Grateful Dead "Live Dead"..coming to Mofi?

I just re-read this thread and I'm still confused. Is the MoFi the original mix or something else? I no longer have my original LP (foolishly lent it to someone who never returned it) so I can't really compare. It certainly doesn't sound like what I remember...Maybe this is one of those instances where I like the remixed CD better.

 

It's something else.

It's something else. The Organ in Dark Star is way too prominent in the mix and Bobby's wonderful guitar chords are really buried.

What's imprinted on my brain is the original LP, as years ago I made the effort to seamlessly "splice" sides 1/2/3 together on tape. Don't know how many times I listened to the old WB CD, but it has to sound more original than the "new" Rhino CD mix.

As of late I've been listening to selections from the 10 (or 11) CD Fillmore West 1969 Box Set, and they sound great!

 

It is remixed like the Rhino CD.

 

Good thing this album is new to me and I'm not laden with all these biases.

 

Careful, they sneak up on you over time and are considered by some to be a good thing. Just a different point of reference, and it's often difficult to determine whether something new is really better, just different or simply a rehash, without knowing and understanding what preceded it.

From The Life of Reason by George Santayana:

"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".

On the other hand.

From Thomas Gray's poem, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College: "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise."

 

I am still puzzled that there is no mention of a "remix" anywhere on the MOFI release.

I never bought the cd and it's been many years since I listened to my old LP but am I correct that the major difference between the Rhino cd and the original mix is that TC's keyboard is more prominent and Jerry's guitar and voice is being burried in the mix, especially in Dark Star, right? BTW, who's credited with the cd remix?

MOFI claims that they used the original master tapes whatever that means.

 

Pity that Live Dead and Skull & Roses aren't being offered in SACD.

 

I am probably going to hold off on the Mofi Skull & Roses until the verdict is in. One good way of telling if they use the LP masters there will be if BERTHA fades in at the beginning.

 

The remaster CD doesn't mention a remix (and includes the original "mixed at Muggles Gramophone" credit from the LP) but it mentions "reissue produced for release by James Austin and David Lemieux" and includes Jeffrey Norman in a list of people credited with "project assistance."

Listening to "Dark Star" on this CD the beginning has Phil very, very loud, and Jerry buried, but as they get into the song the balance becomes more reasonable.

 

Thanks for your reply, I see.

BTW, I was at the bookstore the other day and there was a review of the MOFI release in Absolute Sound. The reviewer mentioned nothing about remix. He also concluded that the MOFI is much better than his original green WB pressing.

 

The 2003 HDCD Live/Dead is currently being sold by Amazon UK for the very attractive price of £2.99!

How's that for a super deal?!

The sound on the remixed HDCD impresses me more than the original vinyl mix, possibly with the exception of 'Dark Star', even though I do find the new 'Dark Star' mix very interesting too.

(Nice also to hear the shorter and rather deligthful 7" studio version of 'Dark Star' added as an uncredited bonus track at the end).

 

Must admit that I have officially tired of the Dead. When I look at my vast collection and try and get through a release, such as Live Dead, I find myself not only bored but mildly irritated. How did this happen?

 

Have you run out of the right chemicals?

 

I picked up the SHMCD via a member here. Sounds very darned good to me.

 

Ha! Point taken.

 

I guess I'm in the same boat.

I'm a fairly recent fan of The Grateful Dead and only own a few of their LPs. I had never heard Live Dead until I saw it was being released by MFSL and went to itunes to listen to some samples. Based on that I ordered the MFSL double LP and have now played it 4 or 5 times.

I think the music is great-side two especially, and the SQ is very good as well. I've never heard an original and I'm alright with that. I don't mind enjoying the new MoFi in ignorance.

Pressing wise, I thought my set was a little too ticky in parts on the first listen compared to other recent MoFi reissues I've bought. I was really pleased that one cleaning took care of that and the surfaces are now extremely quiet.

 

Okay you guys...YOU WERE RIGHT!

I picked up the original cd last night, played it this morning, going back and forth between the two sources playing at the same time. Dark Star is like...a night and day difference. The original mix is adventurous. More Jerry. The remix is just them laid out left (Jerry), center (Phil), and right (Bob.) On the original mix, they're not restricted to those places...well, maybe Bob is...

Big difference in the drums too; you can hear them much better in the original mix.

So...I apologize for my original comment...; might've seemed a bit flippant or dismissive. Now I understand. Ignorance is bliss...; but now that I know, I really don't feel as enamored with the new MOFI LP...

 

From the sounds of your post perhaps I should stay away from the original mix then, at least for a little while.

I would like to stay enamored with my MoFi LP until I get my $40 of listening out of it!

 

Hmmm. This was the first Dead lp I had and I hated it. Then American Beauty onward smoothed everything over. I lost that original and never replaced it. I have rediscovered early Dead recently and love Anthem and Aox. I'm still on the fence here with Live/Dead since The Eleven version here is missing the William Tell part and Lovelight is too much for me.

That Dark Star single version is quite tempting.

 

I think the Dead considered "William Tell" part of St. Stephen (although it was not included in most standalone versions of the song) so it is included in that track on the remaster CD.

 

After reading all this stuff, I've gone back and listened to my original, circa 1972 WB vinyl of Dark Star a couple times. Still sounds wonderful, magical. This a.m. I listened to the Rhino Live/Dead CD (came out about 10 years ago?) and the mix sounded awful -- and people have commented that the MFSL LP sounds like that mix. I've bought a bunch of MFSL vinyl over the past 30-35 years -- and most of their releases are pretty great -- but I'm staying away from this one.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Us grunge kids are now in our late 30's/early 40's. I was a freshman in high school when Pearl Jam "Ten" was released. I spend a lot on hifi audio and vinyl and I am not at all impressed with the "new arrivals" page for any of the major online sellers. The list of releases are, at best, what my dad has in his vinyl stack...at best!

 

Hello from Heidelberg,


well, I have not bought and listened to this Mofi-LP of 'Live Dead' yet. And the more I read, the more I doubt that I'll invest the money some day.


Following the discussions in other music & audio forums, too, there's obviously some dispute about the clinical, too polished sound of this recent release. Several listeners claim that, despite of a higher resolution on the Mofi, it don't match Warner Vinyl pressings in different terms (naturalness and warming of the intruments & voices, spatial resolution).


I have the very first US pressing (in VG+ condition, about 150 g, with insert), plus the very first German pressing (in NM- condition, 160 g) in my collection - both released on Warner Brothers Seven Arts in 1969. (Later releases are, as is well known, on Warner Brothers only, without 'Seven Arts' on the label.)

Compared with Warner Vinyl pressings of the early and mid-seventies, and also compared with the Rhino 180g Vinyl release of 2003, the very first Warner-Seven Arts pressings, especially my German copy, are a bit more dynamic & clearer in my ears.

So, I would not be surprised if the very first WB-7Arts pressings put those Mofi-recordings in direct comparison even more to shame....



Greetings from Germany


´

 

In this case, it won't match at all, as the MoFi Live Dead is sourced from the Rhino remix, not the original mix. No amount of mastering moves will change that.