The Story of Impulse! Records - Vinyl Me, Please A019 REVIEW

[@izaiahclah5502]

Great video on this awesome box set! However, I want to share 3 points I thought of while watching. When this set was originally supposed to be released, Karma by far was supposed to be the heaviest hitter of the box. I know that may be a bit surprising to you, or at least from your take, but all the delays resulted in Analogue Productions to get their copy out first. It's interesting hearing your thoughts on the album, considering Karma's heavy notoriety outside of the jazz sphere. It's definitely not for everyone, and it's honestly kinda refreshing to hear a different take on it. Sucks you didn't enjoy it, but I, too, wish they would've swapped the album out once the word of Analogue Productions doing their own reissue got out. I think VMP would've had more than enough time to switch the album for another title, but owning 2 copies of Karma is fine by me. Another niche problem about this box set is the fact that the Alice Coltrane album spine is completely wrong. All vinyl copies of the album (as far as im aware) don't have the classic black and orange spine. They stopped doing that a few albums prior to its release. The Alice album should just have a solid color spine that matches with the front cover. Similar to your catalog number problem, this was probably a greater mistep in recreating true-to-original jackets. I wish they kept this album with its original design rather than redesign it for aesthetics. Lastly, I cant find the Africa/Brass reissue you speak of. There's a speakers corner reissue from years ago that I know of, but this inprint copy you speak of, I can't find anything about it. Do you care to lead me to it?

[@PiecesofVinyl]

Thanks for the information - I screwed up with the Africa/Brass apparently! I must have mixed it up with one of the others, I could have swore I saw it from them. I know a lot of people outside the Jazz world love Sanders - growing up with a dead heads and phish fans - they love that guy. I like him too - I just prefer more of the "straight" "Space Jazz" - if that is a thing!?! Also - thanks for the info on the Alice Coltrane and that is disappointing - but I also like the uniformity of the spines - but prefer the originals...so im torn - if I had to choose - make it OG - and Alice Coltrane should stick out anyway -right! Thanks for watching!

[@izaiahclah5502]

​@PiecesofVinyl I think the Alice Coltrane looks pretty with the other albums in the box side-by-side, but the preserver in me died a bit inside. I think if they would've went with the original spine design, it could've been a great talking point about Impulse changing identity or something. From a uniform design standard to anything goes, I would've liked the original spine, personally, I think it would've been great for the storyline

[@CVinyl]

I have the entire impulse record catalog on vinyl over 331 records! Looking forward to getting this boxset!

[@PiecesofVinyl]

I am jealous! I would love to have all that orange!

[@CVinyl]

@@PiecesofVinyl I used it to teach at UCLA a few years ago along with my dear friend and mentor Kenny Burrell, Impulse has been good to me so I share it with students and teachers all over the world! Feel free to reach out!!! "Music is the healing force of the universe" - Albert Ayler 🎷

[@johng.4711]

This looks great and they got it out right before going out of business!

[@PiecesofVinyl]

Well we will see. People are complaining about the sub cost - while at the same time complaining about not being able to get the newest ramones which immediately sold out and the offspring sold out in like five minutes - so - someone is buying records here - including me!

[@Licoricedisc]

@@PiecesofVinyl That's one of the problems... VMP is not going to stay in business selling limited runs ... they have overhead costs and they are not big enough. Rhino can do this because they are part of a huge company and they also own the copyrights.

[@PiecesofVinyl]

@@Licoricedisc They have been doing limited runs since 2013 - and it was never a problem before. The ramones will get a repress since its a ROTM - just like Sabbath did - the Offspring was a limited run of 500 in the Exclusives - and sold out - Time will tell - but clearly - the demand is still there - people keep saying things - "gonna get the BN BOX then cancel" - OK - you just gave them $400 - and chances are if they were to come out with a PRESTIGE box - they would be right back....Time will tell - but MOFI survived and they actually lied to customers and had a class action suit - now a new MJ is coming out! I think VMP should be smaller and MORE exclusive - its a club after all - but that is just my opinion - personally I would like to see them succeed -the more vinyl companies the better - its not like the quality of the product has gone down - this box set proves that.

[@booieaguilar4792]

Great box set brotha man, I'm so happy for you. Any time a video pops up of you showing off these gems, it reminds me of myself opening a record that just came in and wanting to talk about it with anybody that will listen lol. Always a joy seeing you brotha man, and nothing but love to you

[@PiecesofVinyl]

That is basically what this channel - me sharing my vinyl with anyone who will listen! And thanks for always listening!

[@van1217]

I got this, miles, and the Memphis anthology all for 40% off. Lucky me!

[@PiecesofVinyl]

Lucky you indeed! 🍀

[@therevrockinrollin]

Side 2 is where the freedom is, brother

[@PiecesofVinyl]

Hey - Thanks for watching! That is some crazy shit.

[@SamuelRivera_DAMN]

Excellent review!!

[@PiecesofVinyl]

Thank you!

[@FleagleSangria]

Always fantastically made videos sir! You set the standard imo 🎸👍🏻 It is a beautiful boxset and like you mention might even be good for those beginning on the Impulse adventure. The hangup for me on this one is VMP waited way too long or maybe due to licensing they didnt have a choice. As you also mention a few of these titles came out as relatively recent reissues, which I purchased at the time they came out not knowing they would be in this set. So, it is a no go for me. Congrats in finally getting this though! She’s a beauty for sure. (I see you also have my favorite VMP Anthology set, The Cadet. I play the heck out of that one!)

[@PiecesofVinyl]

Thanks for the comment! I LOVE that cadet box set - I got it just for the Dorothy Ashby - but there are so many other greats on it as well. I made a video for that one too!

[@JimmyV1530]

Exciting box set review, unfortunately out of my price range. I wouldn't hold my breath on VMP being around a year from now.....

[@PiecesofVinyl]

I'll take that bet.

[@BryanMcElhaney]

Great review! I agree with you on the Chicken Fat - I like the sound of the Jackpot better than the VMP, but both blow away the Verve reissue from last year. Also one small note: I'm pretty sure Chad never did an Africa / Brass. Maybe you're thinking of Crescent or something? The last US release was a 1986 Impulse / MCA reissue. I have that as well and the new one blows it away. (VMP did a test pressing in 2021 but that doesn't really count.)

[@PiecesofVinyl]

You are correct - I screwed up about Africa Brass - I got confused with some of the others - 8LPS! - it's awesome that this is another one in the set worth getting. It sounds great. I found 4 of the test pressings from this set - all going for over $400! At least that is what they are asking.....

[@davepounds8924]

Nice review but one thing I didn’t hear was the price for this You should always list the price when reviewing a big ticket purchase like this Thanks

[@PiecesofVinyl]

I don't usually mentions prices - since they can change and often do. I do mention prices on retail products I review since that is a little more steady. thanks for the comment!

[@idoireallydo]

Thanks for attention to detail. Lovely footage of the box, really enjoyed it... but don't you buy anthing else, or is it just VMP?

[@PiecesofVinyl]

I know right. I do buy lots of other things but I am also subscribed to them so I get new stuff every month and in the past two months i actually haven’t bought much of anything and just had my subs coming in. And this box set was ordered in July of 2023 - so I had to talk about this. And even though these are VMP re issues - most of the video content is usually spent talking about the artists and the music. All that said - they have some great stuff out there so I have been attracted to a lot of it. If they didn’t have good music I wouldn’t talk about them.

[@idoireallydo]

@@PiecesofVinyl Fair enough, thanks for the reply. Looking forward to new videos!

[@christopher.cordova]

Swap out Karma? No! Shame you didn’t enjoy side B, the final track makes everything absolutely worth it. Ptah, is my favorite Jazz record, A2 in particular.❤

[@PiecesofVinyl]

I will go at it again - maybe in an altered state😎 that said I do like the last track and the first side. Although sometimes space jazz singing can seem a little weird to me

[@AlanSenzaki]

why were the pharoah sanders and alice coltrane done from digital source instead of analogue masters?

[@PiecesofVinyl]

From what I can tell - the master tapes used by AP are copies of the originals and one side of this uses the original master tapes and the other side is a high quality sample. My guess - is they thought this was the best option as neither has a true path to the OG masters. Again from what little I could find. If there is better information on this let me know.