Sold Date: June 7, 2016
Start Date: December 17, 2015
Final Price: $68.00 (USD)
Seller Feedback: 4435
Buyer Feedback: 0

CHS 1483  Muddy Waters - Folk Singer - 200g LP on Quiex SV-P Vinyl - Classic Records Reissue - STILL SEALED with Sticker

Folk Singer is one of those defining recordings that appeals to even non blues loving audiophiles.  The power of Muddy Waters' vocals on "My Captain" is quite hair raising the first time you experience the range of this legendary Blues Man.  The underground popularity of this record in the audiophile market began, surprisingly, as a result of a mid eighties digitally remastered LP release from MCA.  Listening to the reissue is hard in spots where Muddy wails full on - the dynamics are just too much for most cartridges probably further exacerbated by early digital distortions as well.  Nontheless, even with its limitations the reissue LP has a sense of presence and clarity that hints at how exceptional a recording was captured directly to two track analog tape at Chess studios in 1963.  What is missing on the reissue and apparent from listening to the original master tape or an original Chess pressing is the amount of natural hall ambience that was recorded.  Further, the master and original pressings have a similar wide dynamic range as on the MCA reissue but are smoother and have more of the "you are there" sense of realism.  Enter the now defunct Mobile Fidelity at the Winter CES in January 1994 with a reissue of this wonderful recording on LP! Almost immediately, the MoFi received unqualified rave reviews from audiophile reviewers.  The MoFi had even more deliniation of the instruments and Muddy's voice without the harshness of the preceeding MCA reissue.  I remember being very excited by the release and buying 10 copies for use in my then High End Audio shop (Hobson Ultimate Sound) on Duane Street in lower Manhattan - five blocks from the beloved World Trade Center complex.  Comparing the MoFi to the MCA reissue was a revelation which led me to abandon the reissue copy as unlistenable.  Later that year I obtained my first original copy of Folk Singer and was surprised by the difference in the sound when compared with the Mofi.  I wanted the MoFi to be better but alas the original was more satisfying overall due to its sense of reality based mostly in the ambience that was present on the original when compared to the MoFi reissue.  At the same time I had started Classic Records and learned much more about making records than I could have imagined.  I was now aware of how much different an original pressing can sound when compared with the original session master tape which led me to speculate that Chess may have equalized the tape when they cut the original lacquers and smoothed the sharpness of the vocals.  Maybe the noise inherent in the early cutting systems and vinyl had added the sense of ambient reality to the original.  I was aware of what the cutter heads and production master tape copies had done to alter the sound of the Living Stereo - adding a pleasant "glow" to the original LP's that was appealing but different from what was recorded on the session masters.  It wasn't until the 24/96 DAD reissue of Folk Singer in 1998 that I discovered that Chess had actually cut the original LP lacquers directly from the original master with almost no equalization.  An A/B comparison of an original LP and the master revealed that they were nearly identical with the small deviation in sound likely the result of cutting system additivity.  We also compared the tape with both the MCA and MoFi reissues and found that both had been heavily equalized in the midrange which explained the increase in vocal and instrumental clarity and focus on balance and at the expense of the natural warmth and ambience of an original pressing which was a faithful representation of the master tape and what actually happened on that fateful Chicago day in 1963.  As on many occassions, we were faced with a decision - faithfully represent the tape and the original LP or go in the direction of the MCA and MoFi reissues which had achieved so much notoriety.  We, of course, chose the faithful approach.  A few weeks ago, when we had the tape back for a second time to cut lacquers for the  Classic LP Reissue of  "Folk Singer"  we chose the same faithful approach setting the stage for an Audiophile shootout of Epic proportions.  Some will agree with our approach while others will hold on to the MoFi as the definitive version. In any case, we are making available this legendary recording again and likely for the last time on LP. "  - Michael Hobson - founder of Classic Records Inc.

The Classic reissue features authentic tip on jacket packaging (paper applied to cardboard), original black  Chess labels and is pressed on Classic's 200g Super Vinyl Profile*.  This is one is not to be missed. 

A fire in the tape vault at Universal Studios in Hollywood a few years ago apparently damaged the original analog master tapes which are no longer available for future reissues making the Classic pressing along with original pressings (impossible to find) highly sought after.  When these are sold out there are no more to be had.  Buy now or cry later when you will have to buy them at auction!

*Background on Classic 200g Super Vinyl Profile 

In 2003, Classic Records launched its now famous Signature Blue Note Mono reissue series. As part of that series Classic developed an "authentic" 200 gram LP profile that replicated that of an original Blue Note record from the 1950's.  Comparing a test pressing on the new profile versus the same title on the normal 180 gram pressing it was discovered that the 200 gram version sounded significantly better.  The 200 gram pressing sounded louder, with more definition and solidity of notes across all frequencies and there was more detail - particularly low level detail like room or hall sounds, pages being turned, musicians whispering and automobile sounds outside the studio all became easier to identify.  At first it was speculated inside Classic Records that the extra weight resulted in the better performance as no one could come up with a better answer given that the stampers were the same as well as the vinyl pellets used on both 180g and 200g pressings.  One day, Michael Hobson, the founder of Classic Records was discussing this unexplainable sonic discovery with the Legendary Mastering Engineer and Sheffield Records founder, Doug Sax when Doug, without hesitation stated "Ah Michael you've discovered the difference in a flat versus conventional profile".  Puzzled, Hobson asked for an explanation which Sax described as going all the way back to 1950's mono pressings and what happened when stereo records came out in the early 1960's.  Sax explained that in the 1950's when mono records had no vertical modulation (only lateral), pressing PolyVinylChloride PVC (plastic) records were more easily pressed on "Flat Profile" dies fitted to the pressing machines since the grooves on the mono stampers were all the same height (no vertical modulation).  The molten vinyl was able to flow evenly across the stampers and fill properly during the molding (pressing) of the record.  The problems started when stereo record cutting came into vogue producing stampers that had variable height grooves sticking up across the diameter of each stamper.  Using the older mono pressing dies resulted in tremendous problems getting the areas between grooves of different heights to fill properly - a groove that is in front of another taller one often got passed over by the flowing molten vinyl resulting in "non-fill" which was audible and thus a "defective" record.  Pressing plants don't like to press defective records and are always looking for high pressing yields or a s few rejects as possible.

To solve the problem, the engineers developed a new pressing die profile which tapers from the center of the die, flattens in the middle of the diameter and then tapers again toward the outside of the die. The new profile was "concave" rather than flat.  When you put a flat stampers onto the concave dies the stampers distort and are no longer flat - the grooves are no longer perpendicular across the stamper and by association across a finished vinyl pressing.  This new die profile created "back pressure" on the flowing vinyl and solved the "non-fill" problem with stereo pressings and resulted in higher yields which was great for pressing plants and good for record companies who wanted good prices on pressings.  The problem was and still is that the new profile records don't sound as good as they could because they are not flat across their profile.  Using a micrometer across the diameter of a 1950's mono records reveals that the thickness is virtually the same across the record's diameter from center label to outer edge but not so for a newer stereo profile pressing which is convex across its diameter resulting from the concave profile dies / distorted stampers.  This is the dirty little secret that Classic had rediscovered was known to old school experts like Doug Sax who founded Sheffield Labs in the 1970's.  After the discovery, Classic Records never looked back and all of its releases and re-pressings after 2003 were on the new 200 gram Flat Profile dies that were specially made for Classic.  Some years later Classic discovered that the very same profile was used by JVC in Japan to produce the legendary UHQR pressings for Mobile Fidelity which are well known to sound better than the conventional Mobile Fidelity pressings of the same titles - it all makes sense now.  The long and the short of this is that Classic 200g Super Vinyl Profile (Flat Profile) pressings are as good as it gets for proper playback without groove distortion from non-flat pressings - Period.

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