Heart - "Little Queen" - Poor sounding album?

I picked up a mint condition copy . The label is "Portrait". It is a US pressing. The sound is very blah. Lacking any highs and sounds muddy. Is this some defective pressing or how it sound to everyone? There is no distortion, just lack of any bright sound.

 

It should sound wonderful. I have a very early 1-a/1-b Portrait with the "Go for it" and "Beauty take us" inscriptions in the dead wax. The guitar work on the album should be "alive" and visceral.

 

My Canadian Portrait LP sounds wonderful as well.

 

Oh boy, do I feel sorry for you. My Canadian original on Portrait is smoking good.
Barracuda is so good, that I’ve used it as a demo track.

 

Even my Aussie pressing sounds fantastic. Sounds like you got a dud

 

It can sound great! Bummer yours does not.

 

Me too. Great studio sound. Maybe later versions sound weak, but the sound is there at first.

 

Shamed! Seriously though, after Steve's post I grabbed my Friday Music 180g pressing of Little Queen "Mastered from the original Epic Records/Portrait Records tapes by Joe R. and Kevin G. at RTI/AcousTech" and am listening now. I think it sounds pretty dang good for a rock LP from '77 but since I am also a Class of '77 guy I may be a bit biased! Anywhoo, it may lack in soundstage and depth and extended highs but it is a punchy and honest sounding rock record to me. I am hearing lots of details too. I think it sounds exciting and certainly not blah or muddy. Is that because it has been altered from the original? Can a fresh version of an old record ever sound better than the master mixes? It doesn't say "remastered". Are the original tapes the same as the 'Master Mixes"? Just curious really. I guess I'm either looking for an education or a big fat slice of humble pie

 

Kendun

 

Little Queen debuted in my sophomore year of high school. I saw Heart that year in a multi-band line-up at the Oakland colisseum. The regular album sounded like it had blanket over it to me (while Dreamboat Annie sounded terrific). 25 years later I got a copy of the Mastersound version, and it sounds pretty good to me.

 

I recently listened to Little Queen and Dog and Butterfly, just a few weeks ago, back to back and thought they were both stellar sounding. The mandolin/guitars on Little Queen were all there, vocals too, no mud. It's frustrating sometimes when you get a veiled sounding LP and you know something better is out there. Sometimes that is a remaster, but in my travels it's usually just a very early copy with the right initials in the dead wax. I don't have tons of records like some people, but we do have thousands and I've been buying them since 1973 and still have everything I bought and care for them with enough love and OCD that they're still nice and clean. Still comes down to what you play them on though and the room in which it is played.

 

I created a quick 1-minute sound clip of the LP. The first 10 seconds are Madonna to show there is nothing wrong with my system!

You can hear the drop in fidelity when the album starts.

 

I do not see that on my deadwax. Perhaps I have some reissue from a 5'th generation master tape copy?

 

Is your pressing from a record club?

 

My original 45 of Barracuda sounds quite a bit better than the LP as I recall.

 

Not all master tapes sound wonderful out of the box.

 

I have Madonna's first album and a few CD's and they all sound incredible, good choice for the comparison. Yes, I can hear the difference.

 

Not all master tapes sound wonderful out of the box.

I'm going to trust Steve on this, that maybe I have the earliest issued version of the LP and someone worked the best magic they could on it, and maybe after that they just let it go to the pressing plant as they found it. My LP is not flat or veiled, has some life, but I have better sounding LP's.

 

I have 2 or 3 of these I picked up cheap, couple promos they all sound amazing.

 

For the average Joe, what does "recut went flat" mean? And how many times is a master tape used to make an LP like this? In other words, how long does a stamper last before they play the master tape again to make a new one? And how many different tape machines would it get played on?

 

My copy of this makes me weep at the sonic goodness.

The Portrait pressing I have has "Go For It" stamped on side 1 and "Beauty Take Us" on side 2.

Even more precious to me is that this is one of the last orders I had with George Grand.