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Hi Michael,

 

Thankfully I read your piece about being wary of a European version of ‘Rumours’.

 

Recently I have been ‘stung’ buying some reissues, the most recent one being Metallica’s ‘Garage Inc.’, the front cover says... ‘’Cut at Bernie Grundman Mastering from the original analog master tapes’’. Well I forked out my hard earned cash €39 (about $56) for one of these only to find that it has GZVinyl in the deadwax and no sign of ‘BG’ (Bernie Grundman) or ‘CB’ (Chris Bellman). I checked with members on the Steve Hoffman forum and they confirmed that the US vinyl has indeed got ‘CB’ in the deadwax.

 

The same goes for the fairly recent Jimi Hendrix ‘all analog’ reissues, Music on Vinyl has the exact same sticker as the US Legacy but absolutely no sign of ‘Sterling’ in the deadwax where they were originally cut.

 

I know from talking to other European vinyl lovers that they are totally disillusioned by all of this because the prices over here in Europe are quite expensive compared to the US. I asked my local dealer how much it would cost to get the US ‘Rumours’ and he told me €56 ($80).

 

There is an EU pressing of Eric Clapton’s ‘Unplugged’ (double LP) which is €49 ($70) and I am reluctant to buy it in case I might find that it isn’t the Bernie Grundman version but just another GZVinyl.

 

Do the record companies not know that the people buying this vinyl are very aware of who mastered what and that just putting a misleading sticker on the front cover is ‘cheating’ actually!

 

Well, that’s my rant for the day!

 

Thank God for 'the ‘MusicAngle’ website otherwise I would have been stung again!

 

Regards

James, Dublin, Ireland