Low quality of early Pink Floyd albums

Totally on the other side of the fence from me...I can't listen to anything pre-Meddle.

 

Saucerful is the one exception to the mostly quite good "Oh By The Way" PF collection. This set has had something of a polarizing existence, but listening again after playing PF mostly on original vinyl for several years, it represents the CD format well (Piper sounds great), more than I can say about the subsequent Discovery set.

 

A Nice Pair has Astronomy Domine from Ummagumma instead the original studio version so it's not a very good replacement. Also, I found both the Doug Sax and James Guthrie remasters far better sounding.
Relics is a very good compilation, I consider it almost another studio album on it's own. But from an audiophile point of view (or hearing), it has the same problems that I've mentioned on the others.
Still no big deal, I've listened to all this albums for the last 13 years and I love all of them, but sonically they are not as good as the albums from Meddle and beyond.

 

The UK 'Nice Pair' has the studio Astronomy Domine. Relics on UK vinyl is a 10/10 for sound (as Mikey Fremer might say). I disagree on the 2011 remasters, though I suspect I'm in the minority on that one. I think Guthrie did the Oh By The Way remasters as well - though only about 1/2 that set was remastered, which was what some didn't like about the set.

 

There is an excellent needle drop of the mono SOS available.

 

Early Floyd is what changed my perception of music and the experiences it can give to a human being. I totally get why you can't. Space, acid or whatever you call it, isn't for everyone and that's fair. For me though I consider it all (apart from Ummagumma) to be far superior to anything after The Wall.
Btw, not that I'm saying you have to like it, but I'd suggest listening to a few specific songs from the era. I think songs like Summer '68, Cymbaline, The Nile Song and Paintbox might still be enjoyable to people who only like later Pink Floyd.

 

Piper sounds fantastic for what it is. Saucerful definitaley is a bit muddier, but then it's overall quieter.

 

I'm still kind of kicking myself for not buying that once when I saw it out in the wild. At the time I didn't collect various pressings. I will say that the MONO mix sounds muddy to me more than the stereo. I have an 80's cd of SF Sorrow that sounds exceptional. I would assume the two-fer has the stereo.

 

Completely coincidentally, one of my local stores today had two copies of the US version of this 2-fer, titled Real Pretty. Of course I bought one! On first listen it’s not quite in the league of the Harvest but quite good on its own (it’s an Artisan pressing). The other copy is probably still there, if you find yourself in Sherman Oaks, CA.

 

I like the early albums. Some have flaws but I'm used to all of it.
Especially I hear tape issues on the More tracks. Probably the original tapes couldn't be found while remastering the album.

Some of the tracks from Saucerful were recorded at De Lane Lea and the studio still had 4-track tape machines at that time (if I'm not wrong).
So the multitracks were downmixed to second or third generation tapes to get more overdubs.
Even some final overdubs were done later at Abbey Road instead, maybe even re-EQing and other problems. Hence the muddy and (mostly) monaural sound on the backing tracks.

 

Really? Oh my... But some people still are speculating that a few tapes from the Piper sessions (including alternate takes of 'Bike', 'Lucifer Sam' and co.) still exist.