Soft Machine; the 2007 remasters.

I recently bought the new remasters of Six and Seven. The inlays state '24-bit remastering from the original master tapes by Paschal Byrne at The Audio Archiving Company, London'. Here are my first impressions.

Six; The 2007 vs the Columbia Rewind SBM edition:
- The L and R channels have been switched. I don't know witch one is correct, but I assume it's the 2007(?).
- For the live part of the record I think I like the SBM better. It seems smoother. The 2007 seems to have a raised midrange that makes it 'boomier'.
- For the studio part the 2007 returns with a vengeance. Smooth, clear and open sounding, whilst the SBM now sounds squashed by compression.

Seven; The 2007 vs the old Columbia (COL 473004-2):
- The overall level is raised, but not to the point of super-compression (I think).
- The 2007 is a tad clearer due to a slightly raised wide midrange, but it also sounds a tad harsher. Maybe I'm just being conservative but the old Columbia seems smoother to my ears.

(Conclusion: More listening is required. I'll have to keep them all. What a surprise! )

 

This is encouraging. I've been reasonably happy with Byrne's work on the early Kevin Ayres and John Martyn reissues. Anyone heard "Third" yet????

L.

 

Paschal Byrne did these? He's usually very good and I doubt these have any compression or wacky EQ.

 

So, what's the packaging like on these? Digipaks, jewel boxes or mini-LP sleeves? (and is there any cool embossing on 4 and 5?)

 

I didn't know that slightly = wacky.

But seriously: You have to remember that I'm using my 'old' cds as reference. I have no way of telling which is closest to a flat transfer. As for compression: There is indeed some.

 

I'd be interesting to find out how hey compare to the original 1990 Japanese CD's which I thought sounded great. Was Thirds reissued? I have the Japanese Mini sleeve version that while better than every other CD is still not great. Are only the CBS era albums being reissued or is the 1st and 2nd also?

 

Jewel cases for Six and Seven at least. (Makes for easy in-shelf-placement , and did any of the original LP's have extravagant packaging?) The booklets are extended and have new liner notes and pics.

 

Only the CBS era, Third through Seven.

 

It doesn't.

 

So, has anyone picked up the "Third" remaster?????

L.

 

Boing!!!

L.

 

UGH. That's the exact same credit as on 2005's mediocre Out-Bloody-Rageous comp. Why oh why didn't they use the snazzy Japanese DSD masters?

It looks like buyers of the remastered Third get to add yet another copy of the Proms concert to their collections. I wonder if how it compares to Live at the Proms and Live 1970...

--Paul Curtis

 

That Sony/BMG has only been able to come up with one unreleased track suggests that,since the group seldom recorded at CBS Studios(excepting "Seven" and parts of "Six") that for recordings made at IBC,Olympic and Advision,that manager Sean Murphy only delivered completed masters/mixes to CBS.

If Sony/BMG had sought cooperation and involvement from Soft Machine,would there have been more unreleased material?

 

The Japanese DSD remasters were made from safeties. That much I can tell you. They are pretty good and I haven't heard the new releases yet, just wanted to point that out.

 

I doubt it. If there was ANYTHING left to issue, surely Cuneiform and Voiceprint would have had at it by now. Can there possibly be much left?

 

Interesting!

Maybe I should give a closer listen to Out-Bloody-Rageous. I remember being terribly underwhelmed when it first came out, just as I was (and still am) impressed by the Japanese discs, but I must confess that I haven't done a direct A-B comparison. I clearly remember one specific mastering screwup on OBR, during "Joy of a Toy," but of course that isn't a CBS recording.

--Paul Curtis

 

Third was always a pretty crappy, cardboard-y recording - has a new remaster helped any? Or am I fine with the original Columbia CD?

And how's that import Fourth/Five CD? BTW I have an old Japan Fourth now.

 

Well, I still haven't heard the new remaster, but the old BGO CD of 'Third' was already (IMO) noticeably better than the US Columbia CD.

 

Jeff: how do you know the Soft Machine DSD discs were made from back up copies?

 

Just trust me, they were.

 

I just grabbed 5 and 7 to check out, but have not yet had a chance to listen. Like Tommy, I also have a set of the '90 Japanese releases. I broke these out last week for the first time in awhile, and they didn't sound as good to me now as what I remembered. If these Byrne remasters are a bit brighter, I wouldn't mind.
By the way, Japanese paper sleeves of this entire release due April 18,
and already available for pre-order at HMV Japan.

 

I've got all five of the new UK remasters,and comparing to my existing CD's(U.S, Columbia for "Third",and 1991 EPIC/Sony Japan for "Fourth","Fifth","Six" and "Seven"),I can say that "Third","Fourth","Fifth" and "Seven" are all improvements in clarity over my previous CD's."Six" sound much the same,but,then again,it was an excellent recording to begin with.

 

Would this be considered killing time? I just read each post for this thread, kind of got into the points and counterpoints, and have never heard of this band. This has happened before, and I ended up checking out the band (Gentle Giant) and getting into them big-time. I'll be on iTunes & AMG Music Guide tomorrow checking out Soft Machine's sound.

 

Be aware that there are three fairly distinct periods in the band's history, and, by about 1975, none of the original members were still there. The period under discussion here (1970-1974) was their avant-jazz period. This followed their psychedelic pop period (with vocals even!) and would be followed by a set of extremely mainstream and commercial AOR-jazz stuff. Please don't judge their earlier great stuff by the work out under the same name by other people.

 

What he said. Be warned that each machine has its own very distinct personality.

If you wanna get some on iTunes, start with Breda Reactor or Jet-Propelled Photographs. (If you're looking for a single track, try "Eamonn Andrews" from Breda). Watch out for the other stuff--the Soft Machine catalog can be a minefield!

--Paul Curtis