Flat earth nexus of forces

[Classicrock]

The Blue Nile stuff always sounded great on the Linn / Virgin Lps. Linn knew how real music should sound but continued to produce equipment that added their own flavour. Also I believe they were involved in digital studio equipment at the same time as dissing CD - Until they changed tack and launched their own players.

I think by co-incidence the sound balance of the Lp12 did enhance some of the brittle sounding 80s pop recordings. However Floyd , Dire straits etc were not the exclusive reserve of the Flat Earth and are just well recorded and mastered albums that became popular demo discs. The vinyl crisis was in the 70s and predated the popularity of the Lp12 - no relationship there.

[_D_S_J_R_]

I remember strongly a visit to Linn in late 1982 (a very eventful period for me). While there, my mate and I were able to hear three tracks from the first Blue Nile LP off 30IPS 1/2" master tapes (no noise reduction). The vividness of these tracks was incredible. A later visit in 1987 or thereabouts we were able to hear some tracks from 'Hats,' an acetate being cut and the acetate then played on an LP12/Ittok/Karma (all the Troika's had been sold including their demo one) compared to the vinyl pressing of the same tracks. To say the vinyl sounded awful was an understatement and Linn agreed (Yeah, vinyl's crap, but our crap's still better than everyone else's crap). This revelation led me to 'discover' hifi dave, who ran a shop a dozen miles away from me and through him, the NAS turntables that out-LP12'd the LP12. Long time ago now and ALL vinyl playing systems have improved since. I still think the latest Blue Nile issues are about as good as they'll ever be when played on a decent player.