Oh, absolutely essential point you’ve reminded me of regarding any rock titles like Beatles, Floyd, Led Zeppelin, German OG’s are almost always as near as dammit to any UK original, but at a fraction of the price. They used the same metalworks as UK originals.
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Would that there was an easy way! I started going down this rabbit hole in earnest after attending a seminar Michael Fremer put on at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in 2014 (available on YouTube, by the way-I recognize myself in several shots from the back of the room). The most vivid demonstration was 2 copies of Buffalo Springfield Again, one pressed at a Colombia pressing plant and the other pressed at Monarch (circled MR logo in the deadwax). The MR absolutely smoked the Colombia, which sounded like a bad cassette in comparison. Every original US Bell Sound pressing of Moody Blues albums I’ve heard sound like crap, UK pressings are dramatically better. On the other hand, my original Bell Sound pressing of ZZ Top-Tres Hombres sounds great, punchy and dynamic. Searching the Hoffman forum has been very useful, although you have to shift through a lot of chaff to find the wheat.
For those interested Craft Records has a sale at the moment 30%/40%/50% off.
Worth a look IMO.
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I always look for direct to disk if available. Most of the remastered on 180-gram have been good also.’
Most suggestions so far are excellent and helpful.
But buying vinyl can be “a pig in a poke”. You can pay a lot, expecting a lot in sound quality and then be quite disappointed. I bought two old cheap ablums in the “old cheap albums” bin today and they sound amazing. Find a good record store.
That said, I’m usually pleased with reissues I get from Acoustic Sounds.
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Analogue Productions are definitely the top of the tier, I’ve never had a bad product from them, both in mastering / pressing, jackets (which are the best in the business), or any damage in shipping and that’s getting it shipped over to the UK.
I love AP.
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Out of hundreds of albums from them, I’ve gotten a couple with issues. Their customer service is top-of-the-heap.
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