The Best Of Simon & Garfunkel

[AKA]

I just got this 1999 compilation last week. I smell remixes. Am I right?

[Bob Lovely]

You are correct, Sir! Personally, I like them!

Bob

[AKA]

Oh, I like them, too; I just wanted to make sure my assumption was correct. It's a MUCH better compilation than "Greatest Hits."

I want to get the 2001 S&G reissues, too. Or would I be better off trying to find the original CDs?

[Bob Lovely]

AKA,

The re-issues are remixed and also represent sonic improvement over the original CD releases of their albums.

Bob

[Patrick M]

The first 3 albums are remixed, the last 2 are not.

[GabeG]

For the record (which I'm sure has been stated before):

The first three albums were remixed out of necessity. Apparently, Columbia missplaced the two-track masters so Irwin and co. tried to duplicate the sound of the original three as closely as possible using the multi-track masters.

- Gabe

[Matt]

Not to put down the remixes (I think they sound pretty good), but if you're a diehard purist, a good vinyl pressing may be the way to go. I remember a past discussion, back on one of the old boards, discussing certain characteristics of the original mix that you aren't going to find on the remixes. I wish I could go into more detail, but I'm not that big on their early material, so I didn't bother to save the post. I think one of the things mentioned was a small bit of echo that's on the original mixes. Unfortunately, I don't have any vinyl for these titles, so I can't make that comparison myself.

But, when you consider all the other remixes out there, the ones for these CD's are very good.

[RetroSmith]

This Box Set is excellent. The Remixes are realy good...they really took their time to come up with a good balance of old and new.

The early stuff sounds BETTER than it did, IMHO. "Youve Got a Groovy Thing Goin' doesnt have that level distortion that it did on (at least) my copy of the LP.

[czeskleba]

Originally posted by GabeG
The first three albums were remixed out of necessity. Apparently, Columbia missplaced the two-track masters so Irwin and co. tried to duplicate the sound of the original three as closely as possible using the multi-track masters.


From what I recall hearing, it wasn't that the two-track masters are misplaced, it's that they're in bad shape from being used so much.

The remix of the second album in particular seems to be missing something. It just doesn't feel "right" to me.

[Steven]

The remixes do have different sounding effects, and in general have more reverb on the vocals than the originals.

The stereo spectrum is also not as wide on the remixes. I noticed Homeward Bound sounds moire muddled because of the less seperation.

Also, the vocals on Kathy's Song and April Come She Will fluxuate slightly between the right and left channel on headphones (like some of the vocals on the Another Side of Bob Dylan CD). There's also a noticeable jump in volume during the second line on ACSW. It's probably how Artie sang it, but they intentially smoothed it out on the original mix. Those are the kinds of original mixing decisions you lose in the remixes. By the way, the vocal on ACSW is one of the few songs with less vocal reverb than the original. It's almost as if the intentially switched the amount of reverbs from original to new. What used to be alot is now a little and vice-versa.

With all these changes on the S & G CD's, I'm less inclined to believe the Byrds CD's are remixes (also by Vic Anisini and Bob Irwin). I know the ICE article on the Byrds says they're remixes, but they really do sound identical to me, even the effects. Only Mr Tambourine Man, the song, is an obvious remix, to me at least.

[lukpac]

Originally posted by Steven
With all these changes on the S & G CD's, I'm less inclined to believe the Byrds CD's are remixes (also by Vic Anisini and Bob Irwin). I know the ICE article on the Byrds says they're remixes, but they really do sound identical to me, even the effects. Only Mr Tambourine Man, the song, is an obvious remix, to me at least.

Well, I believe a fair amount of Byrds tracks were bounced down to 3-track first (usually from 8-track), *then* mixed to mono and stereo. In many cases Bob Irwin chose to use the 3-track (which already had echo/compression/etc) rather than the 8-track. I don't know in exactly which cases, but...

There's no doubt that things *were* remixed. Some tracks on Younger Than Yesterday are good examples. I think I posted about this once before here - you may want to search the archives. My Back Pages sounds almost exactly the same (perhaps not a remix?), but other songs have slight differences - I think on one song the backing vocals are mixed slightly different in the stereo spectrum.

[YaQuin]

Hate to harp on this, but why did some genius at Legacy records decide to use the short version of "59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"! Why Why Why...

I like the version with the acapella ending. C'mon if you have 80 minutes worth of space and only use 65 minutes, at least you could use the original long versions of the songs.

Also, are the S&G's being remastered again for 2002 or are they the Japanese imports?

[lukpac]

Originally posted by GammaSpace
Hate to harp on this, but why did some genius at Legacy records decide to use the short version of "59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"! Why Why Why...

I like the version with the acapella ending. C'mon if you have 80 minutes worth of space and only use 65 minutes, at least you could use the original long versions of the songs.

Short version?

What other version is there?

[YaQuin]

lukpak,

I know most of their songs are "short", less than three minutes. On the particular song in question, there is a version played on oldies 94.9FM (Madison) that has an acapella ending, not an ending with music. That's the best I can describe it. On the CD it appears the song is faded before it even gets to that point. I think total time is 1 minute 45 seconds. I felt cheated out of the music.

[lukpac]

Originally posted by GammaSpace
I know most of their songs are "short", less than three minutes. On the particular song in question, there is a version played on oldies 94.9FM (Madison) that has an acapella ending, not an ending with music. That's the best I can describe it. On the CD it appears the song is faded before it even gets to that point. I think total time is 1 minute 45 seconds. I felt cheated out of the music.

I listen to that station sometimes...:-0

My only thought is the version they play on the radio isn't Simon & Garfunkel - Harpers Bizarre perhaps? The version on the original PSR&T LP fades out just like on the best-of disc, and I've never heard a different S&G version, other than the live version.

[Bob Lovely]

Originally posted by lukpac


I listen to that station sometimes...:-0

My only thought is the version they play on the radio isn't Simon & Garfunkel - Harpers Bizarre perhaps? The version on the original PSR&T LP fades out just like on the best-of disc, and I've never heard a different S&G version, other than the live version.


From another Wisconsin guy....

The Harpers Bizarre single version does have a cold acappella ending. It was never released by S & G as a single and that inspired the Harpers Bizarre release.

Bob :)

[YaQuin]

From one Wisconsin guy to another, thank you lukpac and Bob L.,

I really thought the version with the acapella ending was done by S&G but I guess I was mistaken. If in fact I am talking about the HB version, it must sound very similar to the S&G version.

If in fact as Luke pointed out there is only one S&G version of "59th Street..." then I will keep my S&G Best of CD.

[Bob Lovely]

Originally posted by GammaSpace
From one Wisconsin guy to another, thank you lukpac and Bob L.,

I really thought the version with the acapella ending was done by S&G but I guess I was mistaken. If in fact I am talking about the HB version, it must sound very similar to the S&G version.

If in fact as Luke pointed out there is only one S&G version of "59th Street..." then I will keep my S&G Best of CD.

The Harper's Bizarre version is very similiar but a bit different. I would suspect that many listeners would mistake it for S & G.

Bob :)

[Scott Wheeler]

There is a live version of 59th street bridge song with an exteneded acapela ending that was on their greatest hits LP

[YaQuin]

That's got to be it Scott W! Funny how either the studio version sounds live or the live version sounds like studio.