Q to Steve re: Katy Lied early CD pressing

Steve,

I have an early Katy Lied CD that apparently came from Columbia House (has CRC printed on the back). However, I think it's one of the early versions of the album, since it does not have the "gridded" back insert or a UPC code. It is manufactured in the USA, though.

I think it may be the one Roger Nichols mastered, but could I possibly send a CD-R to you to see if it's the one you did?

Thanks!

 

I'm not Steve, but I'm 99% sure that is the Nichols CD....

 

Hey Grant,

Do you know if Nichols did the other first pressings that Steve had no involvement with?

BTW, I think you're right. When it took this home and gave it a listen, it needed a bit of boost around that hole Steve mentioned (3k, 6k, 8k) to bring it out more. I would be surprised if this wasn't the Nichols version (it would have to be pretty muffled for this to be Steve's "fixed" version).

 

Steve, said that he did them. Buy them if you can find them. I think Steve said they were all flat transfers....

 

I just found an early CRC version of "Aja" this weekend, which also has no UPC code, and it sounds excellent. By the way, since I upgraded my whole stereo system in the last month, and did away with my equalizer, I can really hear the difference in well mastered CDs. I find myself enjoying a lot of early CDs that were transfered straight from tape sources, with no compression, equalization, etc. Thanks to forum, I am now headed in the right direction. Now, I spend most of my time searching for these older CDs. This past weekend I picked up the early "Aja" CD, an early CRC version of Elton John's Greatest Hits Volume II, which was on MCA and manufactured in Japan, and an original manufactured in Japan version of Led Zeppelin's "Physical Graffiti". Robert Plant's vocals sound more natural and warmer than ever.


Thanks To All,

Ed Hurdle
HeavyDistortion

 

I don't care what anyone says - the new Steely Dan remasters blow away any previous versions. If you do an A-B comparison they simply blow away the old versions - the sound jumps "huge" out of the speakers whereas the old versions just sound flat and I don't mean treble or volume boosting or anything like that. Why do you think that Becker and Fagen approved of these as opposed to the earlier versions - because they sound like the way they were recorded.

 

I have to agree here....I have the remastered "Aja" and it just sounds killer. I know that there is a lot of disagreement about remasters on this forum, but the Steely Dan remasters are great. "Aja" sounds crisp and clear with a clear soundstage. Awesome!

 

Well I do know that current remaster of Gaucho has enough high end to make ya sterile.

I'm not sure what happened when they mastered that one? I'll keep my my boring flat pressing....

 

Well, the remasters from 1993 and then 1998 aren't bad, but Becker and Fagen were more disappointed with the discs that used the wrong tapes. Supposedly, after the first (or really early) pressings, MCA remastered the CD's again, using the wrongs tapes. For the most part, these CD's have the grid-pattern on the tray card, and I think those are the ones they often refer to as the bad-sounding CD's. In 1993, Steely Dan corrected this, and in 1998, they did it again.

 

Those ******! And of course I had to buy each new version. Never again... Enough is enough. Worse than Elton John!

 

Whoops! I think I may have worded my response poorly. When I said, "in 1998, they did it again," I mean they remastered the CD's again. I just realized I may have implied the wrong tapes were used in the 1998 remasters. Sorry about that. Again, nothing wrong with the remasters (plenty of people have voiced preference for the 1998 remasters).

 

So what was wrong with the 1993 (box set) remasters which caused them to do it again in 1998?

Both were supervised by Becker and Fagen weren't they?

 

Didn't we figure out in here once before that the "clear spine" remasters were the ones to get, or am I having another brain-fart?

dave

 

If you want an original pressing look for this...

1. Old style MCA logo
2. Full color graphics on rear insert (no cheesy cross pattern)
3. CD pressed in Japan or USA, maybe West Germany?
4. No UPC code

This.....




Not this.....

 

I don't know why they'd remaster it again after the 1993 remasters. As some of you may have noticed, though, earlier pressings of the 1993 box set and earlier pressings of the 1993 Pretzel Logic remaster (see Grant's picture) clipped off the intro to "Rikki Don't Lose That Number." This was eventually corrected, but the box set still has the track order to "Countdown to Ectasy" and "Katy Lied" a bit off.


BTW, thanks for reposting that image, Grant!