Grachan Moncur sound

[chris]

I see that the Grachan Moncur Mosaic Select appears to have the entire Destination Out album included-- how is the sound on the Mosaic release as compared to the TOCJ of that title?

[chris]

Or the Conn... I can't keep all of these straight. As far as I can tell, in order to get "Destination Out" on CD there are (at least) these releases: the "regular" Blue Note, the Mosaic Grachan Moncur Select, the TOCJ 4155, the TOCJ 9165 (24 bit), and the Blue Note Conn -- are some of these equivalent to one another?

Are there any general rules for these kinds of comparisons?

[Claude]

The sound of the Mosaic is not very good. I found the Connoisseur releases of "Destination out" and "Some other stuff" to be superior.

[Stefan Wood]

You gotta be nuts, Claude. The sound is fine on the Mosaic set. As good if not better than TOCJs

[Clunky]

The sound of the Mosaic is not very good. I found the Connoisseur releases of "Destination out" and "Some other stuff" to be superior.

For what it's worth I couldn't tell my Conn. of "Destination out" and the version on the Mosaic select apart. Both sounded fine IMO

[Morganized]

You gotta be nuts, Claude. The sound is fine on the Mosaic set. As good if not better than TOCJs

I wouldn't think of getting in the middle of this one But there is a wide variance in what people think of the Grachen Select. I have almost purchased this a couple of times, but everytime I get ready to I read another thread about the sound quality of the Select.

How about other folks who have purchased this set. Any comments? And don't be shy, we have sent Stefan and Claude to their respective corners to cool down!

We jazz fans sure do take this stuff seriously............

[Claude]

OK, I'll stop ranting about the sound of this set

You can read it here:

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...opic=1626&st=15

[Man with the Golden Arm]

I've always had utmost respect for Claude's ears here and on the other board. And still do.

But I feel that this set in particular did not warrant the keeping of the old issues once you got them all in one place. Sure the McLeans might have sounded a tad better via the TOCJs but having the tracking mistakes solved from the "One Step Beyond" sessions is worth the go if you have the old US version. I had upgraded to the JRVG of that 'OSB' which was superb, but after hearing the subtle differences compared to the Select the $35 I ebayed it for more that made this set worth the upgrade charge of $4 bucks. Plus the groove on Hipgnosis' title track is killin'. I would not hesitate for sound here alone especially if you don't own Moncur's "Evolution".

Now regarding the crappola on Patton's "The Way I Feel" via Select...

Edited December 22, 2003 by Man with the Golden Arm

[Shrdlu]

The TOCJ's of the albums in this set are, as usual, way better, Chris, no question.

This Mosaic is one of Ron's worst efforts. The snag is that (unless you can find a rare LP copy) the "Hipnosis" session is not available elsewhere. Get a burn of that and the TOCJs of the rest - just about every other track has been released in Japan. I think the TOCJs remain the definitive Blue Note CD reissues. If only the guy who did the recent Japanese Sergio Mendes CDs were given access to the BN vaults! It's ironic that I have better CDs of lesser music like that.