Rock/Pop/Folk Original Pressings Versus Re-Issues

[Ron Resnick]

We have had many discussions about the sound quality of original pressings versus re-issues. Most of these discussions focus on classical music.

But what about rock/pop/folk music from the 1970s and 1980s? Do you think the original pressings of acts like Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, Elton John, Jim Croce, etc., sound better than the re-issues by DCC Compact Classics, Mobile Fidelity (before they started using DSD transfers to press vinyl), etc.?

Of course it is almost meaningless to generalize. These kinds of comparisons have to be done on a title-by-title, and on a direct, apples-to-apples comparison basis. And, of course, different original pressings sound different.

What has been your experience comparing directly original pressings specifically of rock/pop/folk music from the 1970s and 1980s to re-issues?

 

[KeithR]

It’s really album specific. For instance, listening to Mofi Private Eyes that was remastered around 10 years ago and it sounds bright with not much low end - kinda like early 80s recordings though. Funny enough, haven’t even opened my Mofi Billy Joel albums.

Most of the dCCs sound great (Elton John for example) but Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love sounds overly hooded and smooth. Blech. I’ll play it for you next time.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I remember thinking that the DCC Compact Classics of re-issues of 1970s and 1980s pop and folk, in general, sound more transparent and warmer and richer and more dimensional, all with quieter vinyl, than the original records.

 

[Bergm@nn]

I generally stick with first pressing from the country of origin and rarely go wrong with this approach.

Some audiophile reissues may be fresher and quieter, but like for like grading I’m not sure I’ve heard a reissue sound better than an original press, no matter the marketing hyperbole and perfume marketing strategy.

 

[BillK]

Regardless of the recent controversies I find that MoFi releases do tend to improve on the original pressings most of the time, a MoFi release of Sinatra’s Sinatra being one of my favorite LPs in my
collection.

However when it comes to MoFi silver band LPs, I borrowed a copy of Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual and preferred the original copy I bought as a kid.

Of all the habits that I had that unknowingly paid future dividends, my junior high/high school habit of playing a new record once to record it to a TDK SA-90 and then never playing the vinyl again has been the biggest.

(Mostly because I didn’t follow my whims and invest in Apple instead. )