The Smiths Rough Trade questions

I am pleased to hear that your findings are similar to mine, in that I did not find the Sire (MIM in my case) unpleasant either, though I preferred the Sire. Might be because this is the one my ears have grown accustomed to. Either way, I am glad, for I don't need to replace my Smiths CDs.

 

I received the Rough Trade's Strangeways and Meat Is Murder this morning. At 30$ each, I was a bit anxious and hoping to find them a big improvement on my Canadian Sire/RT copies.

I listened first to the first three songs of Strangeways, first from the Sire, then the RT. Because it is the most heavily produced Smiths' record.

And I must say I am now a very happy Smiths fan now.

The differences are not night and day. But to these ears, they count a lot, and they are worth the 30$ upgrade.

1st, Morrissey's voice has more body;
2nd, the soundstage is better; you feel some depth, there is a sense of space, especially around Morrrissey's voice...
3rd, the EQ choices sounds better to me. While listening to the Sire, I could not imagine raising the volume in any way: that piercing sound that I came to associate with The Smiths gives me aural fatigue quite quickly (I Started Something... being the worst offender). But with the RT, I could crank the volume without any stress, and that is a relief.

With Hatfull of Hollow coming, I can now start my hunt for my favortie: The Queen Is Dead.

 

Thanks for that.

If the Strangeways RT is a 10, what would you give the Sire?

 

Ouh, I would not say the RT is a 10. Not at all.
I would say 7,5... I mean, that is not audiophile heaven, isn't it?
And the Sire? Because my nerve system do not agree with the EQ choices, a 5.
But eh, it is my nerve system.
And still, this is one listen of just three songs.

 

Thanks, I was just trying to gauge the difference you hear.

 

The Japanese Minilp's are WEA. I don't know if that matters though.

 

I am so angry... 'Missed a Rough Trade Queen Is Dead on e-bay, that went for 20$, because my browser would not refresh quickly enough... Grrr.

 

Dude, that sucks. I feel for you man.

 

Fred, why you trying to snipe me son?

 

You dudes are ruthless.

 

I know the seller is in Brooklyn. I might just go down there and buy it off of her in person.

 

What are your findings Re: Strangeways? I got a RT today and think it sounds warmer, with less treble and better overall EQ.

 

see this post,
I am very happy with it and I am delighted with the RT's Hatful of Hollow.

 

How does the Japanese pressing of "the queen is dead" sound? Is it more of a collectors item than anything? There's one on ebay right now that I'm thinking about bidding on.

 

Great! I hear a more significant difference than with MIM.

 

Yeah Hatful sounds the most different out of the 3 rough trades(The Smiths, Rank, Hatful) I have.

 

There is no ruth in me.

 

Anyone?

 

if i recall correctly, these are WEA masterings from the 90's, and not very well considered. But i know that anton disagree strongly on this.

 

Buy whatever UK Rough trade pressings you can NOW because I will bet the Farm that there will NEVER be any more Re-releases of any Smiths titles to the physical world.

 

IIRC, Anton liked the Japanese mini-LP releases, and I don't think the mastering was the same as the 90s WEA editions.

 

Yeah, you recall correctly, Anton liked them.
And some (not me) said that they were WEA masterings, just louder.
is there any way we can verify that, from amplitude stats in Audition, or something like that?

 

If we're talking about the 2006 japanese mini-LP sleeves, I believe they are the 90s WEA versions with jacked up levels and EQ. I own them, but I've only compared peak levels (the 2006 Japanese are nearly 100 across the board; the WEA less so).

 

I definitely compared the peaks, and they were different (there's a thread about this). Never tried to see if they ran in sync though.