Acoustics

[mbhaub]

One of the most frustrating things of all about LPs was exploring off-beat repertoire. There was actually more than most people were aware of, and I had plenty of LPs with music of Raff, Schmidt, Rubinstein, Reinecke, Glazunov, Miaskovsky, and the rest of the gang. And almost universally they all appeared on smaller labels which generally meant lousy pressings. Companies like Vox, Candide, Genesis, Everest (early ones were great), and worst of all - Melodiya. Not that all of the full priced LPs were that well made, but if one could acquire German or British pressing it wasn't half bad!

[eschiss1]

can't speak to relative qualities there since (1) my ears are rather worse than should be for a musiclover (ah, you say, that explains your tastes, Eric...) (Hey!!!...) (2) Melodiia was pretty bad (though so were some others) but I've yet to sample some other labels that I expect may well have been competitors. (Out of curiosity, how were East German Eterna LPs, on average, e.g.? Or Polish Muza? Not that I claim for a moment that the Eastern Bloc was somehow the home of the bad LP (Aries? I didn't say Aries. Nope. Not for a moment. Of course, there the problem was the source- pirated broadcast recordings- not the pressings. But- hey, I didn't say it. You just thought I did.))