BNLA Series, more 999 Yen reissues from EMI Japan

[etherbored]

hans - your collection is primarily digital, isn't it?

[J.A.W.]

hans - your collection is primarily digital, isn't it?

CDs only, since late 1995. Why do you ask? Edited April 25, 2013 by J.A.W.

[etherbored]

out of curiosity, naturally. wasn't sure if you could comment any any la/lt series vinyl. i was pretty sure you were all digital (like me) but i couldn't remember.

Edited April 25, 2013 by etherbored

[J.A.W.]

out of curiosity, naturally. wasn't sure if you could comment any any la/lt series vinyl. i was pretty sure you were all digital (like me) but i couldn't remember.

I see. I did have some of those LPs, but I don't remember how they sounded. The pressings weren't that great. Edited April 25, 2013 by J.A.W.

[mjzee]

HDTracks offers 4 digital formats: aiff, alac, flac, wav. Is any one superior to the others?

[erwbol]

All are lossless and can be converted into one another as far as I know.

Edited April 25, 2013 by erwbol

[etherbored]

i'll take a swpie and say that i've found flac files to be the most durable in terms of useage and converting. however, that's just my experience. i'm sure others could probably say the same thing about the other file types.

[erwbol]

I also prefer FLAC (open source) to the other formats which were introduced by big companies such as Apple and Microsoft.

Edited April 25, 2013 by erwbol

[Deepak]

I own the TOCJ-8676 release as well as the American CD reissue from the 90s. I've also got the original LP and a later Japanese LP reissue. Why the obsession? It's simply one of my favourite albums ever and I was searching for the best sounding version.

From what I can recall nothing beats the original LP. I'll get back with a fresh opinion when I've had time to check the different versions again, probably this weekend.

It was even worse than I remembered: I've got both Toshiba and King LP pressings in addition to the US Liberty release.

Anyway, the Malcom Addey remix is better than I remembered and I clearly prefer it to the TOCJ-8676 which I find too loud and compressed. The mix and soundstage of Addey's remix is somewhat different from the original LP, but I can't say I prefer any of them over the other.

I believe this was first reissued on CD in the "Collector's choice" series. Some (all?) titles were reprinted a few years later and my copy of the US CD version actually has "(p) © 1995" on it. It's the same 1988 Malcolm Addey remix though.

Is the US Liberty LP mastered by RVG and is better than the Japan King?

The HDTracks download is a touch on the bright side, but it has more resolution than the original CD.

[etherbored]

seeing as it was recorded at plaza sound, i'm going to guess not...

[king ubu]

Not sure what you guys are talking of here, but "Total Eclipse" is a fine album and ought to be heard in some form. I was overjoyed to be able to pick up a copy of the McMaster a few years ago, at a decent price - and frankly with my lo-fi ears, I've never thought much about its sound.

Which McMaster are you referring to? McMaster is not credited on the 1989 CD reissue, Malcolm Addey is.

Yep, that one! Thought "McMaster" was synonymous with all 1987-1989 Blue Note reissues

[Guy Berger]

A pretty good album, my first from the BNLA series. I hope there are a few more gems to be discovered, but given the series' repuation I should probably thread carefully.

That's a GREAT album. No, it is not typical of the BNLA series.

In my opinion the best of his BN albums. Wayne and Gary on "Message from the Nile", holy smoke.

[Daniel A]

Is the US Liberty LP mastered by RVG and is better than the Japan King?

The HDTracks download is a touch on the bright side, but it has more resolution than the original CD.

As etherbored suspected: no RVG stamp. The King pressing is somewhat similar to the later TOCJ CD and seems to boost the middle register in an unpleasant way compared to the original.

I agree that this is one of the very best sessions of the 4200 series. Joe Chambers and Reggie Johnson is such a great team!

[Daniel A]

i know most here are praising this series, and i do love it too, but the 30-40 titles in my collection all have universally uninspiring mastering to them. which is quite odd because it's a characteristic that's consistent across the lt and la series - truncated high ends that cause an artificial and somewhat flattened sound, flatter than usual mid ranges. dark low ends. just an overall lack of clarity as compared to prior issues.

initially i thought this was due to the label budget for the series being low because of the pricepoint which means the transfer or mastering simply doesn't receive the treatment and care of other series. however, then i revisited titles from the prior 'jazz 999' series which do not suffer from this aural truncation whatsoever. then again, i could just be going deaf.

Since I've now acquired a few releases from this series I would have to agree completely with the statements above (except that I thibk neither of us is going deaf )

What tape sources that are being used for the Japanese CD reissues seems like an eternal mystery. Maybe tape copies of another generation have been used for these BNLA albums, since I can't remember a corresponding degradation between late BNST and BNLA LP:s.

[king ubu]

Not sure what you guys are talking of here, but "Total Eclipse" is a fine album and ought to be heard in some form. I was overjoyed to be able to pick up a copy of the McMaster a few years ago, at a decent price - and frankly with my lo-fi ears, I've never thought much about its sound.

Which McMaster are you referring to? McMaster is not credited on the 1989 CD reissue, Malcolm Addey is.

Talk about catching up late .... so it's Addey, I assume (don't have the disc in my hands, don't know the pile at the bottom of which it must be located right now). I tend to forget that Addey did some of those early BN CDs .... I did keep his old "Money Jungle" though, as I prefer the sound of it over the later McMaster that was a no-brainer as it added several more alternate takes (and I think even one new tune).

Oops, and I hadn't seen my previous reply ... perusing this and some other threads right now to look up stuff on cdjapan ...

[bakeostrin]

Are there any more reissues of the 999 Best and More since this thread?

thanks in advance

baker

[Clunky]

I'd not read this thread previously but was interested to see the comments about Total Eclipse TOCJ8676. It's the only version I know . I'd pretty much agree that it's a bit harsh but not off putting. It's a great session. From all accounts it appears that no issue is particularly satisfactory .