"FM" - Original Soundtrack on CD-awful mastering!

I never new the soundtrack came out on CD, but considering how crappy it sounds, why did they even bother?

I can't remember the last time I returned a CD for poor sound quality, but I just received it from Amazon and it's a stinker. It sounds flat and dull like a worn out cassette tape.

Totally unacceptable! It's a great collection, but I just can't listen to it anymore.

I think I'll send these coasters back, and just pull the same tracks from my existing CD's and re-create it.

However, is this CD the only source for the live Linda Ronstadt tracks?

I know the mix of "FM" itself is on "Decade Of Steely Dan" and I have the original Roger Nichols mastering, which sounds awesome. But the only place you can get the "Reprise" of FM other than this dog of a CD is on vinyl right? I did a needle drop of the "Reprise" from the 12" single and that sounds pretty good.

Is that it? The rest of the tracks can be pulled from other CDs.

 

In other words, the vinyl issue is better than the CD issue of this classic soundtrack.

 

It seems like the version of "FM" on Steely Dan Gold contains most of the Reprise version, but edited differently. Can someone point out how I might be able to re-create the Reprise? I have FM on "decade' "gold" and on "Citizen Steely Dan"

 

Maybe, but if the CD was mastered from the LP cutting master, then probably not much better. I don't have a vinyl copy to compare.

 

Pretty much every song on that LP can be found in better quality on the original release by the actual band. Pretty mainstream stuff like We Will Rock You, More Than A Feeling, etc.

I do need the song "FM" itself, though. Vinyl-wise, does anyone know what's best - FM Soundtrack, Gold, Decade?..

 

The Decade of Steely Dan comp was only released on CD.

 

That makes it easier. So it's down to FM Soundtrack or Gold. Anyone own both?

 

same goes for citizen steely dan. "Gold" did come out on vinyl. However, there are two different mixes of FM. The mix on "Decade" is the mix used for cut 1 of the "FM" soundtrack, but it's a different mix or edit on "gold" which has some of the reprise. Right?

 

I don't have the original "gold" vinyl, not sure what mix they used.

 

Right.

 

Who put this out? Is this the dreaded Culture Factory?

 

ok, so is there a way to make an edit from FM on "GOLD" CD to get the Reprise version?

 

There's two versions. I got the older MCA release. There is a newer "culture factory" but I hear thats been brickwalled.

 

Yep. I've heard it. It's shrill sounding.

 

My recollection of the original vinyl release is that it was no great shakes sound-wise (not to mention pretty uninteresting, with mostly stuff otherwise available elsewhere).

It's almost a certainty that they just used that old LP compilation master for the CD, and that compilation master was itself created from mostly haphazard dubs of various cuts.

 

probably, how did Steely Dan let them get away with that? Considering how obsessive they are. Where else can I get the Linda Ronstadt cuts?

 

This entire enterprise was put together by Irving Azoff as a cynical attempt to ride the soundtrack wave of much better realized movies/soundtracks as Saturday Night Fever.

He managed a good number of the artists represented on the album.

That doesn't quite answer your question of why Steely Dan didn't object to the sound. But presumably they didn't consider it a SD album, and their contribution(s) was considered a favor to Irving.

 

Discussed before, interesting reading here : Steely Dan FM (No static at all)* »

 

Here's a sample of FM Reprise from my old 2x12, surprised the 2000 MCA disc would sound shrill if they were using the old master, something must have gone wrong...
Dropbox - FM Samp.wav »

 

The unreleased live Linda Ronstadt stuff can only be found on the FM soundtrack to this day.

 

Wasn't the intro of one track partially cut off on the MCA 2-CD? I want to say it was "It Keeps You Runnin'" (neither my original FM LP nor CD are within reach to verify it right now)...

 

I would've guessed by the description that this was the Culture Factory version the OP was talking about. Very surprised the 2000 MCA was bad. I was actually looking for that mastering...

 

I just listened to the 2000 MCA "FM" soundtrack on CD and I have no major issues with the sound of the Steely Dan theme or "reprise". That edited mix of the theme on those other CD's have always driven me crazy. I call that remix, the "too much sax" version!

 

The Linda Ronstadt cuts are crazy good. She was at the height of her powers then and always had a great band. I just wish there was more Linda.

 

there are a couple of different versions of steely dan's "FM". and the difference is in the outro.......one of them has a guitar solo outro and the other a saxophone solo outro, i just can't remember which is which and where they can be found.