Late Posted February 23, 2020 Report Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) This post is meant simply as a resource for those who collect Impulse! titles initially reissued in 1987 by the German and Japanese markets. The sound on some of these titles is excellent; quiet, and usually with little, if any, compression. I think both German and Japanese editions use the same remastering. Below is a list of titles. Numbers in parentheses are the German catalog numbers while the 32XD prefixes refer to the Japanese titles (55XD for double disc sets). Feel free to post corrections and/or additions, and to post your thoughts on this reissue series in general. (I've attached the list in a Word doc as well.) John Coltrane: Ballads (254 607-2) 32XD-570 John Coltrane: Crescent (254 608-2) 32XD-571 John Coltrane: Coltrane (254 609-2) 32XD-572 John Coltrane: Transition (254 611-2) 32XD-575 John Coltrane: With Johnny Hartman (254 617-2) 32XD-576 John Coltrane: Ascension (Edition II) (254 618-2) 32XD-577 John Coltrane: Quartet Plays (254 619-2) 32XD-578 John Coltrane: Meditations (254 621-2) 32XD-581 John Coltrane: Live at the Village Vanguard (254 627-2) 32XD-582 John Coltrane: Impressions (254 628-2) 32XD-583 John Coltrane: Ascension (Edition I) (254 745-2) 32XD-584 John Coltrane: Selflessness (254 629-2) 32XD-585 John Coltrane: Sun Ship (254 630-2) 32XD-586 John Coltrane: Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (254 636-2) 32XD-587 John Coltrane: Live At Birdland (254 637-2) 32XD-588 John Coltrane: Africa Brass (254 638-2) 32XD-589 John Coltrane: Om (254 640-2) 32XD-592 John Coltrane: A Love Supreme (254 557-2) 32XD-595 John Coltrane: Kulu Sé Mama (254 645-2) 32XD-596 John Coltrane: Expression (254 646-2) 32XD-597 John Coltrane: Live at the Village Vanguard Again (254 647-2) 32XD-598 John Coltrane: Africa Brass Vol. 2 (254 648-2) 32XD-599 John Coltrane: Mastery of Vol. III "Jupiter Variation” (254 649-2) 32XD-600 John Coltrane: Live In Japan Vol. 1 (254 610-2) 55XD-573~574 John Coltrane: Live In Japan Vol. 2 (254 620-2) 55XD-579~580 John Coltrane: The Other Village Vanguard Tapes (254 639-2) 55XD-590~591 John Coltrane: Mastery of Vol. I "Feelin' Good" (254 641-2) 55XD-593~594 John Coltrane: Mastery of Vol. IV "Trane's Modes" (254 650-2) 55XD-601~602 Keith Jarrett: Death and the Flower (254 612-2) 32XD-603 Keith Jarrett: Treasure Island (254 623-2) 32XD-604 Keith Jarrett: Byablue (254 632-2) 32XD-605 Keith Jarrett: Mysteries (254 642-2) 32XD-606 Sonny Rollins: On Impulse! (254 613-2) 32XD-607 Sonny Rollins: Alfie (254 651-2) 32XD-608 McCoy Tyner: Nights of Ballads & Blues (254 614-2) 32XD-609 McCoy Tyner: Reaching Fourth (254 652-2) 32XD-610 The Gil Evans Orchestra: Out of the Cool (254 615-2) 32XD-611 The Gil Evans Orchestra: Into the Hot (254 626-2) 32XD-612 Johnny Hartman: I Just Dropped By to Say Hello (254 616-2) 32XD-613 Count Basie: Count Basie and the Kansas City 7 (254 622-2) 32XD-614 Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers (254 624-2) 32XD-615 Elvin Jones and Richard Davis: Heavy Sounds (254 625-2) 32XD-616 Oliver Nelson: Blues and the Abstract Truth (254 631-2) 32XD-617 Oliver Nelson: More Blues and the Abstract Truth (254 643-2) 32XD-618 Charlie Haden: Liberation Music Orchestra (254 633-2) 32XD-619 J.J. Johnson & Kai Winding: The Great Kai & J.J. (254 634-2) 32XD-620 Albert Ayler: In Greenwich Village (254 635-2) 32XD-621 Charlie Mingus: The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady (254 562-2) 32XD-622 Archie Shepp: Four For Trane (254 644-2) 32XD-623 Quincy Jones and His Orchestra: The Quintessence (254 560-2) 32XD-624 1987 32XD Impulse! titles.docx Edited February 23, 2020 by Late Quote
J.A.W. Posted February 23, 2020 Report Posted February 23, 2020 As far as I can tell the 1991 Japanese impulse! CD reissues with the MVCI prefix have the same masterings as the 32XD and German series. Later Japanese impulse! CDs have different masterings. Quote
David Ayers Posted February 23, 2020 Report Posted February 23, 2020 Thanks for mentioning these MVCI titles (I wasn't aware of the German equivalents). The MVCIs I have are pretty fine and these days sometimes go for lesser amounts because of their age. Quote
Late Posted February 23, 2020 Author Report Posted February 23, 2020 Here's what discogs lists for the 1991 MVCI titles. 4 hours ago, David Ayers said: ... these days sometimes go for lesser amounts because of their age. True. I've seen that too. I admit it feels something like a "creative anachronism society" to start a thread on a series of discs that are now 33 years old. What if a person bought the lot way back in 1987 and was then done with it? There'd be less of a need for eBay, less of a collecting bug, and money could go toward ... cognac, or some other accompanying endeavor. I don't know if the MVCI series has a German equivalent. On a personal note — way back in 1994 — I remember seeing a large number of Japanese and German Impulse! titles filling the racks at the Piccadilly Tower Records. The underground stop, if I'm not mistaken, had an elevator that took you up right into the store. Quote
J.A.W. Posted February 23, 2020 Report Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) Most of my impulse! titles are MVCI CDs, some are 32XD releases and German equivalents. When a title I wanted wasn't available in those series, I got a later reissue. Many years ago I compared some of the 1987 and 1991 discs to post-1991 reissues of the same titles and always preferred the former. Edited February 23, 2020 by J.A.W. Quote
sidewinder Posted February 23, 2020 Report Posted February 23, 2020 1 hour ago, Late said: I don't know if the MVCI series has a German equivalent. On a personal note — way back in 1994 — I remember seeing a large number of Japanese and German Impulse! titles filling the racks at the Piccadilly Tower Records. The underground stop, if I'm not mistaken, had an elevator that took you up right into the store. It did indeed ! And then you had to walk across those transparent floor tiles and get vertigo to get to the jazz.. Quote
Late Posted February 24, 2020 Author Report Posted February 24, 2020 5 hours ago, sidewinder said: It did indeed ! And then you had to walk across those transparent floor tiles and get vertigo to get to the jazz.. I'd totally forgotten about the transparent floor tiles. (In fact, I may never have noticed them to begin with.) I do remember the jazz section, however. It competed easily in its offerings with the Tower on Sunset in Los Angeles. Is the only Tower still standing in Tokyo? That should probably be another thread — the various Tower Records that board members here used to frequent. Quote
Kevin Bresnahan Posted February 24, 2020 Report Posted February 24, 2020 10 hours ago, Late said: I'd totally forgotten about the transparent floor tiles. (In fact, I may never have noticed them to begin with.) I do remember the jazz section, however. It competed easily in its offerings with the Tower on Sunset in Los Angeles. Is the only Tower still standing in Tokyo? That should probably be another thread — the various Tower Records that board members here used to frequent. I went to the Piccadilly store many times and I don't recall that floor either. Maybe I managed to avoid it? I'm not a huge fan of heights so the vertigo would have hit me pretty good. Sadly, I never got to Tokyo during my travel days. I went through Japanese airports and they often had a little Tower store in them, but that was as close as I got. I didn't buy many of those 32XD CDs back in the day. If my memory isn't failing me, the "32" was shortened from 32,000 as in 32,000 Yen - the list price. That was a lot of US dollars back then. And yes, 55XD meant 55,000 Yen. Quote
sidewinder Posted February 24, 2020 Report Posted February 24, 2020 (edited) The vertigo floor was one level up and unfortunately you had to traverse it to get to the jazz. Irrational I know but I never liked it ! I checked out the Tower in Tokyo on my visit there - not up to Disk Union standard but not bad. It occupies several floors in a prominent high rise, I recall. Edited February 24, 2020 by sidewinder Quote
David Posted February 29, 2020 Report Posted February 29, 2020 On 2/24/2020 at 4:38 AM, bresna said: I didn't buy many of those 32XD CDs back in the day. If my memory isn't failing me, the "32" was shortened from 32,000 as in 32,000 Yen - the list price. That was a lot of US dollars back then. And yes, 55XD meant 55,000 Yen. Wow, that's crazy! That's about $30 and $50 per CD. I'm glad many Japanese reissues are only 1,000 Yen these days. Quote
J.A.W. Posted February 29, 2020 Report Posted February 29, 2020 (edited) On 24-2-2020 at 1:38 PM, bresna said: I didn't buy many of those 32XD CDs back in the day. If my memory isn't failing me, the "32" was shortened from 32,000 as in 32,000 Yen - the list price. That was a lot of US dollars back then. And yes, 55XD meant 55,000 Yen. 5 hours ago, David said: Wow, that's crazy! That's about $30 and $50 per CD. I'm glad many Japanese reissues are only 1,000 Yen these days. I regularly imported CDs from Japan for my own collection and "32XD" meant that the list price was 3200 yen, not 32,000; likewise, 55XD meant 5500 yen, not 55,000 - a not insignificant difference Edited February 29, 2020 by J.A.W. Quote
Late Posted March 1, 2020 Author Report Posted March 1, 2020 Listened to 32XD-571 (Crescent) this week. Sounds amazingly close to vinyl. Natural, and with virtually no ear fatigue. The music itself, of course, is incredible. I purchased this title at the Piccadilly Circus Tower. Quote
mikeweil Posted March 1, 2020 Report Posted March 1, 2020 The only ones I still have - IIRC - are the Hartman and the Basie, which both sound great. Quote
Bluesnik Posted March 1, 2020 Report Posted March 1, 2020 On 23/02/2020 at 8:57 PM, J.A.W. said: Most of my impulse! titles are MVCI CDs Most of the Impulses I have are mid-nineties digipacks with a very good sound reissued by MC. They are a reissue series I still consider to this day to be top-notch. Quote
J.A.W. Posted March 1, 2020 Report Posted March 1, 2020 17 minutes ago, Bluesnik said: Most of the Impulses I have are mid-nineties digipacks with a very good sound reissued by MC. They are a reissue series I still consider to this day to be top-notch. I got a lot of those 1990s digipaks that were mastered by Erick Labson, but didn't really like them; they're not bad, but compared with the 32XD and MVCI CDs the highs are too pronounced to my ears. Quote
Kevin Bresnahan Posted March 1, 2020 Report Posted March 1, 2020 On 2/29/2020 at 6:46 AM, J.A.W. said: I regularly imported CDs from Japan for my own collection and "32XD" meant that the list price was 3200 yen, not 32,000; likewise, 55XD meant 5500 yen, not 55,000 - a not insignificant difference Thanks for that correction Hans. Even with my decimal slip, 3200 Yen was a lot of US dollars back in 1991. With the international shipping costs, they were even more. I think the local Tower Records sold them for around $33. Quote
Д.Д. Posted September 10, 2021 Report Posted September 10, 2021 Since this topic was started I collected quite a few of these (German editions), and they do sound excellent indeed. Was just listening to "Crescent" the other day - the drums sound is gorgeous. Thanks Late and others for bringing this up. Does anybody know by chance if the 1988 US edition of "Into the Hot", catalog number MCAD-39104 ( https://www.discogs.com/The-Gil-Evans-Orchestra-Into-The-Hot/release/2256736 ) uses the same mastering as 1987 German and Japanese releases? I assume yes. Quote
Late Posted September 12, 2021 Author Report Posted September 12, 2021 On 9/10/2021 at 4:25 AM, Д.Д. said: Does anybody know by chance if the 1988 US edition of "Into the Hot," catalog number MCAD-39104, uses the same mastering as 1987 German and Japanese releases? I assume yes. I have that particular (U.S.) Evans disc, but haven't heard its German or Japanese counterparts. However, I think your assumption is probably on the mark judging by the sound of the U.S. disc. The same is true (I think) for the first U.S. edition of East Broadway Rundown. There was a short period of time (late 80's) where U.S. editions (in jewel cases) used the original cover art and Impulse! logo, and sounded very close to their Japanese counterpart. Quote
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.