Post #318335 by Quince_at_Dannys on Thu, Jul 12, 2007 9:13 PM

On 2007-07-12 16:46, OnyaBirri wrote:
Not to be contrary, but of the four Tak Shindo albums I'm aware of, the Western album is the most dispensible and overtly gimmicky. I've unloaded every copy I've ever picked up. I wouldn't pay more than a dollar for it, but that's just me.

Mganga is the best, and I think the hardest to find. Parts of it are very similar to Les Baxter circa Tamboo and Ritual.

The Capitol albums are nice, especially Brass and Bamboo. Be sure to get the mono versions of these; they have much more presence and dynamics.

Also, if using strict standards, a VG album should be very clean. I sell albums to Dustygroove, and when I tell 'em an album is VG, it's very clean with no audible pops or deep marks.

[ Edited by: OnyaBirri 2007-07-12 16:49 ]

You make a good point about picking up the mono vs. stereo. The quality of Capitols mono (aka High Fidelity) recordings is often a topic of discussion between I Zombie and myself. We've both noticed that the Capitol High Fidelity stuff is some of the best sounding vinyl you can get, while their Stereo mixes are frequently a little off. Far East Goes West is a Mercury release, the stereo mix is quite a bit better. (I recently picked up a mint copy of it--I love it but I like gimmicky records :)

Capitol was the king of Mono, but RCA was the king of stereo--I would never hesitate to pick up an RCA stereo release, they were always far superior to mono and other labels' stereo.