This month we have some vintage rock and roll and blues, jazz old and new, and a couple of frequently-reissued titles that will save you some hard-earned cash.
A little reissue news before I continue. If anyone recalls when War’s Greatest Hits was reissued for Record Store Day a few years ago, Kevin Gray notified us that he had cut the record on his all-tube mastering system (which he otherwise reserved for his own Cohearent Records label) and it caused a stir in the record collecting community and quickly sold out. Rhino has once again reissued the album using Kevin’s masters, and it is available for a brief time in the Rhino “Sounds of the Summer” series. If you’re interested in a good-sounding copy of this album, run over to your local independent record store (where it’s an exclusive) and pick one up before they sell out again.
Also, the Rhino High Fidelity release of the self-titled Black Sabbath debut album has had a second pressing run. It is available exclusively on their site. The only difference is that this second batch is not numbered. Same mastering, though. The numbered release sold out quickly, so don’t snooze on this one! To find it on the Rhino site, you need to look for the separate “unnumbered” product listing, as the original shows as being sold out.
I’ll have listening impressions of both next month. Spoiler? Both are highly recommended, and I only say this now as these pressing runs may sell out quickly in the meantime.
Wilson Pickett: The Exciting Wilson Pickett
Arthur Conley: Sweet Soul Music
Ray Charles: Ray Charles
Atlantic 75th Anniversary Series, Atlantic Records
I’ve run warm and cold on some of the Atlantic 75 reissues from Analogue Productions, and honestly, as much as I wanted to hear the upcoming Wilson Pickett album in this series, I also acknowledge that it is no audiophile masterpiece, and it’s nothing I would listen to often enough to justify spending $60 on it. All three of the albums above are released by Atlantic, reissued on clear vinyl in monaural, and all of them arrived flat and quiet with almost no background noise. The sound quality? Quite good, actually! I suspect these might have been digitally sourced, and indeed, these all have high-res equivalent downloads available through Qobuz which sound equally as good. These are records to put on and enjoy without fussing over hearing every last detail. Pickett’s album includes the hits “Land of 1000 Dances” and “In the Midnight Hour,” and the Ray Charles album (originally Atlantic LP 8006, later reissued as Hallelujah I Love Her So!) was originally a compilation of singles, including many of my favorites among his oldest hits. The Conley album, naturally, features the album’s titular song as its immediately recognizable hit single. Great summer music!
Tito Puente: Para Los Rumberos
Craft Recordings/Tico Records
For fans of Latin music, Craft Recordings has been releasing a slow but steady stream of reissues form the Fania/Tico family of labels, which were renowned back in the day for their incredible roster of Latin recording artists. From personal experience, trying to find clean, affordable copies of these records can be difficult and expensive, and the sound quality of the pressings is sometimes lacking as well. Thankfully, this series presents these albums with all-new mastering on nicely-pressed vinyl. Para los Rumberos is the 1972 Tico album from our man Tito Puente, mastered by Kevin Gray. The title track is familiar to Santana fans and in fact, Tito returns the favor by covering the song “Batuka” from the Santana III album. Artists on this album include Willie Colón, Mario Riera, Charlie Palmieri, José Madera, and Jimmy Frisaura, among other who make up the ensemble. The band is on fire and at the top of its game.
Bill Evans Trio: Sunday at the Village Vanguard / Waltz for Debby
Craft Recordings / Riverside/OJC
I agree with the opinions on the internet that these titles have been reissued way too often. And in fact, now there are UHQR releases of these two albums. I already have the SACD versions that Analogue Productions released a while ago, and they are my go-to versions in the digital world. I did hear a Mobile Fidelity OneStep test pressing of Village Vanguard at an audio show many years ago but honestly heard nothing in their demo that surpassed the SACD. For those who missed out on those SACD releases, the former 45-RPM versions on Analogue Productions, or don’t want to pay the UHQR tax, these Craft Recordings reissues mastered by Kevin Gray are worthy substitutes, and the vinyl pressing quality is excellent. They are the only audiophile vinyl versions I own and they sound superb. If you want well-mastered versions of these albums on vinyl that won’t break the bank, well, here you go!
My wish for future Craft titles? More Bill Evans. And in stereo, please. (Our editor has the 2-LP 45-RPM Craft reissue of You Must Believe in Spring and says it’s exceptional.)
Jean-Luc Ponty: Life Enigma
MPS Records
I was a fan of Jean-Luc Ponty from the time his A Taste for Passion album was getting airplay on our local jazz radio station. After recording many records for Atlantic, he moved on to the Columbia/Epic label(s) and recorded a few there before returning to Atlantic, wrapping up that period of his career with the studio album No Absolute Time in 1993. Aside from his Rite of Strings recording in 1995 (with Stanley Clarke and Al Di Meola) and a live release on Atlantic, his next studio recording wouldn’t come until 2001’s Life Enigma. At first self-released, it has finally gotten a reissue this summer, both in digital format and on vinyl, with revised cover art. As most of it was composed and recorded at his home studio, there are synthesizers on the album, but the songwriting is every bit as good, if not better, than his previous output.
“Signals from Planet Earth” might sound familiar to Ponty fans, as it seems like a recycled version of “Don’t Let the World Pass You By” from Cosmic Messenger. Instead, Ponty had set out to record a new version of the song, but once he started playing around with it in his studio, he found the song was going in a different direction and took on a life of its own. “Pizzy Cat” is a clever solo piece performed pizzicato on the violin via MIDI and Synclavier. “Lonely Among All” will remind some listeners of songs from Individual Choice, while “Firmament” feels like it’s from No Absolute Time.
The original CD had a few bright digital edges to it, but this new vinyl release (all 54 minutes nicely cut onto one record) has a more relaxed presentation and goes down smoothly. I’ve probably played this one the most of all the recent vinyl I’ve purchased, as it’s been nice to revisit a favorite album.
Used Record of the Month:
Horace Silver Quintet/Sextet: The Jody Grind
Blue Note Records
Out of print Blue Note titles are hard to find for an affordable price, especially if they have never been reissued on vinyl. One of those titles rarely reissued is The Jody Grind, which immediately followed The Cape Verdean Blues. A quick perusal of Discogs shows that this 1967 album was repressed in 1970 on vinyl, and was reissued on CD in 1991, 1997, 2009, and 2019. This one is begging for a Classic Vinyl or Tone Poet series reissue. Personnel alternates between a quintet and sextet (with alto, tenor, and trumpet as the front line). Like other Silver albums from this era, the slight exoticism and unusual chord progressions are what hold my attention. The grading of this album wasn’t too promising, but after a cleaning session, it is an excellent player with only faint surface noise and very little wear that I can hear. All in? Around $25 with shipping. With other copies out there selling north of $60, this was a surprise.
Like any of my album reviews, all records in The Vinyl Beat are purchased by me personally unless otherwise noted.
Header image courtesy of Pexels from Pixabay.com.
