- This superb compilation boast a Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated with an outstanding Double Plus (A++) side two – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
- The sound is especially rich, warm and natural, with exceptional immediacy to Judy’s vocals and Tubey Magic for days
- Tons of breath of life, superb production and mastering, and some of the best sounding echo ever recorded
- Note that Artisan cut this record a whole helluva lot better than DCC – the so-called audiophile label – ever did
- 4 1/2 stars: “Lovingly programmed (it leads off with her excellent country-pop hit ‘Someday Soon,’ an Ian Tyson classic), this is Collins at her finest… This anthology brings the ‘best-of’ collection to a new art form.”
- If you’re a Judy Collins fan, this is a Must Own Classic from 1972 that belongs in your collection.
- The complete list of titles from 1972 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.
I remember being a bit taken aback by how much better my original Artisan pressing sounded compared to the supposedly superior DCC, pressed at high quality Heavy Vinyl at RTI to the most exacting standards possible.
What finally turned me completely against DCC were the awful Paul Simon solo albums they remastered. Two were released, two I had as unreleased test pressings, and all of them were barely second rate compared to a good original pressing.
So much for believing in DCC. Since that time we have learned that placing your faith in any record label or cutting operation is a mistake. You have to play the records to know how they sound. Nothing else works, and nothing else can work.
This vintage Elektra pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It’s what vintage all analog recordings are known for — this sound.
If you exclusively play modern repressings of vintage recordings, I can say without fear of contradiction that you have never heard this kind of sound on vinyl. Old records have it — not often, and certainly not always — but maybe one out of a hundred new records do, and those are some pretty long odds.
What Amazing Sides Such as These Have to Offer Is Not Hard to Hear
- The biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space
- The most Tubey Magic, without which you have almost nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes in 1972
- Tight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low
- Natural tonality in the midrange — with all the instruments having the correct timbre
- Transparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional studio space
No doubt there’s more but we hope that should do for now. Playing the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above, and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.
What We’re Listening For on Colors of the Day
- Energy for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?
- Then: presence and immediacy. The vocals aren’t “back there” somewhere, lost in the mix. They’re front and center where any recording engineer worth his salt would put them.
- The Big Sound comes next — wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.
- Then transient information — fast, clear, sharp attacks, not the smear and thickness so common to these LPs.
- Tight punchy bass — which ties in with good transient information, also the issue of frequency extension further down.
- Next: transparency — the quality that allows you to hear deep into the soundfield, showing you the space and air around all the instruments.
- Extend the top and bottom and voila, you have The Real Thing — an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.
TRACK LISTING
Side One
Someday Soon
Since You Asked
Both Sides Now
Sons Of
Suzanne
Farewell To Tarwathie
Side Two
Who Knows Where The Time Goes
Sunny Goodge Street
My Father
Albatross
In My Life
Amazing Grace
AMG 4 1/2 Star Review
An excellent collection of some of the best tracks from Judy Collins’ early Elektra albums, Colors of the Day will both entertain and leave you wanting more. Lovingly programmed (it leads off with her excellent country-pop hit “Someday Soon,” an Ian Tyson classic), this is Collins at her finest. Earlier explorations into folk-pop (“Both Sides Now”), British folk (“Sunny Goodge Street,” “In My Life”), and gospel (“Amazing Grace”) clearly show her eclecticism. Some of the record’s finest moments are from her exquisite 1968 album Who Knows Where the Time Goes (such as that album’s title track and the aforementioned “Someday Soon”). This anthology brings the “best-of” collection to a new art form.