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84.9.35.101
What a disappointment. Flat, muddy, compressed and generally UNLISTENABLE in-room (at decent levels), or through 'phones.These were the most recent "remasters" by Bob Ludwig (it sez) and to 'HDCD', no less.
Ludwig is obviously going deaf, poor old sod.
But I'm sure they'll be OK for semi-conscious commuters, played through their car-stereos or I-pods.
I swore I'd never buy another new release or "remaster" a couple of years back, and these horrible-sounding discs have deterred me for another couple of years, at least.
Up for sale on e-Bay as a set, as soon as I can be bothered.
Follow Ups:
Not a good sign, at least for Country Life.
When it comes to Roxy, you deserve the best. Regards,
a great sounding remaster, but be wary of blaming him for the latest loudness-war entrant.The mastering business is competitive, and mastering engineers are in the business of pleasing their clients--which is to say, doing what they tell him to do. Blame the producer and the suits at the record company.
can be played at 50, while most CD's have to go from 60-70 on my preamp. I BELIEVE Book of Roses is the best sounding CD I own. Any thoughts?
that "50" is a higher level on your pre than "60-70" is--that is, if the volume control is marked in dB below wide open--then it would appear that the disc has a wide dynamic range, since you play it at a higher level than other, presumably more compressed recordings.[Those marks shouldn't be taken too literally, BTW, either in the absolute or general senses.]
More dynamics is always a good sign, though of course it's not all there is to a good sounding recording.
Well, I have all the remasters but I've started going back to find the originals. So far I have:Stranded - EG Polydor (823 019-2 West Germany)
Avalon - PolyGram EG 800 032-2 (West Germany)
Viva! - EG Reprise 26044-2 1989 (Original pressing - USA)These sound better than the remasters. Off to eBay and seek out those first pressings. As long as they came from a good master tape, they are not victims of the "loudness war."
I'm not sure we can blame Ludwig - he may have been under orders to make them as loud as possible, reducing the dynamic range. That, unfortunately, is the trend.
One cannot be sure of a remaster - even when it says "from original multitrack masters" (they all say that).
Google "loudness wars" - lots of material.
Otherwise remastered means NOTHING. Funny I just passed on remastered Royal Scam because it did not say from the original master tapes. The Kay Lied remaster is a snore.
Or did you, in your excitement, rip all the plastic off all of them at once?
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