RPF1990

Hi, HMV Japan states the following: Blue Note The Master Works Stage 5. Smash hit series! 2014, Blue Note, which celebrated its 75th anniversary. Appeared as a new series from October 2013, finally the final chapter in this! (According to Google translate.) Although, this could mean that the 75th anniversary SHM reissues have run their course, rather than Bluenote SHM CDs in general, I suppose. I hope there will be more. Andy

Hello, I write in regards to an earlier conversation, regarding the current Blue Note non-SHM CDs currently on sale in Japan, that may be starting to go out of print, along with their SHM counterparts, too. There was speculation that both variety of CD may be produced from the same masterings. I read this forum now and again and thought I would sign up to provide some useful information. (Namely, the first few paragraphs, really.) The non-SHM Blue Note CDs that were released late last year are not the same masterings as the SHMs, as far as I can see. I have a few Universal Japan CDs from the current re-issue program covering various jazz labels, including Blue Note. I purchased Art Blakey…Moanin’ and Lee Morgan’s - The Sidewinder, purely out of interest, after buying other BN SHM discs and liking the sound. They only cost about £5. I reached the conclusion that the masterings were not of the current SHM generation, as the CDs themselves have catalogue numbers noted on them belonging to previous releases: Morgan – TOCJ 8511 MT461 / Blakey – TOCJ 8504 MT961. These numbers belong to pressings last released around June 2009, the ‘Best and More 1100’ campaign, from what I can find. I understand they are 24 bit masterings - that may have been released in 2004 & 2006, also. Moreover, the masters might have originally been presented as the HQCDs mastered by Yosho Okazaki in 2001. (The MT recorded in the catalogue numbers above, indicates the same manufacturer as the producer of the aforementioned HQCDs, I am led to believe.) However, please feel free to take this all with a large pinch of salt. This is uneducated guesswork, I must admit. I pieced the information together one Sunday afternoon, whilst bored, from an internet search. This search consisted of searching the catalogue numbers and piecing bits together from the Organissimo / Steve Hoffman forums. (A link from this site led to the latter.) I cannot remember more as this was undertaken merely as a ‘bit of fun’. I buy CDs for the music, only, and have rarely bothered to upgrade a CD for sound reasons. Incidentally, I did like the sound of the new CDs, but know many others may not. In comparison to the RVGs: the Morgan ‘sounds’ quieter, with greater instrument separation and detail / the Blakey has greater separation and what, I judge to be, a more realistic (although, at times - a slightly blurry) instrument sound, especially when concerning the drums and the acoustic sound of the bass. Both tittles could be described to sound brighter than the BN SHMs I own; not the titles I describe here. (However, comparisons of this kind are not something that I would usually do and are not taken seriously by me. I am not trying to allude that one CD version is better than the other, just trying to paint a picture of the SHM alternatives sound.) I decided to post this info, in case people are considering whether or not to buy a BN SHM CD, before they go out of print, without knowing the probable details of the new cheaper alternatives. Andy.