Bob Dylan SACD on MFSL: What's Next?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by John Rhett Thomas, Oct 20, 2014.

  1. Joey_Corleone

    Joey_Corleone Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockford, MI
    Mobile Fidelity is doing "Oh Mercy" on vinyl and SACD. Just saw it in the new catalog : )
     
  2. Gauth

    Gauth Forum Resident

    Location:
    Quebec
    It's great to see they are continuing the series! I guess the chances that they do the remaining 70's albums are slim, but all hope isn't gone..
     
    art likes this.
  3. Joey_Corleone

    Joey_Corleone Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockford, MI
    On a side note, they are also advertising Pat Garrett + Billy the Kid vinyl + sacd
     
  4. CBackley

    CBackley Chairman of the Bored


    YES!!! That’s great news!
     
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  5. Gauth

    Gauth Forum Resident

    Location:
    Quebec
    Wow! That's even more exciting! (To me anyway). I could understand them not wanting to do Self Portrait because of what it is, but at the same time, did Pat Garrett sell that much at the time? Definitely wasn't around back then to know if it was popular or not...

    One album that badly needs an upgrade is "Dylan (A Fool Such As I)". This one was HORRIBLE on the 2013 set, compared to the old Columbia CD from 1991. It sounds like it was mastered from a 3rd gen cassette...
     
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  6. mikeja75

    mikeja75 Forum Resident

    Location:
    U.S.
    Wow...I disagree completely on DYLAN in the box. I thought the 2013 mastering is excellent compared to the old CD...I A/B'd them and it was like a layer of mud was removed when listening to the 2013 disc.
     
  7. Gauth

    Gauth Forum Resident

    Location:
    Quebec
    I would have to A/B them again, but I already did a few times since 2013, and I keep coming back to the old CD. Maybe I should have them level matched to do an absolutely fair comparison, but the first thing that jumps to me when listening to the new CD, is just how harsh it sounds.

    Just to be clear this not a mastering (limiting/compression) issue to me, but more of a tape source issue. I'm usually not that type of guy who likes older dull sounding CD masterings, but in this case I just really didn't like the new one.
     
    millbend likes this.
  8. Gauth

    Gauth Forum Resident

    Location:
    Quebec
    God, I wasn't even slightly exaggerating when I said it sounded horrible. 10 seconds into the first song it's very obvious how bad it sounds.

    Here are 30 second samples of the first track, "Lily of the West", from the 1991 Columbia CD 32286, and the 2013 remaster.

    MEGA

    The 2013 remaster litterally sounds like a bad MP3 file encoded at 64kbps...
     
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2017
  9. art

    art Senior Member

    Location:
    520
    Man, what other MOFI releases are listed in that catalog?
     
  10. eelkiller

    eelkiller One of the great unwashed

    Location:
    Northern Ontario
  11. art

    art Senior Member

    Location:
    520
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  12. eelkiller

    eelkiller One of the great unwashed

    Location:
    Northern Ontario
    Yep just thought you would want to read the complaints.
     
    art likes this.
  13. C6H12O6

    C6H12O6 Senior Member

    Location:
    My lab
    Apparently on the MFSL SACD reissue of Love and Theft, they're missing an edit because the mistake "stadows" is right there at about 1:35-1:40 on "Moonlight."

    From the Uncut interview with Love and Theft engineer Chris Shaw:

    But, the thing was, there’s a lyric on the song where Bob sings, “The leaves cast their shadows on the stones,” and, when he was singing it live, he was reading his lyrics off a piece of paper, and, I guess, for a split-second, he got dyslexic, because on the live take, he actually sang, “The leaves cast their *stadows* on the stones.” So, the only time I did any editing on that song, was when I heard this word “stadows” go by, I knew he meant shadows, because I had the lyric sheet in front of me. So, when I tried a remix, I took the vocal, and I found a “sh” from somewhere else, and I chopped the “st” out and put that in, so he was singing “shadows,” y’know. And Bob was listening to all these mixes, and he kept saying, “Nah, man, I really wanna use that rough mix.” Finally, I said, “Well, you know, on the rough mix, you don’t sing ‘shadows,’ you sing, ‘stadows.” And he took a long hit on his cigarette, and he kind of looked at me deadpan, and he went, “Well, you know:*‘stadows.’*” So, at the final mastering, we figured that we really couldn’t let that stadows go by, because everybody would give him **** about it, so we did sliver edit, literally just for the “sh,” like a 15 milisecond edit.
     
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  14. mikeja75

    mikeja75 Forum Resident

    Location:
    U.S.
    I hear it! Thanks for pointing this out -- I added the MoFi "Moonlight" to my file of Dylan oddities and rarities.
     
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  15. John Rhett Thomas

    John Rhett Thomas Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Macon, GA, USA
    Great news about Oh Mercy and Pat Garrett. Wasn't expecting that one...but I'll be sure to reward MFSL with a purchase.

    That leaves Self Portrait, Greatest Hits Vol. II, and Dylan as the only catalogue titles from the debut album through Desire to not get the MFSL treatment.
     
    Gauth likes this.
  16. Denti

    Denti Forum Resident

    Location:
    PA
    And it leaves Street Legal and Infidels as the only Sony SACDs not to be touched.
     
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  17. C6H12O6

    C6H12O6 Senior Member

    Location:
    My lab
    I wonder if there's some reluctance to do Infidels because it's an early all-digital recording.
     
  18. Lovealego

    Lovealego Senior Member

    Well there is no sign the the Dylan series is over. I wouldn't be surprised if it continues with a few more titles.

    Also "Slow Train Running" was a Sony SACD and MOFI haven't announced that one.
     
  19. Johan1880

    Johan1880 Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Music Direct is taking pre-orders for a MFSL One Step 45rpm version of Blood on the Tracks.
     
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  20. Jack

    Jack Senior Member

    Slow Train Coming
     
    goer likes this.
  21. Denti

    Denti Forum Resident

    Location:
    PA
    Right, Slow Train Coming, too. That and Street Legal would be nice to have.
     
  22. joannenugent

    joannenugent Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Coast USA
    I am very glad to see MoFi continuing this series. Looking at how well they handled the dark mooded Blood On The Tracks, I am very excited for Oh Mercy!

    On a side note, did MoFi ever address the clicking problems on Track 5 of the Planet Waves SACD? Been out of the loop for a bit, and can't even remember which MoFi thread the clicks were originally discussed!
     
  23. markmck79

    markmck79 Forum Resident

    I was told by MoFi Customer Service that there would not be a fix/repress.
     
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  24. Rob Hughes

    Rob Hughes Forum Resident

    Also (I'm doing this from memory; please correct me as necessary): MoFi consulted with the remastering engineer, who confirmed the audibility of the clicks and said they were present on the tapes he was given. There may even have been a defense of the decision not to fix/repress in the name of "warts-and-all".

    The clicks are indeed audible and I can see why they are an irritation for audiophile buyers of an MFSL title. That said, given the way I usually listen to music, the 2-4 light clicks on that one track are not much of an impediment to enjoying what is otherwise a pretty great remaster.

    There is also, on one track, a throat-clearing, one-beat, introductory guitar thrum included on some versions of the album, but shaved off here. Listeners who know and love that guitar thrum will also be frustrated by its absence on the MFSL.

    So: in sum, I think the irritations with Planet Waves are justifiable -- one expects perfection from MFSL. What one gets on Planet Waves is perfection on all but two tracks. My own view is that the imperfections there are pretty minor, but others are well within their rights to observe that audible imperfection is audible imperfection and I think most of us agree that MFSL might have made some happier decisions on the two tracks in question.
     
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  25. joannenugent

    joannenugent Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Coast USA
    Thank you so much for catching me up!!!

    I am glad to hear MFSL went back to check the master tapes! If the clicks are on the mater tape, then I have no problem with MFSL leaving them on. Tape damage does happen, and if MFSL wants to take the stance that they present the master tapes as is without digital touchups, I am fine with that! For some reason (and again I have been out of the loop on this), I seem to recall that the LP pressing of Planet Waves did not have the clicks, which left me rather confused regarding the SACD.
     
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