For audiophiles with a bent towards classical music, a favorite label for many years has been Telarc out of Cleveland, Ohio.  Telarc has developed a reputation over the years for first-rate performances, recordings, and mastering.  This began on vinyl, but starting in the 1980s, extended to CDs.  For the CD collector, the earliest Telarc CDs […]

I’m still learning. It never ends. I’ve been collecting early CD pressings for some 12 years, but I’m still finding discs I never knew existed.  Exhibit A: A West German pressing of Funkadelic Maggot Brain.  Mind you, I was aware of the 1971 funk creation; I had just never owned a copy and certainly had […]

To many audiophiles and music collectors, the record label DCC (originally Dunhill Compact Classics and later DCC Compact Classics) evokes thoughts of very carefully mastered rock and jazz LPs and 24-karat gold CDs.  These LPs and gold CDs were mastered by well-known audiophile mastering engineer Steve Hoffman, who insisted on using the original master tapes […]

Here we have an uncommon early promotional CD.  Most of the promotional discs from the dawn of the CD era are samplers that were intended to promote a record label and the CD format.  These samplers were included with CD players, given to radio stations, demoed at industry trade shows, etc.  Some of these early […]

In 1969, David Crosby (ex-The Byrds), Stephen Stills (ex-Buffalo Springfield), and Graham Nash (ex-The Hollies) teamed up to form the U.S. supergroup surprisingly named Crosby, Stills & Nash.  Their self-titled debut album, often referred to as “The Couch Album” in reference to the album cover photo, is a folk rock masterpiece.  Containing 10 harmony-filled tracks, including “Suite: […]

It is now summertime here on keithhirsch.com, but we keep plugging away, writing about early, collectable CDs.  Today, we review a John Coltrane compilation released by MCA/Impulse! entitled From The Original Master Tapes.  As the title suggests, this compilation called to the audiophile, who demands the best sound obtained from the best source.  It is worth nothing that […]

A number of early commercial and promotional CD samplers have been posted here over the years.  These samplers were issued to promote the new music format and, often times, a particular record label’s artists.  Here we have an unusual promotional sampler, titled Quasar Digital Demonstration Disc.  This CD was issued by Quasar in conjunction with Philips […]

In August 2012, a rare variation of the West German Target pressing of The Doors’ debut album was featured on keithhirsch.com.  The common pressing has a silver target motif against an orange paint background with silver text and silver CD format and Elektra logos.  The rare variation has the same color combination for the target […]