Expert: Mike Caldwell - 9/26/2010

Question
I am from the U.S.A.  Cream are from the United Kingdom.  I ordered the 1998 remasters of Cream's four studio albums and two of their live albums on the Polydor label.  The packaging is English, and the track listings and universal product codes are right, but only three of the albums say they were manufactured in the U.S.A.  How can I tell if an audio CD is an import and is there a difference in sound quality?

Answer
Many (if not most) albums made in the USA don't explicitly have "manufactured in the USA" on them.  My personal rule of thumb was to check the record company's mailing address printed on the CD packaging, since many labels have international locations.  
Another tip is that for some releases, there might be a very subtle difference in how the album/CD was packaged, color variations, etc.  It takes a little research, but that often helps figure out its origin.
I don't think I have ever heard a discernible difference in sound quality between a domestic and imported version of the same album.