip James instead of something else for this first round. Seems like there would be many great options.
Great to hear about this new series. I have a couple from the AP series and would love the opportunity to add more quality mastering/pressings of Blues music. Also hoping Craft market this series the way they have the OJC and Contemporary series. This would mean they will eventually make their way to bricks and mortar stores in Australia and also would be available on Amazon. Some other vinyl series are very hard (and very expensive) to acquire here.
Craft has really been impressing me more and more the last few years. The Chet Baker and Art Pepper LPs including the RSD stuff has been superb !!!! This will be a fun series ! Good pricing too if anyone missed out on the John Lee Hooker AS 45 ‘s. I’m glad we have Craft. By the way their BG mastered SACDs are excellent as well !!
I'm pretty sure he's speaking generally about all the great Craft stuff, going back to the Chet Riverside box, the Contemporary series, and the mono RSD's https://www.discogs.com/release/14532982-Chet-Baker-The-Legendary-Riverside-Albums https://www.discogs.com/release/26815019-Chet-Baker-Chet https://www.discogs.com/release/22885304-Art-Pepper-Art-Pepper-Meets-The-Rhythm-Section
In my experience, RTI is far from a "premium" pressing plant. I get more excessively noisy vinyl, defects, scratched vinyl and non-fill from RTI pressings than most other pressing plants. I can remember many defective Classic Records pressings from RTI... so bad, that I paid the extra $1 inspection fee to Classic to make sure it wasn't scratched/defective. Most of the scratched/noisy or otherwise defective records from Analog Productions are RTI pressings and I'm disappointed whenever I see that they had RTI press one of their new releases. I don't see things getting better after RTI's recent loss of their Master Presser/Manager Rick Hashimoto to Mobile Fidelitys new pressing plant, 'Fidelity Record Pressing'.
Sounds like you have not bought a RTI pressing in a while. They are not perfect but neither is any record plant. The Tone Poet and OJC threads have a big majority of positive feedback and the pressings are all RTI.
Not sure how you conclude that from my post, but I still purchase well over 100, closer to 200, new Lp albums a year, many of which are RTI pressings. I also purchase many of the the Tone Poets and OJC releases, and I have returned multiple different Tone Poets and have had 2 returns on the OJC Sunday Village Vanguard I have well over 1000 RTI pressings, I have experience with RTI pressings... there are others with the same experience as myself.
