ORG classical London / Mercury reissues

Fiddle Faddle

Member
Aug 7, 2015
548
2
16
Australia
Hi,

Does anyone know what is happening with this excellent 45 RPM vinyl series? I've bought most of them over the last 4 years, but it seems the promised releases have stagnated to the point where no new titles have been released for around 12 months. The last title I bought was the Borodin Symphonies (London CS6126) at the beginning of 2015. There are still quite a number of promised titles - even subscription ones - that haven't materialised. 13 titles all up slated years ago as part of the series and still have not been released - 6 Mercuries and 7 Londons.

Fair enough I suppose if they have abandoned plans for whatever reasons, but it would be nice if companies and vendors could communicate as such, since prospective buyers can then try to acquire the music elsewhere. Of course, maybe they are just rediculously slow and will bring out one title every 3 years...

Anyway, if anyone has some "insider" information, I would be grateful. The outstanding titles have remained on "pre-order" on the main US vendor websites for literally years now:

http://store.acousticsounds.com/ind...=10&CategoryID=5&ComingSoon=true&LabelID=2782
 

Andrew Stenhouse

New Member
Feb 14, 2016
171
1
0
Sydney, Australia
Ohhh - yes. Good question.

FF - are you in Sydney mate?? I'm feeling an self invitation coming on :D:D;)
 
Last edited:

MadFloyd

Member Sponsor
May 30, 2010
3,076
774
1,700
Mass
Hi,

Does anyone know what is happening with this excellent 45 RPM vinyl series? I've bought most of them over the last 4 years, but it seems the promised releases have stagnated to the point where no new titles have been released for around 12 months. The last title I bought was the Borodin Symphonies (London CS6126) at the beginning of 2015. There are still quite a number of promised titles - even subscription ones - that haven't materialised. 13 titles all up slated years ago as part of the series and still have not been released - 6 Mercuries and 7 Londons.

Fair enough I suppose if they have abandoned plans for whatever reasons, but it would be nice if companies and vendors could communicate as such, since prospective buyers can then try to acquire the music elsewhere. Of course, maybe they are just rediculously slow and will bring out one title every 3 years...

Anyway, if anyone has some "insider" information, I would be grateful. The outstanding titles have remained on "pre-order" on the main US vendor websites for literally years now:

http://store.acousticsounds.com/ind...=10&CategoryID=5&ComingSoon=true&LabelID=2782

I hear you. I've been awaiting these as well and wondering if they will ever appear...
 

Fiddle Faddle

Member
Aug 7, 2015
548
2
16
Australia
Ohhh - yes. Good question.

FF - are you in Sydney mate?? I'm feeling an self invitation coming on :D:D;)

Ha! I am actually some way south of Sydney but to make matters "worse", I use a headphone based system. A very decent one but with all the restrictions that entails for better or worse. I had considered going to a speaker based system but with practical restrictions in space and the massive improvement of headphone gear over the last few years, I don't feel cheated (too much!).

I would certainly recommend most of them though - they sound like open reel to me. My only regret is that I did not pick up the de Falla Three Cornered Hat, as I had the Everest reissue of that and was happy. But I subsequently heard the Ansermet performance and really liked it. I tried to get the ORG and found it is long out of print. So I have settled for the Speakers Corner Decca version of it.

I don't know that I am terribly keen on the choices they made for late analogue era stuff though. Some of those later Decca Dolby-ised recordings don't sound that great to be honest - it is a real mixed bag when you get into the mid to late 70s - some recordings are superb and others suffer the Dolby effects - thin, steely, glary, violin sound. So I have eschewed The Planets (Mehta) and likely won't buy the Lupu Schumann either. I also don't recommend the Mercury SR90006 reissue (Scythian Suite). The earlier Classic Records reissue of that is miles ahead for some inexplicable reason. I don't know what happened there.
 

Fiddle Faddle

Member
Aug 7, 2015
548
2
16
Australia
I hear you. I've been awaiting these as well and wondering if they will ever appear...

There are two email contact addresses on the ORG website (which itself appears to be a virtual ghost town these days). I emailed both of those addresses last night, requesting any current information relating to these releases. If I get any answer, I will post it here. But I am starting to think it is likely this is the end of the line for ORG - or at least for any classical releases.
 

MadFloyd

Member Sponsor
May 30, 2010
3,076
774
1,700
Mass
Ha! I am actually some way south of Sydney but to make matters "worse", I use a headphone based system. A very decent one but with all the restrictions that entails for better or worse. I had considered going to a speaker based system but with practical restrictions in space and the massive improvement of headphone gear over the last few years, I don't feel cheated (too much!).

I would certainly recommend most of them though - they sound like open reel to me. My only regret is that I did not pick up the de Falla Three Cornered Hat, as I had the Everest reissue of that and was happy. But I subsequently heard the Ansermet performance and really liked it. I tried to get the ORG and found it is long out of print. So I have settled for the Speakers Corner Decca version of it.

I don't know that I am terribly keen on the choices they made for late analogue era stuff though. Some of those later Decca Dolby-ised recordings don't sound that great to be honest - it is a real mixed bag when you get into the mid to late 70s - some recordings are superb and others suffer the Dolby effects - thin, steely, glary, violin sound. So I have eschewed The Planets (Mehta) and likely won't buy the Lupu Schumann either. I also don't recommend the Mercury SR90006 reissue (Scythian Suite). The earlier Classic Records reissue of that is miles ahead for some inexplicable reason. I don't know what happened there.

It's available on Discogs.
https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/320279042
 

Fiddle Faddle

Member
Aug 7, 2015
548
2
16
Australia
Oh bum. I did not look hard enough. Thanks. In the end, the Speakers Corner Decca one is great too (I realise the ORG would be better, but luckily I won't be comparing!). I actually ordered 5 Speakers Corner Decca titles from a seller in Germany recently including that one, so it was a good deal - worked out about $45 AUD each including postage. After those purchases, I now have all the Decca reissues I want with respect to what has actually been released into the market.
 

Andrew Stenhouse

New Member
Feb 14, 2016
171
1
0
Sydney, Australia
Ha! I am actually some way south of Sydney but to make matters "worse", I use a headphone based system. A very decent one but with all the restrictions that entails for better or worse. I had considered going to a speaker based system but with practical restrictions in space and the massive improvement of headphone gear over the last few years, I don't feel cheated (too much!).

I would certainly recommend most of them though - they sound like open reel to me. My only regret is that I did not pick up the de Falla Three Cornered Hat, as I had the Everest reissue of that and was happy. But I subsequently heard the Ansermet performance and really liked it. I tried to get the ORG and found it is long out of print. So I have settled for the Speakers Corner Decca version of it.

I don't know that I am terribly keen on the choices they made for late analogue era stuff though. Some of those later Decca Dolby-ised recordings don't sound that great to be honest - it is a real mixed bag when you get into the mid to late 70s - some recordings are superb and others suffer the Dolby effects - thin, steely, glary, violin sound. So I have eschewed The Planets (Mehta) and likely won't buy the Lupu Schumann either. I also don't recommend the Mercury SR90006 reissue (Scythian Suite). The earlier Classic Records reissue of that is miles ahead for some inexplicable reason. I don't know what happened there.

Thanks!

Pity you aren't closer - I always love to have a cup of coffee or tea with a music lover :) I have some decent closed cans - nothing special - DT 1770 Pros - that I use straight from my Luxman integrated. It has a neat headphone stage. Useful for living in the inner city where everyone seems to be building or remodelling a house these days.

I too have space issues which restricts the size and type of speaker I can employ - plus a wife, who perhaps not unreasonably, doesn't want to live in a hi fi shop ;) I can recommend my Harbeth 30.1's for smaller spaces. Easy to drive, not fussy with amplifiers (you don't need to spend much to get great sound), great at low volume and do a very respectable job with classical, bottom octave or two aside (closed cans are great for bass!).

Thanks for the links - I checked out the reissues. As wonderful as the recordings and performances no doubt are, alot aren't really up my alley. This time around I am aiming for no more than 500 LP's with not a dud (ie ones that I never really want to play) among them. So far have about 70, mainly jazz, and have about 500 hundred classical records in storage to go through. If I get 200 out of them I will be very pleased. Waiting for the weather to cool down!

Thanks again for posting.
 
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Fiddle Faddle

Member
Aug 7, 2015
548
2
16
Australia
I sort of have some rubbery vague-ish long-ish term plans to get a high quality system based around a small stand mount Harbeth with probably my existing Rega CD player and a Musical Fidelity amplifier. Maybe the P3ESR or whatever they make of that ilk in the future and whatever the equivalent is of the M3. I have always been a huge fan of small standmounts well-positioned - in the past LS3/5A and Royd Merlins were my favourites. I just think it is easier to get good sound in a small-ish space that is not optimised for audio with great standmounts versus trying to force fit something too big. No reason my existing vinyl front end cannot come along for that ride too. It is just that I want to do it right and I don't want to be doing what I've done the last 8 years - build up stuff piece by piece and then find along the way that I should have spent more on this / less on that, done something different, etc. Plus I really have to address storage issues in general first. I've owned this house since new from 2002 and I have yet to have proper built-in wardrobes installed! Getting them done - at considerable expense - is an absolute necessity before I can even contemplate a proper speaker based system!
 

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