Pretenders multi-disc deluxe reissues on Edsel

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mshare, Dec 19, 2014.

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  1. eelkiller

    eelkiller One of the great unwashed

    Location:
    Northern Ontario
    I liked his work on the Jo Jo Gunne and Steve Miller discs he mastered. I hope the same holds true for the Pretenders box.
     
  2. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    I am listening to the two CDs from the Pretenders (self-titled debut) set this morning. Although I cannot play them very loud because my wife is still sleeping, both discs sound good to me. I do not detect any severely bad mastering techniques, but I will crank them later. For now, the two discs sound good, and I am enjoying them.

    Is there any word on Edsel correcting the audio issues on the Isle of View DVD?
     
    Shvartze Shabbos likes this.
  3. pghmusiclover

    pghmusiclover Senior Member

    I'm not sure if it's mentioned, but they will be releasing a vinyl box of the original albums, several of which have never been on vinyl previously. From their Facebook page:

    Hello! We have some exciting news we’d like to share with you! The Pretenders albums are coming to vinyl, two of which for the first time ever on the format (The Isle Of View and Viva El Amor!). We received a lot of feedback from you all about getting these classic albums on vinyl and also the possibility of getting any signed products so we took that on board and we are happy to announce that the first 100 lucky fans to preorder 'The Vinyl Collection 1979 – 1999' will receive a free 12” x 12” print signed by Chrissie Hynde exclusive to the official store. Please note: due to licensing restrictions this offer is only open to fans in Europe. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

    [​IMG]
     
  4. Dennis Metz

    Dennis Metz Born In A Motor City south of Detroit

    Location:
    Fonthill, Ontario
    I finally got around to listening to the box. The first disc I put on was Viva El Amor! And it truly does sound awful. Listening to the original CD now and while it's no sonic masterpiece at least it's listenable. BTW I think it's a great album.
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2015
  5. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Very loud? Compressed? Both?
     
  6. Dennis Metz

    Dennis Metz Born In A Motor City south of Detroit

    Location:
    Fonthill, Ontario
    Both. Really bad. The sound on the original CD is growing on me.
     
  7. Gradese

    Gradese Forum Resident

    Location:
    Italy
    At very first listening I thought, this sounds really clean. Within a couple of minutes I realized it's not clean, it's bright to the point of being shrill, and almost piercingly so.
    The vocals are very up-front, but it's just the result of low frequencies being cut out, possibly with the addition of a generous amount of compression.
    Listening to this remaster with headphones is such a fatiguing experience, I couldn't listen to more than 3-4 tracks at a time.
    Phil Kinrade strikes again.
     
  8. jsayers

    jsayers Just Drifting....

    Location:
    Horse Shoe, NC
    Unfortunately this isn't at all surprising. So, how is the packaging and artwork/booklet? Is it a digipack or the mini-book style? Lots of nice pics and info in the booklets? Visual quality of of the clips look good? I guess that's all we can focus on at this point. :sigh:
     
  9. Muzyck

    Muzyck Pardon my scruffy hospitality

    Location:
    Long Island
    I just listened to "Packed!". It is compressed and loud.

    I like it. :hide:
     
  10. jsayers

    jsayers Just Drifting....

    Location:
    Horse Shoe, NC
    Since that's a <somewhat> later album it would be interesting to compare the new remaster to an original, which should have sounded excellent already!
     
  11. Muzyck

    Muzyck Pardon my scruffy hospitality

    Location:
    Long Island
    The original was mastered by Robert Ludwig (I think). I wasn't expecting anything "better" in the new release and was not disappointed. It does sound different though.
     
  12. jsayers

    jsayers Just Drifting....

    Location:
    Horse Shoe, NC
    "Different" we can work with. ;):righton:
     
  13. Muzyck

    Muzyck Pardon my scruffy hospitality

    Location:
    Long Island
    In any case, I am pleased with the DVD BBC performances on "The Late Show" for this set. That is the type of thing I am interested in. I am sure there are going to be folks that are going to gripe that they are not perfect, or in HD, or yadda, yadda, yadda. After looking at a tenth generation VHS of "Criminal", it is cool to see in a clean copy. The few "extras" was my main reason to purchase this set. Not really to upgrade the existing CD versions out there. It is going to be hard to top the MFSLs anyway.
     
  14. Muzyck

    Muzyck Pardon my scruffy hospitality

    Location:
    Long Island
    Ha! Just looked at that "2000 Miles" video on the "Learning To Crawl" set. This is the first time I have seen it released in a commercial form. I am shocked. I thought I saw an interview with Chrissie where she stated how awful it was. I figured that it had been burned. It is...odd :)
     
  15. mshare

    mshare Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Ditto. Enjoying my copy although I wish it wasn't letterboxed on all four sides. Btw I don't hear any dropouts.
     
    Muzyck likes this.
  16. Lonson

    Lonson I'm in the kitchen with the Tombstone Blues

    I didn't hear any either. Picture doesn't really look great but passable.
     
  17. DmitriKaramazov

    DmitriKaramazov Senior Member

    I'll be interested in your comments on Pretenders #1. Better? Worse?
     
  18. Gradese

    Gradese Forum Resident

    Location:
    Italy
    They are 4-fold or 3-fold digipacks, each one with a very basic booklet, just lyrics and credits and a few pictures, no liner notes whatsoever. Some have complained about the quality of the pictures, but honestly the artwork is not the main problem with this set. The quality of the promo videos and BBC sessions is quite good. The Isle of View DVD is rather bad.
    Give or take, all albums sound worse than previous releases I'm acquainted with (but I only have the original CDs and the 2006 Warners to compare them to).

    And yes Viva el Amor! is an amazing album :)
     
    DmitriKaramazov and jsayers like this.
  19. I had Viva El Amor before so looks like I'll be keeping it for the main album. Mine is still en route via the USPS. My big question is--are these brighter than the Hersch/Inglott remasters for the original first five?
     
  20. Gradese

    Gradese Forum Resident

    Location:
    Italy
    Yes, they are – by a long shot.
    By the way, I inquired with Alchemy about their mastering standards and got this kind (although depressing) response from “Phil” (Kinrade?).
    Here is an excerpt.

    “(…) it often depends on the source that we are supplied with to work from which a lot of the time are already heavily compressed files. For an audiophile release which we do plenty of, we need to be working from something close to the original source, preferably analogue and not a 25th generation digital file. When working with compressed digital files you are limited to what can be achieved.
    In the case of Pretenders the first two albums were significantly lower level to the bonus tracks that were supplied with it and all of the other albums. Dropping the level of the bonus tracks was done to a degree but with no magical uncompress button being available the dynamics are not going to return (…)”.

    I guess this reply makes it painfully obvious that, as audiophiles expecting mastering to be from actual tapes, we are living in a parallel universe, with little connection to the real world.
    In the real world, mastering from umpteenth generation digital files is deemed OK, and if they’re compressed, well, what can you do. It’s not like there’s a magical uncompress button.
     
  21. jsayers

    jsayers Just Drifting....

    Location:
    Horse Shoe, NC
    It's nice that you got a response that actually SAYS something - I wish we'd hear straight answers more often from the folks who are working on all these remasters and reissues we are buying.
     
    JohnBeas and ConnieGuitar like this.
  22. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Thanks for sharing this insight from the mastering engineer. Disappointing to hear, but at least we heard it.
     
  23. 007james

    007james Forum Resident

    Location:
    nyc
    Yeah, I'm surprised you received such an honest answer ....
     
  24. Muzyck

    Muzyck Pardon my scruffy hospitality

    Location:
    Long Island
    I guess there is something to be learned from this that we all take for granted. When our host talks about the projects he is involved with, he often highlights the difficult part of the project to obtain the correct source material needed to do the job. It probably should not be a surprise that when a licensing deal like this pops up out of the blue, it results in a mediocre product.
     
    Christopher B and ConnieGuitar like this.
  25. vinnie

    vinnie Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Any more reviews?
     
    jsayers likes this.
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