Jon Anderson's Animation - Check *THIS* out!

Wow. Just finished reading the whole 9 page discussion over at yesfans.com; it's truly frightening. Earnshaw's (executive producer) comment that one ought to just lower the volume of playback to eliminate digital clipping is just classic. I'll definitely wait for an informed opinion before dropping any cash on the "box set."

A few years ago I carefully made a cassette transfer using a real time burner. Being careful to not let any of the highs clip, it sounds great and is (like your needle drop) and enormous improvement over this "official" remaster. I have no audio training whatsoever, and this was done before even knowing of the existance of this forum.

For a pro (?) to make the mastering error that was made on _Animation_ seems just unforgivable to me. If they don't want to remove MP from the project(s) he could at a minimum re-master again from the vinyl source without the compression choices and with a bare minimum of noise reduction. . . . send out a replacement copy (CD only) to all the early purchasers of the CD.

Fight the good fight.

 

Jamie, your "ban-provoking" post was as succinct and constructive as it could have been without backing down from your viewpoint.

A shame that the moderators clamped down on the criticism so violently...and an equal shame that the reissue is a piece of **** by any account. :thumbsdn:

 

They have subsequently re-opened the topic, and few brave souls have backed up Jamie's point of view.

 

I could just imagine a judge's face with this case brought to his courtroom, if ever a case of this "magnitude" or "quietude" came to his courtroom. Lets count the seconds before he threw this one out the window for wasting courts time.

The internet exposes more than people like Jon Anderson and yesfans moderators realize. People want and expect quality. When they read something is not good, they don't buy it and blog about it. Thats life now.

Jamie you and the others in here and over there have saved me and many jon fans some dough on a cd I would have probably gotten otherwise. This forum has taught me patience on pulling the credit card out and now i wont buy something when its announced. I refuse to be ripped off on garbage and this release has proven itself to be. And I'm sure by now Jon knows what his fans are hearing and he'll lose some dough and maybe fix the problem. The fact they want to keep selling it speaks volumes and its us that should be forming a class action suit against them being ripped off on this release and they are still selling it after being told of its faults. Criminal. Honestly the nerve in their camp is unacceptable.

Jon probably listened to it in his car, while on his cel phone, cause lets face it, how often is he gonna sit around and listen to his stuff, I bet never, and thought it sounded fine to him, he didnt listen like a fan would, why would he, he's not a Jon fan, he's just Jon. and he signed off on it so he could go back to being Jon not a Jon fan.

 

Thanks for all the support here and over there. Unfortunately many of my posts have been altered or deleted by the moderators. No big deal. The label turned from denying the vinyl source to conceding it was a needle drop. I think the point was received.

If it is financially feasible I will pursue the license for this album. It something I've always wanted to do and they've set this album up so people will be wanting a better sounding CD. I assume Atlantic is leasing the rights to Opio Media but I don't know the length of the agreement. I need to do some investigating. If anybody can help please feel free to PM me.

Since I'm not a mastering engineer does anybody know someone who can do it?

 

Yeah, you could hire that Steve Hoffman guy to do your mastering Jamie. I hear he's pretty good. Keep us informed on this one Jamie.

 

I've never ventured into this territory before. With CD sales going in decline and record stores becoming extinct I will have to give this some serious thought and have to start asking lots of questions.

I wonder what the possibility of an optional hi-res download would be?

 

I totally agree with you Jamie! What I find strange (but not surprising) is that they have master tapes for the bonus tracks but not the original album? They should all be in the same place! They need to fire the bonehead who catalogs these tapes. Jon should have grabbed those tapes after the sessions were completed and locked them away in some vault at his house. Idiotic!

 

Did they find the masters for the bonus tracks? They used a cassette copy for the CD.

The guy in charge of Jon's box set told me they know where the masters are. I don't know if that was a true or not. They seem to be having a bit of a time telling the truth about this album.

 

Jeeze, I could have done a better needle drop even with my modest set-up. Sad.

Jason

 

That would be acceptable if they had used something close to the original tapes for the actual album tracks. Maybe this is why no respectable label and/or mastering engineer has done this project. With no original source material available what's the point?
I would think someone of Anderson's stature would handle or at least appoint someone competent to handle a project like this appropriately and professionally.

 

This is making me dizzy....

So much for Yes-fans being open minded...And I am sad because I am one....

Wow...

Anything you need man...I will back you and help you!

(how...I don't know...but at least knowing that you aren't crazy in other people's eyes is a good start!)

 

Thanks Paul. Could you tell I needed a hug earlier this week.

 

How about propositioning a less cost/lower production (maybe 2,000) for CD only with optional production renewal at additional cost deal?

This way Atlantic will get more if you make more, but without the initial cost of a 5,000-10,000 run for you. I'm sure you'd be able to sell a lot here plus with positive SH Forums reviews it might get a lot better out there as well. I'm no expert, but just a thought.

 

Yeah, 2000 was the number I was thinking. I don't know how many more this album would sell, if that many.

Like I said, I don't know if it would be financially feasible. I doubt it. I'd have to be willing to lose some money and just consider it a labor of love.

 

Jamie,
a digi-hug to you

And a thanks for standing up, sharing your ears/knowledge/passion,
and for taking a hit on what should be second nature for
music of this quality... this particular release is worthy.
Jon should have figured out after 40 years that there are people who know about these things and make sure his music is handled with all care and due respect. It's funny that a box set will be coming out with what amounts
to some inticing stuff surrounded by demos and half finished ideas when
this excellent release was treated so lightly.

Yes, Yes fans can be a very high strung, emotional group - as anyone
could see from visiting the various newsgroups inspired by them.
Who knows, maybe you can get to the source himself - I talked briefly with
Jon after his Portland show -- he seems pretty approachable -
keep us posted

 

Well I was involved in the Yesfans thread and am much closer to being a "common man" type listener (Total cost of all of the music listening equipment to my name=about $700 which includes the $300 I spent on my Zen Xtra, but excludes my factory standard car stereo) than an audiophile. However, I agree that there is something *SERIOUSLY* wrong with the Animation remaster and it is a shame that they let it out sounding that bad. The clips that Jamie posted from his vinyl rip blow the official release out of the H2O and it's too bad that the fluffy bunny "JON RULZ!" types who were slagging him over there didn't/couldn't take the time to check that out.

If you read between the lines on that Yesfans thread and based on a couple of PMs I got the implication is that Jon Anderson made demands of the mastering engineer that severely compromised the integrity of the final product. At no point in the chain was anybody willing to say to Jon "Look, this CD sounds bad like this. Let us fix it." Instead the attitude was something along the lines of "This sounds screwy, but I bet most fans won't notice so let's just keep Jon happy and go with it." In defense of the guy who mastered it, I bet it would have sounded much better if he had been left to his own devices.

My only problem is whether or not to keep the disc because I mostly like the actual album, but don't own and don't actually have much interest in owning a turntable. I never had a vinyl phase. I just went straight from cassette tapes to CDs and everything I have today is on CD. I e-mailed Voiceprint to ask if I had the option of returning it and they informed me that they would give me a refund if I sent it back.

 

Hey Chris. Welcome aboard!

Thanks for the post. I guess this was a no win situation with Jon making such demands on the mastering engineer... but, like you said, somebody along the line should've pointed out the CD sounded bad and suggested they fix it. I hope they change their QC before they do their other releases.

BTW, anyone know how many CDs they sold?

 

I checked with Soundscan but according to that its only just out as of Thursday?

so come Wednesday I'll be able to check the first week retail #'s, though I dont know if it will reflect the online sales the company that put out this abomination has done so far.

 

Seems to me you are making a lot of assumptions about Jon Anderson.

 

i stand by my assumption, either way, my assumptionsonly make an a s s outta me only and its my opinion only. Me thinks he's not interested in listening to his old music,

i can think of several instances where artists dont really go back to their work, ever. So did he critically listen to all of this and thing "brilliant". Well the sonics of it rest my case.

 

OK.... You are free to stand by your assumption. I will stand by my comment that you are merely making a lot of assumptions. Personally I prefer not to say negative things about public figures based on assumptions. That's just me.

Having been to every tour Yes and Jon Anderson has done that has come through L.A. since 1978 it is my observation based on perfomance and comments form Jon to the people in public that he does seem to care about the quality of Yes music and his solo work and that he does want the audience to be happy with what he does.

Maybe you can but if you have been following Yes and Jon Anderson you would know that those artists are not Jon Anderson and that in fact Jon Anderson has worked very hard to keep the Yes flame burning. He has always embrassed his past as an artist and has never failed to support it in concert.

We don't know what he did or did not do. Jon Anderson himself has yet to chime in on this issue. You rest your case on your assumptions....which you stand by. i have little faith in your assumptions. I would rather hear Jon Anderson's side of things before passing judgement on Jon Anderson

 

"embraced"

I'm not usually a stickler for spelling, but "embrassed" almost makes the meaning opposite

Has someone emailed Jon and/or his management and gotten a reply? what did he/they say?

 

i've seen every tour, have every album, i've met him, he's a very nice fellow who keeps the yes flame burning cause its a living for him. Just like selling this $30 cd is a living for him in a lean non touring year. You're overthinking his persona to the business side that this ultimately is for him.

Nothing will convince me he spent hours listening to this mastered cd and approved it. Nothing he will say or do. Its obvious either his hearing after all those concerts is not what it used to be, or the person he employs to "sign off" on stuff has no ears.