I haven't heard the WEA TWWL, but it's good to know it's not entirely bad. In my experience the WEAs sounded more like the Sires, which are generally not considered to be the most ideal versions out there, which is why I didn't factor them into my list. But I'm certainly open to any WEA that sounds good. To answer your second question - yes, I'm talking about the versions that are specific to LTB. I may actually be the only Smiths fan in the world who prefers the full band version of Back To The Old House that's on LTB. The HoH one is quite nice, but I think the fuller, more fleshed out arrangement - not to mention Andy's lovely bass part - really enriches the song melodically. I also prefer the version of Stretch Out And Wait that's on LTB, but that's more because it's just the version I'm accustomed to. So, I'm trying to cobble together the full, authentic Louder Than Bombs experience with versions of each track that sound better than what's on any of the Louder Than Bombs we have right now. Your posts about the Sheila Take a Bow Line CD kind of inspired me to see if I could round up the other loose ends from LTB without having to do needle drops of anything - and if those Rough Trade CD singles from '88 sound good, I just may be able to, with the exception of Stretch Out And Wait. I know this info is obviously out there on the Passions and Discogs sites, but I thought it'd be helpful to sort of compile it one place on the off chance that anyone else is as obsessed as I am about creating an improved, complete LTB CD.
Let's see if this works, from post 976 in the other thread: OK, LTB: the purple is the US Sire, the green is the (West?) German Line CD, and the red is the 2011 remaster. This is a better way to look at all 3. And in fact, not being able to listen to the Line CD ..., the US Sire could be seen as having the mellowest lows and highs. The German Line is next. (More low and high end than the US Sire.) And the 2011 remaster, with further more low end (lots more, relatively speaking), and a little more high end. (If somehow these were all normalized, that would help even more, but I think you get the idea.) So from that perspective, and with the better dynamics of the German Line single, I can see how it might be good sounding. I might have to track one of those down someday ... I anxiously await any further attempts to generate a better sounding LTB from alternate sources!
Grrrr. I think I will have to try this too. I actually have the German WEA TWWL, but I'll need to pick up the UK RT. I will slowly start to look at the other 3 songs. Worst comes to worst, and I've done this a time or two in the past, if we can't find a good CD source for Stretch Out and Wait, I could take the LTB version and try to EQ it like how TWWL is EQ'ed.
I just looked around for the Ask EP for Golden Lights. There are two versions of the Ask CD single. The WEA from 1995 or so which is easy to find, and cheap. But the original RT from 1986 or so, which I'm guessing is better sounding, ain't so cheap or easy to find ...
Good job, folks! I am sort of new to vinyl (though not to this thread). Is there any discussion thread dedicated just to the various vinyl versions? Is there a big difference between issues, or just it just come down to the different pressing qualities? I was in a shop the other day and I was quite surprised to see unfamiliar covers of 12" EPs with tracks I hadn't even heard of. Maybe if I had the CD singles box I wouldn't have been surprised, but that's pretty expensive.
Can't give much info on the vinyl. I can only offer these three bits of info: (1) Some folks say the original 12" singles/EPs are the best-sounding Smiths versions in any format, period. (2) A high-quality needle drop of the original Rough Trade UK LP of Hatful of Hollow is probably the best-sounding version of that album I've ever heard. (3) I don't know how the 2011 remaster LPs sound. However, my understanding is that they're based on the same Marr masters that were used for the 2011 CDs.
I haven't heard every single one of the original 12"s, but of those I do have, they literally (more or less) smoke the album pressings. The trick is not only finding them, but finding those that haven't been played to death. Look around. You'll find some. And don't limit yourself to eBay or record stores. Use Google, use Cragslist. Go to estate sales. I found a mint Bigmouth Strikes Again at a library sale for a dollar. Sounds stunning. If you don't have any yet, maybe you just haven't earned it yet baby.
Thanks. I guess that pretty much concurs with what I have read. Doesn't seem as convoluted as tracking grown the best CD, albeit the original vinyls aren't going to be cheap (or that new).
Right. The RT Meat Is Murder isn't hard to find in Japan and not too expensive. A Japanese pressing of the s/t was! (¥5-6k). As were the 12" singles, except for one (can't remember the title). It'll be fun to keep searching.
So, I finally got a copy of the 7-track German Line Sheila Takes A Bow CDEP, and I agree with tmtomh that it sounds quite nice and the versions of these tracks sound a lot better than they do on the Sire Louder Than Bombs. What I like about this mastering is that the songs sound more open in the upper frequencies - there is more clarity and detail. The Sire LTB, by comparison, sounds kind of murky and closed. And this CDEP benefits when compared to the 2011 remaster for its natural sounding dynamic range. As for the tracks that this CDEP shares with The World Won't Listen (UK RT CD), the sound is pretty similar, like tmtomh noted, but I think the versions on the CDEP all sound a wee bit better, with the exception of London, which, although very similar, sounds ever so slightly nicer to my ears on TWWL. tmtomh said in a pervious post that he prefers Panic on TWWL, but for someone reason my ears are giving the edge to the version on the CDEP. At any rate, I'm closer to being able to cobble together my own superior LTB CD, so I'm happy about that.
On another note, one thing I do find curious is just how radically different Is It Really So Strange? sounds on the 2011 remaster from all the previous versions. It almost sounds like a remix, though it's not. They shifted the EQ in a way that really pushes the rhythm guitars to the forefront of the mix, and forces the more jangly, melodic chords way into the background, and I can't make up my mind over whether or not I prefer this. The vocals get pushed back a bit as well. It has the overall effect of really beefing the song up and giving it more rhythmic thrust, but it definitely loses something. (The version of this song on the Sheila CDEP is more like the version on the Sire LTB, only better for the reasons I described in the post above).
I'm sure this has been discussed - but it would have been good if they'd put all those stray songs (Jeanne,Wonderful Woman etc)onto the remastered CD's as bonus tracks.
Just a heads up, the original Rough Trade CDs are surprisingly easy to find (and cheap) on Amazon UK. All you need to find them is the barcode. I picked up the whole set for ~£30. The only one I can't seem to find on there is Meat is Murder.
And Meat Is Murder is the one that differs the least from the US Sire. You might buy more copies of those Rough Trade cd's and sell them here to us. It would be a merciful release.
And post about Spiggy in the Cats forum. Seriously. If you don't I will. Sorry, it's late, and I'm up way past my bedtime.
I thought I'd read that the debut had the same mastering between the Rough Trade and the Sire. I don't have the patience to trawl though the old thread(s) to verify, though.
I may have said this some ways back, as that was definitely my finding when doing a purely aural comparison of the two. I honestly couldn't hear any difference between them.
I'll just add quickly I have 2 sealed pressings of the new 2011 Rhino vinyl reissues for 'Meat' and 'Strangeways'. I have a fairly noiseless original UK Rough Trade of 'Meat' to A/B against, and a clean Aussie original 'Strangeways' for comparison. I broke the seals a few weeks back on the Rhinos and for mine, neither are as good as their counterparts listening to the speaker plays. However, my current vinyl setup is in a very small bedroom and I cannot yet be definitive - will need to break out the headphones this weekend. But at this stage, neither Rhino seems to be as immediate as the older discs. I'll probably add the final results to an appropriate Smiths vinyl thread I'll look for soon.
