What music are you listening to currently?

[Cyndale]

Big fan of Ben Harper, been listening to Welcome to the Cruel World and Fight For Your Mind the last couple of days!

[Cyndale]

Another favourite on the turntable at the moment...

[cybot]

Another favourite on the turntable at the moment...

Classic shot too....

[Cyndale]

It is a 1987 reissue, much better than later reissues.

[cybot]

It is a 1987 reissue, much better than later reissues.

Mine's a 1979 US Stax pressing. I've just binned it.

Seriously....I have to, at least, acknowledge your knowledge. I think it would be safe to ascertain (that word again) that you know your dead wax from your, er, dud wax. I would love to learn more as it makes perfect sense to 'upgrade' your system's sonics by the simply hunting out the right pressing or at least as near as dammit to the original release date. You must have had some epiphanic moment in the distant past when you realised that. I know I did when I heard a Doors compilation (Weird Scenes....) and I was aghast at the poor quality in comparison to original tracks I had already. I feel a story coming on here. All it needs is someone to tell it. How about it? We can't leave a lost art gathering dust......in the dead wax 😱

[Diapason]

I can never remember, am I meant to love Diana Krall with my audiophile hat on, or hate her with my muso hat on? Well, one way or the other this is a pleasant enough listen of a Monday evening.

[Ivor]

I can never remember, am I meant to love Diana Krall with my audiophile hat on, or hate her with my muso hat on? Well, one way or the other this is a pleasant enough listen of a Monday evening.

I like her piano playing but her voice grates.

[Diapason]

I agree with that, I actually find her a grating presence for reasons I can't put my finger on. Still, I like the vibe, the understated guitar playing, the arrangements, etc.

[Derek]

I fall into the same category. I wish she’d stick to just playing the piano, no talking no singing...

[Cyndale]

It is a 1987 reissue, much better than later reissues.

Mine's a 1979 US Stax pressing. I've just binned it.

Seriously....I have to, at least, acknowledge your knowledge. I think it would be safe to ascertain (that word again) that you know your dead wax from your, er, dud wax. I would love to learn more as it makes perfect sense to 'upgrade' your system's sonics by the simply hunting out the right pressing or at least as near as dammit to the original release date. You must have had some epiphanic moment in the distant past when you realised that. I know I did when I heard a Doors compilation (Weird Scenes....) and I was aghast at the poor quality in comparison to original tracks I had already. I feel a story coming on here. All it needs is someone to tell it. How about it? We can't leave a lost art gathering dust......in the dead wax 😱

I don't know about others but I definitely had an epiphanic moment way back in the 1980s. I used to go over to a guy's house to listen to familiar music and enjoyed the occasion. This particular time he played me Deep Purple's Machine Head and I was TOTALLY blown away by the experience and I said to him that I have that LP but I wasn't hearing it with the same impact. When I got home I played it and yes it sounded good but it just didn't have the same impact or slam of his. I used to get disillusioned with the sound I was hearing on my system.

I spent years upgrading the system, because I wasn't happy with the sound I was getting compared to other systems I had heard. Anyway, I came across an article in one of the hi-fi magazines about vinyl pressings, the article wasn't about the quality of the vinyl pressings. It was all about the different masterings of the same LP. One example was David Bowie's Let's Dance, the LP was mastered from the original tapes at Masterdisk, New York, it pointed out that the US LP was pressed from Masterdisk lacquers, but that the UK original LP wasn't. The UK LP was mastered in the UK at the Penthouse (part of Abbey Road mastering). Whether it was cut from the original US tapes or a copy of the original US tapes I don't actually know. So I went about buying both the UK pressing and the US pressing and it was a no brainer. The US pressing was much more dynamic, punchy and detailed.

This sent me down the path of looking at the credit notes on album sleeves to see who cut the LP. I began to understand all the markings in the runout grooves and thankfully in those days vinyl wasn't sealed so I would ask at the counter could I have a look at the LP (which the staff thought was odd, ha! Did I care, hell no!). It was very easy to recognise if the LP had the information I was looking for and over the years I replaced LPs and managed to get the correct one with the relevant mastering.

I finally came across a UK copy of Machine Head and now knowing what to look for, I jumped at it in a flash. When I played it alongside the copy I already had I couldn't believe the difference. I now had the sound of the pressing I heard in my friend's house. Going down this route saved me an awful lot of money, because for the first time I realised that a particular pressing of an LP could transform the sound of my system without me having to upgrade. I kept a good few examples of the same LP that had different masterings and nearly everybody who listened to the comparisons picked the right one every time, the difference was that obvious!

Over the years I have upgraded my system and this made the comparisons between albums even more obvious!