Original CD Pressings to Avoid

The CBS Sticky Fingers is my preferred version also. The remasters are fine, but I agree with Roland that the CBS sounds more natural. Of course, this is a totally subjective judgment.

 

When "Lifes Rich Pageant" came out in 86, we were knocked out by how "good" the vinyl LP sounded. Same with Joe Jackson's "Big World"

When I hear them on CD now, they "suck" in comparison to how great they sounded when they were new on record!

 

"Crime Of The Century" - Supertramp

Any pressing for that matter.

It needs to sound like Ken Scott's vinyl!

 

This track sounds excellent on disc 2 of Super '70s.

 

Porcupine Tree - Deadwing (US)
Marillion - Misplaced Childhood (US)
Marillion - Clutching at Straws (US)
Kiss - Hotter Than Hell (US)
Def Leppard - On Through the Night (US)
Dio - Sacred Heart (US)
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King (US)
Van Halen - Diver Down (US)
Megadeth - Peace Sells But Who's Buying (US)
Megadeth - So Far So Good So What (US)

 

I'll take those over the remasters any day.

 

The original US CD pressing of TRAFFIC's 2nd album sucks bad!!

 

This is different than other pressings? I got the deluxe edition long after the regular and, believe it or not, never compared. I guess I'll have to check now . . . I did always find the album very bright. I just assumed it was that way everywhere.

Why? I always found this to sound great.

What alternatives would you suggest?

 

I think someone did but it's never been released

 

The original Polydor CD is terrible - pinched, compressed and at the wrong speed. The original Reprise CD is quite good though - possibly a bit bright, but pretty nice sounding. The EH version is actually quite similar, and really isn't that compressed at all.

To add my own, I'd say the original Come & Gone CD by Mason Proffit on Line Records. Pretty dull with really horrible noise reduction. The later issue on One Way was quite a revelation.

 

Regarding picking the difference between cutting pre-echo and tape pre-echo - shouldn't that be a matter of the time between the pre-echo and the sound? Approx 1.8 seconds for vinyl and not fixed for tape?

 

Circa 1986 I purchased a CD entitled Deep Purple: Deepest Purple. Never before had I heard such a muddy mess. This CD was a major disappointment after the purchase of some great CD releases like the original Cat Stevens: Greatest Hits and Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms. I had been lead to believe that CD was "perfect sound". I was so disappointed that I took the CD back to the store to complain that it was faulty and they gave me a full refund.

 

Deadwing - Is the UK one any better? Mine sounds a bit loud and maximised

Peace Sells... - Japan 1st Press CP32-5400 (Black Triangle) I have this and it sounds ok-ish, I agree the US one sounds rubbish, my old tape sounds better. However, the remaster bonus tracks sound awesome, why MegaDave couldnt have done the actual album like this instead of remixing it I dont know.

So Far... - bad master tapes. Read the booklet notes on the remaster, Megadave had to protool this one to hell!

 

I'd say it's best to avoid the original CD issue of Blue Öyster Cult's S/T. Sounds like mud. The MFSL two-fer sounds much cleaner.

 

Seconded, they (MFSL) did a fantastic job on that 2-fer. The Anesini remaster is alsoa step up from the original but the MFSL is unbeatable IMO.

 

Steer clear of the original Jefferson Airplane After Bathing at Baxter's on RCA. It's a shocker! It starts off OK, but by the end of side one there's so much speed variation on the tape you feel seasick. This continues on side two. I think the tape might have been stretched or something. It's a pity because I think the 80's Surrealistic Pillow CD sounds fine, and this one starts off like that too. Go for the current remaster for Baxter's.

 

I always found it very loud and uncomfortable. But, it is a "modern" recording.

"Misplaced Childhood" is better than "CAS," but this is an album that should just reach out and grab you, and the orig. US CD always sounded rather boring. Of course, the remaster is an earbleeder.

I dunno. Haven't played the "around the world of 80s CD pressings" game with these particular titles. Sorry.

 

I had seen the ATMP pressing discussions here off and on since I joined. I knew way back I had bought an import UK copy before it was released in the U.S., but always assumed I probably had the Swindon version. Being lazy and having way too many discs boxed in cabinets and closets for storing, I never wanted to take the time to hunt down and check for sure. I had been using a nice needle-drop version to play after being disgusted with the new remaster.

Tonight I finally dug through everything and found my UK pressing--an original Nimbus 3 triangle dot pressing! Whoo hoo

The perils of having too much stuff. But then again, I've only ever gotten rid of maybe 4 or 5 CDs the whole time I've bought them from the very beginning.

 

The early Columbia discs of Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde were pretty underwhelming; especially with the brutal edit on Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.

 

I agree. Interestingly the albums on either side of these two releases were much better.

 

Here's a little info on vinyl pre-echo, from RL:



Ghost In the Machine: groove echo in vinyl disks.

One of the great advantages of digital audio is that both vinyl records
and analog tape suffer from the transmission of sound from one recorded
layer of tape or record groove to the next. There is no cross-talk in
digital, it is only limited by the associated analog circuitry.

Groove echo, as it is called in the industry, is the result of a double
whammy. The first whammy occurs in the cutting process and the far worse
whammy occurs in the plating and even some in the pressing process.

When a groove is cut into a master acetate the grooves are purposely cut
as close to one another to maximize the recording time of the disk. The
RIAA recording curve is designed to greatly diminish the bass
frequencies so, while recording, the bass wiggles take up 400 times less
room than they would without the curve. On a good lathe, each rotation
of the lathe will result in the newly recorded part of the groove just
touching the previous rotations engraving. On the last state-of-the-art
lathes with computers (starting from about 1978) the newly recorded part
of the groove actually nestles into the previous rotation! The sound
of the deformed plastic of one revolution is probably always measurable
in the next and on some occasions is audible.

A newly recorded acetate is a joy to listen to. It is far, far quieter
than the final pressing (no matter whose vinyl formulation is used), it
is totally free of ticks and pops (until you touch it) and the groove
echo is very low.

The acetate is almost a living thing. How a lacquer electroplates is a
function of how well cured the lacquer is. The amount of oils in the
acetate are a function of how the manufacturer made it, how long it was
cured at the plant, and how long it was allowed to acclimatize to the
cutting room environment before cutting. After cutting, time starts to
act on the blank and the groove echo begins to build up within the
master lacquer. The first 24 hours are the most critical for avoiding
groove echo build-up. The idea is to get the lacquer into the plating
bath as quickly as possible.

Pop music is so limited in dynamic range that groove echo is rarely a
problem except in the lead-in and in-between bands. Classical music is
difficult to cut, plate and press. It is ideal to have the lathe in the
same building as the plating plant. The only East Coast pressing plant
that has this is Europadisk in NYC. In the hey-day of lacquer cutting
there were 2 independent electroplaters in NYC and they would have
messengers pick-up the lacquers from all the cutting houses in New York
every day.

The second condition is called "Layer to layer transfer", or "Print-Through".

Print-through is the undesired low level transfer of magnetic fields from one layer of analog tape to another layer on the tape reel. Preprint, also known as pre-echo, is the print through signal that is on the outer layer of tape wind, thereby preceding the recorded signal. Postprint, or post-echo, is when the print-through signal follows the recorded signal.

 

Coincidentally I wa sjust listening to the original BIABH and wasn't too impressed. It sounds tinny to me. Do you prefer it to the most recent remaster?

 

I really like the SACD hybrid remaster. I have not done a A/B comparison between the remaster and the original. Although I clearly remember that when I did own the original I thought that it sounded good. Of course my memory could be playing tricks on me.

 

Yeah I like the remaster too. I saw the original awhile back and picked it up, but didn't like it too much. I only got it because it's one of my very favorite Dylan albums.