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For Top Quality Sound on Maiden Voyage, Skip the Black B

Blue Note Pressings with Hot Stampers Available Now

The three copies we had in our recent shootout for Maiden Voyage on the 70s Black B label did poorly.

Like a lot of the records we play when they weren’t mastered properly, they were small, smeary and weak. Considering how bad they sounded, it’s possible — accent on the word possible — that someone remastering the album for a modern audience could do a better job than Blue Note was doing in the late-70s.

This, of course, is not our standard, nor should it be anyone else’s.

Below you will find links to other records with the same problems as this Blue Note reissue.

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Herbie Hancock – Maiden Voyage

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Piano

  • A Maiden Voyage like you’ve never heard, with solid Double Plus (A++) sound throughout this vintage Blue Note pressing (only the second copy to hit the site in many years)
  • Accept no substitutes! Nobody these days knows how to make a record sound as good as this one does
  • Both of these sides are remarkably clean, clear, open, and transparent, with jazz energy to spare – thanks, RVG!
  • You will hear cleaner, smoother, sweeter upper mids and a more extended top
  • 5 stars: “Maiden Voyage…finds Herbie Hancock at a creative peak. In fact, it’s arguably his finest record of the 60s, reaching a perfect balance between accessible, lyrical jazz and chance-taking hard bop.”

We recently finished a big Maiden Voyage shootout and too many copies we played left us cold and bored; this one kept us engaged throughout. It’s got some of the silkiest highs and the breathiest brass we’ve heard for this album. Most of the other copies we played this against didn’t come close to the richness, sweetness, and warmth we heard here.

One Of The Great Blue Notes

This is one of the greatest Blue Note jazz records of all time — 5 big stars in the All Music Guide, which should surprise no one. Freddie Hubbard on this album is nothing short of astonishing.

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Letter of the Week – “The transparency on this copy is superb!”

Blue Note Pressings with Hot Stampers Available Now

Reviews and Commentaries for Blue Note Records

Hello Gentlemen,

I have to commend you once again. I have never heard Maiden Voyage like this before. The transparency on this copy is superb! I gave up listening to my reissue a while back. It had a heavy veil hanging over it that was obvious. Yet as the listener I yearned to hear past it because the music itself is so wonderful. Thanks for digging up this treasure. It will bring many hours of enjoyment now and in the future.

Records are a tangible investment for the listener. When you find a great copy you hang on to it because it engages you. It moves you in a real sense.

A collector who collects for value of first issue is a collector too. However they collect as one would coins, stamps or baseball cards. The value is attributed to what is perceived, not what is experienced. I do not slam anyone for this. If joy is found in this manner then, so be it.

I collect records to enjoy the music and if that means digging thru a number of pressings to find the best one or paying the bucks from someone like Better Records, so be it. If a reissue is better than an earlier pressing I will hold on to the re issue. This is a rarity but does happen. I can think of at least 20 LPs I have that I still favor the reissue over all others.

Both collectors are valid. They simply have different goals in mind.

Thanks,
Mark

Mark,

Thanks for your letter.

We know what you mean by records that have heavy veils hanging over their sound.

Here are some others we’ve found to be similarly veiled and here are some that are good for testing transparency.

Blue Note got into the Heavy Vinyl game back in the ’90s, in the days when we here at Better Records were still selling in-print Heavy Vinyl, but we thought very few of them were of much value to those looking for audiophile sound.

At the time I didn’t know it, but it turns out Maiden Voyage was mastered by that notorious hack, Ron McMaster, which explains our antipathy at the time to the Blue Note series he cut.

As I recall, the sound of his remastered pressings was clean and tonally correct, but his records were missing the analog qualities the better vintage pressings have in such abundance. In other words, his remastered records sounded like CDs.

Who can be bothered to play records that have so few of the qualities we audiophiles are looking for on vinyl?

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Connecting the Players on Maiden Voyage

More of the Music of Herbie Hancock

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Piano

Freddie Hubbard on this album is nothing short of astonishing. I remember playing around with the stereo one day, listening for different effects as I made minor changes to the tracking weight, the VTA, adjustments to the Hallographs and the like, and at one point I noticed that the ensemble seemed to be more coherently connected, with each of the players more properly balanced with the others. 

It was a striking effect and it made me realize that musical values can often be overlooked while chasing after audiophile effects of one kind or another.

Hearing the ensemble come together made me appreciate this album even more.

Tony Williams on the drums here deserves a special nod. His cymbal work on the first track is original and spontaneous in the best tradition of jazz improvisation. (more…)