I have a Japanese pressing. Sounds pretty good to me. The drums on "I Know I'm Losing You" sound HUGE to me. Well worth looking for
I went home and compared the common tracks on "Sing It Again Rod" (with the tracks separated) with my MFSL UD1 "Every Picture Tells A Story". There is more tape hiss on the UD1. Anyone else notice this? Either the tracks on "Sing It Again Rod" have been No-noised or the MFSL disc is not the original master recording. Any ideas guys?
I have all the Suha Gur remasterings of the Mercury Rod Stewart albums. and they all sound pretty faithful to my old Original LP's (Hard to tell cause some of the LP's are prettty old) I currently don't have the Drake's. But have teh MFSL EPTAS and it is wonderful! Give Thanks!
Cool, this has become very interesting - now, any of you have the new "Reason To Believe" compilation to compare your findings with? Nobody has really brought it back to this comp much - I am curious
I concur. On the title track of EPTAS, Woody's bass is to the right, with Mick Waller's kick drum. Everything seems to match. It sounds open, clear and natural. On the "Storyteller" version, the bass is in the middle and the whole thing sounds rather flat.
To make matters even more confusing (or to ask a stupid question) Has anyone compared the '98 Remasters (Suha Gur) to the new "Reason To Believe" compilation also done by Suha Gur? or are they identical?
Ofcourse, we all know and love EPTAS (the acknowledged classic) but I think "Never a Dull Moment" is a great LP in it's own right! and the one I play more often cause I've heard the tunes less (over the years, etc.) Something about that line in "TRUE BLUE" always get's me - "Sittin' in the moonlight glow, excuse me if my feelings show... Watchin' all the trucks roll by, thinking of an alibi" Right up there with the couplet in "Italian Girls" - "although I must of looked a creep in my army surplus Jeep" I think his writing was better and eye for detail even sharper on NADM!!! His trademark blending of acoustic and electric instruments, the accordians , mandolins and organ and on some numbers the band (FACES) just kicking ass - just phenomenal, (When Rod yells "Guitar" and then Woodys slide solo in "Twistin" - a pure Rock and Roll moment if there ever was one)!!! - To me it just doesn't get any better - Just great music!!! [/B][/QUOTE] Agreed on all counts. I'm also a sucker for the drum break in "Twistin'"--what a rush. "True Blue" is killer diller throughout. "Mamma You Been On My Mind" really got to me last time. Beautifully sung and very sensitively played. Time to put that sucker back on!
Is the first issue "Sing It Again Rod" the one with the yellow background/ border on the front cover? I know the Drake vers. is black (just like the LP.) Also which one is the keeper?
Syd, maybe I missed it somewhere in this thread, but though you report here about the disc being maxed-out you don't mention how it actually sounds. This is a very confusing thread that raises a lot of speculation and controversy about the sound of the various remasterings. Fair enough, that's what we're here for - - but along the way we've sort of forgotten about the point of this thread. Forget the comparisons - how does the new "Reason to Believe" sound??? Ray
Ummm, Sing It Again Rod was released in 1985..way before NoNoise was dreamed of...There reason for such quietness is due to the fact that Dennis Drake used the MASTERS for each individual song. In the later 80's it was redone from the Album master with the songs together just like the original LP. Doesn't "You Wear It well " on the original 1985 sound fantastic!!
The Original (Separated tracks) CD from 1985 by far! Disc Made In Germany, You can tell if there is a few second space between songs (Unbanded). Later redone with songs banded together. Man I love that Cee Dee.
I have been listening to the new Reason To Believe release daily since the day it came out, as it is one of the better sounding new releases that I have bought recently. It's caused me to pull out some of my other Rod Stewart releases and give them a spin also. I've always liked the older Drake issues of the early albums so I didn't buy the remasters from a few years back. I did buy several of the Warner remasters that came out about the same time but none of those would be helpful to this discussion. I listened to the Drake "Sing It Again Rod" (black back cover, similar to lp) last night . It has many similarities to the new Reason To Believe release. The new release has more depth and has a touch more clarity, to my ear. The new release doesn't sound maximized as far as loudness goes and also doesn't sound harsh or overly bright.
I believe Drake do that one as well (the yellow cover version?) Correct? because I read Bill L. made him go back and redo the CD so the songs cross fade to match original LP?
Yes, Dennis Drake did the first one (Yellow Cover).... Here's the ICE article.. ICE Magazine December 1988 Issue No. 21 From the Watchdog... UPGRADE UPDATE: PolyGram has remastered Rod Stewart's Sing It Again, Rod greatest hits CD to match the LP's original concept, which had cross-fade segues between many of the tracks. "When we first did the CD," PolyGram engineer Dennis Drake told ICE, "I went back to the original album master for each song, instead of using the compilation master which was a generation down. Consequently, we could'nt exactly duplicate all of the cross-fades, so I just left two-second pauses between all of the tracks. But (label exec) Bill levenson felt we should re-do it true to the original, so we recently re-did it" Drake said the new ones are marked "Printed In The U.S.A." and should be in the stores shortly, but no exchanges are warranted in this case. This should solve the mystery... and close the case....On 'Sing It Again, Rod"...
I'm still wondering if Suha Gur did anything differently from his '98 remasters done at Polygram studios and the new 3 CD "Reason to Believe"set which says it was done at Universal? Sonically speaking (No vave charts, etc.) I don't hear any difference? Both sound good!
I don't know which version I just picked up (used), but it says 'Digitally remastered by Dennis M Drake' and it is atrocious. The vocal is buried, covered in reverb on some of the tracks. It sounds like Rod was singing from the bottom of the Grand Canyon and they hung a mic over the top and recorded.
In response to this and Michaels post above... The copy of SIAR that I picked up is Mercury 824 882-2 Digitally mastered by Dennis Drake. -the tracks are separated -reverb added on vocal on Maggie May -reverb added of You Wear It Well -reverb added on percussion (tambourine?) on Mandolin Wind -reverb all over the place on (I Know) I'm Losing You. Also, on the guitar at the beginning, there is a pumping in and out of noise (on right channel), that responds to the guitar notes (left channel). This pumping can also be heard on the vocals on the "gospel" part in the middle. -tape hiss fades away with the fades at end of tracks I am comparing this to tracks on original LP's (and 20th Century Best Of, mastered by Suha Gur, supposedly from the original masters).
I really don't know as I hear nothing you are referring to...Just right off the master sound. "You Wear It Well" is as dry as hell...Yours Made in Germany? Hmmm.... Does anyone else find this on their CD?
Looks like a regular domestic CD. There are other posts which confirm the existence of added reverb, so I'm not sure why you are surprised at my findings. I returned to the same used store I got SIAR and found a West German Mercury copy of Never A Dull Moment and it indicates 'mastered by Dennis M Drake' and it is very dry, no added reverb, and sounds quite natural. This shows up the added reverb on SIAR very clearly. So I have no idea what's going on.
Ok Beag, Looks like your referring to the redo (Made In The USA) in the later 80's from the album master of SIAR. One more time...Are the tracks banded together or separated? Thanks.
