Renowned Engineer Elliot Scheiner and the Engineering of Van Morrison's Moondance

[MylesBAstor]

Great sounding album too.

[Bill Hart]

Article talks about Shelly Yakus.
Brooks Arthur apparently did Astral Weeks and wasn't credited.
Van's reputation precedes him. Brilliant musician, but....

[JCOConnell]

I have an excellent 1/2 speed mastered LP of MOONDANCE on the direct disk labs label in nice shape. Anyone else heard this?, and is there a better pressing out there?

[Bill Hart]

I have a pretty nice WLP of Moondance. Almost all those Warner green labels from the era sound great. The crazy good one- Ted Templeman's sound on the Doobie Brothers' Toulouse Street. Early Van was good stuff- Street Choir, St. Dominic's Preview, Tupelo Honey and of course, MoonDance.

[Bill Hart]

I have an excellent 1/2 speed mastered LP of MOONDANCE on the direct disk labs label in nice shape. Anyone else heard this?, and is there a better pressing out there?

You might find this post by Steve Hoffman interesting: he talks about switching mixes after the earliest pressings, and the correct mix was not included again until some unnamed audiophile label wanted to do a 1/2 speed master- dunno if that's the one you are referring to, since I don't have it. I'll have to look at my WLP which is presumably a very early pressing and see what's what. Here's Hoffman's comment in the first post: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...-album.102782/

[JCOConnell]

I have a pretty nice WLP of Moondance. Almost all those Warner green labels from the era sound great. The crazy good one- Ted Templeman's sound on the Doobie Brothers' Toulouse Street. Early Van was good stuff- Street Choir, St. Dominic's Preview, Tupelo Honey and of course, MoonDance.

I'm young enough that when I first started buying records as a teenager in the mid 70's, the green label era was over at warner. They had switched to the white label with the palm trees. At least that's the one I have the most of and remember.

[Bill Hart]

Well, from what I was reading, a lot of peeps like your 1/2 speed version, some claim that the W7 green label sounds best (it had a weird 7Arts logo combined with the Warner name but was short-lived); my white label promo is presumably an earlier cut than the W7 logo'd one, but it does not have a W7 logo. (As did some of the white label promos of Astral Weeks). The only way to know is to do a shoot-out on the same system with the same ears and decide. My bet is, you can probably rest easy with your 1/2 speed record. I've found weird things sometimes, where a later pressing sounds better than an early or first one- for example, on "Pronounced" Lynyrd Skynyrd, I have a much later MCA rainbow pressing that I think sounds better than the original Sounds of the South pressing. Go figure!

[JCOConnell]

You might find this post by Steve Hoffman interesting: he talks about switching mixes after the earliest pressings, and the correct mix was not included again until some unnamed audiophile label wanted to do a 1/2 speed master- dunno if that's the one you are referring to, since I don't have it. I'll have to look at my WLP which is presumably a very early pressing and see what's what. Here's Hoffman's comment in the first post: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...-album.102782/

This is very interesting. I am sure that my direct disk labs pressing is indeed the audiophile label that has the correct rare original mix of "into the mystic". I just checked my collection to verify that I still had it, and I not only have a mint open copy, I have a mint sealed copy too! Always a pleasant surprise to find a sealed collectable record in the collection. I will play the track to see if It has the tambourine in the mix to confirm its the first mix and report back ASAP.

[JCOConnell]

You might find this post by Steve Hoffman interesting: he talks about switching mixes after the earliest pressings, and the correct mix was not included again until some unnamed audiophile label wanted to do a 1/2 speed master- dunno if that's the one you are referring to, since I don't have it. I'll have to look at my WLP which is presumably a very early pressing and see what's what. Here's Hoffman's comment in the first post: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...-album.102782/

does your WLP have the rare early mix of "into the mystic" with the tambourine in the mix?

[JCOConnell]

Well, from what I was reading, a lot of peeps like your 1/2 speed version, some claim that the W7 green label sounds best (it had a weird 7Arts logo combined with the Warner name but was short-lived); my white label promo is presumably an earlier cut than the W7 logo'd one, but it does not have a W7 logo. (As did some of the white label promos of Astral Weeks). The only way to know is to do a shoot-out on the same system with the same ears and decide. My bet is, you can probably rest easy with your 1/2 speed record. I've found weird things sometimes, where a later pressing sounds better than an early or first one- for example, on "Pronounced" Lynyrd Skynyrd, I have a much later MCA rainbow pressing that I think sounds better than the original Sounds of the South pressing. Go figure!

speaking of skynyrd's pronounced, have you heard the recent mofi LP? It sounds fantastic.

[JCOConnell]

WARNING- I also bought street survivors on mofi LP and sonically its a dog!

[MylesBAstor]

Well, from what I was reading, a lot of peeps like your 1/2 speed version, some claim that the W7 green label sounds best (it had a weird 7Arts logo combined with the Warner name but was short-lived); my white label promo is presumably an earlier cut than the W7 logo'd one, but it does not have a W7 logo. (As did some of the white label promos of Astral Weeks). The only way to know is to do a shoot-out on the same system with the same ears and decide. My bet is, you can probably rest easy with your 1/2 speed record. I've found weird things sometimes, where a later pressing sounds better than an early or first one- for example, on "Pronounced" Lynyrd Skynyrd, I have a much later MCA rainbow pressing that I think sounds better than the original Sounds of the South pressing. Go figure!

Always a possibility but wonder in these cases whether its a case of wear and tear on the LP? Sometimes even cutting levels? Years ago when I visited RCA, I was able to write down (now in storage) all the mastering information for a bunch of the RCA Living Stereo releases. No two were cut at the same level. Sure that happens all the time.

[MylesBAstor]

Did anyone buy and hear these two reissues by Chad?

[JCOConnell]

I just confirmed that the 1/2 speed reissue LP of MOONDANCE on the direct disk labs label does indeed have the rare early mix of "into the mystic" with the tambourine in the mix by listening. Sound quality of the reissue LP is excellent. I would recommend it but its rare and hard to find.

[JCOConnell]

Did anyone buy and hear these two reissues by Chad?



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Havent heard either, but second helping is a good album.

[Bill Hart]

I just confirmed that the 1/2 speed reissue LP of MOONDANCE on the direct disk labs label does indeed have the rare early mix of "into the mystic" with the tambourine in the mix by listening. Sound quality of the reissue LP is excellent. I would recommend it but its rare and hard to find.

There is a copy on Amazon believe it or not, that is graded high (who knows) for $72 bucks if I recall- I saw it last night when I was researching your question a little.