The main purpose of my review is to provide information for vinyl purchasers. But first, a few words about the music itself.

Blue Train was recorded in 1957. Coltrane during this period was making lots of records on the Prestige label. The Prestige records are quite good and worthy of your attention, but Prestige was very economical and didn't allow much rehearsal time. As a result, most of Trane's voluminous output on Prestige consists of standards that he and the various sidemen already knew and therefore didn't need to rehearse. There was little time to do original compositions or creative arrangements.

Blue Note was different, and afforded Trane and his colleagues the space to create something very different and special. The result was Blue Train. Blue Train has the best of what made Trane so great during this period on his Prestige records - sheets of sound as well as sensitive, gorgeous ballads. But it also had more interesting and unique compositions and arrangements. It was really a breath of fresh air at this point in Trane's career.

The lineup of sidemen is 5-star: Lee Morgan and Curtis Fuller are at the top of their game here, and the rhythm section of Kenny Drew, Philly Joe Jones, and Paul Chambers are among the very best.

You just can't go wrong with Blue Train. But there are so many versions, two or three LP versions and two or three CD versions.

If you're buying the Blue Train on vinyl, there are two main options. I'm writing this review to help you decide between them. (There are also a few import versions and a $50 version by Analogue Productions on 2 45RPM LPs, not available on Amazon at this time.)

The version most people are buying is the Blue Note one, part of Blue Note's 75th Anniversary vinyl reissue series. I have about 10 other LPs in this series and most sound good to very good, though not audiophile and not heavyweight vinyl.

The other is the Wax Time DMM version, which is the one I chose (and available here on Amazon for around $15).

The most obvious difference between these two versions is the Wax Time version has a bonus track, "East Bound," which does not appear on the Blue Note version or any of the CD versions of Blue Train. That's why I chose the Wax Time.

But now that I have it, I can tell you the bonus track isn't a good reason to pick the Wax Time over the Blue Note, in my opinion. "East Bound" was recorded 1 1/2 years earlier in a session led by Paul Chambers. The only thing it has in common with the rest of the Blue Train album is the rhythm section has the same personnel (Philly Joe Jones, Kenny Drew). The track sounds out of place on Blue Train. When Moment's Notice ends and East Bound begins, you can tell it's a very different recording session. Now, of course, these are great musicians and it's a good track, for sure. But it's out of place on the Blue Train LP in my opinion. It's also the shortest track on the record, by far.

But there's another reason to choose the Wax Time version: sound quality.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Blue Note 75th Anniversary version of Blue Train on vinyl. But I have purchased 10 other records in the Blue Note 75th Anniversary reissue series, and feel I have a good sense of the standards they live up to, so this is the basis for my comparison.

The 75th Anniversary series Blue Note titles I own are on standard weight vinyl. They sound good and I enjoy listening to them better than the CD versions. A few of them contain above-average surface noise, or very minor manufacturing defects (one was mislabeled on Side B, a couple others had rough edges), but most are very good and certainly worth the sub $20 price.

The Wax Time version of Blue Train is on 180 gram heavyweight vinyl. It is perfectly flat with below-average surface noise. It was made using "Direct Metal Mastering" (DMM), which might be a gimmick but I have 5 or 6 other records made with DMM and they have very good sound quality. I have a few other titles on Wax Time and they, too, have very good sound quality. Not quite audiophile, definitely not equal to the $50 45RPM 2LP versions. But as good or better than most standard vinyl records I've purchased in the past few years, and better than the Blue Note 75th Anniversary series titles I've purchased.

Furthermore, the Wax Time version is about the same price as the Blue Note version; both are under $20. (I bought Wax Time for $18, it's currently $15, a steal!).

If the Wax Time version didn't exist, I'd buy the Blue Note version and I'd probably be perfectly happy with it. But I'm glad I have the Wax Time version and I highly recommend it.

Brand	N/A
Rating	4.7 (2292 ratings)
Price	$27.98
Category	Jazz

Blue Train

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