I must be honest that I'm not big on modern remixes of classic music. Sure, they can correct "mistakes" and present a more balanced, modern sound, but it's not what the band approved to put out to the public when it was new music. "Long, Long, Long" is supposed to be super quiet and subtle after the cacophony of "Helter Skelter". That's kind of the point. Even though it's the same mix, I didn't like the fact that the limiting/normalisation on the 2009 remaster made Long, Long, Long noticeably louder. It's supposed to be super quiet. Ringo's tom and snare hits are intended to blast out super loud out of the low volume of the singing, organ, and guitar. Just one man's opinion and YMMV, of course.
For context, I consider Dylan to be among the most important musicians ever. The musicians on Trouble No More are fantastic; the bands are literally on fire at times. That said, Bob's voice is as terrible as it ever got during this period; drink some prune juice for crying out loud! The pontificating tone, hopelessly tired message and relatively weak material results in a dysfunctional doorstop to my ears (the two versions of Gotta Serve Somebody do redeem the set somewhat). When Dylan is restless and/or annoyed, he can't be beat. When he's complacent, no thanks.
Going slowly, listening over and over again. Disc 2: Three tries at "Simple Twist of Fate" with Eric Weissberg and Deliverance. Beautiful. Blues time with "Call Letter Blues" and "Meet Me in the Morning" (including the definitive take of the latter) with Eric Weissberg and Deliverance (plus a steel guitar overdub by Buddy Cage). Groovy. "Idiot Wind" and its evolution through a series of six takes (vocals, acoustic guitar and bass only). The lyrics are not exactly the ones in the album yet, but Bob is already sure where he's aiming at from the first time the red light's on. Trascendental. Eight takes of "You Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go", all played with a Eric Weissberg and Deliverance. After these attempts, some of them really good, Dylan will keep on for the rest of the NY sessions accompanied by bass and keyboards only. Lovely. Not bad coming from only one of the six discs in the set. Edit: incidentally, in the notebook reproduced in the box set book, Bob spells "Rimbeau" instead of "Rimbaud".
Spring Heel Jack Live Recorded on 1/22 & 1/25/2003 With: Han Bennink: Drums William Parker: Bass Evan Parker: tenor saxophone Matthew Shipp: Fender Rhodes J. Spaceman: guitar Spring Heel Jack is Ashley Wales & John Coxon On Thirsty Ear 2 Astounding wide ranging pieces totalling ~ 75 minutes. Watch out for Han Bennink on the beastly bass/drum duo that starts the 39 minute second track.
You may want to check on that. I’m fairly sure there is a thread on this where the consensus is Message In A Box. It’s normally mastered and therefore crankable.
I remember reading many posts saying that, even though the mastering was not bad, it wasn't too memorable either. Maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, my ears are more than satisfied with it!
Well, the box came out in ‘93 or so which is probably pre-loudness wars. Maybe it could be better if mastered again, but using the three generations of Led Zeppelin digital re-releases as an example, it’s probably not worth the effort. Some tunes might be better and others might be no better, or worse, than what was previously available. Message In A Box is not the complete recordings even though it says it is, so there is a re-release opportunity there. But the band is wearing a toe tag these days.
Message in a Box sounds good, but the original LPs beat it easily. However, for CD, it's pretty good. I've never heard the early CDs, but mid-80s AM+ CDs usually sound very, very good.
I’m detecting a heavy vinyl bias here, and I’m not on that program. Have you heard the original CD of Ghost In The Machine? Again, it was mastered too low so the fact that AM+ CDs generally sound good is not a factor.
The AM+ ones are the ones I meant as the best digital. I hadn't realized there had been some earlier ones...
I think the U.S. digital release history is the original A&M CDs in the early to mid 80s, the box set in ‘93, and then remasters of the individual albums sonetime later. But after the box I stopped paying close attention. I had a lot of the early A&M CDs because I started buying them in the 80s when they came out. Unfortunately those are long gone. Wah. When I said the original Ghost CD was mastered too low, I’m not really offering an opinion. At the time it came out music publications noted that it was way too low. Or at least one did because I remember reading it. The box brought it up to normal levels, which is one of the reasons I like it.
I honestly have to say I haven't heard the whole Message box, but have a couple of the individual releases from the mastering done at that time, which I think is the same, and slightly prefer the earlier CDs I have, which I don't think include Ghost, so can't speak as much to that one particular. Anyway, the mid-90s mastering is far better than the later digipacks, which I stupidly traded many of my older CD copies in for at one point.
That’s right! I forgot all about the whole trade-in factor. I was still doing that just before I got to this forum. Now I’m into keep-ism. @notesofachord, my reply to you above is kind of snarky. Sorry, dude. I’m just not a vinyl guy, or a hi-rez dude. I’m basically Captain Redbook, with a few MFSLs and similar.