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...IMO, the best quality Stones CD is 'Fourty Licks' which was a 2002 remaster, and some of the older songs sound especially good, like "Under My Thumb". Unfortunately, there isn't much here from 'Exile'.As far as 'Exile' goes, which is one of my favorite Sones recordings, I would recommend the 1994 remaster. It's cheap, available and as good as it gets.
That dawg does not exist! You need to just get into the music/lyrics/recording and forget about the rest of it. I don't care if it is MFSL, UK, 1st US, 1st UK, it was NEVER meant to be audiophile. And, yes, I own all of 'em.
Sound quality of Stones albums took a step down post-Decca/London, but contrary to the myth that the master tapes of the EOMS session are flawed, a good early pressing reveals warmth, detail, good separation, and realism-- and the Stones at their peak.
Flipping once more through 70s to early-80s Stones vinyl, I think by about Undercover the sound quality of RSR is back up to the level of EOMS. Most mid/late 70s RSR vinyl sounds pretty thin & compressed by comparison to either of these records.
By the time this album was released, the band was recording in the US. So I expect the US release may be better than the UK...but that's just a guess. I have the UK original and it sounds just like I expect a Stones record to sound...raw and fucking great.
At a villa Keith was renting. It's a muddy recording and I've never heard a version with great sonics. I've got both the Uk and US pressings. No matter the fidelity, it's one of my favorite records.
Stasium entered the picture, and the sound magically clarified.
Ed Stasium is a brilliant engineer, definitely, but Andy Johns & Jimmy Miller were so instrumental (no pun intended) in defining the iconic 1970's rock album sound that it does them a tremendous disservice to judge Exile or Sticky Fingers etc by their "sound quality" alone.Sometimes I love to put on Sticky Fingers with my swanky electrostatic headphones & listen closely for the glitches and snafus that would beconsidered "engineering fuck-ups" by nearly any recording professional if they snuck by on a major label release today. (and you don't have to listen *too* closely to find glaring examples!) It's almost laughable
...because IT DOESN'T MATTER. The music is still so incredibly visceral, powerful, and ultimately enjoyable, that I can't imagine hearing it any otehr way. I definitely don't think that record would be "improved" if those abberrations could be eliminated. Likewise for EOMS; the warts are part of the charm.
The first-generation US vinyl pressing sounds very good-- much better than first-pressing (US or MFSL) Sticky Fingers and other RSR mid-'70s vinyl. COC2-2900 (side A leadout ST-RS-722507-B). Nothing wrong with the master tapes IMO.
I've also got the original US vinyl (not gatefold, both albums go into one pocket), and it sounds fantastic. I often wonder why people complain about the sound quality of this album, but I've never heard that CD's. Have they messed up the CD mastering that badly, or just used nth generation master tapes?
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