Hot Stamper Pressings of Pablo Recordings Available Now
We freely admit that we have never played the Heavy Vinyl pressing of The Alternate Blues on the Analogue Productions label. It started life in 1996 as APR 3010, part of the Analog Revival Series on 150 gram vinyl (average price on Discogs these days: $99), and now it seems to be in print on 180 gram vinyl, made from the same metalwork by the looks of it.
The mastering of the Analog Revival Series pressing may have been credited to Bruce Leek and Stan Ricker, but the stamper information is TML, The Mastering Lab all the way.
In case you, unlike us, are tempted to try one or both of the AP pressings, or perhaps already own one or both, here is our advice on how to recognize the fairly predictable shortcomings of Chad’s pressing, or any pressing mastered by Doug Sax in the 90s for that matter. Every one we’ve ever played has suffered from the same suite of sins.
The Best Part
And we expect that the AP pressing’s failures in some areas will be so obvious that you really don’t need any other copy of the album to be able to hear them.
Just focus on the two qualities that Analogue Productions’ records have always failed to deliver: transparency and freedom from smear.
In our 2011 shootout notes we drew the reader’s attention to both: