whow whow !! no fillers, only killers here !! finally a compilation that REALLY deserves it's name and keeps it's promises, extremely recommended musicwise, pure class!but there's unfortunately a really negative thing to mention.why - on one hand - those great tracks, on the other, extremly data reduced music, equivalent to 128 KB mp3 damaged trash sound! If CDs constist only of mp3 "Quality" nowadays, there's no need to make a CD anymore; not very appropriate regarding the great music on there..

Sorry pvcaputo, but there's thousands of compilations with impossible to find re-releases and most of them had to be mastered from vinyl because there were no mastertapes around but the shittyness of sound quality on this release here is unrivaled. I mean we're not talking about shellacs from the 30ies. They didn't even bothered a consistent loudness level.

Not saying that some of the tracks are mastered in mono for godknows what reason. Still the selection is simply stunning

i also prefer leaving a sound correction away (as most so called mastering engineers destroy more than recover), but in this case this has absolutely nothing to do with the transferring rare and used vinyls to cd (this would be highly enjoyable compared to this).what they simply did without noticing (thats the only explanation i have, especially as i know that many people unfortunately still don't realize what mp3 does with their music) is to create the cd from 12 times data reduced mp3 files, means 128 k (i can hear this clearly, as i am very firm with data reduction since 1993, and it is extremely obvious on this release here). this is constant on all tracks, and has nothing to do with restoring or recording old vinyls, i wish it would, it would sound MUCH better then.

An AMAZING album indeed. In reference to the sound quality, I believe this is attributed to the rarity of the tracks. Most of if not all have been transferred from very very rare vinyl copies—considering these were small, independent labels, many never distributed outside of Chicago (or distributed at all), finding the master tapes or a quality vinyl copy is not an option. Similar to Al Kent's ongoing series, Disco Love (another AMAZING production!), top sound quality on all tracks is not an option because of the rarity. Al Kent even states in the linear notes this fact. I actually prefer this over a vinyl transfer with sound correction, as digitally removing the clicks, static, and hiss often renders a "flat" sounding track (unless of course the vinyl is remastered by someone meticulous like Ben Liebrand). Plus, digging up the original vinyl ourselves is next to impossible!

Completely echo the comments re the sound quality of the CD. Dug this out 2 days ago to have a listen to, killer tracks abound on this album but the sound quality is absolutely dire. BBE should be ashamed.