Rolling Stones - BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by lukpac, Aug 26, 2002.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    BTW, I TRUST Luke's opinion on this. I may not agree in the end, but I am listening!

    Good job, Luke!
     
  2. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    Grant,
    I think some people describe the effect of the noise gate being "lifted" (levels reach above the threshold where the filter is applied and the hiss becomes audible again) as a "swishing" sound.

    Regards,
     
  3. dcscott

    dcscott Go have another cheeseburger, Randy

    Location:
    Ontario Canada
    My cousin from Buffalo sent me all 22 Stone remasters yesterday. He scored 4 complete sets for FREE (he has excellent connections). My wife is going out today to buy a new SACD player. It's only Tuesday and its a good week already.
     
  4. proufo

    proufo Forum Resident

    Luke, I believe a lot of us are quite happy that you are out of a job, as in "having a lot of spare time to profusely evaluate and share views on the new releases".

    Many thanks!
     
  5. Mike V

    Mike V New Member

    Location:
    Connecticut
    Right, the filter makes "decisions" if you will as to what is noise. Sometimes those decisions are wrong, especially during louder and more dynamic passages. Suddenly you hear hiss where there was none in a previous relatively quiet passage. The noise gate opens for that high frequency hiss. This effect sounds like a swishing sound to me, and it makes more than a few of my discs unlistenable.
     
  6. Beagle

    Beagle Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa
    Luke is one of the main reasons I read this board. He knows what he likes, knows what and how he hears, and obviously gets upset when something does not sound right when it is so easy to make it sound right. He's very passionate about it, as are many of the rest of us.

    While it may appear that he flew off the handle prematurely and rained on the long-awaited Stones parade, he's merely telling us what we need to know, whether we like it or not.
     
  7. Todd Fredericks

    Todd Fredericks Senior Member

    Location:
    A New Yorker
    Truth is truth. Let's think of it this way. If the other labels/acts (especially the Beatles camp) are paying close attention (which is possible) to "honest" reviews then hopefully this will all be a good thing. Let's say for example that the Stones catalog is 90% on the money. Okay that's pretty good. 10% flaws and strange song mix selections are not too bad. Nothing can ever really be true 100% perfection (hey, we live in a non-perfect world or one man's perfection is another man's 'New Coke'). Okay, so some mistakes may have happened, etc. If the reviews can be as honest as possible (pretty rare these days) and folks like us can be (which we can and I think more people out there are starting to take notice) then maybe future releases (not the Stones but other stuff) will take some of these things into account (if they care to or if they want to raise the quality level in competetion with these Stones' releases). So, there's no harm or raining on any parade's by posting honest opinions of the positive & negative aspects of these releases. We can only hope that some people out there (not the converted) are open to considering some of the observations we share. So again, thank you very, very much Luke (and others) for your valuable input and keep it coming. Also, Luke, what are some positive things that you've heard so far? Anything tremendous?

    Todd
     
  8. btomarra

    btomarra Classic Rock Audiophile

    Location:
    Little Rock, AR
    Barnes & Noble had all 22 titles. I picked up the Singles Collection. Hadn't listened to all of it yet. They solved the stereo intro to Heart of Stone. The stereo HTW sounds good. You Can't Always Get What You Want is a fairly decent mono mix. A lot to soak in.

    Brian
     
  9. dolstein

    dolstein Senior Member

    Location:
    Arlingon, VA
    GROAN!!!! Do you mean they used the STEREO mix of Honey Tonk Women on the singles collection? Unless the mono mix that Steve and other people recall being used on the HTW single was merely a fold-down, I think this was a MAJOR gaffe.
     
  10. btomarra

    btomarra Classic Rock Audiophile

    Location:
    Little Rock, AR
    Dolstein writes:

    Yep! You get the a-side in stereo and the b-side in mono. I think the old box set was even funnier. The cowbell intro in stereo and the rest of HTW in mono.

    Brian

    ;)
     
  11. Beagle

    Beagle Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa
    The balance on the HTW track on my UK Decca LP "Through the Past Darkly"
    sounds like a similar balance to my London 45. Maybe it is a fold down to mono.

    And I assume the YCAGWYW mono version is the 5:00 B-side edit?

    What I'd like to know is what mix of Street Fighting Man is on the Singles Collection.
     
  12. krabapple

    krabapple New Member

    Location:
    Washington DC


    I'm still smarting over having bought and enjoyed the Virgin Bowie remasters, not realizing that they are BAD BAD BAD and the RCAs (now that SH has told us they were struck from 1st-gen flat copies) were GOOD GOOD GOOD.

    And it shocks and shames me to realize that I still kinda like the sound of the "Astley" Who's Next, Tommy, Quad, and Live at Leeds (the first one, not the second one, which we all know is even more BAD BAD BAD).


    ;)
     
  13. John Oteri

    John Oteri New Member In Memoriam

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA
    I trust Luke's ears.

    Enough said. :)
     
  14. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    Now, now Krabapple, the Who remixes/reissues were never a total sonic train wreck until Mr. A "reinvented" himself as a mastering engineer and started "flying solo" on the reissues. That's when they started earning the multiple capital "B-A-D"s. :) Anyway, let's shut down the Luke discussion and continue our Stones discussions in the other threads.

    Regards,
     
  15. lukpac

    lukpac Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    As I mentioned above, Aftermath doesn't have any NR. I wouldn't say the disc is bad, but so far I do prefer the sound on the old London CD.

    I've heard MP3s of some Beggar's and Let It Bleed tracks. They sounded good to me, like the tracks from those albums on the sampler disc. If the CDs hold up to closer listening, I'm willing to say they sound GREAT.

    Mind you, I was fairly happy with the sampler disc. Some things weren't great, but on the whole it sounded pretty good. IF most of the discs sound like that, we won't have a lot to complain about. However, if most sound like the UK BTB, well, let's just say I won't be too happy...
     
  16. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialistâ„¢

    Location:
    B.C.
    Not to jump on here krabapple but Steve said that the RCA Bowies are a flat transfer, but definately not 1st generation. Possibly second or third at best. ;)
     
  17. Sckott

    Sckott Hand Tighten Only.

    Location:
    South Plymouth, Ma
    Let It Bleed is a great disc. The songs don't overlap each other, but the original presentation of the album as a connected bunch of songs, is back to accurate. Vocal range and presence of Mary Clayton's voice in Gimmie Shelter is haunting and clear. The "bite" that the title track had is in from older pressings I've owned, and YCAGWYW has that seperate mesure of music, that "inhale" I talked about. The song starts as the London chior inhales.

    What, no LIB poster inside? Damn! :)

    The acoustic tracks, "Love In Vain" and "You Got The Silver" have amazing presence to them. Definately where, in the SACD layer, you hear great improvement. "Country Honk" and "Midnight Rambler" sound amazing too, as does "Monkey Man". The big bottom bass line in "Live With Me" is liver than you want it, but with the rest of the band in more open air.

    The CD has the candles of Mick and Bill with wick-lights over their heads on the CD label. Definately where someone used a trick in Photoshop for fun!

    Definately some EQing going on, but not to bring ill fate to this one. I haven't found one complaint agianst LIB.
     
  18. dolstein

    dolstein Senior Member

    Location:
    Arlingon, VA
    Scott -- did the original LIB album come with the poster? Was it any different than the cover art? Obviously, it might not have been practical to include a "mini-poster" with the new CD, but they could have incorporated the poster artwork into the packaging (like what they did the Who Sell Out CD).
     
  19. krabapple

    krabapple New Member

    Location:
    Washington DC
    LOL! I sit corrected. :D


    In my too-active imagination, I see what would have happened if someone other than SH had come on here with the information that the RCAs were not struck from the original master tapes. It is not pretty. I imagine that it would be taken as an 'of course' explanation of why they sounded so BAD BAD BAD.

    Anyone ever notice the similarity between hobbydom and the stock market?

    anyway, back to the Stones. I got Hot Rocks i yesterday, like most of it, but the chorus of Ruby Tuesday sounds curiously unfocused and 'multivoiced' , compared to *my memory* of the LP/CD. Of course I was too lazy to actually load the old CD to see if I was hearing a real difference or not . Anyone know if this i a different mix? (e..g stereo vs. mono)?


    ;)
     
  20. Sckott

    Sckott Hand Tighten Only.

    Location:
    South Plymouth, Ma
    Yeah, I don't buy the fact that the little bubble-gum cards were such a brilliant marketing idea. Yes, one could have had a fold-out poster on the digipack. They did it for the UK BTB. Charlie's cell cartoons are in full size on a booklet pasted to the digipak. You see, that cartoon and the point that Charlie had on the LP cover could not be shrunken down without the loss of the concept it carried. I'm glad someone cared <--that much-->....

    As someone said before, the light crescent bows on the back of the digipack for track listing was ugly. Yes, the original LIB art is there, but the broken-down spindle pic is clutered with that light-crescent. Not a huge deal, as the UPC notoriously covers 8% of any CD's back art. Who's to bitch? Hmph.

    So, they COULD have done the BIG MICK-small band LIB poster. That, in the packaging, is 1000% more desireable than that bubble-gum card they put in the discs.

    But they do make great one-time-use beer costers! I mean, when Disney puts a rebate form in the middle of their DVDs, they're better looking than these POS cards.

    Ok, ok, Bitch, bitch, bitch.
     
  21. Sckott

    Sckott Hand Tighten Only.

    Location:
    South Plymouth, Ma
    On my US BTB, Ruby is not the girl she used to be. Weather it was like that from day 1, I doubt it, but I don't have a London US 1st reference copy.
     
  22. Sckott

    Sckott Hand Tighten Only.

    Location:
    South Plymouth, Ma
    I meant to mention earlier, all the Stones SACD/Cds, while the SCD layer is automatically Text-display, the CD layer is CD text as well. Compatable CD players will display song/album information even if all you experience is the CD layer. No SACD hybrid I've owned has done that yet.
     
  23. audiodrome

    audiodrome Senior Member

    Location:
    North Of Boston
    Regarding the Strictly Stereo CD - I always thought all of those cuts were taken right from those original European and Japanese London CDs from the mid '80's.
     
  24. Sckott

    Sckott Hand Tighten Only.

    Location:
    South Plymouth, Ma
    I have the SS Cd boot. Boy it sounds like poop. Some of the tracks were taken off of UK Cds, but a lot of them are just poorly mastered to CD. What they did, beats me.
     
  25. lukpac

    lukpac Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    I think most *were*. However, in an effort to "improve" them, a lot of noise reduction was added. Plus, I believe tracks like 19th Nervous Breakdown were not taken from the best sources, nor mastered as good as possible.

    For some reason, all of the "stereo" bootlegs I've heard suck. They all come from the London CDs, but are "improved". Yeah, right.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine