Scorpio Music, Inc.

http://vinyldiscovery.blogspot.com/2017/08/a-primer-on-rhinoscorpio-jazz-reissues.html This link provides an extensive introduction and key points to spotting Scorpio pressings.

I am a major collector and over the years have bought much product through Scorpio Music and have never been dissatisfied. Electric Prunes, Sam &Dave, Charles Mingus, Little Beaver, Sonny Rollins, Wilson Pickett and many more. I did have one record that was defected and the store replaced it and it was fine! I bought the Baby Huey album and I heard that over 50,000 copies were sold and I never heard anything about it being a low quality product. Discogs is a great source for me!

Scorpio distributed vinyl reissues were very common in my local record stores from late 1990s to early 2010s. Since these licenced reissues were usually only new vinyl versions available at the time, I'd estimate, that I've had over 50 of them in my collection. Majority of these reissues were among worst vinyl pressings I've ever heard.

I'm not sure if manufacturer, pressing plant or distributer are to blame, but the involvement of Scorpio usually indicates bad quality. These reissues tend to suffer from various pressing and mastering defects. Records are often dirty, scuffed, scratched, skipping, warped/bowled or/and off-centered. Mastering is also often as bad. Records are usually cut way too hot - sibilance and distortion are huge issues. Sound quality varies from awful to ok, although these pressings often sound very muddy. Sources used are mystery, but there's often audible sizzle, surface noise or tape hiss. I find it possible that various sources like mp3s, needle-drops, DATs etc. were used. IMHO due to bad sources and mastering, these reissues are nearly always inferior to other CD and vinyl pressings available. Never upgrade your existing CD or vinyl copies with these reissues!

These reissues might be tricky to recognize, since original artwork is often being reused. Album jackets and labels are replicated from original pressings, and accurate release date is always missing. However, I found out that there are few ways to spot these reissues:

- Album jackets are very glossy and bright white inside.
- Barcodes are rarely printed on album jackets.
- Bad artwork and layout (blurry text or images, shades of colors are off, white frames on front/back cover etc.).
- White paper innersleeves with rounded corners and center holes that show both labels.
- Hand etched matrix numbers that usually consist of catalogue number of original release and alphanumeric string that starts with "S"
(e.g. PD-6108-A S-38349 from "Lifeline" by Roy Ayers Ubiquity). There's often mastering engineer's signature on dead wax also.
- Records are often shrink wrapped.
- Usually manufacturer and distributor (Scorpio Music Inc.) are mentioned on a small white sticker on back of the shrink wrap.
- Sometimes reissiued titles are available in few different editions -. standard vinyl, 180g vinyl and colored vinyl. Special versions are always
indicated with stickers on shrink wrap. There's a black rectangular sticker with golden text on 180g vinyls. Colored vinyls are indicated
with round white sticker with red text inside a red ring.
- Colored vinyls are usually transparent.

I don't want to bash Scorpio Music Inc. as a company. I don't know what's their part in the manufacturing process of these reissues, and if they are to blame. I decided to post this review on this page, since most of the bad quality reissues I'm familiar with are gathered here. Due to lack of proper information, these reissues are extremely easy to mix with other pressings, so I think that any help with identifying these reissues is very useful.