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[SpeakerLabFan]

The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man
(1965, Columbia)




I listened to Dylan's "Spanish Harlem Incident" on his debut album earlier today. The Byrds do a wonderful cover of this and other Dylan songs. There's a fun picture on the back cover here of Dylan joining The Byrds on stage (in L.A.?). If I could time travel, this is one band that I would like to see performing in the mid 60s. Comparing the mono label with stereo 2-eyes label.

[SpeakerLabFan]

Uriah Heep - Wonderworld
(1974, Bronze) MADE IN GERMANY in the deadwax; mastered by Harry Moss at E.M.I. Studios, Abbey Road, London



German pressing on Bronze label. 7th record from the Heep. I picked this up at a summer flea market in Lucerne, Switzerland a couple of years ago.

[SpeakerLabFan]

Frigid Pink - self titled
(1970, Parrot)



debut album of psychedelic/blues rock from this Detroit based band. Driving fuzz guitar of Cream and the blues boogie of Canned Heat or Savoy Brown.

[SpeakerLabFan]

Love - self titled
(1966, Elektra) Brown label first pressing.



debut record from the L.A. psychedelic band. This band's catalog just grows on me with each new listen. Another L.A. band in the mid-60s that I would "love" to time-travel back and see in performance.

[SpeakerLabFan]

Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
(1964, Columbia) 1965 pressing with "Mono" on the label instead of "Guaranteed High Fidelity"



Dylan's third album produced by Tom Wilson and his first with all original songs. Serious songs of social change with just Bob and acoustic guitar. No Chesire cats on shoulders or 20 lbs of headlines stapled to chests, but great imagery in songs like When The Ship Comes In.

[SpeakerLabFan]

Gary Wright - Touch And Gone
(1977, Warner Bros) TML in the deadwax; mastered at The Mastering Lab



Lots of different synthesizers used here by Wright - Polymoog, moog bass, Oberheim horns - and that's it besides his vocals, background vocals (Clydie King, Vanetta Fields)and drums/percussion. in spite of all the synthesizers, Wright's keyboards and songs are interesting, and I dig his flying-around-on-astral-planes schtick anyway. A $1 thrift find last week.

[SpeakerLabFan]

earlier...

Scorpions - Blackout
(1982, Mercury) MASTERDISK HW in the deadwax; mastered by Bob Ludwig and Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk, NY



8th studio album from the German heavy metal band. The cover is a self-portrait of artist Gottfried Helnwein.


now...

The Clash - Give 'Em Enough Rope
(1978, Epic)



2nd album, a look at what was to come inthe Clash records that I'm more familar with. I picked this up at HPB a few weeks ago.

[SEAWOLF97]

Yes, I moved up to a Rega P3 + Benz Ace cartridge. Here's a picture of the new table / cartridge.

The Ace cartridge would not fit on the Thorens headshell/tone arm, and I really wanted this cartridge. I am very happy with the turntable. Tres bon.

I did too, but for the secondary demo system....full auto /DD/ with a DL-160 cart ....the whole thing was abt 25% of what SLF's new cartridge ran....

[SpeakerLabFan]

Cream - Goodbye
(1969, Atco) 2nd issue 1969 pressing w/ Yellow label



The label for the first pressing of this record was the purple&brown ATCO label, according to the goldmine guide. I picked up this copy at a garage sale in the past few years, the poster is long gone but the record is excellent.


Denon table

I did too, but for the secondary demo system....full auto /DD/ with a DL-160 cart ....the whole thing was abt 25% of what SLF's new cartridge ran....

Nice. that Direct Drive looks like a beast. with a matching Denon cartridge. I have heard good reviews of that cartridge. don't forget to get the stylus looked at/replaced if it's not brand new. your records and ears will thank you.

[SEAWOLF97]

Denon table
Nice. that Direct Drive looks like a beast. with a matching Denon cartridge. I have heard good reviews of that cartridge. don't forget to get the stylus looked at/replaced if it's not brand new. your records and ears will thank you.

.thinking a stylus replacement is not an option . 'cides it sounds great.
.
"The Denon DL-160 is a high output moving-coil cartridge. Many audiophiles believe that moving-coil cartridges more effectively convert physical record grooves to an electrical signal. By using a tapered cantilever design, this phono cartridge ensures a smooth, accurate response with low distortion."

I printed out the manual (thx.HJ) ...they note the supplied cart as a DL-60 ...so I removed the wand to double check ..

the stylus had a very small lateral alignment shift, that to me means that the anti-skate is set too high..it and the tracking force were at 1.8g ....I looked up the cart specs and they note that it is 1.6g plus or minus .3 , so it was set on the high side ....my practice is always to go as low as possible , while still tracking correctly ....so I readjusted to 1.3g and its tracking great...as the HF picked up some and timbre is even better , so I'll leave it there pending any problems...reduced AS shud work it back straight.

removing the big lint ball from the tip helped too...

[SpeakerLabFan]

Crack The Sky - self titled
(1975, Lifesong) mastered by Stan Kalina, CBS Studios, NYC



debut record from American progressive rock band. It was called the "debut album of the year" by Rolling Stone Magazine. quirky lyrics, progressive rock with tasty guitar playing and nice studio work, it's an earful. A thrift store find a couple of years ago.

[SpeakerLabFan]

earlier...

Alice Cooper - Lace And Whiskey
(1977, Warner Bros)



Well I had to spin it once, but couldn't get past side 1 / this one probably won't get many plays. This is a departure from AC's usual dark and shocking persona, and not for the better.


now...

Billion Dollar Babies - Battle Ax
(1977, Polydor) mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk



in contrast to Alice Cooper's new direction with Lace and Whiskey, three of Alice Cooper's former band members, Mike Bruce (guitar, vocals), Dennis Dunaway (bass) and Neal Smith (drums) put out a hard rock record in the same year. Straight ahead, well produced rock and more of the strong playing that Alice was banking on with his early records. According to AllMusic, The LP bombed commercially, and the Billion Dollar Babies never recorded a second album.

[SpeakerLabFan]

earlier....

Renaissance - In the Beginning
1978, Capitol) MASTERED BY CAPITOL Jay in the deadwax; mastered by Jay Maynard



2 LP compilation consisting of the Prologue and Ashes are Burning titles first released in '72 and '73. Listing to sides 1/2 with the Prologue LP. a wonderful sounding Capitol Purple label issue.

now...

Moby Grape - Live Grape
(1978, Encore) mastered at Utopia Studios, London



a very nice recording of performances in 1977. features core members Peter Lewis, Jerry Miller and Skip Spence. Another band whose initial success was limited by inept and shady management, promotion and distribution. The band was still in a dispute with former manager Matthew Katz (who also unfortunately caused grief for It's A Beautiful Day and Jefferson Airplane), so "Moby Grape" does not appear anywhere on the cover.

[SpeakerLabFan]

Ten Years After - Watt
(1970, Deram/London)



6th album by the English blues rock band, the folllow-up to Cricklewood Green. the usual cooking guitar from Alvin Lee. inner gatefold credits include: "Colour Processing: Graham Nash" "Psychic Crutch: Andy Jaworski"

[SpeakerLabFan]

Robert Fripp, Brian Eno - (No Pussyfooting)
(1973, Help 16 / Island) UK 1st pressing; mastered by Arun Chakraverty



Gatefold cover. ambient experimental music using the Frippertronics system described by Allmusic: two reel-to-reel tape decks that would allow audio elements to be added to a continuing tape loop. This record was Fripp and Eno's first experiments with the system.