Jon Astley.........What Happened?

It is nice to know that some of them are listening and our complaints are not falling on deaf ears.

Now, if we can just get these record company execs to back off the heavy limiting/compression!

 

When you think about Astley's history it's no wonder he made things sound bright. One quick look at allmusic.com explains a lot.

He started under Glyn Johns tuteledge in the late 70's, but came into his own (or reinvented himself as allmusic states) during the cd era. In other words, light and bright were the key words of the day when it came to (re)issuing things on CD. He also made a couple of albums himself.

allmusic.com also lists him as the transfer engineer for the bulk of the Stones reissues -- whether or not that's true, I can't say.

 

Maybe I don't get around much anymore but I have only heard his work criticized in two places...here and at the ICE fourm.

 

He takes plenty of sh-, uh, stuff, on some Who lists and sites too. Maybe he's seen some of that as well.

 

That would be on the 1990 2-fers. I don't believe NR was used on the Good Vibrations box set.

 

Regular ICE poster Mike Parros does prefer the Hoffman remaster of Who's Next over the 1995 "remaster" while his daughter's mastering tastes of the album are opposite. I happen to like the Hoffman remastering of the album and ripped the bonus tracks from the 1995 remaster (a co-worker has a copy of the 1995 Astley remaster) as MP3s and are archived on an MP3 CD-R.

 

I don't need any other CD version of the album other than the CD I have in my collection.

 

The wavforms are huge and there's a lot of limiting/compression applied even though the sound is not too bad. I think he took it as far as he could before degradation occurred. I like the set but still haven't decided if it edges out the Canadian release. Steve's just doesn't have the "in your face" presence that the DE does. The bonus tracks are pretty good.

 

Somewhat off the subject, but as great as Keith Moon could be on most Who material, his attempt at a basic shuffle (or maybe non-attempt) on Baby, Don't Do It leaves something to be desired.

Then again, in some respects his lack of versatility has something to do with his greatness within the Who context.

doug

 

Quoting myself here 'cause I'd like to add that although I am torn thus far between Steve's release and the Astley I think there's a place for both on my shelf. The Deluxe Edition is worth grabbing if for nothing else but the live set on disc 2 (which is awesome) and the bonus tracks. I many ways I believe that they are superior sonically to the original album tracks.

Someone mentioned this earlier but I feel it's worth repeating...Steve's release has a more vinyl (analog) feel to it. More like what you'd expect if you bought the album in the mid-seventies...which is good. The Astley is great but has that faint digital presence found in most of today's remasters. Both are worthy and valid. Just a matter of the listener's style preference at the moment of playback really.

On another note...it's probably the best Astley Who remaster I've heard yet. Don't shy away from it if you've ever disliked any of the others that have been offered.

 

Another interesting change worth noting, in contrast to the '95 remaster with bonus tracks, is that the live tracks on disc 2 did not get edited as much.

The two Young Vic tracks that showed up on the '95 edition were Water and Naked Eye. Water has had about three minutes restored. And where Daltrey had paused during the final verse of Naked Eye, in '95 they "fixed" it simply by snipping out that whole verse! Now it's there, complete with his pause that would have been fairly easy to edit.

On the scorching version of Young Man Blues here Pete's guitar completely drops out for about thirty seconds, leaving Entwistle and Moon to jam together. When Pete manages to get plugged back in, they pick right up where he left them... and "they" left it in, thank goodness. I don't know if this would be an Astely decision, or be up to the producer. In any case its good to see them resisting the temptation to mess with the original tapes in editing as well as audio processing.

Ere

 

"P" is for the Push to make things sterile clean-like,
"H" is for "Hey, I got that swell new Sonic Solutions software,"
"A" is for "Awright, we zapped out All of the hiss",
"S" is for "Sheesh" 15 years later (for alla the above),
"E" is for the Edgy sound of digital Equalization,
and "S" is for the Sweet Sound our boss o' the Sonic Sauce Supplies us....

Yikes, this is why I don't write poetry/song lyrics for a living!

 

I just got done listening to the Deluxe Edition, and I'm sticking with Steve's. While the Deluxe Edition sounds better than the '95 edition, Steve's sounds more natural to these humble little ears.

 

I agree. While the DE version sounds good, nothing sounds more natural than the SH version. The version I will always play for pleasure.

 

Most everyone is discussing the treatment of the original album, but I'm wondering what you all think of disc 2?

Ere

 

Disc 2 is worth the price of admission! Kick ass performance!

 

Disc 2:

The way the song crossfades & noise reduction were handled is terrible.

There will be a ton of hiss during speech/applause and then suddenly no hiss when the music starts, marring the beginnings of songs, etc....

 

Unlike Live at Leeds, where there is a high quality stereo boot available, in the case of the Young Vic the boot is mono, with a mix that buries the drums. So yeah, this is a substantial upgrade, regardless of the NR and compression.

 

I finally got to hear this new master on a loan from a friend. A quick comparison with Steve's version reveals Astley's new master is a little meaty and beaty, and Steve's master is big and bouncy.

Ok, next........