Other "albums that might be good to pursue

[15IPSMAN]

It strikes me that there are SO MANY "GREAT" albums out there that no one has a serious monetary interest in that it's almost ridiculous. For instance, Cal Tjader's "Concert By the Sea" released by Fantasy Records back in the late 50's or early 60s (if memory serves). Fantasy Records should have almost no monetary interest in this recording. It's been out of print for the better part of 20 to 30 years. Why not approach them to release a tape of the full concert? How much do they stand to loose? A couple of hundred dollars in POSSIBLE bootleg copies of recordings that only a few hundred people out of 350 MILLION would even want? On the plus side, they could earn $10K to $20+K on a specialty recording that would otherwise produce NOTHING!! It would be worth paying the royalty for the POSSIBILITY of this happening just to hear a good recording of this concert. The Lp pressing is hideous and the 3.75 IPS is just a step ABOVE the record because you don't have to listen to the abysmal noise on the Lp.

In that vein, how about some of the great Blue Note jazz albums that MIGHT be made available? Donal d Byrd, & Horace Silver are just two of the artists that come to mind in that category. Horace Silver's "Song for my Father" regularly sell for in excess of $135 for a 7.5 IPS 1/4 track copy! What would you be willing to pay for a 15 IPS 1/2 track copy?

I'm basically a Rock & Roll guy and there are plenty of rock albums that fall into the "little gems" category of releases that, if ("hyper") quality tapes were out there, shouldn't give thee bean counters the shakes.

All processes like this need to be taken one step at a time. Prove to the "powers that be" that we can own "master tapes" and not abuse the market and we'll get more. Screw up and it's over.

In the category of FYI... Westminster released SOME of it's tapes in the 15 IPS 1/2 track format back in the 1950s ( I have the "Don Juan" recording). Bel Canto also released some DISNEY soundtracks in the 15 IPS 1/2 track format. I don't have any of these tapes but I have the ads in magazines that state they are available. There is stuff out there but it sure is hard to find!

[ironbut]

I can't tell you how brutal a beating I usually take when I bid on Fantasy/Bluenote/Impuse etc jazz titles. There are more than a few collectors out there (many off shore) that don't seem to blink at paying close to $200 for a 7 1/5 ips, used jazz tape sight unseen! I just bid what I think they're worth to me and maybe someday, I'll get lucky. I'm not holding my breath though. I know that the guys are working on securing the rights to produce some of these so I think we just have to be patient on that. I do think well suddenly get a bunch of new subscribers when it happens (  hint hint ).
I was thinking about what rock/progressive titles that I'd like to see. There's a lot that have never been released in a purist format and sound pretty bad even on some "audiophile" reissues. I like to think about what we could gain. Dynamics and inner detailing( when things get really intense) are two things that seem to break up onto itself into a distorted mess. That just drives me nuts. Just when the song comes to a head,.. blaaaa
That said, here's three that I would love to hear decently;
1. Quadrophenia -Polydor831074-1 For me, the rock album! How can anyone keep from playing the air anything when Keith Moon take a trip around those roto-toms, Entwhistle makes one of those tasty little runs up and down the Rickenbacker , or Townsend windmills his SG. You have to play this one loud!
2. Wish You Were Here- My favorite Pink Floyd. Lots of layers on this one. A lot gets lost on other formats.
3. Mahavishnu Orchestra, Inner Mounting Flame-columbia KC31067  I saw these guys 5 times and scary is the word that comes to mind. Billy Cobham was born to play in this group! McLaughlin/Hammer/Goodman had such clear vision on this album that each piece defines it's own form and renders a second visit to it futile. The closest I've come to owning a decent sounding version was on cassette.