Audiophile Vinyl

Miles Davis
Kind Of Blue
Acoustic Sounds UHQR 0004 (clear vinyl LP)

How many copies do you already own of this, the best-selling jazz LP of all time? Normal vinyl? Classic Records? Nimbus? MoFi? We must accept the content is so far beyond analysis that its peerless status is a given: Miles with Coltrane, for goodness' sake! Here are five pieces which ooze such cool that the whole sounds like a score awaiting a film worthy of it. What Acoustic Sounds has created is an edition made with the care usually afforded to a particularly special wine vintage, or an over-priced wristwatch. What matters, though, is inside: a hand-pressed UHQR (Ultra High Quality Record) clear vinyl 33.3rpm LP, which may just knock the 1967 Casino Royale soundtrack off its GOAT perch. KK

The Dave Clark Five
Glad All Over
BMG BMGCAT558LP (white vinyl; mono/stereo)

Purism makes me want to slam this, but the sound is so good I can't. Quite why this reissue, apparently remastered from the original tapes, features almost entirely mono versions and an updated track listing differing from the original 1964 US LP and the UK album, A Session With The Dave Clark Five, escapes me. Oddly, some of the replacement tracks come from 1968, but, hey, DC5 reissues are rare, so I won't carp. The last track, 'Who Do You Think You're Talking To', is a forgotten gem which alone is enough to make you rethink your opinion, but seriously? 'Glad All Over'? 'Bits And Pieces'? 'Do You Love Me'? This is why the British Invasion conquered the USA. KK

Madness
Presents The Rise And Fall
Union Square Music/BMG SALVOLP10 (180G vinyl)

Never hurts to tour when reissuing one's back catalogue, so Madness' fourth – and for some finest – studio LP should shift like hot cakes. After all, it contains what is, I suspect, their signature tune: that inescapable, advert-friendly earworm 'Our House'. Even the press release calls the song 'their 1982 career-defining record' – it reached UK No 5 in the singles chart. (How did it not make No. 1?) The LP earned No 10 in the UK album charts, and while it seems like more of the same, there's a nostalgic theme which certainly serves as a link between The Kinks and Blur. Killer sound will not disappoint, including spectacular piano and rock-solid bass. KK

Joni Mitchell
Live At Carnegie Hall – 1969
Reprise/Rhino RT654024 (three discs)

This spectacular vinyl companion to, and culled from the Archives Vol. 2 box set will delight Joni fans, the complete February the 1st, 1969, Carnegie Hall gig, remastered by the legendary Bernie Grundman. A couple of tracks were spliced in from another concert, but you'd be hard-pressed to know which without looking at the liner notes. The lavishly-packaged 3LP edition's 17 songs plus chat tracks fill five sides, with the sixth etched with the American Eagle design from the skirt she wore. The then-25-year-old's repertoire was astounding: 'Chelsea Morning', 'Urge For Going', 'Both Sides Now', 'The Circle Game'... If it wasn't for Miles, this would be LP of the Month. KK