The worst one to me was Santana's big hit Supernatural. It has some great music on it but the cd's sound put me right on edge immediately. I sold it off very quickly....too bad. I hear the SACD isn't much better.
I don't know what exactly was in the first batch of 20 titles, but I have the original Japanese pressing of Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here that was released in the US (with the album divided into two tracks), and I think it sounds great. Wish You Were Here was definitely one of the early titles released by CBS/Sony. The original CD released in Japan has 35DP 4 for the catalog number, and my Japanese pressing that was released in the US has "35DP-4" in the matrix code. That suggests it was released very early on.
Most CDs by Fairport Convention and Sandy Denny that were pressed in the 80's on Hannibal. Sandy's "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" is one of my favorite albums but the sound is horrible, very muffled. Fortunately I bought a NM vinyl version a few years ago and it sounds great.
Stanley Cowell - Brilliant Circles (Black Lion label) My mom could have done a better job of mastering this CD. I don't know if it's the original tapes or the mastering or what, but the vibraphone and saxophone sound like they aren't even in the same room as the rhythm section. Worst-sounding CD in my collection of 1200 or so CD's.
True. The newer comps from Universal sound better. In fact, on the Sandy Denny Anthology, they finally got a better sounding "For Shame of Doing Wrong" from Sandy's last album. It always sounded like it was recorded in the studio next door.
My vote for worst CD has to be "Bird - Original Recordings of Charlie Parker" from 1988. Somehow, they managed to EQ out the rest of the band, and keep Parker's sax piercingly sharp throughout. Painful. I won't even give it away. The more recent Parker CDs seem to have gotten a better mastering job. But this one completely destroyed my first experience listening to Charlie Parker.
I would have to vote for Meatloaf's "Bat out of Hell". Is there a good sounding copy (any format) of that?
You have heard wrong on two fronts. First of all, it's not on SACD, it's a DVD-A. Second, it sounds MUCH better! By a lot.
The current SACD's stereo track is by far the best representation of the stereo mix ever put out. Better than the vinyl. The mix is still treble-heavy, but the SCAD seems to have cured a lot of the screechiness that has plagued all prior versions.
This isn't a remaster and isn't a CD, but it's the worst example I have ever heard of a professional music release: Muddy Water's "Rolling Stone" album on Chess records, cassette version. It's an 80's compilation of some of Muddy's best old tracks. I bought the vinyl LP back in the 80's, and it sounds great. A few years ago, when I didn't have a turntable handy, I got the urge to hear that album again, and I bought a cassette version, because the particular complilation hasn't been issued on CD. Well, it's a needle drop. Yes, Chess's CASSETTE version of "Rolling Stone" is a needle drop. And it's from an LP 10 times scratchier than mine. If I'd have known that Chess was so hard up for a copy of that album, I'd have lent them mine.
The original CD issue of Bookends by Simon and Garfunkel. Sounded so dull and lifeless that I preferred my re-issue, Nice Price LP which sounded pretty good. Joe L.
Broadsword and the Beast by Jethro Tull A favorite of mine but the CD sounds so bad I never listen to it. From what I remember it sounded screechy, thin, low volume... it's a melange of bad digital sound!
Rush - Vapor Trails...not the music, but exteme overuse of compression. Not an earbleader, but an earbasher. Funkadelic - One Nation Under A Groove...mid 90s Priority Records remaster. No dynamic range, no frequency range...just plain unlistenable.
Chili Peppers - "Californication" Counting Crows "Songs About Ghosts", or something like that...their greatest hits package Both are from my wife's collection and both are squashed enough to make the ears bleed. Another honorable mention to The "All Things Must Pass" remaster. God-awful
