New Blue Note 45rpm sets

[clifford_thornton]

... I'd buy five new CDs on Ecstatic Peace before I'd buy a Hoffman reissue, and two Maria Schneider records before one Classics reissue.

What wrong with Maria Schneider? Didn't you like "LAST TANGO IN PARIS"?

Ha! The Passenger was better... what a hot piece of

[paul secor]

Looks like another Blue Note 45RPM series just announced... This one by Analogue Productions.

Analogue Productions Blue Note 45 RPM's

Reading the posts on the Hoffman Forum, it's obvious the these people (with the exception of Rooster_Ties) worship at the altar of Saint Steve.

Edited September 14, 2007 by paul secor

[Dan Gould]

Looks like another Blue Note 45RPM series just announced... This one by Analogue Productions.

Analogue Productions Blue Note 45 RPM's

Reading the posts on the Hoffman Forum, it's obvious the these people (with the exception of Rooster_Ties) worship at he altar of Saint Steve.

I was gonna say.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Reading the posts on the Hoffman Forum, it's obvious the these people (with the exception of Rooster_Ties) worship at he altar of Saint Steve.

Unfortunately, on that website, you say anything bad about Steve and you're *gone*. They call it getting "gorted". They just don't allow anything negative about the guy. You want to say anything bad about him, you better do it here.

It's his website so he can do what he wants, but sometimes it gets tough when he makes a pronouncement you don't agree with. A couple of times, I've considered staying away because of this, but there really is no better place to talk rock and roll CD pressings.

Kevin

[wolff]

Here's the list of titles from Steve...

1.BLP 1517 Gil Melle- Patterns In Jazz

2.BLP 1524 Kenny Dorham - 'Round About Midnight At The Cafe Bohemia

3.BLP 1526 Clifford Brown -Memorial Album

4.BLP 1535 Kenny Dorham -Afro-Cuban

5.BLP 1536 J.R. Monterose

6.BLP 1538 Lee Morgan- Indeed!

7.BLP 1539 Horace Silver- 6 Pieces of Silver

8.BST 1557 Lee Morgan-Vol. 3

9.BST 1559 Johnny Griffin-Vol. 2 - A Blowing Session

10.BST 1560 Hank Mobley - Hank

11.BST 1562 Horace Silver - The Stylings Of Silver

12.BST 1566 Lou Donaldson -Vol. 3 - Swing And Soul

13.BST 1568 Hank Mobley

14.BST 1573 John Jenkins -With Kenny Burrell

15.BST 1575 Lee Morgan - City Lights

16.BST 1576 Sonny Clark - Sonny's Crib

17.BST 1578 Lee Morgan - The Cooker

18.BST 1580 Johnny Griffin - The Congregation

19.BST 1581 Sonny Rollins - A Night At The Village Vanguard

20.BST 1587 Bennie Green - Back On The Scene

21.BST 1588 Sonny Clark - Cool Struttin'

22.BST 1590 Lee Morgan - Candy

23.BST 1591 Lou Donaldson - Lou Takes Off

24.BST 1599 Bennie Green - Soul Stirrin'

25.BST 84012 Lou Donaldson - LD +3

26.BST 84024 Jackie McLean - Swing, Swang, Swingin'

27.BST 84029 Art Blakey- The Big Beat

28.BST 84031 Hank Mobley - Soul Station

29.BST 84037 Horace Parlan -Us Three

30.BST 84040 Freddie Hubbard - Open Sesame

31.BST 84041 Tina Brooks - True Blue

32.BST 84043 Horace Parlan- Speakin My Piece

33.BST 84045 Freddie Redd - Shades Of Red!

34.BST 84052 Tina Brooks - Back To The Tracks

35.BST 84057 Donald Byrd- The Cat Walk

36.BST 84058 Hank Mobley - Roll Call

37.BST 84059 Kenny Drew- Undercurrent

38.BST 84062 Horace Parlan - Headin' South

39.BST 84163 Eric Dolphy- Out To Lunch

40.BST 84067 Jackie McLean- Bluesnik

41.BST 84070 Stanley Turrentine -Up At Minton's, Vol. 2

42.BST 84074 Horace Parlan- Spur of The Moment

43.BST 84077 Dexter Gordon - Doin’ Allright

44.BST 84082 Horace Parlan - Up And Down

45.BST 84091 Sonny Clark- Leapin’ and Lopin’

46.BST 84096 Stanley Turrentine - That's Where It's At

47.BST 84106 Jackie McLean - Let Freedom Ring

48.BST 84133 Dexter Gordon - A Swingin' Affair

49.BST 84135 Freddie Hubbard - Here To Stay

50.BST 84144 Johnny Coles - Little Johnny C

51.BST 84152 Joe Henderson - Our Thing

52.BST 84163 Eric Dolphy-Out To Lunch

53.BST 84169 Lee Morgan-Search For The New Land

54.BST 84182 Wayne Shorter -Juju

55.BST 84183 Grant Green -Talkin' About!

56.BST 84189 Joe Henderson -Inner Urge

57.BST 84193 Art Blakey - Indestructible

58.BST 84204 Dexter Gordon -Gettin' Around

59.BST 84205 Pete LaRoca - Basra

60.BST 84212 Lee Morgan -The Gigolo

61.BST 84187 Larry Young –Into Somethin’

62 BST 84220 Horace Silver -The Cape Verdean Blues

63.BST 84259 Donald Byrd -Blackjack

FN sick!!!

I had no idea they'd snag these titles.

WOW!!!!!!!!!

I have 10K LP's and have not bought any in a year.

I'll be all over these.

BASRA at 45rpm!!!

OTL at 45rpm!!

I've heard most of these in their original form.

I can't wait to hear these in their Hoffman/Gray form.

Japan knows Hoffman/Gray.

Japan knows BN's.

I see a severe drop in originals of these titles.

I know I'll be selling mine!!!

Edited September 14, 2007 by wolff

[wolff]

What a funny thread...

Hoffman/Gray and master tapes

gettin' slammed!!! LMAO

For God's sake, rip the master tapes from RVG"s deaf ears/hands!!!!

I can't wait to buy a few of these!!!

[wolff]

Man...there's no pleasing some people...

This is the toughest board on the internet. Fucking brutal...

Took you long enough!!

[wolff]

I don't know who Hoffman/Gray are.

I do own 40-50 LP's they've remastered/cut.

Am I the only one that has their product?

If so, please STFU!!!!

Unbelievable thread.

[RDK]

Reading the posts on the Hoffman Forum, it's obvious the these people (with the exception of Rooster_Ties) worship at he altar of Saint Steve.

Unfortunately, on that website, you say anything bad about Steve and you're *gone*. They call it getting "gorted". They just don't allow anything negative about the guy. You want to say anything bad about him, you better do it here.

It's his website so he can do what he wants, but sometimes it gets tough when he makes a pronouncement you don't agree with. A couple of times, I've considered staying away because of this, but there really is no better place to talk rock and roll CD pressings.

Kevin

Very true, and I find the "saint" attitude of a lot of members over there sickening, but to call Steve Hoffman a fraud as was done earlier in this thread is way over the line in my view. Why not keep it civil...

I agree... on both counts. The SH forums is undeniably an odd and often frustrating place and the moderation is terribly heavy-handed. But I've met Steve a few times and I have nothing but positive things to say about him. Unlike his "reputation" I've found him to be surprisingly modest (though not unopinionated) and not at all the pompous audiophile that others would make him out to be. He's also very passionate about the music and knows his stuff, with his only goal to make it sound as good as he thinks it can be. I actually think he's a bit embarrassed by some of the sycophantic adoration he receives there as well as for the heavy-handed "gorting."

[porcy62]

Man...there's no pleasing some people...

This is the toughest board on the internet. Fucking brutal...

Yeah...who removed the pict of M. Brando and M. Schneieder in my previous post?

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I've met Steve a few times and I have nothing but positive things to say about him. Unlike his "reputation" I've found him to be surprisingly modest (though not unopinionated) and not at all the pompous audiophile that others would make him out to be.

If this quote didn't have "pompous audiophile" in there, I'd agree that he seems like a very nice guy. However, in many audio discussions, particularly when it comes to a product he uses, he's comes across as pompous as can be.

There was that one thread many years ago where he was raving about his Shakti Hallograph Room Optimizers, these coat hangers that sold for $1500 a pair. Anyone who disagreed with his pronouncement had their comments erased and was summarily booted off the forum. It was hard for me to not say something when he started up about the Shakti Stones, but I just let him blab away about them.

He can be just as much the pompous audiophile as I am.

[JSngry]

There is no "like" hearing something for the first time.

[six string]

I tried to have a discussion on the Hoffman board about the lifespan of mag tape and had a post of mine deleted and a couple of them edited by either him or his gorts. I made a statement about magtape having a life span like everything else in this world and Steve responded with "Where did you hear this fiction? I told him that I had been told by a friend who is an audio dealer who is an analog fantatic to the point tha the doesn't own a cd player and uses only tube equipment, etec. He said, and I'm not quoting here because I don't remember exactly what he said, but that mag tape had no limited life span. One of his gorts chimed in stating that tape would last forever, or at least two hundred years. I tried asking more detailed questios about this subject but was either ignored or I received incomplete and sometimes monosyllabic answers from Steve.

Next thing I read about the Chet Baker album Chet is that his product is better than another one because they used the wrong tape. One which was worn out. WTF? I understand that he might feel a need to protect his job and his products, but he is coming off as disingenuous. So his forum isn't really a forum like this one. It's merely there to spread the gospel according to Steve.

Edited September 14, 2007 by six string

[porcy62]

I tried to have a discussion on the Hoffman board about the lifespan of mag tape and had a post of mine deleted and a couple of them edited by either him or his gorts. I made a statement about magtape having a life span like everything else in this world and Steve responded with "Where did you hear this fiction? I told him that I had been told by a friend who is an audio dealer who is an analog fantatic to the point tha the doesn't own a cd player and uses only tube equipment, etec. He said, and I'm not quoting here because I don't remember exactly what he said, but that mag tape had no limited life span. One of his gorts chimed in stating that tape would last forever, or at least two hundred years. I tried asking more detailed questios about this subject but was either ignored or I received incomplete and sometimes monosyllabic answers from Steve.

Next thing I read about the Chet Baker album Chet is that his product is better than another one because they used the wrong tape. One which was worn out. WTF? I understand that he might feel a need to protect his job and his products, but he is coming off as disingenuous. So his forum isn't really a forum like this one. It's merely there to spread the gospel according to Steve.

If old audio mag tapes are similar to the early Ampex video mag tapes that I occasionally have to use in my job, I can swear that they will last much less then two centuries. Even with later, and supposendly better, broadcasting standards, like U-Matic and Betacam SP, the damages of aging are undebatable, period.

In Michael Fremer website there is an interview of Matthew Greenwald with Bruce Botnick, sound engineer of the Elektra, "The Doors" and "Love" just to name the most famous of his customers,

MG: What's your opinion of digital multi-track recorded sound, and your opinion of digital recording, period, compared to analog? Which do you prefer?

BB: I would venture to say that 95% of the music that I've recorded in the last eight years has been all digital. Digital does not basically sound better than analog, but what it does do, is that the sound doesn't change from what you're recording. With analog, you record it, and when you play it back, you will get a fair representation of what you heard on line-in. Play it back a half an hour later, and it will have changed, there are less highs. Play it a day later, and it will really have changed. The high end just changes, it's a natural process of the magnetism of the particles, and when you magnetize, record them, they change. The magnetic particles have a memory and want to go back to their original inert state. It's just the way it is. In digital, you record it, and it doesn't change. The problem with digital is the quality of the analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters. At this point in time, the A-to-D and D-to-A's are getting where you can record on it and it doesn't sound “digital” anymore. “Digital” meaning that it sounds cold. “Cold” meaning that digital doesn't show you all of the details, like the depth of the reverb and harmonic room tone. Because there's lack of detail, and especially lack of harmonics going way out, that sound would seem colder, and "digital." Right now, I'm recording 96 K, 24 bit, and whew! It's good! I mean, you're really, really hard pressed to tell it from the source.

Obviously, Mr Hoffman's version of "The Doors" album is better then the original, as he claimed somewhere in his forum

http://www.musicangle.com/feat.php?id=144&page=4

Edited September 14, 2007 by porcy62

[sidewinder]

but that mag tape had no limited life span. One of his gorts chimed in stating that tape would last forever, or at least two hundred years.

I guess if magnetic tape had an infinite permeability and uniform domains always in alignment, we might get there ! (and with perfect tape stored in perfect field-free isolation)

[RDK]

I tried to have a discussion on the Hoffman board about the lifespan of mag tape and had a post of mine deleted and a couple of them edited by either him or his gorts. I made a statement about magtape having a life span like everything else in this world and Steve responded with "Where did you hear this fiction? I told him that I had been told by a friend who is an audio dealer who is an analog fantatic to the point tha the doesn't own a cd player and uses only tube equipment, etec. He said, and I'm not quoting here because I don't remember exactly what he said, but that mag tape had no limited life span. One of his gorts chimed in stating that tape would last forever, or at least two hundred years. I tried asking more detailed questios about this subject but was either ignored or I received incomplete and sometimes monosyllabic answers from Steve.

Next thing I read about the Chet Baker album Chet is that his product is better than another one because they used the wrong tape. One which was worn out. WTF? I understand that he might feel a need to protect his job and his products, but he is coming off as disingenuous. So his forum isn't really a forum like this one. It's merely there to spread the gospel according to Steve.

Yeah, that was an embarassing thread; don't know what bug got up his ass on that one. And Sckot's not usually such a dick either. I did find it funny, though, that some of Steve's curt and ambiguous comments reminded me of Chuck.

[porcy62]

Reading the SHF, I noted that some guys over there are planning to sell their original pressings in order to have enough money for the 45rpm reissues, well if it will have some positive effects on the price of the originals...that might change my opinion about the issue...

[porcy62]

I tried to have a discussion on the Hoffman board about the lifespan of mag tape and had a post of mine deleted and a couple of them edited by either him or his gorts. I made a statement about magtape having a life span like everything else in this world and Steve responded with "Where did you hear this fiction? I told him that I had been told by a friend who is an audio dealer who is an analog fantatic to the point tha the doesn't own a cd player and uses only tube equipment, etec. He said, and I'm not quoting here because I don't remember exactly what he said, but that mag tape had no limited life span. One of his gorts chimed in stating that tape would last forever, or at least two hundred years. I tried asking more detailed questios about this subject but was either ignored or I received incomplete and sometimes monosyllabic answers from Steve.

Next thing I read about the Chet Baker album Chet is that his product is better than another one because they used the wrong tape. One which was worn out. WTF? I understand that he might feel a need to protect his job and his products, but he is coming off as disingenuous. So his forum isn't really a forum like this one. It's merely there to spread the gospel according to Steve.

Yeah, that was an embarassing thread; don't know what bug got up his ass on that one. And Sckot's not usually such a dick either. I did find it funny, though, that some of Steve's curt and ambiguous comments reminded me of Chuck.

The point is that Steve and Chuck seems to have a different opinion...maybe Chuck should give Steve a call for a 45rpm reissues' series of the Nessa label. I'd put the meeting on YouTube

[Chuck Nessa]

The point is that Steve and Chuck seems to have a different opinion...maybe Chuck should give Steve a call for a 45rpm reissues' series of the Nessa label. I'd put the meeting on YouTube

Not correct. SH is a reasonable remastering engineer. Never said anything different. Just never thought he was the "end all".

SH has pissed on Rudy's work and made a large part of his career selling masterings of Rudy's tapes. "Amazing sounds" is not an unusual message from SH when "remastering" RVG tapes. I just think this is jive.

Both are fallible guys but one is an original.

[paul secor]

If RVG hadn't been there first, Hoffman wouldn't have any Blue Notes (or Prestiges) to remaster.

[porcy62]

The point is that Steve and Chuck seems to have a different opinion...maybe Chuck should give Steve a call for a 45rpm reissues' series of the Nessa label. I'd put the meeting on YouTube

Not correct. SH is a reasonable remastering engineer. Never said anything different. Just never thought he was the "end all".

SH has pissed on Rudy's work and made a large part of his career selling masterings of Rudy's tapes. "Amazing sounds" is not an unusual message from SH when "remastering" RVG tapes. I just think this is jive.

Both are fallible guys but one is an original.

Surprisingly I totally agree with you.

[Eric]

To hell with 45's, I'll wait for the ultimate regression:

that is pretty funny

[RDK]

If RVG hadn't been there first, Hoffman wouldn't have any Blue Notes (or Prestiges) to remaster.

Well, no shit. And without Edison we'd all be meeting in someone's living room to talk about books. For the most part, their jobs are very different. Rudy's brilliance was as a recording engineer (though I'm also very fond of his LP cuttings) and Hoffman acknowledges that all the time. Hoffman doesn't engineer recordings but masters them afterwards - it's a completely different thing. A lot of people, myself included, have not always been happy with Rudy's CD remasters - they don't sound like his original vinyl. Different mastering philosophies I suppose, just like those between RVG and Ron McMaster. Some people seem to take SH's comments as "dissing" RVG; I don't think that's the case. If anything, he's suggesting that improved technology and pricey, audiophile standards can result in a better product. We'll see if that's indeed the case...

[Kevin Bresnahan]

A lot of people, myself included, have not always been happy with Rudy's CD remasters - they don't sound like his original vinyl.

I just got into this very thing with Steve Hoffman on a thread about the Analogue Productions SACDs. I mentioned that some people dislike RVG's Blue Note CDs because he made them sound very different than the original LPs. His response was:

"Dude,

A trumpet should sound like a real trumpet, a sax like a real sax. Anything else is just wasting your time.

If you want something to sound like an old LP from 1958 well, you are gypping yourself of the real deal. Go play your CD on a 1958 Zenith if you crave nostalgia but don't build that sound right on to your disc; that's silly."

So if anyone is expecting these new records to sound like first pressings, they are probably in for a surprise.

I'd also like to add that while Hoffman respects RVGs place in history, he has also complained a lot about working with his masters. According to Hoffman, there is an oscillatory tone on the tape that has required him to develop a special "De-RVG box". I am sure that these new LPs will have this used on them. It should be noted that Hoffman has expressed little love for reverb, a topic on which we agree. These new LPs should sound pretty weird to anyone who's listened to originals for any amount of time.

I am curious how "Soul Station" done by Steve Hoffman will sound with the spring reverb minimized and having this "De-RVG" circuit applied. But is it worth $50 to find out? That is the question.

Kevin

Edited September 15, 2007 by Kevin Bresnahan

[Teasing the Korean]

I'm grateful I can simply appreciate the music and not worry about constantly upgrading.