- Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:05 am
#109539
I've talked plenty about Harkit but here goes- it's hard to work out how legit they are (or otherwise). My understanding is that, like Italian 'grey' label Doxy Cinematic, they appear to take advantage of copyright/licensing grey area and release stuff which is effectively in public domain for whatever reason. Their release of Bedazzled OST is a good case in point- when Trunk released this title he made a big thing of saying it was the first 'officially licensed' reissue with participation of (and profit share going to) Dudley Moore's estate. I interpreted this to mean that, while the previous Harkit LP/CD wasn't exactly a boot, it was done without the above consideration of the composer.
When you look into them online however, there is much chatter on forums and it seems opinion is divided- some think that a proportion of their titles are legit releases, and my instinct is that's about right.
On the quality front, however, I have to say that their pressings are ok. Yes, they are almost certainly just straight lifts from the existing CD masters, but I've never had a big issue personally (esp when you consider how many serious pressing issues we see with sad and surprising regularity these days, from even the biggest players in the OST vinyl game...)
As for Stylotone, they appear to be fully legit (Twisted Nerve was painstakingly put together with help of Herrmann's widow) and, while their pressings are excellent they are very much on the pricey side. I loved their Demon 7", but really umm'd and ahh'd for a good while over picking up their deluxe Twisted Nerve album. Having the OG, I just couldnt justify £40 for a single record, albeit with extra cues, posters and whatnot. When I finally did score it, have to say it's a beauty and the pressing is excellent. They have been pretty quiet of late though, was expecting a flood of 'Mrs H. Approved' Herrmann material coming our way.
