COWBOY JUNKIES The Trinity Session 1988 RCA LP Shrink TAS Disc List Audiophile

$

25

                                                                      Cowboy Junkies
                                                                 The Trinity Session
                                            Original BMG/RCA 1988 Worldwide LP Release

                                                                       Item Details
                            Recorded: Nov. 27 1987 in Church Of Holy Trinity, Toronto Canada
 Recording: $14k Calrec Soundfield microphone into a Sony PCMF1 processor @ 44.1kHz/16-bit 
                                                Digital Data Storage: Sony SL-2000 Betamax
                                                       Mastering: By Sterling Sound, NYC
                Pressing: First US and worldwide (first pressing was on the Canadian Latent label)
                                                                Manufactured in: USA
                                 Issued: 1988 (just before CD production shoved LPs off a cliff)
                                                                 Label: RCA 8568-1-R
                                                  Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers:
                                Side 1: (Etch:) 8568-1-R-A (stamp:) STERLING (etch:) A-1 ?H.
                                Side 2: (Etch:) 8568-1-R-B (stamp:) STERLING (etch:) A-1 ?H.

This recording was given "Special Merit" in the TAS (The Absolute Sound) magazine's Super 
Disc List for outstanding performance and sound. Trinity is much revered by audiophiles.

Was bought new by this seller many years ago and now offered from his private collection (you 
have absolutely known provenance). I recall sampling it once or twice on my expertly setup high-end 
audiophile turntable, arm, and cartridge. I stored it away for greater attention later but never got back 
to it until now. During all these years it has never been exposed to heat or tobacco smoke 
and always stored vertically in a specially designed record cabinet (Rackit) to prevent warpage.

Was cleaned on a VPI HW 16 with Audio Intelligent solutions and ultra-pure water rinse 
(50X purer than distilled water) after photos taken and before my pre-sale sound check.

Very sensitive play testing was performed straight off my Ayre P-5xe fully balanced phono preamp 
over Sennheiser HD 600 headphones thru a Schiit Audio Valhalla 2 tube headphone amp fitted with 
Voskhod Soviet matched tubes (see last photo).

Track list
1: Mining For Gold, Misguided Angel, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, To Love Is To Bury.

2: 200 More Miles, Dreaming My Dreams with You, Sweet Jane, Postcard Blues, Walking After Midnight.

I never take "distant" photos nor the so-prevalent type with the LP sticking halfway out of the jacket. 
I take close-ups under photo lamps so you can see nearly everything I describe in the jacket grading.

Grading 
Note: record grading by text characters is subjective and does not fully describe quality 
levels. There are no universal standards. Please see photos and my detailed descriptions
below.

Outer Jacket: NM (Near Mint) With original shrink wrap this jacket is about as close to Mint as one can 
get. The only flaw I can find is a slightly pushed in corner with some mild rub wear about 1/4" long on
the lower right corner. There is no saw mark. There is a shrink warp tear on the back upper left corner 
about 4" long and 3/4" deep max. I peeked underneath that tear and the jacket surface is mint.

Vinyl: NM (Near Mint) Surface visuals were inspected after cleaning under high intensity halogen light.
I found only a couple ghost-like hairlines on side A that looked like paper sleeve traces. Side B looked
flawless.

Extensive play testing was performed after visuals. Because this recording is so famous with audiophiles
I decided to record all sides as 192k/24-bit digital WAV files to be sure I archived all tracks. I listened
with my very sensitive headphone rig during that recording. I also went back to the files in ProTools
so I could take my time checking out the audio quality and noise floor at my leisure. On the headphones, I
was immediately relieved to hear that my copy is a really quiet pressing. I heard a few very low level random
clicks during the first track of Margo's solo, but on the second track any residual vinyl noise was masked
completely by the full band. The rest of S1 was very quiet. I could see why this record is loved by audiophiles.
The soundstage is huge, as the mic's pickup pattern is essentially spherical. The spacial effect is enormous,
but the instruments and voices do not sound distant or muffled. Wow, what an amazing recording! The
lead groove on side B had some repeating low volume crackle bursts each revolution that carried a bit into
the first track's volume ramp up, but that noise quickly dissipated. The remainder of Side B was very quiet
with spectacular sonics. This side has the tour de force "Sweet Jane" and "Walking After Midnight."
In summary, this LP copy was not manufactured to be some kind of super audiophile vinyl but it actually
plays like one and in some aspects it performs better than several of my MFSLs and Sheffields. I'm
confident that NM is the right grading for this standard issue mass-produced record. It is exceptional.

Margo Timmons' voice has some sibilance "splatter" that Peter Moore (the recoding engineer) admitted
was a recording problem when he remastered the album for Acoustic Sounds in 2015. She was singing into a
second Calrec configured as a shotgun. That mic fed her Klipsch monitor and a second Kilpsch was placed near 
the drums for pickup by the main Calrec. When you hear this sibilance emphasis please know that it is not
groove damage from stylus mis-tracking. Peter described this issue as well as some low frequency
distortion caused by band member's feet hitting the mic stands. He somewhat reduced the sibilance problem
with a digital de-esser and addressed the low-frequency thumping issue with other tools during that AS
remaster. Also, note that between some tracks there are audible crossfading artifacts because Peter did
not have the advanced digital editing tools that came later on. These may sound like vinyl noise but they
are not.

Packaging
Record will be placed outside the jacket to protect against seam splitting.
Original inner sleeve is included separately.
Record has been placed into a new "rice paper" sleeve, as the original, not plastic lined, 
can hold dust and scuff the vinyl. This will keep the vinyl surface pristine during shipping and 
ultimate buyer usage.
Outer jacket is contained in a new clear polyethylene protective sleeve.
Sent in good quality record mailer with cardboard stiffeners.

Shipping
Shipping will be via USPS Media Mail for a flat charge of $3.98 per single album sale.
A combined shipping discount is available on multiple sales completed within 5 business days 
($3.98 plus $0.50 for each additional LP). If you intend to buy more than one LP do not pay 
immediately but wait for my all-combined invoice. A discount for the combined items will show on 
that invoice. Then, once payment is received, the items will ship.