Here's the scoop: The early run of Mercury CD's were transferred flat, in house, by German engineers. Gilbert Kong was an LP mastering engineer for USA Mercury. They just transferred the artwork credits. Then, Dennis Drake at USA Polygram transferred the domestic issues. Again, the artwork was replicated with Kong's credit. Drake may have used a bit of EQ; it may have sounded slightly different. Then, the Anthology by Palmaccio and Remasters by Gur. There's not a great amount of differences among all the remasters, though I prefer my early, flat versions. Hope this helps! Paul
Ok..here's something....I have a copy of the new EPTS mastered by Gur and both Vol's 1&2 of the Best of RS also mastered by Gur ...according to the booklet and those 2 vol's of Best Of's sound like crap....I mean real bad...but the individual disc of EPTS has some really nice sound...real low levels for a disc mastered these days.....I really question weather the same person mastered these discs. If the sound of the new RTB is anything like those 2 Best Of's I'll stick with the individual remasters. does anyone have these to compare with the new RTB collection?.
On closer inspection of the new RTB set compared to the Drake NADM this is what I've found. The Drake sounds great. Nice smooth flat transfer, not harsh at all, nice solid bottom end. Steve says he likes this one, and it's not hard to see why. The RTB set has less bottom end, and can sound too bright and harsh in places. This isn't always bad, and I do like the drum sound in general. Bill Levenson said they were trying to get close to the original vinyl. It was a good effort. Now for the kicker, There's digital clicking all over RTB. I mean on all three discs. Listen to the end of True Blue at 3.27 one click in the left channel then one in the right. I'm sticking with the Drakes, and I'll try to track down the mofi EPTAS. Ken
If there's an early "Kong" EPTAS that's a flat transfer, it surely isn't the one that I've got, which not only changes the EQ but, as I've found, uses a noise gate and adds digital reverb. Perhaps that's the Drake mastered domestic issue. If so, that would explain Bill Levinson's remarks. At any rate, the "big drum" EPTAS, whoever mastered it, was changed considerably from the master, given the evidence.
Just to throw another wrench into the works, I own the vinyl "Untitled" (Almost Famous Soundtrack) pressed at RTI by Classic. This is mastered by Bernie Grundman. The sound throughout this LP is thick and very analogue. I haven't yet done a direct A/B on EPTAS, I own a first run Mercury vinyl pressing, I can say the soundtrack LP sounds wonderful.
There's never a dull moment with this thread and I have reason to believe it seems like a long time that it's been going on, but that's all right because as far as this post is concerned it's all over now, due to the fact that I know I'm losing you with my ramblings. Sorry, I have waaaay too much time on my hands! As to the Drake NADM, a big thumbs up. I found a copy locally around the time this thread started, really a joy to listen to.
You Wear It Well Special Products CD I wanted to mention a great Polygram Special Products CD, Rod Stewart "You Wear It Well", 836-739-2. Copyright 1992. Really flat, natural sound. Generous for a 4.99 CD, 12 tracks and 53:18 total time. Songs such as Lady Day, EPTAS, the title cut, Maggie May (with acoustic guitar intro included (!), Gasoline Alley, etc. Search it out! Paul
Re: You Wear It Well Special Products CD WOW, I'd forgotten I own that one as well!! With all the attention I've been paying to vinyl lately, I haven't given it a thought. Will look at this evening to see who mastered.
Well, been following along here and decided to simply grab the remasters from 98' for EPTAS & NADM. I've spun EPTAS several times now in the past couple of weeks and I like it a lot. I grabbed NADM this afternoon which sounds very good to me. Aside from poor liner notes on both, no other complaints so far. I plan on doing the same for GA & TRSA and then wait around for some hi-rez releases. Do any of the Small Faces or Faces albums measure up to the RS albums mentioned above?
You Wear It Well CD Unfortunately no mastering credit on this one! I still think it's strange they grouped "Link-Henry's Tune" with Maggie May" on this CD. Paul
I've read every post. I own a Kong-credited, ten track, 1984-dated, made in USA copy. Sounds dry, not to say there's zero ambience, but nothing that would indicate added digital reverb. I own the original LP and it closely emulates it. My LP is well-used and when I turn it up to hear reverb, the surface noise is the biggest difference from the CD I own. I assumed when someone posted "big drums" they meant "mixed forward (loud) rather than a later-era "gated drum" sound. If so, I agree, but it's definitely in the mix, and "might" be lessened by eq, but I can't comment further as I don't own all the other masterings to compare. It sounds great to me. It's one of my favorite "side 2 albums", where the album builds throughout and I could listen to LP side 2 on repeat all day.
