(1986) John Larkin: 2026 Vinyl Restoration (Scatman John)

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2026 vinyl restoration of John Larkin's self titled album, done by YellowMoon.

Equipment:

Techincs SL-5200 Turntable

Cambridge Audio 651p Preamp

AT-VM95SH Stylus

Schiit JIL Analog-->Digital Converter

Restoration:

Pen Tool (On a few loud clicks in Audacity, prior to exporting for iZotope)

iZotope RX 5

Each song was run through iZotope with the "clicks only" option. Afterwards, I compared the clicks only version of each song to the

unedited version, to see which were actual pops/clicks and which were part of the song. So each click has been removed by hand.

Decrackle was used on John Coltrane, and in the quiet parts and outros of the other songs.

Rick Astley - Free Press Kit (1991)

Got this in a while ago, but could not figure out how to scan the folder. Was able to scan it in sections and use Image Composite Editor to stitch it all together, cleaning up the result in Photoshop afterwards. This has to be my favorite press kit that I've stumbled upon, including its own specialized gold folder, the front having the album cover, and the folder flaps being printed as well. Enjoy!

UNCOMPRESSED IMAGES AVAILABLE HERE

Folder (Front)

Folder (Left Flap)

Folder (Right Flap)

Page #1

Page #2

Page #3

Press Photo #1

Press Photo #2

Limahl - Love Is Blind (Japan, 1992/1993 FLAC/CUE/LOG)

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A bit of info about this:

This was ripped with Exact Audio Copy using rutracker's guide on how to make an accurate CD rip.

Cover art is exclusive to the Japanese release. Scanned at 600DPI and added a 1.3 gaussian blur to remove moire.

The last 2 tracks on this are remixes that seem to be exclusive to this specific print, could not find an upload of either one.

Track 4 of the first press "Too Shy '92" was moved to track 1 on this release, so that 1 song is out of order. The rest of the tracklist is in the correct order.

(1979) Devo - Duty Now for the Future (Magazine Clippings)

UNCOMPRESSED IMAGES AVAILABLE HERE

June 9, 1979 

Magazine: NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS

June 9, 1979 

Magazine: SOUNDS

June 16, 1979 

Magazine: Record Mirror

INFO:
These were found from an eBay seller in the Netherlands. They were already clipped from their respective magazines and sold as a lot of 3. I've not been able to find any images of these clippings anywhere, I am unsure if there are more that go with these or not.

The clippings were scanned in segments of 4 each, the blurry sections being cropped off, and then stitched with Microsoft ICE. Some (admittedly not very noticeable) small holes and stains/dirt were cleaned up in Photoshop. Was not sure how to clean up the foxing in the last clipping sadly.

 

(1988) Deep Blue Dream (Pre-Static-X) Vinyl Rip, Cleaned, 24bit 192khz WAV+FLAC, 320kbps MP3

DOWNLOAD AUDIO AND ALL UNCOMPRESSED PROMO MATERIALS HERE

Backstory:

A little under a decade before Static-X formed, Wayne Wells (later known as Wayne Static) formed a band with bassist Eric Harris and drummer Bobby Pomerory called Deep Blue Dream. The band released one 4 track EP in 1988, a self titled. It was the only release that the band put out. It's INCREDIBLY scarce, it took me about 2 years to find my copy. It has never been released or remastered in any capacity outside of the original 1988 vinyl pressing. Every rip online is an MP3 that has not been cleaned up in any way, and from unknown origin regarding equipment. I've finally found a copy, so I've ripped it and cleaned up the pops and clicks the best I can.

The 2nd track "Into My Hands" seems to have been distorted before making it to vinyl mastering, as every rip of the EP has that distortion and my copy also has said distortion. I made sure that my turntable did not have any distortion issues before making the rip. There are a noticeable amount of pops that seem to have been in the recording itself, they sound like vinyl pops so I removed as many of them as I could.

The copy I got ahold of had a bunch of promo stuff included in the sleeve. Whether this copy was from someone who worked on the album, the now defunct label Criterion, or another overly obsessive fan like myself who managed to track the promo materials down, is beyond me. Included was a promotional photo of the band, a business card from the label's vice president, a 1 page biography (which reveals that there is a lost music video for the last song "Goals", and some photocopied snippets from newspapers regarding the label and EP. All uncompressed images are available in the Google Drive linked above. Compressed versions will be available below. Enjoy!

Rip Info:

Techincs SL-5200 Turntable

Cambridge Audio 651p Preamp

AT-VM95SH Stylus

Schiit JIL Analog-->Digital Converter

RCA Y Splitter (1 End Going Into Reciever, 1 End Going Into ADC)

iZotope RX 5 De-click used by hand while listening back:

Click Type: Click

Algorithm: M-band (random clicks)

Sensitivity: 1.0-4.0 (mostly 1.0, only above if 1.0 doesnt work on a specific click/pop)

Scatman John - Italian Press Kit Booklet (1995)

 Found this on eBay a while back, took a few months to get here, I believe it got lost in transit at one point. UNCOMPRESSED IMAGES HERE

3rd Party - Alive (CD FLAC/CUE/LOG)

 

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This is kind of a weird one for me. I found this album through one of those "songs you didn't know were covers" videos, Jennifer Lopez's "Waiting For Tonight" being featured in said video, originally from the band 3rd Party. Jennifer Lopez's version of the song didn't really catch my eye, but the ORIGINAL version very much did. I've had a soft spot for eurodance/europop for a very long time, I mean, fuck's sake, my favorite musician of all time is Scatman John, so when I heard that original recording of Waiting For Tonight my interest was IMMEDIATELY piqued, it kept getting stuck in my head, and a week or so ago I said fuck it and listened to the whole album. I thought it was pretty good, but admittedly I was very high and don't remember much of it.

This is literally impossible to find in anything other than a 320KBPS MP3, and the rip I DID find had some glitches in one of the songs. It also is not on streaming and has never been reissued in any capacity anywhere at all whatsoever. Considering that this isn't on streaming and its unavailable to listen to lossless ANYWHERE, I feel like uploading this is fine. This was ripped with Exact Audio Copy using rutracker's guide on how to make an accurate CD rip.

This is a very odd release. This seems to be the only thing this band ever did with the exception of a handful of singles (all of which are on this album). The band's vocalist Maria Christensen has 109 credits on Discogs, 92 of which are for writing, 14 for vocals, and 3 for production. She also has 2 albums released under her name, one being released in 1993, and one being released in 2004.

The other band members Karmine Alers and Elaine Borja have little or no other work outside of this album. Karmine has 1 album which was released under her name in 2005 titled "For You" and some miscellaneous credits for vocals on Discogs, while Elaine seems to have only ever worked with 3rd Party.

Scans are not included with this download as my only copy is a stamped promotional copy.