Milton Nascimento & Lô Borges* – Clube Da Esquina

LOTS of surface noise on my brand new copy, almost unlistenable.

Received the restock from HHV, the same lacquer cut that g-klaven is talking about. Mine sounds good mix-wise, but unfortunately quite a ton of surface noise, nothing unlistenable, and mostly present on tracks that are calmer. Most present on side B.

Still, very happy to own this piece of Brazilian history!

Rega P6 / Ania MC / Fono MC / Yamaha AS1200 / B&W 706 s2
Cleaned on Pro-Ject VC-E

The stamper in the runout is identical to the 1972 2nd stereo press, but the cover is different, in that is does not say INDUSTRIA BRASILEIRA in bold letters, and is missing the stereo sticker. But I’m fairly certain that the LP itself is identical to the 1972 one - perhaps leftover copies packaged in newer sleeves?

Potentially good news: Some larger retailers in EU/UK (Juno, HHV) restocked this release some weeks ago and I bought a copy. Judging from the runouts it seems like it's a repress cut from new lacquers. I have added the runout matrix variants: the LP1 lacquer is #3 and LP2 is #2, both cut by William Carvalho ("W3C"/"ETec"). Cover, hype sticker, labels and insert look identical when compared to the photos here.

Now the best part: My copy sounds fantastic - no trouble with distortion, pops or surface noise. I don’t have any OG copy to compare with, but I have A/B-listened vs digital source (I can elaborate on my stereo setup on request) and this master and pressing is far superior. Much better treble, dynamics and stereo separation. Both records are centered and clean.

Unfortunately it seems that the only way to tell the lacquer numbers is to check the runouts. If you have a copy it would be nice if you could check in the runouts which lacquer your record is cut from and tell us if it sounds/plays good or not. Some statistics would be useful for trying to tell if I was just lucky to get a good copy or if the repress actually sounds better.

Fifty years on the tracks on this album have not aged as well as many critics think. It's a mix of styles and influences popular at the start of the seventies. It's just confusing and certainly not the masterpiece I was expecting.

Um Gosto De Sol is a little like a track that didn't make it on to the b-side of the Beatles Abbey Road. While other vocal tracks are presented in a form of wispy, hippy style, ala Richard Harris Tramp Shining album which featured McArthur Park.

What does hold up well is the mix and mastering, on this World Pacific Records CD. I get it, it would have been easy to pigeon hole Milton Nascimento into the Brazilian samba genre and this doesn't do that. Perhaps then it's better than I think?

++Mark.
https://ctproduced.com

What about a new reissue of this great record for international audiences? I seriously dig this record, but having to pay 200 +$ for a second-hand copy is simply ridiculous. It is sad because most great MPB artists, including Milton and Borges, are for most part completely obscure. They deserve to get recognition (and paid for their music).

This is, by far, the worst release from Polysom. Muffled sound, full of noise, distortion and off centered.

Polysom clearly don’t have a nice quality control. I’m from Brazil and have contacted them some months ago. They seemed very surprised with my complain.

They told me that as soon as they have a repress, would send me a new copy.

I strongly suggest that all of you who bought this dreadful release contact them.

The Mix and sound is very good but lot of surface noise and some distorsion . The first Polysom reissue with this problem in my colletion . And the price is very high . Not good at all

O álbum é um clássico e as músicas são lindas mas essa edição está muito barulhenta. Muito chiado e cliques o tempo inteiro, tanto que incomodam e infelizmente atrapalham a audição.
As edições da Polysom para os álbuns dos Novos Baianos e Secos & Molhados tem qualidade bem melhor.

Pressing with lots of noises, imperfections and pops. Very bad quality by Polysom. This record needs an urgent remaster from a decent label. Based on the comments below it seems everyone has the same problem.