Kimiko Kasai With Herbie Hancock – Butterfly

I agree with the several posters who rave about the quality of the vinyl itself. But I would expect it to be noticeably quiet. The moment I held it in my hands, I immediately could tell it was a Record Industry (Haarlem, Netherlands) pressing, and RI is the best plant in the world. Not faultless, of course, as no company is perfect, but RI produces the most consistently excellent slabs globally. In recent years Pallas, Optimal, RTI, et al. have all gone slightly downhill in terms of consistency. But not RI - long live the mighty Record Industry.

My copy has apparent bumps (look like pimples) on both sides of the album, but thankfully they do not affect play. Maybe a very quiet sound on one B-side track. Otherwise, plays and sounds amazing.

Is it just me or is the cover and obi poorly printed? Very digital looking. Like they tried to blow up a low res .JPG? Almost thought it was a bootleg.

Great musicianship, arrangements, & production by Herbie & friends, but the weak vocals bring the entire experience down a notch IMO.

RM'd as a proper disco album. The bass and kickdrum sound powerful and clearly defined here. not a "must have" as some have tried to portray it, but very good and well executed. LP is flat, clean, and above average for an under $50 asking price.

I have to agree with what the other commenters said about this pressing. It was masterfully done, no noise noticeable, sounds very true to the original pressing, crisp and neutral in tone, bass is clear and strong without it being overpowering, and the highs are just as clear, with no noticeable sibilance, IGD or any other type of distortion. The OBI strip is a very nice touch, having been recreated to look exactly like the original one.
Has a lower DR rating compared to the 1997 Sony CD re-issue (13 vs 14 on the CD). No biggie though.

Great pressing!
It was a random discovery at my local record store.
A nice mix of Jazz, Funk and Soul with a Japanese touch.

Great great stuff from Be With records. Quality product. Super sound.

Excellent album here..I recently discovered this. A shame it was never released in the USA.
Great musicianship from Herbie Hancock & Co.
Kimiko's vocals are decent, but fall a bit short on the cover of Stevie's "As". That one has her on a very strident delivery that she does not quite nail. On the other songs, she does just fine though.

Excellent album here..I recently discovered this. A shame it was never released in the USA.
Great musicianship from Herbie Hancock & Co.
Kimiko's vocals are decent, but fall a bit short on the cover of Stevie's "As". That one has her on a very strident delivery that she does not quite nail. On the other songs, she does just fine though.

VERY good sounding re-issue. Would have sounded even better had it been spread out over 2 discs, but this would double the price of course.