December 14,
2007
Coming to a Turntable Near You
"We are finally shipping our first two
releases in the Music Matters
Blue Note program" began an e-mail from Joe Harley, one of the principals in the
venture to bring some of Blue Note Records' most coveted titles to 45-RPM LPs pressed on
virgin vinyl. The delay was "due to the annual holiday crunch at RTI," where the
LPs are pressed. Records as holiday gifts? Bring 'em on, Santa!
Those "first two releases" are Art
Blakey's The Big Beat and Horace Parlan's Speakin' My Piece. I heard test
pressings of both and can report that the Music Matters LPs are something special. Still,
Joe let me know that "the production pressings significantly outperform the
first test pressings. They are ultra quiet, centered and just plain sound better than
those TPs did."
New titles in the series will appear every month
throughout 2008 and 2009. "It’s so exciting to finally put all of this advance
work into reality and begin to get these records in peoples’ hands," says Joe.
There will be some excited hands holding them too.
...Marc Mickelson
editor@soundstage.com
