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GOOD NEWS: We've decided to extend the Fantasy 45 Series to eventually include 100 titles. We'll continue to release these 45s in increments of 25 at two titles per month.
Click Here to See the 4th Set
Click Here to See
the 3rd Set
Click Here to See the 2nd Set
And if you're one of the lucky 250 people who have the same numbered-edition of each title, Click here to retain your number.
Click here to see the 1st Set
Here is a sampling of what the critics have
had to say:
"Thanks for doing the project. I would have done it the same way. I've been distracted the last few years and lost touch with some of my passions, but I'm back and you all did it right. Again, keep up the great work. You have my ear!" - Gene Zalar, Acoustic Sounds customer
"This is the best stuff I've ever heard. I got a lot of these LPs to compare them to the originals, and it is refreshing to hear them sound this good, these new versions are better - more dynamic range, clearer, just better pressings. These have got to be the closest to the master tape that is possible." - Clifford Johnson, Acoustic Sounds customer
"These are clearly the best sounding records I have ever heard, and I think I'll go for all of them. I am just listening to the Montgomery Brothers. It is a great record with great sound! I hope for more of these to come!" - Michael Buschmann, Switzerland
"...every vinyl-spinning jazz lover should own at least a few favorites from this landmark reissue series." - Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound, June/July 2007
"The whole set has been fantastic. I cannot say enough about
them. They have all been released over and over, but these blow
away anything that came out before." - Randy Bandy, Fantasy 45
Series subscriber
"Compared to the originals I have, I find that
your 45rpm jazz reissues sound better overall, with far quieter
surfaces, greater dynamic range and comparable harmonics. I think
people who think the originals are better are saying so reflexively." -
Michael Fremer
"Though there were many tempting reissue titles
to consider for this year's Golden Ear Awards, I've selected this
1963 recording by Texas blues great Lightnin' Hopkins…Goin'
Away's sound is as direct as the music it contains…Part
of Acoustic Sounds' 45rpm Fantasy Series, Goin' Away sounds
staggeringly natural. The soundstage is wide open, with Hopkins
and friends set out before us in a very holographic space; instrumental
textures are warm and detailed, as is Hopkins' richly oiled leathery
voice. Van Gelder managed to capture a particularly lifelike dynamic
scale on this date, and because Lovelle's drum work is mostly on
a brushed snare, most good systems will sound great with this musical
and sonic treasure." – Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound,
February 2006, Issue 159
"I just received my latest batch of 45s with Count
Basie's Farmer's Market Barbeque. Wow! This is what it's all about!
I just wanted to thank you and let you know that they're killer." -
Bob Hall, Fantasy 45 Series subscriber
"Analogue Productions' third series of limited edition 45rpm 180 gram 'twofers' will surely be as popular as the first two sets, with key titles selling out and fetching big bucks on the used market. The musically well-balanced offerings from the Riverside, Pablo and Prestige catalogs controlled by Fantasy Records include The Tony Bennett Bill Evans Album, Bill Evans' How My Heart Sings and Interplay, Miles Davis's Workin' and many other long sought after jazz and blues titles...These limited editions are sure to sell out, if not sooner, then later, and they will become collector's items in the (not so distant). So if you can afford the admittedly steep ($50) asking price, get this and some of the others while you can." -
Michael Fremer, www.musicangle.com
"Your Fantasy 100 series are hands-down the best reissues I've heard.
They're just outstanding. I've got many different copies of Art Pepper
+ 11, including the original. Yours sounds ten times better. And I don't
find that true with most reissues." - Ali Saad, Acoustic Sounds
customer
"Of course this live album has already
been well served by Analogue Productions in their original 180g pressing.
My copy of this still sounds mighty fine so naturally it provided the
perfect opportunity to determine whether the luxury double 45rpm version
justified the significant additional expense...Moving to the 45rpm version
immediately blew away any regrets. It was a revelation. The cymbal work
that opens the number is less bright and several degrees more real, the
drums are even more dynamic, the piano more full bodied. The bass - not
best presented in the original recording - is much clearer in the mix
with more weight. Staging has gained both in height and depth and Webster
is even more tangibly live, every nuance of his playing clearly conveyed...Worth
the extra money? No question! - Dennis Davies, Hi-Fi+, Issue
40, www.hifiplus.com
"The quality of these records is fantastic. Please don't stop putting
them out. Keep going on - 200, 300, I will buy them all." -Jose Mellado,
Acoustic Sounds customer
"Lush Life is absolutely incredible and killer." - Bob Hall,
Acoustic Sounds customer
"The spot-free vinyl pressing has fantastic
presence and three-dimensional studio echoes. When Hooker bends, pulls,
or hammers-on strings, the timbre is true and technique obvious...Magnified
on LP, these and other subtleties enhance the artist's intent. While extremely
pricey, the set is representative of why Analogue Productions' line of
45rpm LPs is currently the cat's pajamas in audiophile software."
- Bob Gendron, The Absolute Sound, June/July 2005, Issue 154
"...the set (John Lee Hooker/That's My Story) is representative of
why Analogue Productions' line of 45rpm LPs is currently the cat's pajamas
in audiophile software." - Bob Gendron, The Absolute Sound, June/July
2005, Issue 154
"The best sound I have ever heard from any format. I don't think
you can get any better." - Don Simmons
"Out of all the albums I have, your Jazz 45 RPM series is the best
of the best and truly awesome. I am so impressed I have purchased two
copies of every release to have a second one when I wear out the first."
- Michael Greene
"Here is my blanket recommendation of all of Analogue Productions'
45rpm jazz vinyl reissues. Record collectors always argue about the relative
merits of reissues vs. originals. With the Analogue Productions series,
it is much more clear-cut. The 33rpms sound damn close to the originals,
only with quieter surfaces. The 45s, however, are in another league. Of
the dozen I've sampled, every one reveals drop-dead transparency, detail,
and a sense of bloom that is reminiscent of a studio master tape. My favorite
is this, Monk's third Riverside album (Brilliant Corners). Although the
recording emphasizes Monk's originals in horn-ensemble settings, I'm hooked
on his solo reading of the standard 'I Surrender Dear.' Even on affordable
speakers, Monk's right there in the room with me." - Robert J. Reina,
Stereophile, Records 2 Die 4, February 2005 
"Bill Evans' Explorations...the most lyrically riveting piano trio
in jazz history, playing near-peak...Explorations sounds wonderful. All
the tones, overtones, and rhythmic subtleties are vivid, present, and
true." - Fred Kaplan, The Absolute Sound, February/March
2005
"One of the audiophile's great, though dear, pleasures of late is
Chad Kassem's 'Fantasy 45' series - Fantasy's Original Jazz Classics titles,
remastered on vinyl at 45rpm...they're the best-sounding versions available,
probably as close to the master tape as any medium can get...Sam 'Lightnin'
Hopkins Goin' Away is the stunner...Lightnin' leaps out at you; his voice
and guitar are right there in the room...The music is teeming with pain,
distress, and humor - the blues, don't you know? Vital." - Fred Kaplan,
The Absolute Sound, February/March 2005
"The AcousTech team has released 45 RPM re-issues of Miles Davis'
Steamin' and The New Miles Davis Quintet (both classic Prestige
sessions); Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane; Sonny Rollins
+Four (a highly sought after collector's item which should sell out
fast); Everybody Digs Bill Evans; Gene Ammons' Blue Gene;
Thelonious Monk's Monk's Music; and Lightnin' Hopkins' Goin'
Away. These are all monster titles reproduced to perfection...Acoustic
Sounds has also issued a box set, as well as individual platters, of the
best of the Creedence Clearwater Revival songs cut at 45 RPM. These will
knock you on your rear end, especially if your system can reproduce unlimited
bass." - Dennis Davis, Hi-Fi+, Issue 36, page 113
"I was most impressed by the series of Jazz/Blues 45RPM issues from
Chad Kassem and Analogue Productions...The quality is outstanding both
in terms of sound, pressing quality and packaging and not to be missed
under any circumstances. For those who have yet to hear them, Kassem has
issued both in single issues and also in a box set, many of the greatest
hits by Creedence Clearwater Revival on 45RPM...you just wouldn't believe
what's in the grooves of these black gold records. Leave it to the collaborative
efforts of Kassem/Gray/Hoffman/RTI to offer up something very special.
A tip of the vinyl-loving hat gentleman." - Richard Foster, Hi-Fi+,
Issue 36, page 114
"Yeah, 88 (Basie Street) at 45 is a killer. Man...it should
be made illegal! Hoffman and Kevin Gray really have it together out there."
- Joe Harley
"The best editions available of these recordings." - Chris Thanos,
Acoustic Sounds customer and Fantasy 45 series subscriber
"...It is now possible to believe that John Coltrane, Bill Evans
and Sonny Rollins are in your music room without ingesting psychosomatic
substances to enhance your powers of perception. These wonderful new renderings
are as close to aural nirvana for jazz fans as they are likely to find...I
have original copies of most of the titles released in this series, and
can say without hesitation that these re-issues sound better in most ways
than those original pressings from 40 to 50 years ago. I have never found
that with any other jazz re-issue series...even if, like me, you've been
unimpressed by the cost and quality of the many previous 45 RPM re-issue
attempts, don't group these in the same category. AcousTech have definitely
got it right!...Do whatever you have to, but make sure that you don't
miss these releases...Don't let this fantasy become a missed opportunity."
- Dennis Davis, Hi-Fi+, Issue 31, pages 113-117 For a closer
look at this outstanding bimonthly audio magazine, please visit http://www.hifiplus.com.
"Once again, congratulations on these 45s. They are simply magnificent.
I cannot recall anything that can match them, not even the RCAs or the
Mercuries." - Zain Azahari, Acoustic Sounds customer
"Some of the best pressings I own. I appreciate what you've done
for the music lover and audiophile. Keep me on the list for all 100."
- Randall Fulton, Redwood City, California
"Soultrane can also be had as part of Analogue Productions'
limited edition, 45rpm series of twenty-five Fantasy Jazz titles (only
1000 copies of each are being pressed)...this is a superb edition. And
without diminishing what MoFi has achieved, it displays why the best analog
continues to reign supreme. Everything wonderful about the SACD is even
better here - it's more immediate, there's greater instrumental presence
and warmth, and when the band cuts loose on "Russian Lullaby,"
the dynamics seem endless and effortless. Though brief, Coltrane's unaccompanied
tenor runs will raise the hairs on your arms."
- Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound, August/September 2003
"Well...I've just finished listening to the 45 RPM of Chet Baker/Chet
(it's now back on the table for the second time) and I can tell you that
you've no idea HOW FANTASTIC this album is until you hear what Kassem
has produced. Of course so much of the credit goes to Steve H. and Kevin
G., I think you guys do wonderful work...FOLKS...buy these albums 'cause
the are just totally insane. I mean, in "Alone Together," aside from how
great Baker sounds, Pepper Adams on baritone sax is IN THE F**KING ROOM.
"How High the Moon" puts Bill Evans right there also. Wonderful."
- Richard Foster, posted on Phonogram
"This double 45 RPM set positively kills the Riverside original in every
way: I know because I've owned a copy since the mid '60s...I played this
miraculously mastered 2 LP set for a friend who's owned the original since
it was first issued and he sat there slack jawed. What Gray and Hoffman
have done here is astounding. If you know the record, you will be stunned
by the clarity, transparency and dynamic slam of this edition, and you'll
marvel at the harmonic complexity and percussive purity of the piano,
which sounds boxy on every other edition I've ever heard. If you don't
think a mono record can deliver enormous soundstage depth, wait until
you hear where Roach's drum kit sits in the soundfield."
- Review by Michael Fremer for musicangle.com on the remastered
Thelonious Monk/Brilliant Corners double-45 set. Read the full
review at www.musicangle.com.
"The two latest 45s from Acoustic Sounds, 88 Basie Street and
Duke's Big 4, have just raised the impossibly high bar set by
Waltz For Debby. The dynamics, speed and power of these two pressings
stretch the imagined limits set by the originals...It is truly seldom
that you get it all...We have not only exceptional fidelity, but it is
coupled with some of the finest musicianship and jazz interpretations
on the planet! This just don't happen!...These AP pressings are totally
get-off-yer-ass-and-buy-'em superior in every regard!
- Rich Brown, aka Speaker Boy, Klipsch Audio Technologies
"Basically, I think the sound quality is unmatched for any of these cuts
that have previously been released by anyone else. They're just wonderful.
When I heard them, I just fell out of my chair."
- Acoustic Sounds customer Art Trujillo on the Miles Davis/Cookin'
and Bill Evans/Waltz For Debby 45s.
"I will admit that those who had heard this 45 rpm at CES were right.
So far, I think this is the best of the series. No critical listening
last night... it was just so wow! that I was enjoying the tunes. Each
set keeps on getting better, I hope that trend continues, not sure how
they can get better but."
- Customer Bruce Platt
"Comparisons with Chad's previous re-issue of Waltz for Debby
(and it was then a watermark for timbral accuracy!) reveal an even greater
sense of depth within the club and a much finer grading of dynamics. As
the title cut gallops along, propelled by brush and bass, overtones and
string fingering are precise, tactile and textured. My God I have died
and gone to...The Village Vanguard!...Chad, Kevin and Steve have resurrected
the giants of Jazz, and they now stalk me in my living room. Vinyl fans,
get behind this mutha! The series is hot!"
- Rich Brown, aka Speaker Boy, Klipsch Audio Technologies and
Acoustic Sounds customer
"There have probably been more reissues of this 1961 Riverside recording
than any other jazz record in history...This 45 rpm edition presents the
most flattering, revealing, and clear rendering of Evans' piano that I've
heard yet...Easily the best-sounding version of this classic live album
ever released with the SACD a close second...The music is extremely well
served by this edition. It has an openness and physical scale that the
33 1/3 LPs lack and a crystalline clarity, airiness and sense of depth
not even the excellent sounding SACD can touch."
- Michael Fremer, musicangle.com
"Kevin Gray, who I feel is the best damn record cutter in the world
today...Kevin and I will not cut too far into the record center at 45
RPM so that even an average stylus can track the groove with ease...I
think you will find that this new series is going to be the most pure
and dynamic recreations of the original master tapes we have ever heard."
- Mastering Engineer Steve Hoffman
"Relaxin' was a good-sounding album in its original mono pressing.
JVC put out a splendid XRCD reissue, and a few years back, Analogue pressed
a gorgeous 33 rpm slab of vinyl as part of its (now out-of-print) Miles
Davis Quintet: Great Prestige Recordings box set. Yet all these things
are but gaslight before the illuminated clarity of the 45 rpms. When I
first heard Coltrane start his solo on "Oleo," I nearly yelped:
he seemed right there in the room. I don't think I've ever heard a more
vivid tenor sax on a record. You hear much more of Miles' mouthpiece,
how he adjusts the air to color his tone or stagger his rhythm. Even the
piano, always the murkiest element of a '50s Van Gelder recording, sounds
as if the lid has been lifted. The bass is properly woody, the trapset
crisp. I'd call this album essential."
- Fred Kaplan, The Absolute Sound February/March 2003
"When I visited AcousTech’s mastering facility at RTI back
in July of 1996, Stan Ricker was cutting Cookin’ along with four
other Quintet recordings for The Great Prestige Recordings Miles Davis
box set that Analogue Productions issued soon thereafter…Stan cut
a souvenir lacquer of side one for me, which I compared to this new 45-rpm
cut by Hoffman and Gray. Now, this is not to say anything bad about Stan
Ricker, who is one of the great lacquer cutters of all time…what
Gray and Hoffman have built to replace (the original AcousTech Mastering)
is entirely in another league and clearly one of the best-sounding cutting
facilities in the world. So it isn’t a complete surprise that the
new 45-rpm vinyl actually sounds better than the lacquer Stan cut for
me that day. True, lacquers deteriorate over time, but the fact is, the
45-rpm cut sounds far better than the final LP from the box set, and I
have no doubt that this 45-rpm set is about as close to the sound of the
master tape as any of us will ever hear at home. It’s liquid and
crisp and detailed and spacious and clear as a winter’s evening.
If you need convincing that mono can offer imaging and depth, try this.
This is a "snapshot in time" record of one of the greatest jazz
groups ever, at its peak, and this is its greatest presentation —
I don't care what new format comes down the 'pike. If you've got a turntable,
now's the time, because it won't be around forever. Expensive? Yes. But
worth every penny. You'll treasure it every time you listen. As for Relaxin',
for some reason it might even sound better than Cookin'."
Review by Michael Fremer for musicangle.com on Miles Davis – Cookin'
and Relaxin'
"These are the best LPs I've ever heard. They are just beautiful. Unbelievable.
Better than SACDs. I have some of the originals that are very noisy, but
these are so quiet and just much better." - Joseph Kajewski, Acoustic
Sounds customer
"Fantasy, Inc. owns many of the most important labels in jazz history,
including Prestige, Riverside, Contemporary, Fantasy and Pablo. What makes
these imprints the best is the collective legendary roster of musicians.
Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk
and on and on. These are the kings of jazz, and Fantasy owns the throne.
Acoustic Sounds' own label, Analogue Productions, licensed what they considered
to be the 25 most-classic titles from this vast catalog. There's no disputing
the validity of their selections. This limited-edition series does in
fact contain several of the best jazz albums ever. Combining their selection
of titles with their means of production - that being the use of top-flight
facilities like AcousTech Mastering and the Record Technology, Inc. pressing
plant - Analogue Productions has created the series of the century. Prestige
is represented with two seminal Miles Davis Quintet albums (Cookin', Relaxin')
plus the trumpeter's all-star conclave Bags' Groove; definitive performances
by tenor sax giants Sonny Rollins (Saxophone Colossus) and John Coltrane
(Soultrane), as well as the pair's only meeting on record (Tenor Madness);
more immortal saxophony by Gene Ammons (Boss Tenor) and Coleman Hawkins
with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (Night Hawk); and a pair of collaborative
gems from the label's Bluesville subsidiary by Lightnin' Hopkins/Sonny
Terry (Last Night Blues) and Willie Dixon/Memphis Slim (Willie's Blues).
Another New York powerhouse, Riverside Records, contributes three eloquent
collections by the Bill Evans trio (Waltz for Debby, Sunday at the Village
Vanguard, Moon Beams), plus Evans' encounter with Cannonball Adderley
(Know What I Mean?); masterpieces by Thelonious Monk with Rollins (Brilliant
Corners) and Coltrane (Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane); and some of
the most inspired works of legendary trumpeter Chet Baker (Chet) and guitarist
Wes Montgomery (Full House). From Los Angeles comes three saxophone gems
on Contemporary by Rollins (Way Out West), Art Pepper (Meets the Rhythm
Section) and Ben Webster (At the Renaissance), and three of Pablo's best
piano sessions featuring Count Basie twice (with his legendary big band
on 88 Basie Street, and communing with Oscar Peterson on The Time Keepers)
and Duke Ellington in his final recording (Duke's Big 4). Fantasy's own
classics are represented by the Vince Guaraldi hit that helped popularize
bossa nova in the U.S. (Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus). A true array
of classic and modern jazz masters, sounding better than ever." -
Bob Blumenthal
Blumenthal has been a jazz critic since 1969, contributing to publications
such as Rolling Stone, Down Beat, JazzTimes and The Boston Globe. In 1999
and 2000, Blumenthal won Grammy awards for best album notes.
"Way Out West sounds so real. It feels like the drummer is in the
room. I could almost see the sweat on the musicians' foreheads. It gave
me goose bumps. The whole series is phenomenal. Sign me up for the rest.
I'm hooked."
- Customer Jamil Sofer
"These 45s are scary-good." - Brooke Farquhar, No. 245 on the
45 list.
The most-classic music also ought to sound the
best.
Now it does. Analogue Productions is reissuing the
TOP 25 titles from Fantasy, Inc., keepers of the world's mightiest jazz
catalog. Never has such a set been available on 180-gram vinyl cut at
45 RPM and limited to 1,000 numbered copies of each title.The first
250 people to purchase this 25-album series will be assigned the corresponding
numbered edition of each title. Please remember, the earlier you sign
up, the lower your number will be. We will send you your limited-edition
copy of each record as it becomes available, free of shipping charge.
In addition, the first 100 people to purchase the series will have their
copies personally autographed by mastering engineers Steve Hoffman and
Kevin Gray. Sorry, the first 250 Editions have
been sold.
So why are we calling these the best?
Because they are. We're talking the revered jazz classics
by artists like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Oscar Peterson,
Ben Webster, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderley, Thelonious Monk, Count
Basie, Gene Ammons, Coleman Hawkins and Duke Ellington and a couple
blues gems by heavy-hitters like Lightnin' Hopkins and Willie Dixon.
Each album will be spread onto two pristine slabs of 180-gram virgin
vinyl cut at 45 RPM and packaged in exact replicas of the original jackets
with no bar codes.
Click
here
for more images |
Mastering engineers Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman
working on the latest Analogue Productions reissues at AcousTech
Mastering. |
Neumann SX74 Cutterhead with a fresh laquer.
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Using only the original analog master tapes, the renowned
team of Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray will remaster and cut all of the
titles at AcousTech Mastering, which features a pure Class-A disc-cutting
system. AcousTech is located at Record Technology, Inc., the plant where
the vinyl will be pressed. It is a tremendous sonic advantage to have
the pressing plant, plating department and mastering room in the same
facility as now Steve and Kevin can cut a lacquer and have it plated
immediately. This prevents the degradation of the grooves in the lacquer,
which is very fragile and prone to quick deterioration.
And of course cutting at 45 RPM is the audiophile
choice for highest quality. A 45-RPM record is sonically superior to
a 33 1/3 variety because of a 35 percent reduction of groove curvature
compared to a 33 1/3 cut. It means that while you can't fit as much
music onto a 45, the undulations of the groove that your cartridge has
to track are stretched over a longer distance. For these reissues, the
music will be displaced onto four record sides, meaning that each side
will contain about ten minutes of music.
So there you have it.
This is the ultimate reissue series. The only way
you'll get closer to this classic music is to listen to the master tapes.
Call for availability 1-800-716-3553
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