I recently picked up the Mari Wilson compilation The Platinum Collection. It's a generous collection that includes her entire first (and best) album, Showpeople--although in random order scattered among the 20 tracks (who comes up with these bright ideas?) Anyway, the tracks from Showpeople are really unpleasant, with extremely squashed dynamics. My question is: Is this on the master tape (after all, they were going for a retro sound, and might have just put the compressor on stun) or are these bad transfers? Somewhere, I have the vinyl LP, but not readily accessible. I don't recall it being this unpleasant. But again, the last time I listened to it was many years ago...
No, it's the CD that's the problem as you've rightly noticed. It's without a doubt one of the most brutally compressed, unlistenable discs in my entire collection. I also have the original vinyl and it sounds ok considering it's lengthy sides. How anyone could hear the same songs on this CD and think 'yeah, that sounds great!' is a mystery. Some of them sound like they're being played back on a cheap boombox sitting in the corner of an echo chamber, volume ramped to 11 with added wonky EQ. It's even more inexplicable when you consider this CD was mastered by a certain vinyl mastering legend, Denis Blackham aka Bilbo. If you want to hear Showpeople as you remember it you'll probably need to unearth that old vinyl. Other than the unfortunate sound quality the CD also uses different mixes for a number of tracks. One Day Is A Lifetime/Dr Love/Wonderful/This Is It/This Time Tomorrow/Ecstacy and Cry Me A River are all alternate versions or mixes to varying degrees. These same alternate mixes are also used on this 1992 compilation (minus the horrendous compression) http://www.discogs.com/Mari-Wilson-Just-What-I-Always-Wanted/release/938951. I don't have the finances to purchase all her older hard to find comps to see if any of them contain the original Showpeople versions or not so I've settled for a needledrop of the album in the meantime. Hopefully the supposed upcoming Mari title that Vinny Vero is working on may rectify some of these issues, not holding my breath though.
Showpeople was a great album and Mari Wilson a real talent. I resequenced The Platinum Collection into chronological and album order, it sounds much better that way. I did not notice the compression but its been a long time since I played the LP. Not all Denis Blackham's masters are great, I am sure he did what he is told by the record company. I could not find the earlier compilation on CD at Amazon US or UK, it must be rare.
It's kind of surprising that Mari faded into such a minor footnote...When Showpeople came out, she got a decent amount of press in the US--although not much in the way of sales. However, she was a lot more successful in Europe... A good sounding reissue of Showpeople, with the correct mixes and in the right order, plus 12" remixes and other ephemera of the period, would be great.
I bought the Japanese cd comp when it first came out and was disappointed in it because of the condition of some of the tapes (a fair amount of drop outs, as I recall). The "Just What I Always Wanted" and "Beat The Beat" comps subsequently issued in England were much better. The recordings certainly aren't audiophile quality to begin with, but they don't sound bad. Sadly it seems like both comps are out of print and not readily available used unless one is willing to spend a lot for them. If you're a fan of Mari, she did release some later albums that I quite liked -- particularly "Dolled Up."
Mari Wilson's 1980-1985 will be collected on three discs, including some new remixes from the multitracks, courtesty of the original writer-producer, Tot Taylor. Hopefully, this means that no tracks on the collection have been sourced from vinyl. Release date is November 25, 2022. IMWAN • [2022-11-25] Mari Wilson "The Neasden Queen Of Soul" 3CD set of complete Compact Organization recordings (Cherry Red UK) Mari Wilson: The Neasden Queen Of Soul, 3CD Box Set - Cherry Red Records
Thanks to this bump in the thread, I listened to the Just What I Always Wanted cd comp this morning while exercising -- another time a post on this forum has resulted in me pulling out something I hadn't listened to in a while. Thoroughly enjoyable and, even as compressed mp3 files, decent sounding until it got to the needle drop of "Tu No Me Llores."
Just received "The Neasden Queen Of Soul", opinion on the sound quality later as there's a lot to listen to. In terms of packaging it's got a black and gold theme throughout, mostly track by track sleeve notes and trivia from Mari herself, a discography and photos. I think every song from the era is represented, possibly not all of the mixes, spotted that the US instrumental remix of Just What I Always Wanted is missing but at least the A-side and the UK 12" are included. "Baby It's True" (2022 mix) has the horns and Mari's vocal more up-front, and she sounds incredible. Love it, will probably be my go-to mix.
I have an SACD that feature Mari along. with 2 other female vocalists (Claire Martin is one if memory serves me well) "Girl Talk" Tracks the trio performed in a stage show together. Worth a listen and you can pick up a copy for pennies.