SH Spotlight I'm asked stuff: Favorite mastering engineer, best BOSTON CD, best TRAVELING WILBURYS CD, etc..

Insight Out is one of the underrated albums of ‘67.
Great Record!

 

How are the original Demon CD's for Nick Lowe?

 

That’s too bad. Great band with great harmonies. Thank you very much for your response.

 

Hey Steve... favorite Zevon album?

 

First of all thank you for this wonderful forum!!!
Is this because AMPEX/3M used the original BASF German tape formulation on their early Ampex machines, based on AEG "Magnetofon" captured ones? I've seen a video and read about the restoration process of early classical Magnetofon recordings from early 40's in nazi Germany: the 1/4" tapes survived mostly intact for 80 years and still produce very good sound!

 

Like the late 40's Sinatra stuff?
I have a couple of european - french and english - compilations, in unfutzed mono and they sound simply fantastic.
Even the CDs of this stuff sound good.

 

Another question: I have the original 1967 Atco stereo pressing of Vanilla Fudge S/T album and I wonder why the massive hit "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and the three short interludes (Illusions of My Childhood I-III) left in mono (I enjoy the wide stereo mix of the other tracks - I posted recently a needledrop of mine at the corresponding thread). I guess for these there was no dedicated stereo mix ever, as it was the 7" single big hit and they just used this mix for the album as well? Was that common back then?

 

Steve, can't tell you how many times I've refreshed the forum looking for some new about a new release mastered by you. Still crossing my fingers for you doing your magic on RHCP's Californication like you did for their Stadium Arcadium album

 

Mine’s an original WB Green label The Association (2) - Insight Out
and really sounds nice. Besides the cool gold label, is there a difference in the pressing/mastering?

 

Reading Elton John's book "Me" and reading the chapter on Leon Russell near the end prompted me to dust off my old "Best of Leon" cd. Lo and Behold, it's compiled and engineered by Mr. Steve Hoffman.
It is not a gold disc, but it has a DCC logo on the back of the case as well as on the disc itself. Number on spine is SRZ-8017. Can I assume this would be an identical mastering to the Gold release? It does sound splendid!

And I highly recommend the book!

 

The gold release of what? s/t? No, that used different mastering.

Hummingbird and Roll Away The Stone are unique alternate mixes on Best Of. Most or everything else is the same as the DCC aluminum CDs, albeit level shifted.

 

For info like that, Google is quite helpful. Just add Steve Hoffman Forums to your search term. Doing this, I found this old thread:

Leon Russell s/t Gold vs Silver

Be aware there is an Audio Fidelity SACD of this album too. It was mastered by Kevin Gray. More info on that and how it compares to the DCC here: Leon Russell Audio Fidelity SACDs vs DCC versions

 

That thread is a bit misleading. The aluminum and gold CDs don't feature completely different mixes. The aluminum CD features 2 alternate mixes:

Shoot Out On The Plantation
Hurtsome Body

And the gold CD features 1 remix:

Old Masters

But otherwise, the mixes are the same. The mastering, however, is different.

FYI:

"Leon Russell" was issued as Shelter SHE-1001 in March 1970, distributed by Blue Thumb Records. The third track on side two was "Old Masters", which was Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" set to the tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner".

Not long after the original release, Shelter switched to Capitol for distribution, and with that change came both a new catalog number (SHE-8901) and the removal of "Old Masters". Subsequent pressings retained this catalog number and track lineup.

The first CD issue was released by DCC in 1989, with a catalog number of SRZ-8001. The track lineup was the same as the reissued LP, without "Old Masters", but that song was added as a bonus track, as was an unreleased solo performance of "Shoot Out On The Plantation". However, alternate mixes were used for the album version of "Shoot Out On The Plantation" and "Hurtsome Body".

DCC reissued the album a couple of months later, with the same catalog number but this time without the solo version of "Shoot Out On The Plantation". Aside some minor mastering differences on "A Song For You" and "Shoot Out On The Plantation", it is essentially identical to the original DCC CD.

In 1990, DCC issued "The Best of Leon Russell", catalog number SRZ-8017, which included previously unreleased alternate mixes of "Hummingbird" and "Roll Away The Stone".

In 1991, DCC's Del Rack label released a compilation of new remixes by Steve Hoffman called "Delta Lady", catalog number DRZ 918. Included were remixes of "Dixie Lullaby" and "Delta Lady".

In 1993, DCC released a gold CD of "Leon Russell", catalog number GZS-1049. Unlike the original DCC release, "Shoot Out On The Plantation" and "Hurtsome Body" were the original mixes. However, there were other changes. "Dixie Lullaby" and "Pisces Apple Lady" had slates present that were not present on the original LP (the former apparently copied from the "Delta Lady" remix), "Old Masters" was placed back in the lineup but was a new remix, and some of the fades and between song gaps differed from the original LP. Also included were four unreleased songs and a new remix of the solo version of "Shoot Out On The Plantation".

In 1995, The Right Stuff reissued the album (T2-34028), which was essentially a clone of the second issue DCC CD (without the solo version of "Shoot Out On The Plantation"). It is not digitally identical to the DCC CD but is essentially the same.

In 2014, Capitol Records in Japan reissued the album as a mini-LP on SHM-CD (TYCP-80058), Platinum SHM-CD (TYCP-85003), and SHM-SACD (TYGP-89003). According to the liner notes, these were taken from a flat transfer of the master tapes. The track lineup, mixes, and gaps match the original LP (with "Old Masters"), but close inspection reveals it's clear the transfer of the tapes was done without "Old Masters" in the lineup, and that it was later inserted digitally. Because of this, "Prince of Peace" fades slightly early and "Give Peace a Chance" actually has a very small bit of the end of "Prince of Peace" at the start. Also, the glitch in "A Song For You" at 3:42 (present on all other releases) was digitally fixed using the same phrase from 3:34. This was later reissued as an SHM-CD in jewel case in 2016 (UICY-15451) and as a standard CD in jewel case in 2017 (UICY-78301).

In 2016, Audio Fidelity released the album on SACD (AFZ 235), which uses the modified track lineup (without "Old Masters") and contains no bonus tracks. The gaps between songs are slightly different from the original LP, and "Pisces Apple Lady" contains the slate that was first released on the DCC gold CD from 1993.

 

This is what I have. I've never seen a DCC disc that wasn't gold or in standard DCC packaging.
The DCC logo is on the disc.

 

I'm not sure what you're saying, but that's not a gold disc.

 

That's the silver on that I referred to above, Tom.

There are a number of silver DCCs, they just aren't as popular as the gold ones.

 

FYI: aluminum, not silver.

 

I know its not a gold disc. Are you not understanding my question?? I was unaware of DCC releasing cds that were NOT gold until I stumbled upon this one in my own collection.
Also Shelter Records appears on the disc more prominently then DCC. Is it a Shelter or DCC release? Looking at the CD case, you would never know it contained a DCC disc.

 

I'm not. What questions do you still have that I haven't already answered?

 

So I gather there was never a DCC Gold release of Best of Leon, only the S/T.

 

Correct.