I have to hand it to Sony for the excellent way they handled the PIR catalog on CD, for the most part. I do not miss the vinyl for the O'Jays, Billy Paul, Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes, or anything before 1976. Unfortunately, EMI had the catalog of material issued after 1976, and that wasn't handled so well.
The former Polygram did OK with some R&B material, but they, for some reason just wouldn't or couldn't reissue a good mastering of "Ladies Night" by Kool & The Gang on CD. A decent one is on iTunes now, but it's not on CD. I'm just glad they didn't screw with the Ohio Players. But, they shortchanged Bar-Kays and Con Funk Shun.
Rhino did a nice job on 70s Atlantic/Cotillion R&B, But why could they not get the artwork for "Love Somebody Today" and "All American Girls"? Wounded Bird fixed that. In fact, i've been mighty impressed with Wounded Bird's reissue CDs overall. No frills, they don't jack the sound, and they reproduce the original artwork.
To this day I am very pissed at how badly EMI has treated it's vintage R&B catalog. they just never cared. Same goes for the former BMG. Sony just has a bad habit of only issuing one or two albums from an artist then forgetting about them...unless it's earth, Wind & Fire.
Today, we, in the U.S., have to rely on imports from japan and Europe, and small, specialty reissue labels, and they present a mixed bag too. And, why they think they have to compress the music is shameful. It's not like the teenagers are going to buy the music.
The audiophile labels have been stepping up their reissues of certain R&B artists like Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Marvin Gaye, but unless they get huge, "crossover" artists, forget it.
Hip-O is as slow as a glacier, and they never seem to reissue anything i'm interested in anymore.
Now, iTunes, Napster, Amazon, and Rhapsody, are getting reissues online for download, but I find that many albums are of questionable sound. And, the sound isn't consistent. "S.O.S. III" on Napster sounds about right, but the iTunes version sounds like someone jacked the treble EQ all the way up. And "On The Rise" sounds like it's from a record, with clicks left in. the one on Napster sounds clean.
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