The Lyman Woodard Organization – Saturday Night Special

Bought this original LP today. It sounds quite good as original strata records tend to, no odd artifacts or defects like are not unheard of

Not to like toot my own frickin horn or whatever, but I feel like my ability to discern flaws in relation to pressing vs recording are pretty good, better than most. That being said, this pressing of this recording is sooooooo killer. The mastering handles the pretty bad fidelity of the original recording very well, making it listenable to the average listener. Sure, there are moments of overwhelming distortion, but I feel like those moments exemplify the soul and depth of this album. Its been treated in a way that its all presentable in an incredibly complex package. I never get sick of this music, some of the best jazz out there. This pressing is good and does the music justice.

I am actually quite impressed with this pressing. Nice thick gatefold wonderfully done including pictures and text. Quality of the pressing itself is totally up to expectation with thick heavyweight vinyl and no issues of click and pops. Sound / mastering wise… that’s another conversation. Seems the consistent response is the original masters carried the distortion that people are referencing. Personally I don’t mind much as the rawness of the sound is fitting to the music itself. Happy to have added this to the collection but to each their own.

Sounds crappy to me.. I was very disappointed wondering if it's just a poor recording. Contrasted with the 2022 Jazzanova set which features covers of a number of tracks from Saturday Night Special - that sounds wonderful.

Ordered this reissue from Juno and received it today.

Unfortunately, both LPs of my copy are very distorted (compared to the digital version) which is disappointing.

Has anyone experienced the same issue?

Outstanding album - pressing is clean and flat. So great BBE has reissued this again!

My copy is not to bad. Not any distortion. Don´t know the quality of the first issue and the Wax Poetics version. Brilliant music worth to have it!

I have never heard an original, but I do know that even its sound was quite lo-fi. That said, this Strata reissue definitely sounds like a "needle drop" (master used was a clean vinyl rather than original tapes). Sound is definitely distorted and sounds compressed, THAT said, its cheaper price tag probably hints at that and it makes an ultra rare record accessible to many. All in all, it will do as a collection placeholder until I find a better copy (Wax Poetics?) or who knows...I may stumble on an original one day that is miraculously priced by somebody who doesn't know what it's worth.

I find this BBE pressing to be truly excellent. It is better than the wax poetics release on my system at least, and much better than the 2001 re-release. The master tape 'distortion' on this pressing appears to be very faithfully reproduced, which I find a superb experience. If you want less of that, or your system is not great at tracking, or you are going to use it only for DJ, the wax poetics one is maybe a good choice.

Can anybody tell me the what's etched into the run out of this version?