Andrew Hill – Point Of Departure

Completely amazing in all aspects. Bizarre music. Top recording. Thank you!

Solid record. Great pressing. No issues on either side. When I first heard this record years ago I couldn’t get into it. Now I can’t get enough.

man I've gotten two in a row that have warps.. phenomenal record but want a flat copy of this..

A vast majority of the jazz in my collection would probably be classified as 'soul jazz' (McDuff, McGriff, Holmes, all the Smiths), but POINT OF DEPARTURE has enough post-bop at its roots to make it approachable, and what an incredible group of musicians. This is a fantastic pressing, extremely quiet, with crystal clear percussion and bass, and nice stereo separation, resulting in a wide, spacious soundstage. My copy has zero issues in regards to non-fill, stitching, etc. Flawless.

I bought Evolution by Grachan Moncur III and Anthony Williams' Spring from this Blue Note series and they were perfect. Followed through with this Andrew Hill record and unfortunately this one has so much distortion, they sound like digital glitches, that it just unlistenable. I guess it is hit and miss with the Classic (classick?) Vinyl Series. What is up with Optimal (? ... what's in a name) Media, where is quality control and pride in pressing records? Approach with caution!

Picked up a flawless copy today. DEAD quiet. Sounds as good as any expensive audiophile pressings in my collection. Most important: great music. A joy to listen to.

My copy has a phenomenal sounding side A with no issues.

Side B, however, has several annoying pops throughout Spectrum, even after a thorough clean.

Side A was great but side B has some really really bad distortion sound that went for almost the entire side. Atleast 50% of all the classic series records I've bought have had pressing problems :/

I also got lucky and got a quiet pressing of this great music. Quiet vinyl is crucial since the music makes use of many silences and it also includes many long quiet passages. Surface noise would really spoil the effect. I may be alone in this, but I don't think the piano is recorded very well. It doesn't sound full and vibrant like a great piano does when you hear it in concert. It is a constricted sound, doesn't ring out. Maybe it is really hard to record a piano well, but I don't think they nailed it on this record, which is piano-centric music.

Great music, exciting performances, solid pressing. On sale for $15 at Acoustic Sounds, it's a steal at that price.

This team man! Holy shit!! About the pressing itself, I got lucky, my is really good, great sound. Believe or not I had more negative experiences with the tone poet series than the classic series.