yeah, they screwed up the whole Genesis catalogue big time. Wind and Wuthering also won't get the time of day in my SACD player. What a shame. The labels must be so desparate to compress everything for ear buds. UltraJunk of the Day Eagles - Very Best Of [2003]...a few tunes are bearable but you still only have two clicks on your volume pot before you head to the nearest ear, nose, throat specialist.
I've not read all through this thread (bits of it though) but something tells me that you're not the first poster here, to mention a CD that's not a remaster. So I feel a lot more comfortable about posting THIS here! Ok then.... This afternoon, I got Oasis- Be Here Now. I've never owned any Oasis music before and have never known anyone to like more than a few songs, which is how I always felt. But, I thought I'd have nothing to lose by giving them a reasonable go. So I thought I'd buy a used CD of theirs, next time the chance arises. Dear, oh dear! Where to start...? I've read on this forum about how brickwalled and compressed their albums are. And progressively so! I've read that they begun tolerable, but well... I'd HATE to think what the one after this sounds like. Only up to track 2 and it sounds to me like someone's recorded a cassette a few decibels too high and that's just the beginning! On the first track (D'You know What I Mean), I was thinking 'Where the f*** is the snare drum?!' All I can hear of the kit, is the occasional horrible splashy cymbal. I don't even think that the vinyl version would be a good listen (for some tracks) except in the way that it'd not be so loud. The audio signal is destroyed and I really DO think the cassette will most likely sound miles better. I'm going to look out for it, out of curiosity. Track 2 (My Big Mouth) is also so bad, I can't tell it it's better or worse. By the 3rd track ( Magic Pill) I'm asking myself whether I'm getting used to the sound of this, or whether the mixing on the first 2 songs was done by someone who had never been near a desk before... Track 4 (Stand By Me) started off a lot better than what's gone before, though gets very distorted about 3/4 the way through. We can hear the drums a lot better (snare- YESSS) - and that has to be a good thing! Track 7, I'm on now and it's descended back into the mush that tracks 1 & 2 were.... Pah! So, a bit of a rant there I suppose- and I know this album (and others of theirs) has been discussed (with this highlighted) and I did expect it to sound 'not great' but it's the worst CD I've ever heard- by a long, long way. And I'm obviously not talking about the music. I might have actually been able to enjoy it- if it was a pleasure to listen to. But it isn't. So now- I'm going to look for their albums on cassette; they'll only cost pennies and I could be wrong- but I'm sure they'll sound better... ..won't they?
I've only got Duke (some DEs, original CDs and vinyl - thank goodness!!!) But I've heard all the 1976-82 box and they're almost all as bad as what I'm listening to at this moment (my above post.) As Genesis are in my top 3 of bands, it makes it all the more heartbreaking.
As per the above posting, The CF re of Robert Palmer "Some People Can Do Do What They Like" sounds squashed, brittle, and the sound stage manages to wander from balanced in the middle to a severe shift to the left all in the first minute. What a wasted opportunity to make this title available, and a bigger wast of my entertainment dollars! Will not buy Culture Factory anything again..
I just spent 45 minutes looking for this remaster; can you please post a link to the remaster of this title. Thanks.
What would be the earliest victim of the loudness wars?? over the weekend I played John Mellencamp's Human Wheels from 1993 and I was shocked at how loud this CD was, most of the time I turn the volume to 12 o'clock for CD's from this era, not this one.
Quite a few 8 and 9's beginning in the early 90's, I blame grunge Just kidding, New Order's Technique is a 9 from 1989
Are we talking about the two channel mixes or the surround mixes here? Overall, I agree that they did a poor job on the mastering for these, but I generally find the 5.1 mixes to be more listenable, particularly when it comes to the Gabriel era set and the live box. It's far from ideal and I'd love it if Wilson had a crack at some of these, but so it goes. . .
I know what you mean because I remember buying "Vs" by Pearl Jam, "In Utero" by Nirvana and "Perfectly Good Guitar" by John Hiatt all in 1993 (in the fall) and I remember noticing that these discs were somewhat 'louder' than the standard volume for CD's that had been the norm up until that very time.
If only they had decided that those levels were good enough. Nope, keep pushing it. Like a paraphrase of the crazed marijuana smoker in REEFER MADNESS: Louder, LOuDer, LOUDER!
The two channel mixes. I haven't done an analysis but if it is similar to the other's in the catalogue the DR sounds like it would be around the 8-9 neighborhood.
