Kinks Deluxe Editions 2011-2014 (Part Five)

Considering that no multi-track tapes exist for any Kinks Pye-era studio albums in full, the closest we could come to a remixed reissue album would be to process the existing mixes, Beach Boys style. Does anyone want that?

 

I think you mean Art Lover and Destroyer.

 

You obviously haven't heard the previous Castle/Sanctuary remasters, because those are wonky eq'd and ear bleeders. The Deluxe Editions are much better, IMO.

 

I love that with the Quietness Fetishists it's never just "it's mastered a little louder than I prefer, but otherwise it sounds great," it's always the end of the world: IT SOUNDS LIKE JACKHAMMERS AND CHAINSAWS!! MY EARS ARE BLEEDING!! I CAN'T LISTEN TO MORE THAN TEN SECONDS OF IT WITHOUT GETTING A MIGRAINE!!

If I only listened to music that was recorded, mixed and mastered to audiophile standards I'd be a sad dude with a lot of time on my hands.

 

Unfortunately, I find myself listening to a lot of deluxe reissues for the bonus tracks only. This is especially the case with many Universal releases.

 

Or you could be a happy dude like me, with hardly any reissue CDs that came out after 1995 in his collection and tons of wider dynamic range vinyl.

Am I a "quietness fetishist" or someone reasonable who expects labels and their mastering staff to NOT destroy the nice sound of the tapes their talented artists slaved away in the studio to create?

 

I am with you. However, Summer thinks we're both nuts!

 

Opinions vary. I mentioned earlier in this thread that I recently ordered several of the 2008 Deluxe Editions, and I just received the Deluxe Edition of Something Else By The Kinks last week. My frame of reference is the old PRT CDs, most of which sound very good to me. I'll know quickly if the volume on the Deluxe Editions is right for me.

 

I howled when the reissues came out 10 years ago with a needledrop for Village Green in stereo. The eq sucked too, but at least they didn't crush it with 6 passes of multiband compression!

 

My favorite DE and not coincidentally my favorite Kinks album. Some amazing bonus tracks and a near audiophile transfer of the mono Something Else. Remember guys the "master tapes" of the early Kinks albums are rough sounding to begin with, these were not recorded with the care and engineering prowess of an EMI session. I for one would not prefer a flat transfer that sounds like the master tapes - as interesting as that might be to hear - a Steve Hoffman or Kevin Gray could definitely improve the sound with a little audio magic. The PRT's are probably as close to a flat transfer as we are going to get, although it's unclear if all their tape sources were first generation or not.

 

A somewhat on-topic question:

What's the deal with this "Lost Tunes.com" mentioned on these DEs? I just checked it and it's a poorly designed page that appears to have nothing to do with the Kinks and/or Universal.

What gives? Did a different website used to be active?

 

Maybe this? http://store.universal-music.co.uk/restofworld/artists/lost-tunes/icat/lost-tunes

 

Thanks man. But that website seems abandoned as well...

 

I got my copy today and all I will say is that it sounds great to these ears and the Alternative Version of 'Lola' is amazing on CD1. I wonder if this is the version Ray talked about a couple of years ago in an interview (one music magazine, possibly Uncut) of a practice version recorded in his house?

 

I plan on picking this up over the weekend..Does anyone know if the design of the deluxe packaging is similar to the others or is it in book form like many new DEs are reverting to?

 

It's a Jewel case and its crap - sticks out like a sore thumb when alongside all the other Deluxe's. Can't believe there's a human being somewhere who thought that was a good idea!!

 

UGH!

 

see post #131 for a picture of it.

 

Which is weird, because I've read countless threads on this forum where people have complained that CDs aren't issued in jewel cases enough anymore.

From a consistency standpoint, the jewel case is a bit odd, but for me the music on the discs matters more. I got my copy yesterday and I'm looking forward to spending time with it over the weekend.

 

Got this yesterday and enjoyed the Lola album. Still not a fan of Percy but most of the bonus tracks and God's Children are worth it.

I have to say tho, that while listening to the first disc, without changing the volume on my headphones, when it got to the first bonus track "Anytime" the sound just seemed to get murkier, louder and more bass heavy.

 

Interesting. I won't get to hear my copy until next week (I'm the US) but does it say when "Anytime" was mixed? I wonder if it's a modern (2014) mix, as archival tracks sometimes are, and different sensibilities are applied to the mix (or just different technology) rendering results different than they would have been if it had been mixed closer to the time of recording.

I often think of this when I hear "Mountain Woman" -- I'm convinced the 1998 mix we have is a lot more polite than it would have been in 1971 on Muswell Hillbillies. The rhythm guitar on "Mountain Woman", for example, is a lot further back in the mix than it is on other up-tempo Muswell tracks, while the vocals are way up-front.

Of course, I could be completely wrong about all of this.

 

Good post. I plan to listen to the Something Else Deluxe Edition set this weekend.

I definitely agree about the recording quality of those early Kinks albums. They are raw, but I like that. It fits the music well.

 

No, I think you'll find that this excellent CD set being released in perfectly standard packaging really is the worst thing to happen since global warming.

 

The modern mixes (all stereo) are from December 2012 and they were done by Dougal Lott at Konk Studios in London, as were the modern mixes from the Muswell Hillbillies Deluxe Edition. They include "Anytime" as well as "The Good Life", "the instrumental versions of "The Contenders" and "This Time Tomorrow", the alternate version of "Lola", and the remix of "Dreams". To my surprise, "Got to Be Free" is a stereo mix of unknown origin and is by The Kinks- it is very different from the Ray Davies recording taken straight from the BBC Play for Today The Loneliness of the Long Distance Piano Player.

 

There used to be a time when CDs with full dynamic range were praised on this forum. Now the people who prefer those are called "quitness fetishists".