Bertelsmann (BMG) vs Simply Vinyl

[henster311]

does anyone have anything pressed by these people? 

 

is one better than the other?

 

[Plarocks]

BMG record club pressings from the USA usually sound bad.

I have had some bad Simply Vinyl pressings (EX: REM "Fables of the Reconstruction") and some that sounded good (EX: Marilyn Manson "Antichrist Superstar")

I found that stock copies of albums on BMG labels pressed in Germany (RCA, Arista) sound AWESOME.

Hope that helps

[filthyrich]

Simply Vinyl went out of business a while back, but they didn't have a great rep for high-quality reissues. Most of their pressings (like Nevermind, for instance) have since been superseded by cheaper versions with better SQ (like the current ORG press of the same). I can see spending big bucks for the now OOP reissues from, say, Classic or MoFi. But not Simply Vinyl... and not at the current prices.

 

BMG owned many labels for decades, as mentioned above: RCA and Arista are the two big ones. They released thousands of albums over a number of years. Asking if their pressings are "good" is like asking, "Does an album released in the 1970s sound decent?"

[henster311]

Simply Vinyl went out of business a while back, but they didn't have a great rep for high-quality reissues. Most of their pressings (like Nevermind, for instance) have since been superseded by cheaper versions with better SQ (like the current ORG press of the same). I can see spending big bucks for the now OOP reissues from, say, Classic or MoFi. But not Simply Vinyl... and not at the current prices.

 

BMG owned many labels for decades, as mentioned above: RCA and Arista are the two big ones. They released thousands of albums over a number of years. Asking if their pressings are "good" is like asking, "Does an album released in the 1970s sound decent?"

 ok cool, stuff like this is what i was looking for.

 

but i feel like what im looking at has a little different scenario. I'm looking at both pressings of the Fight Club - OST.

 

BMG released it in 1999 

http://www.discogs.com/Dust-Brothers-Fight-Club-Original-Motion-Picture-Score/release/132336

 

Simply Vinyl (re?)-released it in 2001

http://www.discogs.com/Dust-Brothers-Fight-Club-Original-Motion-Picture-Score/release/1531517

 

and its always between $100 - $150 plus shipping from outside the US. it was never released here. theres been so many times where ive wanted to just pull trigger and buy it, but i wanna make sure i get the best one. its been in my watchlist and wishlist for years, ha. i guess i could have cleared up my confusion better in the initial post. thanks all for the help.

[filthyrich]

I looked around on the Steve Hoffman forums (VERY picky audiophiles on there) and couldn't find anything about this pressing. 

My own 2 cents: Both of these pressings are gonna be roughly equal. There's only 2 years' difference between them and both happened around the turn of the millennium (not the best time for high-quality vinyl). More than likely they are both taken from the same digital source rather than an analog tape master. (If such a thing even exists for this album... The Dust Brothers might've done the entire album in the digital realm.)

I don't think you're going to get an amazing sonic revelation from the vinyl, but if you're serious about grabbing this record, I'd probably go with the cheaper one (in this case, BMG original press). 

 

Usually the OP is the best-sounding vinyl edition of an album. Exceptions can be made with MoFi, Classic, AcousticSounds, and a few other hi-end labels... but even those vary from title to title. And sometimes a cheaper American repress turns out to be really good. (My personal examples: Jeff Buckley's Grace, Van Morrison's Astral Weeks and Moondance, the first four Tom Waits albums... All blow away the original albums.) But overall, a used original press in near-mint condition will always sound better, warmer, and less "digital" than a newer repress (especially if that original album is from the '60s or '70s).