Peter_Puget Posted June 19, 2006 Posted June 19, 2006 (edited) 30 years ago I purchased Layla by Derek and The Dominoes. Great double lp record. The sound was ok; a very enjoyable record. Several years ago I purchased the same recording on CD. The CD sounded so bad that I never listened to it. Last weekend I acquired the “Mickboy remaster” and it sounds so much better than the official release despite being a needle drop remaster. Back years ago when the Beatle’s catalogue was being released on CD I purchased “Rubber Soul” and never listened to it because it sounded so bad. The LP I stole from my sister (from the 60s) still sounded better! The Mickboy remasters are traded freely amongst traders and from the perspective of the record companies and musicians they represent illegal theft of their product. My take is I purchased a cd ostensibly made by professionals yet clearly not made to professional standards that at a very real level was fraud. The mickboy remaster barley makes me whole. A quick internet survey does indicate that others agree with me that the CD Layla sounds like shit. I can’t take back the cd and say the so-called remastering was incompetent and get a refund. That a fan remastering from an lp can sound better than a “remastered” cd is a joke and another reason why record companies suck. Edited June 19, 2006 by Peter_Puget Quote
olyclimber Posted June 19, 2006 Posted June 19, 2006 tell me more about the good old days, Peter. Quote
Peter_Puget Posted June 19, 2006 Author Posted June 19, 2006 (edited) Oh Oly I could go on all night. Good ole days? You can't handle the good ole days! Memories like the ..... The good ole days are usually right now. Edited June 19, 2006 by Peter_Puget Quote
kix Posted June 19, 2006 Posted June 19, 2006 I'm guessing you really look forward to high school reunions. get help here: www.livinginthepast.com (of course now you'll go remastering all your Tull albums) Quote
willstrickland Posted June 19, 2006 Posted June 19, 2006 Oh the flipside, the BlueNote RVG (Rudy Van Gelder) remasters sound great. RVG was the engineer at alot of the signature BlueNote sessions of the 50s/60s and he's been remastering the best of the catalog. The stuff they are putting out is awesome: Cannonball Adderly, Something Else Horace Silver, Song for my Father Dexter Gordon, GO Art Blakey, Moanin' Grant Green, Idle Moments Kenny Burrell, Midnight Blue Lee Morgan, The Sidewinder Sonny Rollins, A night at the Village Vanguard Sonny Clark, Sonny Clark Trio etc, etc. They've really been cranking up the pace of releases in this series lately. I've done an A/B listen with a couple of earlier CD releases and the new RVG versions and the difference is amazing. Maybe the 24bit mastering they are using is part of it. Quote
Peter_Puget Posted June 19, 2006 Author Posted June 19, 2006 The defining difference is “care.” By the way I see a lot of route names in your list. Quote
roboboy Posted June 19, 2006 Posted June 19, 2006 PP, I purchased the Layla 20th anniversary edition cd which puts it's release at 1990 and I always thought it sounded fine. The US vinyl was on Atco label whose 70s pressings usually sound crappy. If it's the RSO vinyl reissue there's no hope. This cd remastering hype seems a lot of times to be a sales gimmick to get people to buy the latest and greatest version when it isn't necessarily so. Seems to me in general that anything called remastered after the mid 80s when most new recordings were issued on cd anyway is usually just a reissue of the same source which they would have used on the first release. Remastered cd recordings that were originally vinyl (up to mid 80s) can end up being just about anything in quality and it's hard to know without listening unless you can find info on the internet. But usually remastered should mean good. Quote
Peter_Puget Posted June 19, 2006 Author Posted June 19, 2006 I have this guy. I am guessing you have this. Funny thing about my version is that Layla does sound good - very different from the rest of the disc. In general I agree about remasters but on some there is a distinct difference in sound. I have taken to review the Steve Hoffman forums to see what others think not that I always agree with what is written. Quote
mattp Posted June 19, 2006 Posted June 19, 2006 I use to have (maybe still do) some "special" remaster or golden whatever it was of JA's Volunteers, and boy did it suck. It seems to me that with a fair amount of older music and a good turntable, the old vinyl's sound as good or better than the cd's even though they do have dust and scratches on them. By the way: "have you ever loved a woman" and "Key to the Highway" Quote
roboboy Posted June 19, 2006 Posted June 19, 2006 I have the single disc I was never convinced that 2 more discs of layla studio sessions in a box had any merit. Tower records also has a Japanese import, might be good. Quote
layton Posted June 19, 2006 Posted June 19, 2006 I wish I had a record player and the vinal for Traffic's "Welcome to the Canteen". This album is made for that sound Quote
catbirdseat Posted June 19, 2006 Posted June 19, 2006 Oh the flipside, the BlueNote RVG (Rudy Van Gelder) remasters sound great. RVG was the engineer at alot of the signature BlueNote sessions of the 50s/60s and he's been remastering the best of the catalog. The stuff they are putting out is awesome: Cannonball Adderly, Something Else Horace Silver, Song for my Father Dexter Gordon, GO Art Blakey, Moanin' Grant Green, Idle Moments Kenny Burrell, Midnight Blue Lee Morgan, The Sidewinder Sonny Rollins, A night at the Village Vanguard Sonny Clark, Sonny Clark Trio etc, etc. They've really been cranking up the pace of releases in this series lately. I've done an A/B listen with a couple of earlier CD releases and the new RVG versions and the difference is amazing. Maybe the 24bit mastering they are using is part of it. I gotta get me some of that! Those are quality recordings! Quote
mattp Posted June 19, 2006 Posted June 19, 2006 Miles, Coltrane, Bird, or Monk? Now you'd be talking! Quote
willstrickland Posted June 20, 2006 Posted June 20, 2006 Check out the Blue Note page, that's only a small sampling of the RVG remasters. http://www.bluenote.com/rvg_promo.asp Quote
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