The Roots are a serious band, worth checking out, if the notion of jazzy hip hop with live musical instruments has any charm for you. Things Fall Apart (1999) was their big album, but they're best known in some quarters as the house band for Jimmy Fallon. Elvis Costello fans will know the 2013 album they did with EC: Wise Up Ghost (bending things back closer to the topic of the thread...).
The LP just arrived via Amazon's recent "sale." The packaging is impressive, the vinyl is flat, shiny, and quiet. I know this album (via original CD mastering) backwards and forwards and although I don't have the original LP release, I have to say that I am super impressed with this new LP mastering after the first few tracks. Highly recommended.
Hoping maybe Black Friday or by Christmas maybe Amazon will have the Flowers box in like a one day like $50:00 price. I have all the archive box releases just passed on flowers box just to expensive. Hopefully will have that magic pricing before or during holidays. I could dream.
Well, I've found the one downside of the Archive set: those who bought the album previously on iTunes no longer have a full LP in their purchased section. I get 4-5 tracks only; thank goodness I backed it up for rotating on my iPhone!
You bought it. Not, like, one of those streaming unlimited things where titles sometimes rotate out? That's nuts.
Just got a deal alert for FITD Deluxe from SDE: This Week’s Box Set and Reissue Deals | superdeluxeedition This looks like the cheapest yet
I was fast enough to buy it at that price, although I am not sure it's a good idea to buy a product like this two weeks before Black Friday. I don't think it will be much cheaper than this, but you never know...
Finally got this set yesterday. I put it off due to the outrageous price tag and the disappointing way in which the B-sides were treated but a larger-than-expected year-end bonus finally convinced me to (reluctantly) pull the trigger on this. Just a quick question, though. Did anyone in the "know" ever explain why the B-sides and remixes were not properly remastered at 24/96 like everything else in this set? Missing tapes? Laziness?
Off the top of my head, I think I remember that the source of that material was digital and no better than 16/44 so it didn’t make sense.
I can see that, but wouldn't that have applied to the album proper and demos as well? It would have made more sense to me if the whole shebang had been 16/44.1.
That can’t be right though, they were recorded/mixed on the same decks as the main Flowers tracks I’m sure. No reason those tapes/DATs shouldn’t have gotten a new pass like the main material did.
If that is the case and the original album was recorded at 16/44 I don’t know why they would remaster it at 24/96. Can’t make resolution that is not there. Anyways, I was just speculating. I will shut up now and await an actual expert on these sessions to answer properly : )
I’m speculating too but it’s always been my assumption that these sessions were recorded to tape and mixed digitally. Tug of War is the only album of his where it’s been publicaly made clear that the digital mix was limited to 16/44. So I would assume that 7 years later neither Flowers nor its B-sides had that issue
I just pulled out my original Wings At The Sound vinyl that I bought day of release when I was 15. The spindle hole reveals this is one well loved album Playing it now for the first time in I dont know how long. And, it still sounds pretty awesome. I've got some wear/noise in the between song bands, but really, this sound pretty amazing. How is the new vinyl version of this? I was thinking of upgrading, but this old baby is still kicking. And the cover has that cool Wings logo sticker attached. I have to say, this album, just brings back so many awesome memories. No, it's not a perfect album, but it is pretty damn good. Paul's bass on all of the songs, is sublime. I have the deluxe CD set, and the book gave me a new appreciation for how much work actually went into Speed of Sound. I used to think it was a toss off, but it's not really.
I thought Pipes of Peace was recorded at the same time as Tug of War and had the same situation regarding resolution of the digital mix. By the way, Tug of War was the first compact disc title I bought when it was released.
My theory is that the album was mixed to 1/2" 30ips analogue (which is the luxurious, "cinematic" format), while most if not all the bonus tracks were mixed down to a DAT, which was/is a much cheaper and more practical format for B-sides/experimental versions (no lining up of tape machines, expensive tape stock etc.)
I believe so. At least, some of the tracks were, in addition to sessions after TOW. The fact that Pipes didn’t get the same treatment as Tug is telling.
According to the book in the Pipes Of Peace set, "Hey Hey" is specifically identified as a track that stems from Tug Of War's sessions — because Denny Laine is on it.
I finally received the deluxe edition. It's a beautiful set, one of the best in the collection (except for the absurd download affair). However, I am not very happy with the remastering of the album itself. It's too heavy handed on the low end. It kinf of works in the rockier stuff, but they have ruined the ballads. "Distractions", for example, one of my favourite tracks. I always loved the feeling of lightness, the song seemed to float (I related that to the "butterflies" line). In the remaster, it doesn't "fly", it's stuck to earth.