Classic Blue Notes on SHM-CD

[erwbol]

Delayed reaction time is another sign of old age.

[jazzbo]

Just as thinking it's cool to be an asshole is a sign of great immaturity.

[erwbol]

And being obsessed with posting pictures of pretty young girls is a sign what exactly?

[jazzbo]

That I think women are beautiful? That I like women and people more than editorial cartoons and pictures of buildings?

I'm done talking with you. So long.

Edited June 6, 2015 by jazzbo

[jazzbo]

I guess the series is over. I've bought a lot, not all of them, and I was hoping for titles that haven't surfaced. Will be interesting to see how far and deep the "Blu-ray Audio" series goes.

I'm not buying any of these SHM-CDs though. Now if they were titles newer to cd, maybe.

Well, I have had to eat those words, though what did get me really interested in the series were titles beyond the ordinary that were finally given really good mastering.

[sidewinder]

Amazing that I haven't bought any of them yet and probably now won't. It's not as if I didn't get the chance - being next to a rack jam packed full of them at Disk Union !

[Peter Friedman]

I just received another box of Blue Note SHM-CDs.

Now have 27 of them.

The ones I have heard thus far sound really good.

[StarThrower]

If anyone cares to chime in, I have a question pertaining to the Paul Chambers Quintet CD. I want to pick up a copy and I have three options. My local CD store has both the RVG and Connoisseur editions, or I can get the Japanese CD released on July 1st, but it's just a low priced edition, not a SHM. Anyone know the difference, or hear the difference? Thanks! They're all around the same price.

[erwbol]

The Japanese budget disc will lack the bonus track from the RVG.

I'm sure Lon will be able to identify which mastering is being used on these discs.

Edited June 7, 2015 by erwbol

[StarThrower]

I can get the used Connoisseur Edition for 6 bucks, or the RVG for 8. I'm just wary about RVGs as many I've bought sound kinda fuzzy with boomy bass. The Connoisseurs sound a bit crisper and leaner. But I do like beefy bass as long as it's not going boom boom.

[Clunky]

If anyone can comment on the SHM-CD versions Kenny Dorham's , Afro-Cuban and Whistle Stop , these are both favourites which I have only as RVG discs. As RVGs Afro-Cuban sounds pretty good but Whistle Stop sounds a little airless. Any comments comparing would be appreciated. I'd go for either if the sonics were clearly better but probably not if the benefits were more marginal. Any thoughts??

[erwbol]

Once again, I'm sure Lon will be able to answer all your questions once his order arrives.

[StarThrower]

I went back to the store and bought the Connoisseur Edition. I gave it a listen down there on headphones and it sounded good. Also picked up Bass On Top for 5 bucks.

[jazzbo]

I got a package with some of the new budget reissues from cdjapan.

There is not much certainty I can add to the riddle of what mastering is used on these. I deliberately ordered releases that I did not have on Japanese cd before. So I cannot compare to an earlier version. There is no English information about mastering or sources, not even a mention of 20 bit, 24 bit etc. that I can find.

What I've listened to sounds very good, and doesn't quite sound the way that the SHM-CD series has, but very good, not entirely dissimilar in that there is a nice bit of depth and the tonal balance is exciting but not harsh or brittle. No reason to avoid any of these because of the sound, but I wouldn't expect them to be "new remasterings" like those in the SHM-CD series. But I can't say that they are not new masterings as there is no information listed and I don't have other releases to compare and contrast.

Edited to add: I believe two that I have listened to (The Right Touch, How Insensitive) are likely Japanese RVG remasterings. . . which makes me suspect that is true of other titles as well).

Edited June 8, 2015 by jazzbo

[RPF1990]

Hello.

I have two of the non SHM-CDs on the way, so will add any details that may be of use when I have them, regarding the possible mastering. However, I do know that Basra; Byrd in Flight; Moon Rappin' and Wahoo are all 24 bit remasters. A seller on EBAY has posted the CD album covers with Obi strips, which show this in English.

Jazzbo, have you inspected the inner section of a CD, to see if there is recorded there a previously issued TOCJxxxx issue number? I ask this as two blue note CDs I purchased earlier in the year, in a then current re-issue program, did. These were 70th Anniversary TOCJ8xxx re-issued issues (which might have been re-issues of TOCJ6xxx 65th non-RVG issues). I suspect that your earlier statement that this batch of re-issues will possibly be a mixture of RVG and non-RVG,will happen to be correct.

[jazzbo]

I'm unable to discern anything significant from the inner ring of the discs. Could be me and my eyes. Keep us posted.

I do now see where the "24 bit" is if it's there, I see it on One Step Beyond, Song of Singing, Life Time, Time Waits, Bud!, Schizophrenia, and the two Pearsons. These are probably all RVG masterings; they were all previously in the Japanese RVG series.

Edited June 8, 2015 by jazzbo

[RPF1990]

Cool. Thanks for the response Jazzbo.

I have Wahoo and Moon Rappin' ordered (SAL postage); which I believe have both been released in Japan as RVGs and non-RVG's. I will be happy with either, glad that the titles are available and at a very reasonable price.

[jazzbo]

Will be interesting to see what arrives. Those are good sessions!

[mjzee]

Just received Freddie Roach's Mo' Greens Please and Down To Earth. Was disappointed to see the minimalist packaging. The only English is the microscopic reproduction of the original back covers. Each has a four-page booklet (which equals one folded-over piece of paper), the middle two pages of which are solely in Japanese. Really, this is a pretty cheap way to deliver the goods, and now I regret thinking in post #1116 that these new reissues would be similar to the prior releases. I imagine the music will sound fine.

[jazzbo]

They're budget reissues, and I guess I'm used to these from Japan the last few years, they are as I expected them to be as far as packaging. The price is right.

Bet they sound good!

[erwbol]

If they are like 2014's budget releases (also without bonus tracks) they will disappear a lot sooner than the SHMs.

[RPF1990]

I think those 2014 releases are coming back: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/products?term.list_id=jazz300_150609&page=1. These are not just Blue Note releases, but include BNs.

To be released September 2015 - 300 noted on CD Japan. Many (not sure about all) were part of the 2014 programme. Some sold out in about 3 months before, I think.

Edited June 10, 2015 by RPF1990

[Rooster_Ties]

Got my shipment while I was out of town, safe and sound. Back home from KC (in DC), loving the bonus material on Unity, of course...

...but the big surprise for me was the one previously unreleased alternate of the title track on/of "Mode For Joe". Two minutes longer than the master, and (I think) fairly radically different soling from Joe, but all the others as too. I can see how they decided the master take, but the new alternate has less of Joe's "pet" licks (and one in particular, especially, which always bugs me a little - since he does/did it so much).

Anyway, between Unity and Mode For Joe alone, that's five more new solos from Joe, and four from Woody Shaw. Hot damn!

Sound quality is excellent, and I'm normally not much of a stickler about such things.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Rooster_Ties

[monkboughtlunch]

Do the new non-SHM CDs of unknown mastering origin have excessive compression and aphex aural exciter artifacts? If so, they are RVG masterings.

[Late]