I received a email from my supplier in Tokyo yesterday, and, along with a 40th anniversary reissue of CCR SHM mini sleeves,(April 10th) Universal Music Japan is releasing 8 Steppenwolf SHM mini lp sleeve cds and 12 Three Dog Night SHM mini lp sleeve cds (April 24th), all with latest remastering. I am definitely in for the Steppenwolf discs as I think the covers will be killer. The foil first and second, the die cut "At Your Birthday Party" and gatefolds of "Monster", "7", and "For Ladies Only" will be worth the price of admission.

Where will be the best place to buy these?

Currency exchange as I write this makes each disc $28.75 on places like CDJapan. You might get a good deal if you contact one of the Japan Ebay "etailers" and offer to buy direct from them. I did it before without any problem.

Will be selecting a few of these as they are released. Sad though that the masters of most fo these MCA bands are lost. But anyone can salvage what's left and create a good reissue the Japanese can do. Got my fingers crossed.

Rick A.

I'm wondering what source is being used by Analogue Productions. The first Steppenwolf album is being released on 200 g vinyl AND SACD this next month.

Didn't MFSL do early Steppenwolf a few years back?

Yeah they did Geff, "Steppenwolf" on Ultradisc II. I have it and glad I snagged a copy when I did. Don't see this one much anymore.

Rick A.

Both these bands would be ideal subjects for the full boxed-set-of-all-albums treatment. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase such (even though I already own almost all the Three Dog Night ones).

Seven Separate Fools was quite an elaborate package. It'll make a nice mini-LP CD.

I bit the bullet on the Steppenwolf and ordered all eight from CDJapan. With Fedex International Priority and taking a hit on using paypal (paying in yen) the total came to $239 and change. It will be a first for me, but I plan on listening to each disc in its entirety. It also looks like single and mono versions will be the bonus tracks on some of the lps.

Jim, let us know about the sound quality! I've been running into some brickwalled SHM's lately (grr!)

I will do that. I'm going to pick up the 200g Analogue Productions lp when its released to compare to the shm cd, and the original lp. Just traded my VPI table on a new Rega RP-6 table.

My Steppenwolf cds shipped today. There's a blog on CDJapan that shows some Steppenwolf and Three Dog Night titles and the reproduction looks........ well it just looks spectacular! Typical super attention to detail.

Blog entry can be seen here: http://culture.cdjapan.co.jp/?p=3316

Beautiful....I guess I'm gonna have to buy these.

Any reviews on the sound quality?

Not yet, but Fedex left me a message today that mine will be delivered Thursday before noon and to have a signature ready. I should have a couple sampled by Thursday evening........

I'm particularly interested in the 2 LP Steppenwolf live & the TDN At The Forum if you have a chance to audition them.

Well..... so far, I have compared Steppenwolf "self titled" original Dunhill 1st pressing lp to the new SHM cd version. It is, to my ears, a wash........It sounds like they took the original tape and did a exact transfer. Another thing I noticed was an almost identical level match on my system between cd player and turntable. I then jumped to Steppenwolf "7" because I have an original Dunhill lp, the MCA domestic release, and the SHM cd. I compared "Ball Crusher" and once again, the lp and the SHM cd sounded almost exactly alike. The drums on both are back in the mix and are kid of "obscured" by the guitar and organ, where the MCA sounds brighter, a little more compressed, but the drums are a little more prevalent, and the overall mix is somewhat louder than the lp or SHM.
If my opinion counts for anything, I think the new SHM discs equal my lps in sound quality, it's just that the mastering seems the same as the originals.
I have to include a disclaimer. I don't know if it is Florida weather or me with the recent bout of high blood pressure that the doctor put me on meds for, but the pressure in my ears is making it kind of hard to listen for detail. My opinion so far?? The new SHM cds are better than the MCA issues, and pretty much Par with original press lps.

I've already picked up the first 2 albums on SHM-CD from Japan and those both were remastered 2013 in Japan.

The non-SHM CDs show 4-30 on Amazon as imports, so I would expect they are the same remastering.

Here are the details from CDJapan on the SHM versions -

Cardboard sleeve (mini LP) reissue from Steppenwolf features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD players) and the latest remastering. The cardboard sleeve faithfully replicates the US LP artwork, including its aluminium foil surface. Also comes with bonus sleeve that reproduces the design of Japan Limited Edition LP. Part of a 8-album Steppenwolf mini LP SHM-CD reissue series featuring albums "Steppenwolf," "The Second," "At Your Birthday Party," "Early Steppenwolf," "Monster," "Live Steppenwolf," "Steppenwolf 7," and "For Ladies Only." Becomes cardboard sleeve reissue for the first time.
Bonus Track: 4 bonus tracks

These both are the best sounding versions of these that I've heard - lots of detail in the keyboards, which tended to be somewhat muffled in prior versions IMO...

As always your mileage may vary...

It'd be interesting to see how the SHM cd's compare to the BGO reissues from 1996/1998.[i've got the BGO reissues of 7/at your birthday party and live btw]

I just finished listening to Steppenwolf Live and my opinion stays the same. Find a near mint first press lp and you hear the SHM cd. I read the booklet on the back of "Live" and here is what it says: "96KHz/24bit flat transferred from analog master tapes by Ed Abbott at Universal Mastering Studios, Hollywood Ca." "Remastered by Manabu Matsumura at Universal Music Studios, Tokyo 2013".

These cds,(so far) are not mastered loud. You can turn them up and listen with no ill effects.

I also heard from a former customer that bought 8 of the Three Dog Night titles: S/T, Suitable For Framing, It Ain't Easy, Naturally, Captured Live At The Forum, Seven Separate Fools, Cyan, and Hard Labor. He recommends all of them EXCEPT Live At The Forum. ( Performance is Excellent, sound is poor.) His comment was No amount of remastering can help.

And I'm happy to say that experimenting with some new meds have cleared the pressure in my ears and I can appreciate my system once again.

Jim