First LP - sound quality on early pressings

[Mark]

Is there anyone on this forum who has a first pressing (or even a test pressing/DJ promo) of the banana album? If so, do you have any views on what the sound is like compared to the currently available CD versions?

I've developed the possibly misguided notion that an East coast, blue/silver label V6-5008 is, in theory, as close to the original master tape as you can get. The master has almost certainly degraded in the past 40-odd years, so by the time it was pulled out for the current CDs it potentially wasn't in as good shape as it was when it was used, new and fresh, to cut the virgin run of LPs in 1967.

I could be entirely wrong about this, but just wondered if anyone with an original LP (espcially a stereo one) had compared it to the CD versions and could say whether this theory stands up?

[DavidH]

I'm going from a first generation cassette of a yellow label original mono, which aside from the surface noise, sounds absolutely fantastic, and a lot better than any CD I've ever heard. The closest CD is the MFSL one, although that sounds like parts are actually remixed.

[gibson343]

I bought my first copy of the Banana lp in Pacific Grove California at a department store.
They had 5-6 copies in June of 1967. The first copy I saw was March or April 1967 at a
mom and pop record store in Carmel. My father would not lend or give me money
to buy it. It was gone soon after.
When I saw it in June I bought it. Later on I had the lp cover on a bed and a
girl I was with was looking at it upside down and pointed out that there
was a picture of a guy upside down (Eric).
The record got worn plenty so I bought a new copy and the thing that stood out
was how tinny Run Run Run sounded. This remained the case on all copies I
purchased since, except maybe the deluxe edition or the MSFL on cd.
I remember how annoyed I was at all other versions of Run Run Run lacking
the heavy rumble with its satifying rawness.
Now there is also my playing of Black Angel's Death Song at 16rpm
and how it sounded even more exotic. BADS being the song that won me over
at the start.

[Mark]

Great story!

Does anyone else have a view on this subject? Are there any decent needledrops out there?

[schnittstelle]

There are some great vinyl-rippers posting their stuff lately... (No VU yet, but really good rips are done by Pbthal and he's also doing requests. So you could talk to him about doing a VU project... http://pbthal.blogspot.com/) Unfortunately none of them has done hasn't done much VU. I guess that the albums done with good equipment would sound fantastic and I hope some rippers will finally start ripping the old mono versions...

I only found a rip of The Velvet Underground & Nico aka 'Andy Warhol' - Universal Japan 200gr Vinyl [UIJY-9005] - HighRes 24-bit/96 kHz!
http://avaxhome.ws/music/rock/art_rock_ ... l_rip.html

MFSLs are available too, but I haven't checked yet if the links are still working:

The Velvet Underground & Nico - MFSL
http://avaxhome.ws/music/the_velvet_und ... _mfsl.html

The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat (1968) MFSL UDCD 724
http://avaxhome.ws/music/audiophile/Vel ... _MFSL.html

[allvoxman]

Those rapidshares are obsolete, but these torrents can be used instead:

The Velvet Underground - The Velvet underground & Nico (MFSL): http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4242880 ... ico_(MFSL)_(F
Velvet Underground - White Light, White Heat MFSL UDCD 724: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4772798 ... L_UDCD_724_[1968

Thanks for this topic, it's very interesting.

[Mark]

Well, I've put a request on http://pbthal.blogspot.com/, and noticed someone else has already put on a similar request, so we'll see...

[schnittstelle]

I have put a request there too... and I hope some more will chime in so we could get Pbthal starting a VU project.
The other thing is to obtain some first pressings, which will be quite expensive I guess. I don't know if a VU collector would lend his discs. (Pb does a great and very careful job of cleaning the LPs before ripping so they would be handled with great care and would be returned as clean as coming from the pressing plant...)

[lurid]

I've got an ex/mint 1st pressing mono copy of the first LP (blue/silver label, mono Emerson cover with "big black sticker" on the back). I cant remember the matrix nos offhand. Also cant remember whether it's an "east coast" or "west coast" copy - probably "west coast" since I bought it in Los Angeles. I'll check those details when I get home from work.

I also have a friend who has a NAD turntable. If your request doesn't bear fruit I could rip my copy and burn it onto a CDR for you.

Well, I've put a request on http://pbthal.blogspot.com/, and noticed someone else has already put on a similar request, so we'll see...

[schnittstelle]

I also have a friend who has a NAD turntable. If your request doesn't bear fruit I could rip my copy and burn it onto a CDR for you.

Of course we would love to see more people ripping their VU vinyls!