Cat Stevens – Tea for the Tillerman (200g 45RPM LP)

Label: Analogue Productions – AAPP 9135-45 – 200 Gram Virgin Vinyl 

AAA 100% Analogue – Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound  

3500 Numbered Limited Edition –  Pressed at QRP Quality Record Pressings

“These (two new LPs from Reference Recordings) and Analog Production’s remastering of Tea for the Tillerman were both pressed at Quality Record Pressings, the superb Salina, Kansas, facility, and they are the best and the quietest LPs I’ve heard of recordings made during the LP era. In a sense, the silences of QRP’s pressings, their lack of those hard-to-define anomalies of stylus-in-groove sonics, are comparable to the kind of quietness inherent in a magnetic-drive turntable…QRP has put its best feet forward. ‘Spectacular’ in this case means a freedom from defects (snaps, crackles, and pops) and an absence of groove noise and what I would call vinyl ‘rumble,’ hard to define except by contrast with normal pressings.” – Harry Pearson, The Absolute Sound, January 2012 (or Issue 219)

“…All you really need to know is that in every way this first effort from ‘QRP’ is of the highest quality…gatefold packaging which looks just like the original, only better. As far as the sound goes it is equally brilliant…And wow listening to this impeccably pressed on 200g vinyl reissue. The attack of the pick on the guitar strings is astonishingly clean and detailed. Depth is pronounced and because of both the blackness of the backdrop and the precision of both the state-of-the-art plating and the technological breakthroughs achieved in the retro-fitted presses, the resolution of low-level detail reveals a host of details that are either buried or glossed over on the other versions I’ve heard and own.” – Jack Roberts, Dagogo, October 2011

“…Like the glossy gatefold covers used in their deluxe Impulse 45 RPM series, the cover reproduction here is absolutely top-notch…The vinyl itself arrived perfectly clean and flat, and played with nary a pop or tic throughout…The pressing is of extremely high quality.” – My Vinyl Review, August 29, 2011

“…so many arrangement nooks and crannies to be discovered on this superbly dynamic, spacious and detailed re-mastering and pressing…And wow again listening to this impeccably pressed on 200g vinyl reissue. The attack of the pick on the guitar strings is astonishingly clean and detailed. Depth is pronounced and because of both the blackness of the backdrop and the precision of both the state of the art plating and the technological breakthroughs achieved in the retro-fitted presses, the resolution of low level detail reveals a host of details that are either buried or glossed over on the other versions I’ve heard and own…Tea For The Tillerman is a great choice for an inaugural album to launch a new pressing plant in my opinion, and if this release is any indication of what we can expect from Chad Kassem’s new venture, we’re in for some great vinyl!!!!!” Music = 10/11; Sound = 10/11 – Michael Fremer, musicangle.com, July 2011