Decca (UK)
Must be British pressed, all generations are great
Early pressings
Needs a wide-band across the label
Must be Made in England
2000 series – very early pressings, very valuable, Blue backs
London Records (US version of Decca)
Decca Records with different jackets (US)
If “Made In England”, same as Decca (UK) records
UK are nicer products
For intensive purposes, identical to UK Decca
Early jackets =/= record, must check record
Narrow band (late 60s on)
Bands don’t go to the edges
Decca phase 4 (multi-track, multiple mics, hifi sound)
Must get UK pressings, US pressing EQ’ed highs and lows
Sub-labels – Argo, identical to Decca
RCA
Must be Made in US
Living Stereo “Shaded Dog”
Hard to find in good conditions
“white dog” – in late 60s-70s, still very good, not as good as “shaded dog”
Dynagroove = crap, dynamic compression introduced during cutting, for bad stereo set-ups
RCA red seal = 70s, no Victor – no good
Mercury Living Presence
Dynamics is incredible
Low serial number may not be as good
No vendor logo, needs deep maroon label
Colored back
Later pressing
Lighter red,
Back-and-white back covers
Lack lower ends
Philips reissues (Gold imports)
Pressed in the Netherlands
Good bargain, pressed on quieter vinyl
Different (crap) covers
Narrow grooves => cramped grooves
Made in other places -> junk
EMI
Earliest pressing -> white/light blue SAX -> $$$$$, not as good as some of the later
Early pressing “Columbia SAX”
Flip-back covers
His Master Voice
Quite good, not as expensive
Needs to be pressed in England
Angel records => pressed in the US, sound like crap, don’t get
Exceptions => box sets, made in England, then good
Phillips (Dutch)
Pressed in the Netherlands (don’t get pressed in Italy)
performance not that impressive
Sound quite good
Not expensive
Deutche Grammaphone
Berlin Philharmonic (one of the best orchestras)
Good performance
Sounds OK
Tube gear pressing = tulips around
Must be made in Germany
(Don’t get made in England, Italy, etc)
US Columbia
Sounds OK (treble boost) but has very good performances
Not audiophile
Earlier the better
6-eye pressings
Hard to find in good conditions but not expensive
2-eye -> OK
No eye -> crap, flimsy, thin sound
In the 80s -> digital recordings, sound like dead
Exception -> Telarc, sounds good, good dynamics
Reissues
Analogue Productions
Better than the originals, deeper bass, greater dynamics
Classic Records
More RCA Living Stereo, not as good as AP, missing the magic/mid-range compare to the originals
Easily available used
King Superanalog (Japan) reissue of Decca
Minimal signal paths
Remastered from 3-track tape
Pressed in Japan/RTI
Sound different, “darker”, more highs and lows
ORG
London Decca 45 RPM + 2x Mercury
Very good
Speakers corner
Sounds ok, not as dynamic as original/ORG/AP
Repress the most valuable Decca
Better than narrow band
Repressed Deutche Grammophone much better than OG
Mercury Living Presence -> OG typically scratched or on crummy vinyl, SC much better
Columbia -> better than OG
EMI Testament
Good
Decca (own repress) and Mercury-> terrible
DG (own repress) -> terrible