DOL

There is a small grocery store in my town that started selling new vinyl records about a year ago. I thought it was a neat gimmick for a grocery but resisted the urge to browse. When I did start looking at the records on offer I found a lot of these DOL reissues at very reasonable prices. I initially bought the John Coltrane - Ole and Chet Baker - Sings out of curiosity. And yesterday I bought Herbie Hancock - Takin' Off.

To me the sound and quality of the vinyl has been excellent and all have poly lined inner sleeves, which I appreciate. I wouldn't hesitate buying another reissue from DOL. My only minor beef is with the outer sleeves: they seem to be cut ever slightly too small so that taking the inner sleeves out and replacing is a bit annoying. At $10 to $12, I consider that minor issue.

I recently got a DOL pressing of Bill Evans New Jazz Conceptions and was amazed at the sound. It's the only DOL record I have so far.

I have not heard of this 'manufacturer' until less than an hour ago, and already I am skeptical of comments on both sides.
Some dismiss it with prejudice while others claim its products are good.
Who is right?
My guess is neither.

My only beef with the DOL label is that it's hit or miss as far as quality goes. I am a collector of live recordings, and a few of the titles I've purchased have been disappointing. For example I purchased Alice in Chains Live in Oakland Cal. 1992, and the sound was terrible, The jacket stated that it was an FM broadcast recording, but sounded like a bad audience recording. The same with the Misfits live in Detroit 1983, horrible sound. But there are other releases on this label that sound fantastic. Their Jazz reissues sound great, but sometimes they use different artwork than the original. A few other live albums I have purchased sound pretty decent. So basically, you take a chance when purchasing an album from this label.

Well, it seems rather duplicitous nowadays when so many self-proclaimed "vinyl experts" on the one hand mock bootlegs and especially their allegedly poor quality, but on the other hand too often simply adopt traditional prejudices unheard from others. In times of the internet, where everyone seems to be an expert on something and everything, it's no wonder that more and more people are jumping on this bandwagon of imagined importance. Particular stylistic blossoms are reviewers and their reviews, where they listen to things beyond what is audible to the human ear and then package this exquisite listening experience in highbrow lyricism so that it sounds intelligent and credible, on the one hand to flatter their own vanity and on the other hand to please the inclined reader. The forerunner of this madness here in Germany was the former music magazine "Spex", because only the self-proclaimed music professors there believed they knew what should be listened to and what should not. What is particularly disturbing here, however, is that many people who are just about to discover vinyl are prevented from making up their own minds about the quality of the respective vinyl and label. They are even often steered towards overpriced editions, because quality can supposedly only be located there. The industry and the companies have done a good job, because they have recruited enough disciples who also advertise for free. But madness aside, I wanted to say something about the above label, or rather about the records that are in my possession. As an example, I'll take the Elvis editions, which I have both as originals from the 60s and 70s, as well as remastered represses. So I can compare them very well with the DOL ones. The first thing that stands out is the significantly better dynamics and spatiality compared to the old originals.

Ich muss erwähnen, dass ich meine Platten von Anfang an immer gepflegt habe, also in gefütterten inner sleeves und Schutzhüllen aufbewahrt. Ab und an habe ich meine alten Platten auch gewaschen. Selbstverständlich nutzt sich das Vinyl über einen so langen Zeitraum entsprechend ab, je nachdem wie oft man die Platten gehört hat. Das heisst, der Klang wird zunehmend dünner und manchmal klingen diese Platten dumpf oder gar scheppernd. Die Platten von DOL hingegen klingen fast genauso wie die von Music On Vinyl, sind aber deutlich günstiger und ich persönlich finde, die Cover und das Design ist deutlich besser als die von Music On Vinyl oder Friday Music. Auch das Vinyl selbst hat kaum Hintergrundgeräusche, was ich von vielen MOV eben nicht erwähnen kann. Was die Lizenzen anbelangt, so war beim "Elvis-Zirkus" schon immer ein sogenannter Super-Ausverkauf. Der Markt wurde und wird förmlich überschwemmt. Und genau da liegt dann das Problem, herauszufinden, welche Platten was taugen und welche eben nicht. Auch kann man das ganze Lizenzprozedere nicht durchschauen. Schreibt man die Labels an bekommt man entweder erst gar keine Antwort (meistens der Fall) oder sie formulieren nebulös. Discogs selber ist da auch kein Vorbild, denn einige Auflagen werden vom Verkauf ausgeschlossen, wobei andere dann wieder erlaubt sind. Auch hier erfährt man nichts Erhellendes. So bleibt es jedem selber überlassen sich in dem Dickicht von Veröffentlichungen zu recht zu finden. Jedenfalls klingen alle DOL Platten, die ich habe (Etta James, Elvis, Françoise Hardy etc.) bislang alle gut bis sehr gut. Meine Favoriten sind zwar noch immer die Speaker's Corner Platten, die kosten aber auch gleich das drei bis vierfache. Für Vinyleinsteiger aber kann ich bislang die DOL Platten empfehlen.

For those claiming DOL are a bootleg company, they pay royalties to the relevant artists/estates via MCPS on titles that are no longer copyrighted. I only have one of their releases (Soul Samba) so I'm not shilling for them. But I prefer not to lump them in with total scammers.

Mad seeing DOL releases for sale in HMV shops. Half the jazz section I checked in Belfast was DOL!

I have DOL's Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention Live at "Piknik" 1970 on vinyl and it is one of my favourite records of all time! I can't speak to any other releases of theirs, but the live concert stuff is probably fine

The DOL Boots I have are pretty solid IMO (Talking Heads Stop Making Sense Milwaukee 84; Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders)

I wouldn't have a DOL recording in the house! I bought Miles Davis A Kind of Blue about 5 years ago which was awful as I'm sure it was recorded off a cassette tape which had been recorded off another cassette tape.