John Coltrane – A Love Supreme

My copy is terrible. Its all drums and cymbals, you can barely hear Coltrane. I dont understand it. It’s not my system, everything else I have plays perfectly. Ive tried to clean it, just a poor quality pressing, or maybe I got a bootleg from Amazon.

My first Coltrane record! Very happy with this pressing. Everything is clear with zero surface noise.

Esta es la edición (y por supuesto lo monumental del disco), que me convenció de la magia del vinilo, así que nada más que decir de lo sorprendente de este prensaje!!!

Got this for £15 at Sister Ray in London. Steal it was brand new and sealed. Killer record and it sounds wonderful.

The version of Capitol Wally that I have in my hands is 160g and not 200g as mentioned here. In a quick blind test with the TML 2015 version, this particular one has noticeably better bass and let's say a more balanced sound, while the newer one excels in of drums and appears more solid in stereo imaging.

Good grief. The chanting on side 1 is spine-tingling. The climax of the four simultaneous solos on side 2 is astonishing all by itself. The bass solo that follows -- fantastic. The lengthy, dark, dramatic finale, with its cymbal cascades, the rumbling floor tom, the winding, wailing washes of saxophone, the insistent downpour of piano. This music is every bit as riveting as the reputation it has garnered. An incredible achievement in composition and performance. Consider what these four men attained in Van Gelder's sacred studio on that one day. How many fellow humans has Coltrane touched thru this work of art?

Cucscuna confirmed that Wally Cut this AAA. Now that the AAA sterling cut is available this one gets ignored but it is an astounding pressing.

Incredible pressing, as others have said. This will be a go-to when tuning the room for audiophile quality. Of note, as I didn’t see it mentioned elsewhere, the second tenor at the send of Psalm is most likely an overdub by Coltrane himself.

https://www.wbgo.org/music/2020-09-03/a-deep-dive-into-john-coltranes-a-love-supreme-by-his-biographer-lewis-porter-pt-2

I got this version of the album entirely by accident. I simply picked it up new in about 2010 at JB Hi Fi in Sydney - where it must have been very old new-old stock! It was dumb luck that I got a classic pressing.
If you ever want to convince a sceptic that vinyl CAN sometimes be better than even the latest CD, then pick up this 1995 repressing of ALS, engineered by Mr Wally Traugott. The pressing is easy enough to identify; it has the word "Wally" hand-etched into the runout.
The sonic difference between this and the latest CD versions of ALS is very striking - so much so that, after a brief comparison, I didn't even bother A-Bing between the two. It is that extreme. The sound is extraordinary, especially the sheer power of Coltrane's sax. I never really understood the worship this album had until I heard this version.
ALS may be the second most famous jazz album of all time, which raises the question of why Impulse/MCA would skimp on the new CD versions?

Oh by the way, two further points about the WALLY pressing of A Love Supreme. I encountered a thread on the Steve Hoffman forum in which it was debated whether this version of ALS is all-analogue or not. It is! And we know it is all-analogue because halfway through the debate someone actually emailed Michael Cuscuna himself (who was head of the 1995 reissues) and received a definitive YES. Ain't the internet something?
The second point: The 1995 WALLY pressing was mentioned by Michael Fremer in one of his articles, describing it as superior to the CD. So there is that.
So if you want a really good ALL ANALOGUE pressing of A Love Supreme for not much money, get this 1995 repress!

Sources:

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/my-a-love-supreme-vinyl-shootout-budget-edition.948040/
(The Cuscuna email is quoted on page 8 of the thread.)

https://www.analogplanet.com/content/analog-corner-8
(Fremer quote near the bottom)

Just grabbed this. My version has been re-mastered by Erick Labson at MCA Music Studios as per the liner notes. As I finished listening to side A, I noticed there is a drone on the left channel only, some sort of mechanical issue, like a digital interference on the note 'la' (A). I panned around and it is only present on the left-channel, opposite of Elvin, thought it was only present on the runout, but it turns out it starts right at the beginning of the record, and is underneath the music right from the start. Shame, not noticeable when the band is burning, but it's there still.