Jazz albums reissued on CD by Atlantic Japan

[king ubu]

Is this about proper Japanese Chris Connor reissues or about those "made in Europe" ones? Or are those identical to Japanese reissues anyways? (I have bought a couple of the Euro ones, at least one was new to me ... will need to dig them up, so far I've not noticed anything, but I guess by now I'm notorious here for not bothering about these things too much.)

[Clunky]

It's the pseudo-Japanese issues made in EU. Of the three Chris in Person is the noisiest. Witchcraft is the best with A jazz date.. somewhere in between. I've a worn Atlantic London LP edition of the last title. Despite having a hard life with a previous owner, it sounds calmer and less snake-like than the CD.

[king ubu]

Okay, I skipped "Chris in Person" since I have some Collectables of that one ... I also have "A Portrait of Chris Connor" from the series though, so there were at least four of them. And as they cost 4€ a pop I didn't think twice.

[crisp]

I was in Fopp Cambridge Circus yesterday and noticed the Chris Connor titles in there and passed on them. Sounds like I might have done the right thing.

Was there a good selection of these Atlantics there? I might try to make a special trip if so.

[xybert]

Is this about proper Japanese Chris Connor reissues or about those "made in Europe" ones? Or are those identical to Japanese reissues anyways? (I have bought a couple of the Euro ones, at least one was new to me ... will need to dig them up, so far I've not noticed anything, but I guess by now I'm notorious here for not bothering about these things too much.)

I'd still love to find out the backstory as to why there are the ones manufactured in the EU and the ones manufactured in Japan. Every answer i think of leads to more questions, all of which are answerable of course. But yeah, it'll be an interesting footnote for future collectors.

Quality wise in terms of the physical product, i personally haven't noticed a major difference between the Japanese and the EU ones, although i've noticed some minor things with the EU ones like the lettering on the CD seeming to have been printed not as good. Audio wise, i presume they are using the same masters but again would be interested to get factual confirmation.

[etherbored]

i'm checking out frank rosolino's 'turn me loose' and it sounds very choice. swinging like crazy, his vocals sound fine and not at all distorted. great stereo soundstage with the vocal coming straight down the center lane. highly recommended...

matzos and meatballs!

ps: my euro and japanese atlantics are absolutely night and day...

[xybert]

ps: my euro and japanese atlantics are absolutely night and day...

Are we talking about the 'Jazz Best Collection 1000' series? http://wmg.jp/jazz1000/index.html

If yes, are you able to elaborate on the night and day difference? Do you mean sound wise, or physical product wise? They seem pretty identical to me, apart from what i mentioned in my previous post. Some of the Euro ones have sounded bad to me (a couple of Art Farmers in particular) but i put that down to the individual recordings... would love to get the Japanese versions to compare.

[sidewinder]

I was in Fopp Cambridge Circus yesterday and noticed the Chris Connor titles in there and passed on them. Sounds like I might have done the right thing.

Was there a good selection of these Atlantics there? I might try to make a special trip if so.

Not as great as last time. First time I noticed these in the store they had a whole display shelf featuring them. This week there was no special display, just the individual titles (and not all of them) on the usual racks. Noticed that they had jacked up the prices on RVG Blue Notes as well (£3 to £8 !)

Edited September 12, 2014 by sidewinder

[soulpope]

i'm checking out frank rosolino's 'turn me loose' and it sounds very choice. swinging like crazy, his vocals sound fine and not at all distorted. great stereo soundstage with the vocal coming straight down the center lane. highly recommended...

matzos and meatballs!

ps: my euro and japanese atlantics are absolutely night and day...

agreed....

[Clunky]

ps: my euro and japanese atlantics are absolutely night and day...

Are we talking about the 'Jazz Best Collection 1000' series? http://wmg.jp/jazz1000/index.html

If yes, are you able to elaborate on the night and day difference? Do you mean sound wise, or physical product wise? They seem pretty identical to me, apart from what i mentioned in my previous post. Some of the Euro ones have sounded bad to me (a couple of Art Farmers in particular) but i put that down to the individual recordings... would love to get the Japanese versions to compare.

Agreed- " Live at the Half Note" and "Interaction" are as hard as nails.

I bought a few others recently, these "euros" sound excellent.

fathead comes on

To whom keeps a record

Monk/Blakey (mono)

[sidewinder]

The 'Live at the Half Note' was never that great on original vinyl anyway (very flat), so maybe the CD is the best of a bad job.

Sounds like I need to pick up the Blakey, as reports on thios one seem to be consistently good.

Edited September 12, 2014 by sidewinder

[king ubu]

i'm checking out frank rosolino's 'turn me loose' and it sounds very choice. swinging like crazy, his vocals sound fine and not at all distorted. great stereo soundstage with the vocal coming straight down the center lane. highly recommended...

matzos and meatballs!

ps: my euro and japanese atlantics are absolutely night and day...

agreed....

Not that I really care all that much, but did you guys actually compare any albums that were released both in the proper Japanese and the Euro versions? Or is that just a general statement? Which no doubt I don't doubt, just wondering ...

[Head Man]

As well as being excellent-sounding replacements for many of my "tired" albums I've also picked up a number of completely new (to me) releases as well:

Here are some I can recommend:

and a couple of "crooners".....

[king ubu]

I find the Stitt only half-good ... organ's a textbook example of heavy handed, clogging ... too bad, as the mid-size band and some of the arrangements are pretty nice indeed!

[Head Man]

I find the Stitt only half-good ... organ's a textbook example of heavy handed, clogging ... too bad, as the mid-size band and some of the arrangements are pretty nice indeed!

I enjoyed it because it is so different from his usual stuff. However, like you, I'm not a great fan of the organ playing (Perri Lee?)

[king ubu]

Yeah, because it's different, it's all the worse it's not really succesfull all 'round! Could have been a truly good one, but the organ's just too much!

The two Grassella Oliphant (what a name!) ones are pretty good though - agreed on that! And the Jimmy Scott is a classic, I guess ...

Now, where's the Jimmy Owens/Kenny Barron Atlantic, please? Has that one been included in any of those recent series?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I think Perri Lee is better with a small band. I have her Roulette LP done at Birdland with Eddie Chamblee on tenor sax and I forget the name of the drummer. That's nice.

MG

[Head Man]

Now, where's the Jimmy Owens/Kenny Barron Atlantic, please? Has that one been included in any of those recent series?

Yep, that one's included. In fact, I have it as part of my next order with CDJapan.

[king ubu]

Oh, great! Will have to look for it, too, then!

[crisp]

I was in Fopp Cambridge Circus yesterday and noticed the Chris Connor titles in there and passed on them. Sounds like I might have done the right thing.

Was there a good selection of these Atlantics there? I might try to make a special trip if so.

Not as great as last time. First time I noticed these in the store they had a whole display shelf featuring them. This week there was no special display, just the individual titles (and not all of them) on the usual racks. Noticed that they had jacked up the prices on RVG Blue Notes as well (£3 to £8 !)

Wow, that's pricey by today's standards. Luckily I have all the RVGs I want.

[etherbored]

whoa. i go away for 12 hours and it blows up. yes, xybert, the 'jazz best 1000' series is what we're referring to here. funnily enough, the 'live at the half note' was the first title i heard in this series and thought it sounded great.

i'm not sure that i have precise titles in its euro and japanese counterpart as i'm loathe to repurchase a title i already have under most circumstances, but off the top of my head i know the euros that i refer to that i base my opinion on are jimmy scott's 'the source', mcduff's 'tobacco road', mcduff and david 'fathead' newman's 'double barreled soul', freddie hubbard's 'backlash', and some non-atlantic (jobim, bill evans, jaco pastorious, hancock/mwandishi) titles all of which are simply 'meh' to me.

the rosololino was really working for me last night, that's for certain. then again, i'll be the first to admit that the original engineering of most of these records, certainly the atlantic titles, are very forward and maybe even aggressive to some.

however, for less than $10.00 usd they're the steal of the year.

Edited September 12, 2014 by etherbored

[king ubu]

whoa. i go away for 12 hours and it blows up. yes, xybert, the 'jazz best 1000' series is what we're referring to here. funnily enough, the 'live at the half note' was the first title i heard in this series and thought it sounded great.

i'm not sure that i have precise titles in its euro and japanese counterpart as i'm loathe to repurchase a title i already have under most circumstances, but off the top of my head i know the euros that i refer to that i base my opinion on are jimmy scott's 'the source', mcduff's 'tobacco road', mcduff and david 'fathead' newman's 'double barreled soul', freddie hubbard's 'backlash', and some non-atlantic (jobim, bill evans, jaco pastorious, hancock/mwandishi) titles all of which are simply 'meh' to me.

the rosololino was really working for me last night, that's for certain. then again, i'll be the first to admit that the original engineering of most of these records, certainly the atlantic titles, are very forward and maybe even aggressive to some.

however, for less than $10.00 usd they're the steal of the year.

Thanks - I try not to re-buy as well, so I can surely understand!

The ones you mention (Scott, McDuff, Fathead/McDuff, Scott, Hubbad, some of the Jobims and Jacos and the Hubbard) I all have in the old european digipack series ("Atlantic Masters", "Warner Masters", the Hubbard may actually be an "Atlantic Original Sound" one). I think those aren't exactly loved for sonics, either, but they're good enough for me (and frankly none of the albums is important enough that I'd consider upgrading - I love McDuff, but his Atlantics aren't my favourites by far, the Scott and one or two of the Jobims are my favourites of these).

One that I did get a while ago, in its proper Japanese version, is Robin Kenyatta's "Until" - pretty interesting album! (links: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/WPCR-27317)

[etherbored]

that kenyatta caught my eye. what's it all about...? i mean, i never would have gone for the jazz piano internationale unless it had been recommded above - and it's a gem.

[Clunky]

I hated "Turm me loose " the music rather than the sound. Ghastly.

The 'Live at the Half Note' was never that great on original vinyl anyway (very flat), so maybe the CD is the best of a bad job.

Sounds like I need to pick up the Blakey, as reports on thios one seem to be consistently good.

I had the original LP of Half Note which was severely under powered . I suspect the original recording isn't up to much .

[xybert]

What i'm trying to figure out is whether there's any audible difference between the Jazz Best Collection 1000 CDs manufactured in Japan, and the Jazz Best Collection 1000 CDs manufactured in the EU, which appear to be a facsimile of the Japanese ones in every other way. Not too sure if that is what is being discussed here or if it's previous non-Jazz Best Collection 1000 euro CDs (i.e. Atlantic Original Sound etc) that are being referred to as being inferior to japanese Jazz Best Collection 1000 CDs. Anyway, don't worry about it.