The Grey Label Thread

Sodajerk

Sodajerk

Member
While I realize that grey label releases are generally frowned upon by the audiophiles, there are some releases with no viable alternative unless you want to spend A LOT of money. In my experience, there isnt a lot of indo about how bad some of them sound though, so I thought I'd start this thread to discuss any you might have. Which ones are awful, which ones are passable until you can find a better copy, etc.
 
I have a few:

Sonny Rollins - Way out West (OJC) $13: Havent had a chance to listen yet but will update this when I do.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Gospel Train (Rumble Records) $8: actually sounds pretty good. Probably not as good as the VMP version or the OG, but just fine for as little as I'll probably spin it.

The Crickets - the Chirping Crickets (Waxtime) $11: This one sounds passable. I've got the OG Holly box so I listen to that more, but this one is probably ok if you just want to spin this great album occasionally.

JLH - I'm John Lee Hooker (Waxtime) $9: this one isn't bad with headphones. I havent heard an OG to compare, but sounds at least as good as Spotify. I listened on headphones and it doesnt sound near as warm as I'd like. But it's fine until I can grab a better one.

Muddy Waters - At Newport (DOL) $10: I've heard horrible things about DOL but I don't think this one sounds bad at all. I'm sure its sources from a CD but honestly I dont think I'm enough of an audiophile to really care THAT much. It sounds much warmer to me than a CD or digital. I love Muddy so I'll get an analogue copy one day, but this is more than passable until then.
 
OJC is not a grey label release. It is the series used by Concord to reissue jazz albums from several 50s-80s independent labels
 
MadLucas said:
This term is new to me, can you please define the term "grey label?"
Click to expand...

It’s the term used for labels that specialise in releasing full, unofficial versions of albums that have gone out of copyright. So it’s not illegal or black market but it’s not a label licenced by an artist, or their estate, to release the music.
 
MadLucas said:
This term is new to me, can you please define the term "grey label?"
Click to expand...

A grey label is a company that puts out music of suspicious origin without being overtly illegal. Nowadays, grey labels take advantage of EU copyright laws to release old, out-of-copyright albums on vinyl using files taken from CDs.
 
I have the Grey label Cowboy Bebop Vinyl which sounded pretty good tbh but the only thing was there was a song missing (Egg & I). Then I purchased the Cowboy Bebop 25th Anniversary collection which came with colored Vinyl for the ost. Funny thing is I like the original cover artwork which came with the grey label and original CD release but I like the colored vinyl from the collection. I may sell the grey label because It really irks me to own 2 copies of the same record for some reason.
 
A record store guy I know used to love spinning DOL releases in-store and, bc of their low price, didn't mind opening and playing them all day. The store's system was pretty decent and he thought they sounded fine for what they were. Also one thing I read about DOL here and there is that the pressing quality is excellent - so while the source material is dubious, it seems like they make it up with flat and quiet vinyl.

The only thing I have against them is milking the really popular titles like Kind of Blue and Blue Train. Both of them are already available through officially licensed reissues for cheap, so the DOL/WaxTime ones just flood the market unnecessarily.
 
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