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I am going to play all my RCA Living Stereo LPs...

vinyl1

vinyl1

Super Member
...in numerical order. The member who started the thread about playing all his LPs inspired me, but of course if you have more than 5000 records it would be very difficult to play them all. This at least seems possible, since I only have about 300 titles. Most of them are shaded-dog originals, although a few are white dogs from the 1964-68 era.

I don't have everything of course; I believe I am missing about 100 titles or so. Some I never bothered with, some are just too expensive and hard to find. I will note the missing ones in the appropriate place.

I am going to try to play one a day, but I may get tired of classical music after a couple of weeks and have to listen to something else for a while.

Why am I doing this? Well, I have all these great records I collect but never really play, even though I enjoy them when I do play them. This will give me a chance to get re-acquainted with the whole catalog.

I will supply some notes about the records and their background, along with recommended and NOT recommended reissues. Feel free to comment about your experiences with them, since I haven't heard every pressing or reissue.

Tonight's LP is the Strauss Also Sprach Zarathrustra, with Reiner and the Chicago Symphony, recorded in 1954 and first issued in stereo in either very late 1958 or early 1959. Here is my copy:

LSC-1806.jpg


This is an excellent example, complete with the original pink promotional sticker still intact, which I was lucky to acquire at a very reasonable price. As you may know, there was only one lacquer of this LP, the 1S/1S, since it was re-recorded in 1962 and went out of print. It was reissued as a plum Victrola in 1963, and is pretty common in that format. The sound of the plum Vic is a little darker, and lacking a bit in the magic of the original.

Playing my copy tonight, I was struck by the beautiful string sound that is characteristic of early RCA recordings. I'm not sure what their secret was, but no other label was ever able to match it. The woodwind playing is also very vividly rendered. As you would expect from Reiner, the performance is tightly controlled, which is well suited to this type of music.

Next up: LSC-1817
 
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Hi I was and am intriuged by classical music. I only have a few sorry to say. I have to say that like when new rock and roll music records came out I jumped at buying them. Now it is like that with classical music with me. I rely on searchers like yourself to enlighten me of older pressings and enjoy them. Building as I go and the beat goes on. I have an old record of "Tales of Hoffman" that is full of snap crackle and pop. Listening to the story set to opera at 8 years old laying on the floor before we had a tv. Talk about transitional times. HA! Well anyways I wanted at least post a view point about your post on a record you are listening to.
 
Nice. I'll be watching this thread with interest. :thmbsp: I see Living Stereo titles frequently in the thrift shops, but either they are trashed or they are titles that I most likely wouldn't be interested in. Things like polka marches, or show tunes. I never see any coveted classical titles. Still, I always want to sample a few. Maybe I'll see you play some of them. Keep up the nice pics too. :D
 
Now for one of the greatest RCAs in the catalog, LSC-1817. The engineers who recorded this LP in 1954 got amazing sound considering the primitive equipment they were using. This record is famous for incredible dynamics and punch, with a huge soundstage and good tonal balance. The performance is also top-notch, as Fielder pushes the orchestra hard in the loud passages, and then pulls it back in.

While this record, like its two brothers in the LSC-18xx series, was soon replaced by a re-recording, it was popular in its day. There are three pressings, the 5S/5S, the 10S/10S, and the 10S/11S - they are all very good indeed. My copy is a 10S/10S that I bought on eBay quite a while ago:

LSC-1817.jpg


While this used to be a very expensive record, with nothing under $100, nowadays you can pick up a decent copy for forty or fifty bucks.

One of the best analog experiences I ever had featured this LP. We cranked it up on the Kharma Midi Exquisites, using the incredible Soulution 710 amp. We were playing a VYGER Baltic table with a Shelter Harmony cartridge, and had enough Tara Zero cable hooked up to pay for a new Lexus. The sound was absolutely out of this world.

Of course, we had to send a lot of that stuff back to the distributors eventually, but it showed what is possible with analogue.
 
Vinyl1, keep on playing. Will enjoy hearing your comments on your vinyl. I'm currently hooked on classical and shaded dogs so your timing is great.
 
Somehow Speakers Corner of Germany was able to recreate that "Living Stereo" sound with the reissue of Chet Atkins "Mister Guitar." They really pulled that one off in my opinion.
 
Tagging along to compare with my collection. Will you be including LSPs or strictly LSCs? This could be a very informative thread for those wanting more information about classical music. It could also be very long considering the number of LSCs out. Please keep writing your reviews, always interested if other peoples thoughts concur with mine. And the pictures are nice so people can make a visual connection when they are out hunting them down. Excellent thread already and you're hardly out of the gate.

Classical collector as well,

Kim
 
Since it is a weekend, I had time to play two today. This is LSC-1893, the Ravel Daphnis and Chloe with Munch and the Boston Symphony.

LSC-1893.jpg


I have to admit, I don't care for this LP as much. Ravel is a difficult composer for me to get into, and I don't think this is really a top recording or performance. Munch got mixed results with the Boston Symphony, and the sound is not usually as good as Fiedler got with virtually the same orchestra.

This is a rare and valuable RCA, with only one pressing, the 1S/1S. Most copies don't seem to have been played much; this is the kind of record that would not have been bought by a casual listener.

The performance I do like is the one by Cluytens on EMI Columbia, which had an excellent reissue by Testament. The original of that one is really hard to find and expensive, but that's another story.
 
The next LP is the first LSC that is not incredibly rare and valuable. It was in print for quite a while, although it didn't make it to the white dog era, and there were a fair number of pressings. So you might be able to pick one up at a thrift store or a flea market if you are a bit lucky.


LSC-1901.jpg


This copy is a 14S/10S that I for from a fellow audiophile for a few bucks.

I have found that there are three Tchaikovsky conductors you can't go wrong with, and they all start with an 'M': Monteux, Mravinsky, and Markevitch. They all emphasize different aspects of the music, so it is important to listen to all three. This performance is a typical Monteux; he emphasizes the grandeur and the structure of the music, bringing out the massive architecture of the piece, while completely avoiding sentimentality. He is very well backed up by the sonics, which are wide and deep.
 
This is great.

As an novice vinyl enthusiast, I enjoy your synopsis; even though I know nothing about the RCA Living Stereo series. I'll keep an eye out for them...
 
vinyl1 said:
The next LP is the first LSC that is not incredibly rare and valuable. It was in print for quite a while, although it didn't make it to the white dog era, and there were a fair number of pressings. So you might be able to pick one up at a thrift store or a flea market if you are a bit lucky.


LSC-1901.jpg


This copy is a 14S/10S that I for from a fellow audiophile for a few bucks.

I have found that there are three Tchaikovsky conductors you can't go wrong with, and they all start with an 'M': Monteux, Mravinsky, and Markevitch. They all emphasize different aspects of the music, so it is important to listen to all three. This performance is a typical Monteux; he emphasizes the grandeur and the structure of the music, bringing out the massive architecture of the piece, while completely avoiding sentimentality. He is very well backed up by the sonics, which are wide and deep.
Click to expand...

Damn, the artwork says it all about the piece don't it?
 
vinyl1 said:
Since it is a weekend, I had time to play two today. This is LSC-1893, the Ravel Daphnis and Chloe with Munch and the Boston Symphony.

LSC-1893.jpg


I have to admit, I don't care for this LP as much. Ravel is a difficult composer for me to get into, and I don't think this is really a top recording or performance. Munch got mixed results with the Boston Symphony, and the sound is not usually as good as Fiedler got with virtually the same orchestra.

This is a rare and valuable RCA, with only one pressing, the 1S/1S. Most copies don't seem to have been played much; this is the kind of record that would not have been bought by a casual listener.

The performance I do like is the one by Cluytens on EMI Columbia, which had an excellent reissue by Testament. The original of that one is really hard to find and expensive, but that's another story.
Click to expand...

I've got the same recording from another label...Can't recall which one it was but I'm kinda sure it had the same artwork. These LSCs do something of magic when it comes to artworks!
 
I have found a good number of these shaded dogs in the last year or so, in the local thrift stores. I'm really in a jazz phase these days, listening-wise, so I've accumulated a bunch of classical LPs that I haven't gotten around to cleaning, much less listening to. So I'll be watching this thread with interest to see what I have in store. Great idea.
 
I got a little busy, but am still listening.

Here is the next up, the Brahms Violin Concerto with Heifetz, LSC-1903:

LSC-1903.jpg


Like most of the Heifetz RCAs, this remained in print for a long time and sold many copies. What you see in the picture is an early pressing; a 7S/7S record in the first cover. The later shaded dog issues had the same cover without the 'Living Stereo' band at the top, while the white dogs and later had a hideous olive-green box with a picture of Heifetz.

This is a fine recording with playing that is typical of Heifetz, well-suited to this type of music. I do have about 25 other LPs of this piece, and there are many good ones. Of the ones with top sonic quality, it is between the RCA and Kogan/Kondrashin and the Oistrakh/Klemperer, both on EMI. The RCA is certainly cheaper and easier to acquire in the US than early EMI pressings, although the earliest pressings are still highly sought after.
 
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I have that album too. Mine isn't in the greatest condition, Clicks & pops here and there, but still sounds pretty good.:yes:

Listening to it as I'm typing this.

LSC-1903 copyright 1958. Where would it say 7S/7S? I don't see it anywhere on my copy.
 

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Just an announcement, in case you are wondering what happened.

This thread is temporarily suspended while my phone stage is being repaired. The next records are queued up by the audio rack, but right now the CDs are all that can be heard.
 
Ilikevinyl said:
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I have that album too. Mine isn't in the greatest condition, Clicks & pops here and there, but still sounds pretty good.:yes:

Listening to it as I'm typing this.

LSC-1903 copyright 1958. Where would it say 7S/7S? I don't see it anywhere on my copy.
Click to expand...

I'm not the OP, but I can answer that. It's in the deadwax -- the lead-out area. On RCAs, the information is usually machine-stamped. On lots of records the info is handwritten, I believe by the mastering engineer. You can learn a lot about when and where a record was pressed using that stuff. If you search for "matrix numbers" you can read lots about it.
 
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