Linda perhacs - parallelograms

**The Divine One** · 25-08-2004, 11:30 PM

Quick question - is the original pressing of this on Kapp really as bad as it's made out. I've been advised against chasing up an OG, because the sleevenotes to the re-issue state that poor old Linda was reduced to tears due to the appalling pressing when it came out.

Are they all like this? Was it a bad batch? Did Linda just have a huge dod of earwax that day from singing with her finger in her ear?

All answers greatly appreciated. Stapleton? Votel?

**john stapleton** · 26-08-2004, 12:08 AM

dunno mate, I've got the vinyl reissue - but I was warned off the OG before the vinyl reish came out, for that very reason. Only person I can think of offhand who's got an original is Dante C. I'll email him and ask...

we must sort out the rest of that trade by the way....

**wayne** · 26-08-2004, 12:17 AM

Well, the story in the sleevenotes is that it was that bad, and that Perhacs herself kept a tape dub off the masters rather than play the actual LP...and I'd guess with a small scale pressing like that, a bad batch would've been pretty much the whole batch. Whether it's true that that's why she quit the music biz is pretty moot, though - I'm always intrigued by how many of these great female folkies vanished for all sorts of different reasons around the same time: Vashti Bunyan, Shelagh McDonald, Bonnie Dobson, Sandy Denny (obviously), Anne Briggs...

**bodger** · 26-08-2004, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (john stapleton @ Aug. 26 2004,00:08)]dunno mate, I've got the vinyl reissue - but I was warned off the OG before the vinyl reish came out, for that very reason. Only person I can think of offhand who's got an original is Dante C. I'll email him and ask...

we must sort out the rest of that trade by the way....

Does anyone know if there's anywhere that's still selling the vinyl of the reissue? Has the vinyl got the extra tracks that the cd has????

Cheers,
Bodge

**john stapleton** · 26-08-2004, 06:36 PM

got a reply back from Dante, who says:
'Don't let these audiophile assholes fool you, the Perhacs is just a quiet record overall and 35 year old vinyl will inherently "have some noise." My copy aounds fine.'

so there you go

**wayne** · 26-08-2004, 11:44 PM

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (john stapleton @ Aug. 25 2004,19:36)]got a reply back from Dante, who says:
'Don't let these audiophile assholes fool you, the Perhacs is just a quiet record overall and 35 year old vinyl will inherently "have some noise." My copy aounds fine.'

so there you go Â

'A quiet pressing...with noise'. Hmmm...sounds like a rephrased agreement with the sleevenotes to me! I'm very far from an audiophile, and can enjoy 'scuffed Golden Hour LP quality' in its place, but would it really be worth spending many times the cost of a good reissue (or, God forbid, CD) on? Not having a go or anything, but the fetish for OG pressings among vinyl collectors (like the fetish for often hideous cheapskate first editions does in the books trade) baffles me sometimes...

**DOKO*ENO** · 26-08-2004, 11:53 PM

all kapp records are thick 'n' quiet (like dago-reds), contact by silver apples is shite sound, but because the lplp is folky-dokey the hiss cuts thru, iknow loads of people who had acopy and NEVER complained, records dont stay mint for long in my hands anyway.
...but spending 8 years tracking down the tapes when you can easily master from the readily available for 5 bucks 8-track cartridge (a good tip in my book) is a bit errrr....... gay.

**wooly** · 27-08-2004, 12:42 AM

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (wayne @ Aug. 26 2004,23:44)]'A quiet pressing...with noise'. Hmmm...sounds like a rephrased agreement with the sleevenotes to me! I'm very far from an audiophile, and can enjoy 'scuffed Golden Hour LP quality' in its place, but would it really be worth spending many times the cost of a good reissue (or, God forbid, CD) on? Not having a go or anything, but the fetish for OG pressings among vinyl collectors (like the fetish for often hideous cheapskate first editions does in the books trade) baffles me sometimes...

it's a tricky one. there are some good reissues, but so many bad ones it's untrue. the current trend for getting everything as compressed and "hot" as possible, not to mention the obsession with over de-noising means that a lot of so-called "remastered" recordings sound absolutely rubbish - the recording may sound louder and scratch-free, but the musicality is lost in the squeaky digital artifacts you hear.

fetishes for OG copies aside, generally i think i'd rather have a quiet, slightly hissy version of anything than a bad reissue.

problem is, any kid with a cracked copy of cubase and some crappy denoiser becomes a "mastering engineer" all of a sudden these days. don't get me started!

*removes soapbox*

**john stapleton** · 27-08-2004, 01:03 AM

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (wooly @ Aug. 27 2004,00:42)]fetishes for OG copies aside, generally i think i'd rather have a quiet, slightly hissy version of anything than a bad reissue.

same here, couldn't agree more in every way..but....Perhacs vinyl reissue is lovely and very nicely done, quiet slighty hissy OG is probably $200 - $300. And you're never going to find one in the field (in this country at least). Which reminds me, anyone got a spare copy of the Vashti Bunyan reissue on Spinney vinyl?

No, thought not

**wooly** · 27-08-2004, 01:15 AM

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (john stapleton @ Aug. 27 2004,01:03)]Which reminds me, anyone got a spare copy of the Vashti Bunyan reissue on Spinney vinyl?

now that was nicely done as well. i'm not being a curmudgeon for the sake of it, really... grumble...

**wayne** · 27-08-2004, 02:15 AM

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (john stapleton @ Aug. 26 2004,02:03)]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (wooly @ Aug. 27 2004,00:42)]fetishes for OG copies aside, generally i think i'd rather have a quiet, slightly hissy version of anything than a bad reissue.

same here, couldn't agree more in every way..but....Perhacs vinyl reissue is lovely and very nicely done, quiet slighty hissy OG is probably $200 - $300. And you're never going to find one in the field (in this country at least). Which reminds me, anyone got a spare copy of the Vashti Bunyan reissue on Spinney vinyl?

Yes, very much agree - can perfectly understand wanting original pressings when they're better than the reissues, as they very often (even usually) ARE better for the reasons Wooly gives: lovely thick sleeves (shallow, me?), warmer sound that gets remastered-out and so on. I also get it that many things go for large amounts of money because they're unavailable on any other format, or may be available only on CD, so vinyl is at a premium for people wanting to play things out etc: cases like that, it's (often rare & very pricey) original releases or nothing.

It's those cases where people will spend those very large sums on a record that is available in a good reissue (that may even improve on the original) that puzzle me. Like I say, people do what they like with their cash, none of my business, but these kinds of human quirks, especially in the psychology of collecting, do fascinate me these days... And it's not just vinyl: many first edition books are superb, too - much nicer to handle and read than the shoddy reprints, but some are also vastly inferior, too.

On the subject of the Vashti Bunyan, was intrigued (and very pleased) to find that the version of 'Winter Is Blue' on 'Gather In The Mushrooms' is a different arrangement to the one on the Spinney release...is anyone EVER going to put 'Train Song' out there?? (The comp version of 'Winter' was the flip of the Immediate 45, right?). So tantalisingly close...

**Blighty** · 27-08-2004, 10:30 AM

One of the things I like about original pressings is the fact that the record has a history to it. I always wonder what sort of person bought the record first time round and what inspired them to buy it. Especially if it's something that would have had a completely different appeal when it was first issued which is true of a lot of records that have become sought after for samples and so forth. If it's mint I always wonder where it's been sat for the last 30 years. I guess it's like antiques in that respect.

Anyway, that's my geeky admission of the day.

**wooly** · 27-08-2004, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (wayne @ Aug. 27 2004,02:15)]And it's not just vinyl: many first edition books are superb, too - much nicer to handle and read than the shoddy reprints, but some are also vastly inferior, too.

what you're saying is very true - and it's interesting to note the parallels between books and vinyl. actually, i know a book collector who must have at least 30k records in his basement and he doesn't play them either!

incidentally, i can hopefully find out about train song for you. Â