Hi Scott, John here (Kim's husband). Thank you for the video. I love my BluME Pro...it sounds awesome and was super easy to install and super easy to use. I am not sure how much of a difference it would make, but for some reason the only format my iPhone (current iOS) sends to the BluME is AAC. I have "Lossless Audio" turned on and "ALAC" selected for cellular and Wi-Fi streaming. Did Apple not fix the AAC limitation? I figured they did since I had the Lossless and ALAC options listed. FYI...the unit is connected via the RCA cables (I don't have any digital inputs available) to a nice Adcom preamp with an Adcom 200w amp, and it is playing though awesome-sounding LINN bookshelf speakers with an Innovative Audio sub woofer. Thank you in advance for your help! John

Gave Spain another listen. I only have the AP. I think the sound is great, but I can see what you mean about 45rpm lending to this piece. I did feel the crescendo’s were a bit splashy. I am not always a 45rpm fan for obvious reasons, but sometimes a recording can benefit from stretching out the grooves and keeping it away from the in groove as much as possible. On standard LPs with these Living Stereos, it is often these climax’s/crescendo’s are at the end of the side of the record where it has the least chance of rendering the cleanest sound. I would have to say however that I don’t feel the 45rpm treatment would be more beneficial for the majority of classical performances for the sake of not breaking up the performance. I would love to hear that 45 difference on this one. I also agree whole heartedly that this did not come off very authentic to the Spanish flare. I had listened to the Argenta performance on Alhambra a couple days before and felt like I was in the Bull Ring and /or wanted to get on a flight to Spain. There was a big difference emotionally. Great review as always, Scott!

Luckily for me this was one of the AP titles I picked up before Christmas. Great review Scott.

Engaging walkthrough as per usual Scott! Looking to upgrade to mc cart on my project x1 b and start exploring xlr. The Hana SL is super cheap right now b/c the MKII's have replaced it. Did you find the SL lacking & if so was there an overriding factor for you (upgrading the ML)?

L'Arlesienne Suites out of stock now. One by one. All the best.

Sugar cube? How does Biork enter into this? Seriously, can you elaborate?

Pt 2!

Had Spain, Four Seasons (titles highlighted on your channel jump in sales) and Bizet’s L’Arlesienne Suites (next on my want list) in the cart last night. Went to purchase today and the Bizet has gone into back ordered status! Arrgghhhhhh! Instantly grabbed one off Discogs from a favorite seller, but not for $40. 😢

It's a CD. I admit the heresy. However, RCA/BMG 60863-2-RG, "The Sea Hawk: Classic Film Scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold" is a reasonable way to sample Korngold's film output (12 films, mostly main titles as the selections). K. E. Wilkinson was the original recording engineer.

Try this album on SACD I think you’ll be amazed!

Hi Scott, you're a great influencer. I pulled out my SACD from storage & relistened. I'd say the 1963 "El amor brujo" is a slightly superior recording, perhaps different mics or mic positions, but the 1958 Spain holds up very well. The Soundmirror SACD transfers of LS recordings are well worth having, even better as DSD with left, center, right speakers. Cheers!

Some people don’t care for Hartmann? lol. Clowns.

This is off topic, but do you know when LS stopped doing repressings? I've got "Cha Cha: Arthur Murray's Music for Dancing" from 1959 with Bob Simpson recorded in Studio A. Sort of hokey, but great fun. When I got my copy it was sealed. I opened it up and it had the modern RCA logo. Victor. I don't have the original release, but it sounds excellent. Any thoughts? Incidentally, Bernie Grundman is a gift from heaven.

Hi Scott, A great video as always. I was wondering if you have heard about this guy with the Skeptical Audiophile / On the Record website? His business is to find and sell what he calls "hot stamper" versions of records for lots of money. He hates all remasters and heavy viny reissues in general. He thinks Mo Fi, Analogue Productions, Classic Records, and the rest all stink! He constantly berates the TAS super disc list also and thinks HP was an idiot for making the recommendations he is famous for. I only use his site to discover titles I might not have heard about but never purchase from him. What do you think of this guy? I think his name is Tom. Thanks

Thank you for your Review!

Thanks.

Great breakdown on all of these different pressings. I only have this as a SACD and it has been awhile since I listened to it. I will have to see if any of the flaws you mentioned on the original are carried over to the SACD.

Since I love music with a Latin theme, I'm definitely going to have to check this one out. There are so many great classical music albums. I'm going to have to really evaluate which ones to add to my collection, because as I like to say, "Shelf space usually wins." 🤔 By the way, I hope that you found Blind Willie Johnson's Dark Is The Night blues song to be interesting. It is a landmark in blues slide guitar.

Ooh, I have this one too...mine has the brown tape on the left side as well. I need to dig it out, as well as the Debussy "La Mer" to see what pressing I have and listen and report back.

What a great album ❤

Thanks for reviewing this! I forgot how beautiful this album is. I only have a NM+ White Dog, and I can see what you mean by the “veil.” I’ll definitely be putting a reissue on my wantlist

Thank you Sir, this was a great video, and appreciate your input. I also own several pressings of this classic album, and still have to pick the AP 75th. I recently got the Rhino 2016 and agree, it does sounds pretty good....cheers ✌️

thanks for your review, I just played my 1959 mono & it sounds great to me I did not need my sugarcube at all

Love this album and your review. You can feel in your voice the emotion you felt while listening to both cuts. I was only 19 when I first heard the bookends album, and I was immediately moved, realizing I probably wouldn't hear anything from that point on that struck me the same way. This was after having beena "greatest hits" and "concert Central Park" Simon & Garfunkel fan for years. This was the first of their albums I bought, into this day, as good as some of their other ones are, they can't hold a candle to bookends.

I love these videos on the classical releases. Alas, I don’t have any of the Classic Records classical releases but I do have all of the AP series (25/25/12) including this release, of course, and they are exceptional. I doubt Chad has plans to release more 45s of these, maybe using the Classic plates, but let’s see. 🤞🏻

I have the Classic 45 and Classic 33 of this. Cant imagine I'd need the AP 33 - but it is tempting. I'd be so curious which Classic 45s you'd deem worthy to hold on to. Keep us posted on that! Thanks.

I’m pretty sure Bernie Grundman, Ryan K. Smith, and Kevin Gray are the same person. 😂

great job as always

I will try and track this down because listening to this on Spotify it is fantastic music

Great review Scott , and helpful from a purchasing decision, I will look out for the 45s!. An interesting thought is, the odd sound of the original, were they playing around with their dynagroove system, or a pilot version , and that’s why a it sounds odd, and b why they lavished so much on it from a gatefold perspective, be interesting to try it with a conical stylus like a denon 103, to see if sounds better , dynagroove cut the high, why would make it sound dull, and rob percussive sounds, just a thought, what does Valin say about it, in his book ?

I have the Classics 45 rpm. Never felt the need to get the AP.

The first classical album that I ever bought was Berlioz "Symphonie Fantastique" that Chesky released in the mid-1980's from Keith Yates Audio in Sacramento, CA. Although NOT an RCA Living Stereo licensed title, it was a Readers Digest title and it remains to this day, my favorite performance and pressing of this album.

I have the AP version and I need to give it a spin. I know what you mean about the difference it makes on the inner tracks. I recently got a new copy of Chandos ABRD5179 with Holst: The Planets and Strauss: Zarathustra. I bought it for The Planets which is one of my favorite pieces. I think it sounds very good, but unfortunately they put Strauss on side one with the Mars movement being the last track on that side. What is one of the most rousing classical pieces was definitely diminished compared to the rest on side two. I think my favorite rendition of The Planets is the first one I ever bought which is the Montreal Symphony and Charles Dutoit on CD. I wish I could get it on SACD simply because its vast dynamics are pretty demanding.

Hi Scott, I have the Classic 33. I have never run across the 45s. Thanks for taking the time to make this informative review.

Great review, thank you Scott. Now you have me in search of the 45! I couldn’t agree more with your conclusions about 45’s. When I have them I think UGH… so many record flips, so much space to store, etc…. And then I get in the mood to play one, and WOW. You inspired me to search out the Classic Records sampling from Iberia. WOW. Incredible. So now it’s Spain I’ll be looking for. ❤

Hi Scot…. Keeping me company driving toSavannah !!!! Great stuff!

Bought an OJC reissue from late '80 and the sound is superlative. Maybe no need to buy another version. Perhaps in this LP Sonny Rollins is a bit egocentric: I prefer other LPs e.g 'Sonny and the Contemporary Leaders' where he give space to other soloists

The written review is now up at Audiophilia! You can access this review here: www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2025/1/26/yes-fragile-analogue-productions-atlantic-75-vinyl-review-2-lp-45rpm-2025

I liked Piper years later. It grew on me

Nice work Scott. I’ve done the same thing to my Scout 1.1 every year along with my other TTs. Works well too with older Technics platters that have aluminum dots over a black background. QUESTION: I am thinking of buying a 2-inch thick VPI Classic platter and a tone arm riser plate for my Scout 1.1. Did you buy a different pulley as mentioned in an earlier video?

Perfect! Thanks again Scott! Now I can get lost in music while I paint, not to be jarred back into the analytical/observer/judgemental mindset! My God, I've been dreaming and lecturing on this need for years!! The dream has come true!! :)) God Bless Tech. innovations I just ordered one! :D!!!!!!!

I wish folks would stop running the old trope theme of Yes Mofi sounds bad because DSD. No it sounds bad for the reasons Scott mentioned. The bass is ridiculous. Thanks for the review Scott! I think I am 45’d out. I feel a shift in the audiophile world. As if thousands of audiophiles suddenly realized “We want great sounding 33’s not PIA 45’s” ;)

Hey Scott! I had a copy of the 2016 and I thought it was a bit too bright. I got the MoFi OneStep and thought the midrange was glorious and has the typical 45 advantages. Yes, the bass is, at times, a bit too much. It's the last OneStep I've heard that I thought was really good overall. But I'm wondering if you think it, given that I have the OneStep, how much better, the AP is. Perhaps you could quantify it in some way. (And I did watch the previous Fragile video a couple of weeks ago). Best, Jeff

I really love the way you render climax! I hoped the conclusion would be the way it was, really. But I got so engulfed with your description of particular pressing that your conclusion was quite a revelation. Thanks a lot and keep on like that. I'm almost 70 and remember listening to FRAGILE sometime at the end of February or march 1972 in Poland, Cracow. I was in my secondary school and decided to skipped my classes to relish in the music. Gone are the days but the feeling still remains. Thanks a lot!

Thanks Scott, nice review. What is the release date on it? My local record store shows that as a pre-order with a 1/24/25 release date. I would assume it’s the same version. And interesting enough, they also show a Steven Wilson remix with the same release date.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. I have the 2016 KG cut and I am very satisfied with it. I do have a few of the A75 albums and enjoy them quite a bit. However, I find that unless I absolutely LOVE an album I will be moving away from buying 2x45 releases in the future. Breaking up the sides for me takes away from the enjoyment of the album from an artistic perspective.

Hey Scott, I’m Tony from Chicago. I was wondering if you have any update about the Diana Krall album “The Look of Love”, do you have any knowledge about when Acoustic Sounds will have a replacement copy for the defective version. I can’t seem to get any thing from anyone at Acoustic Sounds. If you have any info, please let me know. Thanks!!!!

Excellent review, Scott. Listening to the new AP 75th anniversary pressing, I found myself thinking this might be the best sounding release yet of Fragile. It truly is outstanding. I have several other versions as well, such as a '72 Presswell, a '74 Japan, a 2012 Analogue Productions Kevin Gray Steve Hoffman, and the 2018 Steven Wilson remix from the box set.

I have all of these and the UK Plum is my fav, however, I JUST received the Analogue Productions 75th Atlantic pressing which I believe is different from the one you have shown.

Scott, very informative shootout, as always. I own the 2016 KG, and the new A75 KG 45rpm. I also have an original US "1841 Broadway", GP mastered version. I agree with you finding the two KG cuts to be similar, with a little extra to be found on the 45. However, my US OG is an entirely different animal. Less bass BUT not bass deficient, and with detail that I've never heard with any other pressing. You can hear the individual voices in the harmonies, you can hear the bass guitar strings being plucked. To use a wine adjective, it has great complexity. KG's cuts, in comparison, trade a certain amount of detail for power. His are theatrical, operatic. The OG exact and confident. I find I like both, actually. It would depend on my mood. I had the exact same review of the A75 The Yes Album, vs a US original. I wonder if these were all choices that KG preferred, or whether this 50+ year tape is degrading. Heart of the Sunrise has a fair amount of tape hiss (easily heard because the A75 is SO quiet), so is that a tip off that some detail just isn't there anymore? Maybe someone knows the answer to that. Glad you are digging your scout, btw. I went VPI also and am very happy.