UK editions of Prestige/New Jazz LP's

[sidewinder]

You may be interested to know that several Prestiges were issued in (West) Germany in the 60s, by MPS or SABA, I think. They were magnificent pressings, in the Deutsche Grammophon vein; thick vinyl, with plastic-lined sleeves, way better quality than what Bob Weinstock put out. It's been awhile, but I think the cover art was different from that on the U.S. releases.

I've got some of these too. One of the Pat Martinos ('Clear Evidence' I think) and a Jaki Byard 'Live At Lennies'. Both on SABA. Great pressing quality, with original US artwork. The German Blue Note Libertys were great too (see previous threads..)

[king ubu]

There were Vogue editions of many US albums, too, using different covers. Can't find any on the web, but I do remember a version of Harold Land's "The Fox" that had a darkish green/blue drawing instead of the usual one also used on the OJC.

[Chuck Nessa]

There were Vogue editions of many US albums, too, using different covers. Can't find any on the web, but I do remember a version of Harold Land's "The Fox" that had a darkish green/blue drawing instead of the usual one also used on the OJC.

The "darkish green/blue drawing" was from the original issue on the Hifi label.

[Peter A]

The "darkish green/blue drawing" was from the original issue on the Hifi label.

[mjzee]

I like these better than the original Prestiges, which could be pretty artless.

[Chas]

I like these better than the original Prestiges, which could be pretty artless.

Can't agree with you there .

For instance , I think those Don Martin Prestige covers are a gas .

Compare this Don Martin Prestige cover with its really unimaginative Esquire counterpart :

[king ubu]

The "darkish green/blue drawing" was from the original issue on the Hifi label.

Ah, yes! You're right of course Chuck... had that wrong in memory... will have to check for the ones I meant later (I have some in a crappy book).

[Chas]

I've yet to see any Esquire cover that surpasses its Prestige counterpart . Another example here . I don't find Esquire's more literal cover , done in a DSM style , to be superior to Esmond Edwards' intriguing photographic original .

[sidewinder]

I'm a fan of that Esquire 'For Lady' cover. It's not 'better' than the original but it holds up very well as cover art I think. The drawing, by the way, was done by John Marshall.

I'll bet that the vinyl sounds better on the Esquire though.

Edited April 14, 2007 by sidewinder

[clifford_thornton]

The Prestige is really cool-looking. Always liked that one.

[Chas]

Here are a couple more Esquires that IMO , don't measure up :

[Chas]

These are a little better :

[Big Beat Steve]

Sorry but IMHO that Soul Junction Esquire cover is way better than the Prestige one (and actually could have appeared on Prestige too with its play on words). Nothing against how Red Garland looked at that time, but snapping persons in street clothing posing somewhere in a park is pretty nondescript too and does NOT relate to the title of the album in any way (not that the image necessarily would have to relate to the album title but generic covers like this were a dime a dozen at that time - or would you want to file this in the "Fashion" section of album cover art books like "Jazzical Moods" too?).

As for the other ones, it all is a matter of taste but they do have their charm, and the DSM-inspired drawings aren't that bad either. DSM had no monopoly on this, and if you thought he had then you would have to discard a lot of other artwork on record sleeves and jazz mags right away.

As always, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

if they really are copy tapes of the masters sent to europe, than shouldnt there be a bunch of prestige master copies in europe????

cause theyre not vangelder stamped, he didnt mail stampers or metal parts....

the vinyl quality is way better than US, these sound fantastic. got a euro press of CHAMBERS MUSIC that looks like its shellac or styrene, its as fragile as glass. got it for 10 bucks, mint too. ill be dammed if it doesnt sound 100 times better than the transition pressing prob does

Edited August 1, 2013 by chewy

[JohnS]

Fwiw, I've checked a couple of my Esquires. The original PR number appears on the label, on the dead vinyl with RVG too.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

is that so! even better

[clifford_thornton]

Euro editions of Chambers' Music are Sonet (SWE) later Storyville (DK)

Imperial-EMI (NL)

Polydor (FR) - under Coltrane's name

none of these should be styrene-like, I wouldn't think. It never came out on Transition - it was on Jazz West, later Imperial and Score.

Edited August 6, 2013 by clifford_thornton

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

the one i have is on sonnet. yes, jazzwest, not transition. it might not be styrene but it is exteremly fragile!

[clifford_thornton]

How do you mean fragile?

I've got some experience with early Sonet pressings and they're very heavy, thick vinyl. The late '60s issues are thinner but, you know, not any less robust than other vinyl of the time.