John L Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 - what they do, in most (but not all) cases is lift stuff from other reissues. What makes you think that? I thought that Yazoo was one of the labels that often invested in finding the best sounding 78s for their reissues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 (edited) - what they do, in most (but not all) cases is lift stuff from other reissues. What makes you think that? I thought that Yazoo was one of the labels that often invested in finding the best sounding 78s for their reissues. Unless I am VERY wrong, Allen is talking about JSP, not about Yazoo. And he is dead right there - both JSP and Proper have a very nasty habit of gathering material in their boxes that looks EXTREMELY familiar to those who've been into buying reissues from that particular era or style of music for some time (sometimes to the point of being able to guess prettty accurately from the combination or sequence of the tracks on V.A. boxes, for example, which 4 or 5 LPs of previous reissues DEFINITELY went into those boxes). Assuming that maybe 75% of some artist's or style's key releases from the 78 rpm era have been reissued in the past 10 or 15 years and you are DESPERATE to get your hands on the remaining 25% then you are HIGHLY unlikely to find them on any Proper or JSP boxes. In the vast majority of cases they rehash what has been reissued before elsewhere - nice for a starter or a general overview for non-completists (I admit I recently ordered the Paramount box too as most of it quite underrepresented in my collection) but nothing more. Edited July 20, 2009 by Big Beat Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 yes, I was referring to JSP - and actually the owner of JSP told me that in an email - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 (edited) Bear Family sued JSP for stealing their Carter Family box mastering and won (link). Every Bear Family mastering is now copyrighted. Edited July 20, 2009 by J.A.W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 be that as it may, I think JSP is performing a mighty service - particularly in things like their Paramounts boxes; the blues one is probably the best blues reissue I have ever owned. It's like the Rosetta Stone of old time music. If anyone out there does not own it, I siggest you buy two copies - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 (edited) I'll take your word for it - you certainly are more familiar with this than I am. Actually the "Paramount Masters" box arrived here today, and first listening indicates fairly good fidelity for such old masters IMO, on average quite more listenable than some other reissues (e.g. those in the Austrian "Document" completist series). Nothing earth-shattering about the general presentation - the box does betray its "budget" character. OTOH, and digressing slightly beyond the time frame of the blues of THIS tread, JSP seems to be a very mixed bag these days. Last year I bought the "Jook Joint Blues - Good time Rhythm & Blues 1943-1956" 4-CD box set (JSP 7796). Same general presentation as the Paramount box, but those track infos!! Tracks listed on the back of each individual CD alright, but the session details inside??? Not arranged by the contents of each CD but by session, and in no recognizable relationship with the contents of the CD the inserts are filed with and not in alphabetical order (by leader's name) either! So 3 or 4 tracks from one session may be spread over 3 or 4 CDs but the session is listed only once on one of the 4 CDs and it is anybody's guess on which one. So if you want to have the session details for the track you are listening to you will have to check the ENTIRE listings (remember, no alphabetical order) on up to all FOUR discs, hoping to find the info sooner rather than later browsing through the entire listings! E.g. the session details for track B-25 (one track from that session only) are not found on CD B, but on CD C! Whoever compiled those session details must have been high on canned heat, hadacol or whatever else and totally out of his mind! WTF have the producers of this set been thinking (provided they have been thinking anything at all) in cobbling up such a mess??? As if to confuse the discographically inclined listener on purpose! Why did they deviate from the CD-wise listing (as on the Paramount box) at all? I bought that (sealed) box set on the strength on the JSP reputation from LP days but clearly something has gone amiss since, and helter-skelter jobs like this really detract from the value of the music. Edited July 20, 2009 by Big Beat Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 I agree with you; somebody was too busy yanking their own crank to pay attention to what was going on there - as for the Paramount Masters, that may be my favorite. My wife has instructions to bury me with that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 yes, I was referring to JSP - and actually the owner of JSP told me that in an email - Sorry, my bad. I don't know why I thought that you had written Yazoo. Yes, JSP used to be a label something like Yazoo. They invested in top quality remastering for a while. But several years ago, they threw in the towel and, in many ways, have become the worst bootleg label in terms of blatant rip-offs. I hold them partly responsible for destroying the market for investment in quality remastering and presentation of older music. Some examples have already been cited above. The worst two might be (1) the Benny Berigan box: (they shamelessly ripped off Mosaic immediately after the latter released their ambitious box that includes relatively obscure sideman material that was hunted down on 78s and given top quality remastering. JSP didn't even bother to change the track ordering. They just threw out the alternate takes and issued the whole Mosaic set under their own label for $25 a couple months after the Mosaic release. (2) the Charley Patton box: Reverent had just made a huge investment in vastly improving the sound of Patton's recordings for their box set. JSP took these remasters and grabbed the market right away with a $20 set. Reverent didn't have a chance. They are now trying to get rid of their Patton boxes at a price that no longer covers costs. I no longer buy anything from JSP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medjuck Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 I thought I read somewhere that the JSP Patton sounded different and better than the Reverent (Is that the right name?). I probably mis-remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 ReveNANT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 I thought I read somewhere that the JSP Patton sounded different and better than the Reverent (Is that the right name?). I probably mis-remember. No, these Yazoo Patton CDs sound better than the Revenant: The Best of Charlie Patton - Yazoo 2069 Primeval Blues, Rags, and Gospel Songs - Yazoo 2074 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jostber Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 Monk Records is just releasing some prime early blues and country on vinyl: http://www.amazon.co.uk/monk-Vinyl-Music/s...bin%3A382539011 http://www.abraxasrecords.com/showPage.php...bum&id=2423 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medjuck Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 be that as it may, I think JSP is performing a mighty service - particularly in things like their Paramounts boxes; the blues one is probably the best blues reissue I have ever owned. It's like the Rosetta Stone of old time music. If anyone out there does not own it, I siggest you buy two copies - I was in Amoeba today looking for this but got confused because there were (I think) a couple of JSP Paramount blues boxes. Which one are you referring to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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