Nautilus Super Discs: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down?

[MylesBAstor]

56 1/2-speed mastered titles (mostly rock) in their catalog including a handful of D2D albums but sadly not a lot about the companies' legacy online either.

http://www.audioinvest.no/tt_vinyl/suprdisc/naut_rec.htm

Have a few Nautilus titles in my collection including the John Klemmer, EW and a few rock titles but truthfully haven't played any of them in ages. How do the reissues compare to the original album releases and any worth keeping an eye out for?

[JCOConnell]

Id say overall, excellent on the Nautilus Lps. They did some pretty good titles that nobody else did at the time. John Klemmer did two D2D Lps and one of them is a gem, "Straight from the Heart". Their other D2D Lps were So-So. I'm looking for a list of all the titles they produced, anybody have one handy? Warning they issued many titles in both standard versions and DBX noise reduction encoded versions which sound bad even decoded properly, so make sure your not buying a DBX disc when you buy a Nautilus Superdisc.
Some good ones are Heart-Dreamboat Annie, Allman Bros-Fillmore, Clapton-Just One Night, Neil Young-Harvest, Cars-Cars, and more.

[JCOConnell]

Thanks for posting the list. I acquired the Nautilus Harvest back in early 90's pre internet from a Goldmine mail auction. I bid $66 and won and its been worth every penny (true mint cond. and sounds fantastic). Some other good ones are the Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez. A truly outstanding one, even better than the DCC, is Elton John's Greatest Hits on Nautilus.

[Rob]

I always have my feelers out there for a reasonably priced 1/2 spd of Harvest, i have a canadian 1st press Reprise that is pretty fine, never felt like I was missing anything.

[MylesBAstor]

I ordered a copy of The Cars first album on Nautilus just to compare to the new MOFI reissue.

[Rob]

What JC said, Klemmer's Straight from the Heart was the best D2D title of the bunch. For SFTH aficionados, there are two versions of side two, one of which is a lot rarer than the other (far fewer copies in the wild). I caught it one day listening to Summertime, which is a different take altogether with different dead wax inscriptions, etc. shoot, I must have a dozen bargain bin copies of SFTH, don't know why. maybe because they were fetching $150 at one time.

of the 1/2 speeds I like Heart's Dreamboat Annie, Joni Mitchell's court and Spark and The Cars eponymous record. when I say like, I mean they actually sound better than the earliest standard pressing I could find for comparison. I haven't heard them all but once they were OOP many Nautilus' went for more money than MFSL 1/2 speeds from the same era, Nautilus was a smaller label, they pressed far fewer.

[JCOConnell]

If you like Styx, their albums sound good on Nautilus.

[EdAInWestOC]

If you like Styx you need to find a copy of Paradise Theatre on A & M Audiophile. These are pressed by JVC Japan on Super Vinyl (the same stuff that early MoFi LPs were pressed on). This is a very good pressing.

[Johnny Vinyl]

I'm almost embarrassed to admit I don't have a single pressing of the Nautilus Super Disc releases. I noticed from the list about a half-dozen pressings that were also reissued on the A&M Audiophile label, and that has kind of peaked my interest. I might have to check with my local to see if he carries any.

[1morerecord2clean]

Joan Baez Diamonds and Rust. Dreamboat Annie. I like them very much.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Dreamboat Annie would certainly be a consideration.

[Skylab]

I have both of those and they’re both terrific!

[Joe Pittman]

I have Heart Dreamboat Annie, Joni Mitchell Court and Spark and Moody Blues Threshold of a Dream. I originally bought them back in the good old bad days when average vinyl sucked so I always looked for better pressings. I didn't have an original pressing of Dreamboat Annie so can't compare but the Nautilus sounds great.

Oh, I forgot I have the first Nautilus; Randy Sharp, don't think I've played it much since I got it...

[Rob]

I always see the Randy Sharp in the used bins, cheap. I never owned it.

[Joe Pittman]

I just played it and now I remember why I never played it since I got it. The music is Kaka and the sound quality is underwhelming, bass is a bit overblown and muddy. This is probably a good record to have; if you have some guests you want to leave, just play this.

[Rob]

that was pretty funny I think we all have records like that.

[rockitman]

Mostly good imo.

[russe41]

I bought Heart Dreamboat Annie in the late 70's and it was always the best sounding album in my collection.
I'm sure the new pressings are as good or maybe better but in its day the records they made sounded top notch.
If I came across some I'd buy them, I did buy the first in the series now that I look at the list linked above by Myles,
it comes in a styrofoam type container embossed in the foam it says nautilus recordings on one side and Randy Sharp "The first line" on the other,
I see it's the first record they produced #1 on the list, I invested all of $1 at Goodwill. Never played it, untill tonight.

[Hawk]

Because of this thread, I started looking thru my record collection for Nautilus Recordings.
-Playing Fleetwood Mac Rumours. Sounds great!
-Found Rita Coolidge- Anytime Anywhere. Have not played in 25 years. Will give it a spin
-Found Joni Mitchell- Court and Spark. Have not played in 20 years.
-Swear I may have one more. I will keep looking
-Very productive day(ha-ha)

[Hawk]

Addition to above post:

Found 2 more Nautilus Recordings
-Little Feat -Times Loves a Hero
-Allman Brothers- Allman Brothers Band Live at Fillmore East

A couple more for the playlist. Due to personal preference, Little Feat and Allman Brother's will supersede Rita Coolidge & Joni Mitchell on today's schedule.

[Jmwick]

I only have one, but it's an excellent recording: "Earl Klugh - Crazy for You"