SPIRIT self titled and "The Family That Plays Together" coming on Audio Fidelity SACD, SH mastered

Yep, hopefully someone has the Sony remaster and will provide an A/B review.

 

Won't be me, I only have the Sundazed Mono vinyl, played on a completely different setup. Disqualified thrice !

 

I will.

 

Just got my notice from ImportCDs that Spirit and Blue Cheer have shipped.

 

Remaster is also remixed, so they should sound different.

 

Bull Moose has shipped as well.

 

Sounds great @Steve Hoffman , kudos to you and Mr. Marsh !

 

I had the Spirit S/T on pre-order at amazon. The day before release, my order said it would be here by 8:00 release day.
On release day they send an email saying it won't be available till mid July, WTF? never had this happen before.
Proceeded to cancel that order, and order from Bull Moose, it's on the way for real now.

 

I prefer the Repertoire issues to the Sony remasters, they sound fresher and more detailed to my ear. EROC, the engineer who restored and remastered those (no idea what source he was using) talked about them in an earlier Spirit forum and said, if I remember correctly, that he was aiming to eliminate issues relating to the kind of equipment used to make rock recordings made in those days. Steve commented earlier that he's using the original mix of FTPT (not the 1996 Sony remix), that it was hard to locate, and that "It's a below average mix, really, but it has a certain charm. I wouldn't want to mess with it." So can we conclude that these SACDs are not going to sound like the Repertoires but with a higher-res source?

 

Just had a quick listen to compare the Sony remaster to the new self-titled SACD. I can't get my SACD player to play the CD layer of any SACD and waiting for a firmware update from PS Audio. So, first impressions between the SACD layer and the Sony CD is that there is a huge difference, to my ears. Perhaps an unfair comparison though but the SACD layer has way, way more depth, breadth, detail and air. Switching to my JVC desktop player and ear buds I'd say the improvements are the similar between the CD layers, just less so. The CD layer of the SACD has better bass and fuller sound. I think there's no need for me to keep the Sony.

 

Isn't the Sony remaster of the first Spirit album a remix?

 

CD says mixed and mastered by Vic Anesini.

 

Import CDs getting ready to ship The Family... and the Anesini redbook goes into the sell pile.

 

Anesini version is a remix, so might be worth keeping.

 

Yes. Similar to the original mix, but it is brighter, and when the instruments jump between channels they no longer do so in mid-note like on the original (e.g. Randy's guitar solo in "Mechanical World" or Ed's drums when the band comes in after his solo in "Elijah").

 

Not for me, when I reach for the album, I know I'll reach for the SACD, and the CD will become a doorstop. Much rather have cash than clutter.
.

 

Just got my notice that it shipped.

 

The Edsels could be the ones to compare with if these two new SACD's have the original mix. I forgot that there is a "mixed by" credit on the Sonys.

 

If ?

.

 

Moderators feel free to change "if" to "since" if you feel it is necessary. Obviously I did not read the whole thread, I look forward to hearing these.

 

The Sony Clear also has a "mixed by" credit, but as far as I can tell the album is the original mix. It is possible the credit there refers only to the bonus tracks.

 

" Bumping this...I listened to most of the Sony Clear CD and the Epic LP (from the double LP with the strange grey bordered woman photo they released in the 70's) back to back over the last couple days, and I think unless Anesini went out of his way to recreate every quirk and flaw of the original mix, such as the right channel dropout in the beginning of "Caught," the CD is not a remix.

Incidentally, I just noticed the CD wrongly gives John Locke rather than Jay Ferguson writer credit for "I'm Truckin'," repeated on Allmusic and Wiki. "

- @pbuzby 01/08/2012 : Spirit "12 Dreams" - Original Or Remaster?

.

 

Steve - I'm wondering about the bonus tracks which were mixed in 1996: when you mastered them for these releases, did you have 96/24 files to work from (I'm assuming that Vic Anesini mixed them in digital from beginning to end) or what was the source you were using?

Thanks for doing these titles, which are great choices!

 

@Steve Hoffman

 

New to this thread, so forgive me if this has been covered but, do we have a rough idea of when Clear will be released?
That was one of the first rock LPs I ever bought in 1969..