Radka Toneff / Steve Dobrogosz Fairytales Odin LP03 1985 Press Audiophile LP

$

45

• Radka Toneff & Steve Dobrogosz.
• Fairytales.
• Odin LP03.
• 1985 Audiophile Vinyl Re-press.

Item Details
Manufactured in: Oslo, Norway
Recorded: Feb. 15-17 @ Bergen Digital Studio, Norway on a Telefunken MX 80 at 50.4 Kz/16-bit PCM
Lacquer Cut By: Lars Rosen & Peter Dahl
Pressing By: Grammoplast, Spanga Sweden (same as Opus 3 audiophile vinyl)
Original Issue: 1982
This Issue: 1985
Label: Odin LP03
Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers:
Side 1: (etch:) ODIN LP 03A2 PD-CR 8502 21 GP
Side 2: (etch:) ODIN LP-03-B3 PD-CR 4/3-85 GP LR/CR

Was bought new by this seller many years ago and now offered from his private collection (you have absolutely known provenance). No more than 1-2 plays only on an expertly setup high-end audiophile turntable, arm, and cartridge. Has never been exposed to heat or tobacco smoke and always stored vertically in a specially designed record cabinet (Rackit) to prevent warpage.
Was cleaned on a VPI HW 16 with Audio Intelligent solutions and ultra-pure water rinse (50X purer than distilled water) before my pre-sale sound check. I wear nitrile surgical gloves while cleaning and play testing to avoid any chance of transferring finger oils to the vinyl.

Very sensitive play testing was performed straight off my Ayre P-5xe fully balanced phono preamp over Sennheiser HD 600 headphones using a Schiit Audio Valhalla 2 tube headphone amp fitted with Voskhod Soviet matched tubes (see last photo).

Track list
1: The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Come Down In Time, Lost In The Stars, Mystery Man, My Funny Valentine (analog recording).

2: Nature Boy, Long Daddy Green, Wasted, Before Love Went Out Of Style, I Read My Sentence.

I never take "distant" photos nor the so-prevalent type with the LP sticking halfway out of the jacket. I take close-ups under photo lamps so you can see nearly everything I describe in the jacket grading. It is virtually impossible to know the true vinyl condition from any photograph. That takes very bright and close visual inspection PLUS play testing with thorough coverage on high resolution equipment.
Grading Details
Note: Grading LPs by text characters is subjective and at best are only a guide as no two used records are of exactly the same quality. Please, refer to both my photo evidence and detailed descriptions to judge by YOUR OWN grading standards. Questions are always welcome. eBay no longer allows me to enter separate grades for each side of the sleeve or record so you may not see any in the box above but are listed below. Play quality is personally most important to me so vinyl visual qualities are graded and described in detail separately for your complete assessment.

Outer Jacket Inspection/grading:
VG++/NM-
At first glance the jacket front looks NM but under bright light and tilting one can see some creases and very slight curling along the sleeve edge. The spine has 1/4" of missing finish  through the first 3 letters of Radka's first name. The rear jacket only shows some very slight blunting of the lower right corner.

Vinyl visual inspection/grading:
NM/NM
Since this LP was played only once that I can recall when first bought until play testing for this sale, the two sides are visually NM with no detected abrasions, marks, or hairlines. I'd call them visually perfect.

Play Testing:
NM/NM
Extensive play testing was performed after visual inspection. I listened to the beginning, middle, and end of each track for a few minutes on each needle drop. I also listened to all lead-in, lead-out and transition grooves between each track. Some tracks were played all the way thru when digitizing my favorites to 96k/24-bit WAV files. Continuous written notes were taken. Here is rundown of each side from my notes.

Side 1 Play
The side started well with dead silent lead-in grooves. When the music began my first impression was "breathtaking clarity." It was delicate yet dynamic and transparently realistic. In the headphones I was getting a 3-D sound stage in addition to all the other "Super Disc" attributes so I lifted the stylus and fired up ProTools to record the whole side instead of the best tracks as I tested them. With just recorded solo piano and voice the mastering demanded a pressing with a very low vinyl noise floor and I could tell that it was delivering that. T2 was also demonstration quality for high-end systems because the piano was captured with very wide dynamic swings. The vinyl was superbly quiet during this track. T5 was the sole analog-sourced track recorded in 1979. This vocal part was mixed more "intimately" while the piano was a bit more distant but exceptionally live sounding. It is a beautiful cover of a classic song uniquely performed. I always listen carefully to the transition grooves when I'm testing because they reveal what's way down in the vinyl pressing without any music to mask it. Each transition was near dead-quiet. Very impressive side!

Side 2 Play
I'm sure that because there was no LAST sticker on this side's label that I had never played it until my testing for the sale. On the lead-in grooves, I was able hear what I'd describe as some low level vinyl "sputter" noise for about 5 seconds, then a few low energy random ticks until about 3/8" in the track as the pressing got near dead-quiet and this held for a long time. Again, I noted: "wow, quiet pressing."  T3 was the most outstanding track on this side for me. I loved the way the super-low "pedal notes" of the piano were reproduced with such power and definition. T4 & T5 were recorded and mastered at the lowest levels of the LP with soft/subtle vocal and piano parts. Once in while I heard that same very low level "sputter" vinyl noise here and there that I described at the beginning of the Side 1's lead-in grooves. Even though I was actively listening for that kind of thing I was still able to get into and fully enjoy the musical performances. 

Back when this was released there were a lot of testimonials among the audiophile community so I added it to my collection but spent much more time exploring other kinds of music. I can see now why it got such praise for its music artistry and its very high audio fidelity. With its wide dynamic range and simple spare recording components, the background vinyl noise floor really had nowhere to hide. In the aggregate, it was very seldom seen and heard helping to make the performances  and recording quality shine. Grammoplast did a great job with the high quality control of this pressing.  This LP deserves to be in every serious listener's collection.

Packaging

• Record will be placed outside the jacket to protect against seam splitting.
• Original inner sleeve is included separately.
• Record has been placed into a new MFSL-style "rice paper" plastic sleeve, as the original, even though plastic lined, may be holding onto some dust. This will keep vinyl surfaces clean during shipping and ultimate buyer usage.
• Outer jacket is contained in a new clear polyethylene protective sleeve.
• Sent in good quality record mailer with cardboard stiffeners.

Shipping

• Shipping will be via USPS Media Mail for a flat charge of $3.98 per single album sale.
• A combined shipping discount is available on multiple sales completed on the same day($3.98 plus $0.50 for each additional LP).
• If you do buy more than one LP  on the same daydo not pay immediately but wait for my all-combined invoice. A discount for the combined items will show on that invoice. Then, once payment is received, the items will ship.