The Who - 2014 Remasters (HDTracks/iTunes)

I have the SHM-SACD and think it's excellent. Sounds better than Who's Next which to me has never sounded good in the 4 versions I own(Original US vinyl, Original Track UK vinyl, Hoffman CD and SHM-SACD).
If they do a worthy re-mix & remaster of Who's Next in 24/96 I would be on that like a rabid wolverine with an AMEX card.

 

The SACD from 2012 you mean?

It's a flat transfer, for better or worse. I think at least a few songs really could use a good bit of EQ, but at least they didn't screw anything up.

 

The instrumental My Generation is an amazing look at the development of a classic song. The fidelity and drum and guitar sound through Sennheiser headphones at 96/24 backs up the cliche "like they are playing in the room."

Would this be one of the takes on the Shel Talmy Tapes, never been able to track it down unfortunately. John has some of the famous bass solo down, but it's Keith and Pete who shine. Moon plays some runs that made me laugh out loud.

New overdubs and some weird mixing on this new stereo release, but this instrumental is a great addition.

 

Is it fair to say that the new "My Generation" mono HDTracks release makes the MCA Pink CD redundant?

 

Well, I knew that.

 

It's quieter! No limiting/compression. No crossfades too on some of the bonus tracks which is great!

 

iTunes prices changed ($1-$3 less per "older" albums, $1-3 more for the "recent" ones).

Oh, and they added a MFiT Endless Wire.

 

Hmmm. I wonder if these "HD Version" notices are an accidental peak at Apple's current secret music project, rumored to be high res, and spearheaded by Trent Reznor.

 

After another listen to the MG stereo mix and the bonus tracks and Pete's guitar playing and sound, the instrumental bits and short riffs and solos he plays and especially his use of guitar and amp to create musical noise and what sounds like short bursts of improvisational chaos (The Ox, I'm A Man, Out in the Street, MG, perhaps elsewhere too) really impresses me. A unique approach and creative vocabulary he is expressing I think, in some of these performances and recordings. Although the mono mix has all the vintage overdubs, and none of the few modern ones in the stereo mix, right now the 2014 stereo for me is easily my go to MG.

Is there a modern guitar overdub on the left, stage right, in A Legal Matter?

Sounds to me like they fixed the 'vocal overload ' or cleaned up whatever it was in the intro to It's Not True.

I Don't Mind in stereo sounds fantastic to me compared to the 02 mix.

 

The one thing I enjoy about the '02 SACD is how these elements seemed to come to the fore--really cool stuff. -E

 

I loved the drums, to me sometimes it sounded like the Keith Moon Band,

 

A little too bright (and I like presence), but I'm with ya. -E

 

How do you think the AQO mono and stereo downloads compare to the box set from Japan, from 2008 iirc. Are these measurably better sounding or significantly so? I never did get the 2012 or was it 2011 AQO shm cd's. I like the first 4 songs and the last two, and a few of the bonus tracks, and I like some of those specifically only in mono and others only in stereo. I can make an album of it that I really like when including the singles or b sides. In general, I'm not a big fan of the proper album, anyway, anyone with some thoughts about the mastering difference and if it might be worth an upgrade for the iTunes 2014 release? The 2014 audio samples and I listened to really didn't help me make up my mind.
Thanks for any helpful feedback.

 

Sorry if this answer is clear somewhere in the last few pages, but can someone confirm which My Generation stereo mix tracks have modern day overdubs? A lot of conversation about this is all over the place. Thanks.

 

Title track and I Can't Explain.

 

Are there any current discount codes for HDTracks? I'd like to purchase My Generation. I've really enjoyed Who By Numbers this week. Thanks

 

HOLYFIELDHD for 15% off

 

this doesn't specifically have to do with the hi-res of My Generation but along the lines of what you said, I thought about something from my youth. my father is a big Who fan and we had basically nothing but Who cassettes in the family car. we'd go through cycles where, e.g., for a few weeks it would be Live at Leeds, then it might go to Tommy then over to The Who By Numbers, etc. in one particular cycle, we were listening to Two's Missing constantly, and it just so happened that one of our rear speakers was completely dead at the time. that my brother and I were always in the back meant that the bulk of our audio came from those rear speakers. what was really cool, though, was hearing "I'm A Man with only one working channel. during the instrumental section of the song, that channel was basically nothing but Townshend creating feedback with his guitar, and to an extent just how brilliant is that performance is lost with a full stereo mix where the feedback is softened by piano and whatnot.

for all of Townshend's (many) faults as a person and a musician, he doesn't get enough credit for just how much of the avant garde he fused into popular music. no other band was doing anything at that time like what can be heard on "I'm A Man," and it's within the context of a Bo Diddley song.

 

As has been pointed out before, the SHM-SACD and the Blu-Ray appear to be the exact same mastering, judging by the results from DR-Database (my own personal tests of the two yield identical results as well). If you like one over the other, it may speak to the quality of your playback equipment for the two formats.

 

The 2012 SHM CD was an improvement over the 2008 box insofar as it was less compressed/limited. I'd hunt out the 2CD set (which is currently out of print) if you can - theres a few on eBay at the moment. I did a brief listen to the samples on iTunes and found there wasn't little/no difference between the 2012 CD and these downloads so didn't feel the need to purchase aside from the two mono tracks that were new. I may however plump for the full album when an High Res version crops up!

 

Thanks, I used this one last week for Who By Numbers last week. I was hoping there might be another

 

There is HDNOV17 for 10% off new releases (expires 11/23) and FACEBOOK10 (10%) may still work (that one I think I have used many times).

 

THANK YOU

 

Well, I checked iTunes' "Who's Next" a bit more thoroughly now RE edits:
The Record Plant sessions seem to be all complete now RE the music, except for some studio banter and STILL some 15 -20 seconds missing from GETTING IN TUNE; Astley cut out a large portion of Pete's rhythm guitar playing for the 2003 DE of which c. 30 seconds are reinstated now, but not all. My goodness, it's a matter of a few seconds! I noticed that a lot of Astley' then edits for the 2003 DE concern rhythm guitar parts. Seems he doesn't like Pete doing that.

Leslie West is still mixed out on BBE for no sane reason, and the beautiful and very fitting call-and-response between Pete (calling "there once was a note"and Rog, responding "pure and easy") at the coda of PURE & EASY is killed too as Rog's voice is still mixed out. No idea why, though. So, the new iTunes version is still not a real replacement for the GOOD old "Lifehouse to Leeds " boot CD. Another missed opportunity.

The best about the recent release is the Young Vic show, IMHO: All the edits seem to be eliminated, though it sounds as there's at least a wee little of music missing where the hitherto edit in LAFK was, i.e. now at 2:18). Aside of the still glaringly missing "Bony Moronie", I'd say it can't get much better (other than releasing the entire show one sunny day, of course).

Any comments?
Who ahoy!
Thmas

 

Hoping for true hi-res downloads coming soon for AQO, Sell Out, WN, and O&S. I'm having a hard time staying away from the MFiT lossy downloads. Gotta get my iron will going.