If the DSOTM re-release was done on all analog equipment, I bet it's awesome. Que up the Wizard of Oz and enjoy! Otherwise, I'll skip it.
Carl,
A little history on the 30th Anniv. DSOTM release. First of all it was mastered from the original analog stereo master. As the story has it, like in most other things US and European standard for analog tape recorder set-up are different ( particularly the Bias and EQ, the EQ that is internal to the recorder electronics itself, not the tone changing EQ that the recording or mastering engineer applies to shape the sound) In the process of doing the 30th Anniv. mastering somebody notice that for some reason one of the settings was set for the US standard and the other for the European standard. Supposedly, this was the first time that both the EQ and the Bias were both set correctly during the mastering session. If this is actually true I don't know (hey, I saw it on the internet, it
has to be true
) What I do know is the new LP is the best pressing of DSOTM I have every heard, bar none. That includes the original British EMI and the MFSL UHQR pressings. If you are a DSOTM fan this one is a must have.
Most modern pressings sound bad or poorly eq'd...... on vinyl, they sound more digital than cd.....
Used vinyl from times when analog recordings were being done is the only way to go. Otherwise, the magic is lost... or at least doesn't work.
Unfortunately, while many new releases are now coming out on vinyl, many of these LPs are little more than analog pressings of the CD master, CD masters that have already been compressed and EQed for the benifit of the ipod generation. Sad, but to the major record labels,the LPs are looked at as an afterthought or a marketing gimmick, not as viable product line in and of themselves.
On the other hand, the good news is there is a lot of good work being done by some small record companies who are re-releasing LPs of older recording where the LP and its sound quality are the companies main product. Of course you have to have a good quality recording to start with, but there seems to be an increasing pool of great music of yesteryear coming out on high quality LPs. Go to the Acoustic Sounds web site (
www.acousticsounds.com) and check out some of the reissues for some of the smaller labels like Classic Records, Pure Pleasure or Sundazed. Good stuff. Owner Chad Kasem is even starting to put out new direct-to-disc blues albums on his own Analogue Productions label.
So it's even tougher for me to find music that a-I like and b-sounds better than cd... sigh. But it's a great nervosa.. I have to search far and wide, then listen and hope for the best.
Don't I know it.
](https://www.audionervosa.com/Smileys/default/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
Like a lot of other things, the journey is more important (or at least more fun) than the destination. In a similar vein I keep trying to explain to my wife that going fishing and catching fish are two mutually exclusive events. If they both happen on the same trip that's nice, if they don't , oh well. Women seem to have a have time grasping this concept.
Tom
