Sun Ra And The Arkestra* – Sound Of Joy

Purchased New. Vinyl has some imperfections and is noisier than it should be. Sounds like the sound is electronically rechanneled to emulate stereo. We need a proper mono reissue.

Attention : rien n’inédit ici mais la version originale du « Sound of joy » paru chez Delmark après son abandon par Transition.
Le travail de restauration est aussi irable que pour le volume 1 : pochette, livret, et qualité sonore comparable à l’original.
Du travail d’orfèvre dû à Sam Records.

I already spoke to this on my Vol. #1 review but since some may not be looking for reviews on both I'll state again, I had set a reminder on my calendar over a month before launch, set timers for the night before, and ensured I woke up at 4am local time to ensure I got this and hazzah!! I was successful in snagging both Vol. 1 & 2 and asked for a matched set so I have set #319.

This Vol. 2 is PERFECTLY flat. I VPI cleaned and anti-static treated it before play and it has no pops, clicks, or any artifacts I can detect.

The clarity, quality, jacket, and even shipping methods are top notch. For this price you expect great, and I got excellent. Even the outer sleeve is phenomenal. I could not be happier and am so glad I stuck to it and was able to get these. Worth every penny.

Fred klilling it again with these latest Sun Ra Artisan series. These are INCREDIBLE sounding pressings, beautifully made in every way. Delighted to have these in my collection. Anyone who knows the transition label knows that the quality of the pressings was rubbish...great music and artwork...but horrendous pressings. Sam records kn
ocks it out of the park with these and delivers in every way!

I have this on order and so perhaps receipt of the LP will answer my question, which is: What is the source of the information in the Credits that Kevin Gray cut the lacquers "From Hi Res Files"? According to Sam Records' "About" page, its releases are "Re-mastered from the original master tapes." In fact, this appears to be a point of pride for Fred Thomas. I understand that cutting lacquers and mastering are not the same, but it seems odd to heavily emphasize use of the master tapes if you are cutting lacquers from digital files. See: https://samrecords.fr/about-sam-records/.