Abbey Rd’s 1/2 speed Roxy Music’s Avalon & The Who’s Tommy review. Keeping it 100% digital!

[@deadquietvinyl]

Tommy was on my radar. Avalon I hope I find it. Thanks for the review Steve.

[@fidelios_frequency]

Thanks for convincing me to open my wallet and buy my 7th copy of Avalon! Its only one of my all time favorite albums. Might have to get the Tommy as well. Keep the reviews coming!

[@JeffersonDD]

Great video as always Steve! Please let us know when you hear from Miles, I’d thought Avalon was digitally sourced too

[@NickP333]

Thanks for the excellent review. Tracking down a clean copy of an original Avalon isn’t so easy, so it’s good to know this one sounds great. Appreciate the information! Thanks, Steve. Good stuff….

[@stevedundee866]

G'day Steve, always love seeing new content from you. Two iconic albums of which I enjoyed your description of how they sound...which is what it's all about regardless of digital/analogue. Thank you for giving us such good content...very much appreciated 👍👍Cheers, Steve

[@rachelsghost]

Good to hear that there are some great sounding new LPs out there. I have a Canadian OG of Avalon and Tommy currently only on CD. I'm not the biggest Jazz fan but do own a gray market Bill Evans --- some 12 Riverside albums included. SACD are tempting but I have heard that the format has basically failed to catch on. Good job as always, Steve. 👍

[@jasonarsenault3791]

Great stuff Steve! Thanks.

[@therevrockinrollin]

You know I have been openly down on half speed (Police Stones Eno) And I also push OGs on Roxy Music - did a video. BUT these half speeds of Roxy have been praised. May need to check one out lol Great video as always.

[@Geoduck.]

Appreciated you take on Avalon. Avalon is near the top of my most wanted LP list so pleased to order it!

[@davidlawrence79]

Steve thanks for the reviews of the new Tommy & Avalon, Abbey Road reissues. I have both of these releases and I wholeheartedly agree with your opinion of them. Abbey Road won back some respect from me after they botched their attempts with the HSM titles in the Stones catalog. Tommy was my first Rock ‘n’ Roll record purchase as a teenager in 1970. I’ve loved that album since the day that I purchased it. I have purchased a number of different Tommy pressings throughout the years, I have the 2013 release and several others. The Stones Half Speed Masters completely soured me on the Abbey Road label, but the new Abbey Road release of Tommy really surprised me. It sounds really, really good. I would certainly recommend it. Beautiful packaging and it sounds great!! After hearing the Abbey Road, Tommy release I thought what the heck, I’ll check out the new Roxy Music reissues. Avalon has been a favorite album for me since its release. The Abbey Road HSM reissue of Avalon is fantastic!! It sounds so good that I bought a second copy, just because! If you purchase this record you will not regret it.

[@liammolyneuxmusic]

Hi ,Steve I’ve met Miles Showell it’s pronounced Shoal 😂👍 The Uk original copy is the one to own ,far superior to the US RL cut. The Uk version is a demo record I kid you not 😎👍

[@davidjurney]

I’m glad to hear that Tommy sounds good. I’m going to pick it up.

[@johnspijkers4949]

I don't own a single title mastered at 1/2 speed from Abbey Road studios, so I can't comment on their releases. However, in the case of Avalon I have the 2005 reissue by Simply Vinyl originally mastered by Scott Hull and the reissue mastered by Robert Ludwig and pressed at RTI. I would be surprised if that reissue wasn't considered the best available pressing of Avalon at this moment in time. Obviously as all record reviews are subjective, YMMV.

[@dariuszsalamon9441]

I think overall it sounds good but bass is locking as all half speed abbey road mastered titles, I would like to see another analog cut done by Bernie or Kevin done in regular speed

[@gregoryirwin263]

Those abbey road half speed master series sound really good have a couple different titles done through them have not been disappointed

[@festersuncle6298]

Avalon UK o.g. and Japan pressings are pretty kick ass Tommy's KPG pressing is my go to. $50 is too rich for me. Appreciate the review otherwise.

[@VinylOldiesJukebox]

Hi Steve and thanks again for all the reviews. Even though Mo-Fi did not give all the exact steps in their process, I still have high regards for this label on how they manufacture their records but their prices need to be slightly adjusted downward so many more potential listeners can access their remasters. From what I read on DSD, it looks like it greatly breaks the stairstep looking audio waveforms that you see on a scope down into much finer steps giving it more of an analog waveform appearance plus it has the potential of high frequency response to around 100 Khz, even though most adults can rarely hear well above 14 Khz but allows the overtones in a recording to "breath" and not hitting the proverbial digital brick wall like many lower resolution digital sources have issues with. Have a great week handsome guy and I always enjoy your recording reviews!!...Friends, Lloyd.

[@nyquist5190]

You do not see the stair steps on scope with regular digital audio either. It is an audiophile myth based on intuitive reasoning about how digital works. It doesn't.

[@VinylOldiesJukebox]

Thanks for the info and even stereo mp3's at 128 kbps can sound amazing although not for preserving original studio recordings unless some garage band only had an mp3 recorder for their debut recording years back when just getting started, making this the master recording for future albums if it was a very iconic song take? Have a great day from Lloyd.

[@love2spinvinyl]

I didnt bother with the who 1/2 speed as i have an Australian first pressing and don’t see the need for another copy. But i did get the Roxy Music Avalon 1/2 speed as i did not have a pressing of this. And i was very surprised at just how great it sounds.

[@jeffwhitehead6268]

Haven’t heard these yet. I may, but likely not. They may have goosed the bass in a manner that some people like, but please don’t mislead people by saying they “have better bass because they’re half speed mastered”. Search “Kevin Gray half speed” and take Kevin’s word, not mine.

[@joaomargarido9121]

I have the Genesis Second's Out album in Abbey road half spews and is great. And the price was 40€ for a double, not 125 for a single LP made from a Sacd file...

[@derosa1989]

Crazy week because it's so hot in BC, hope you kept cool

[@stevewestman7774]

Yes LOL. Spent the last week in Penticton. Off the charts hot.

[@ginntonic123]

Do you have the KEvin Gray Tommy ? I love that one without a doubt be cool to make a shootout

[@stevewestman7774]

I do not. I’m sure it sounds fantastic too. Kevin does a great job.

[@revelry1969]

Note: There is a difference. Mofi digital is better than abbey road digital according to the mention of 96k. 96k is PCM. DSD much different. Better wave form. Mofi uses DSD256. Do a comparison….pcm vs dsd. Dsd will win…. Always. DSD is great.

[@edc.3761]

Have you had a chance to compare the half-speed mastered Dires Straits Brothers In Arms with the MoFi release?

[@stevewestman7774]

Yes. I did a vid on it. Check it out. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHKmm5WeqZmjr5o

[@audiotomb]

Half speed master is not a good thing I believe your own interview of Kevin Gray touched on this Pass

[@clumsiloe]

Kevin is God. But I wouldn’t say that half-speed is not a good thing, horses for courses and all that. Kevin said that there are issues with HSM which require correcting using digital eq etc, that’s why he does not use it since he’s all analogue guy or God. It doesn’t necessarily follow that HSM is bad… in fact all the ones I have are extremely good and I have compared Tommy direct to a very clean UK 1969 OG and it stacks up really well for 1/10 the price of an OG or 1/20th of the Classic Records. So for the money, it’s worth it in my view.