I pulled out my old Columbia CD of Dylan's JOHN WESLEY HARDING just to be sure....

Interesting, the plot thickens, I suppose, as it had not occurred to me that a UK 2004 CD might differ from a US post-2004 one.

Guess I'm ignorant here, but would you suspect the 2003 redbook's volume being high also means anything about its dynamic range, compression, or ear fatigue? Or is it simply a matter of turning the volume up or down, and the different CDs ultimately being the same?

 

I'm not Roger, but what is being talked about here is a uniform level shift. The mastering and dynamic range on all iterations should be identical. If you took the 2003 redbook and reduced its volume by 30% across the board, it should be identical to the other versions.

 

Thanks, that's good to know, and will certainly save me from going on a hunt for other albums' 2004 discs.

Also recognize your name from some of the earlier threads I was reading through in the first place about the Blonde On Blonde secret remaster!

 

Thanks, czeskleba, I agree entirely.

 

Probably find somebody has already said it , but the real outlaw John Wesley Hardin's grandson was the composer Louis Hardin aka Moondog.

 

How about that? That's new to me.

 

Here's a scan of that ICE column, I don't think it's been posted in this thread. I'm with Steve, the original CD is my favorite. I love listening to Kenney Buttrey's drums on that mix.

 

It feels like Berkowitz gathered together a whole bunch of factoids, put them in a blender, and then said them randomly. There’s some truth in almost all of what he said, but often not in the context he said it. No wonder people were confused.

 

Wow, that article is even more convoluted than I'd remembered. What's interesting though is that reader Jeff Symonds claims his vinyl LP does not have the popping p's. Either he doesn't know what he's talking about, or there must be a vinyl pressing out there with the remix on it.

 

Without hearing it, it's also possible there was a heavy high-pass filter applied during cutting.

 

FWIW, the popping p's on Frankie Lee are quite noticeable on my record. So much so that I'm embarrassed that I didn't remember them and notice the difference when I first heard the CD (even though there was about a ten-year gap between the last time I'd listened to my record and when I bought the CD).

 

That article explains why the JWH MFSL has way more bass than the original CD, which was confusing to me. Thanks for posting.

 

No, it doesn’t. The original CD is remixed. The ICE article conflates a few different things.

 

What’s the consensus?

 

The original CD, despite (?) being a 1980s remix, beats all other editions of the album hands down for me. If you find it light on bass, try adding a little EQ yourself (you will not die, it's not poison...).

 

For such a great album (in my top 5 of all acts) having lots of different versions is fine. The old Columbia cd and the UK one on CBS (they sound the same to me) really do sound terrific. I like the mono in the Sony box and the MFSL mono very much as well.

 

It’s just too bad the original mix sources used for the late ‘90s comps haven’t been used for the whole album. That would be definitive.

 

I have the 2003 CD. I had the LP many years ago. Even with either of these I always thought the opening track vocals were a bit ragged. My favorite tracks for vocal sound are track 2 and track 3.

My two favorite Dylan albums for sonic are JWH and New Morning.

 

Can anyone tell if the 1989 European CD is the same as the 1987 US CD ?

Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding

Apparently matrix says "Mastered by DADC Austria" so it may not be the same.

 

I’m not certain, but it’s likely the same. What makes you think it wouldn’t be?

 

Well I was thinking that maybe the "mastered by DADC Austria" meant that the European CD had its own mastering. And If I recall correctly, I've seen some examples where European and US mastering differed (but it was mainly for vinyl I think). I don't have this CD, it's only a speculation/question to anyone who happens to have both and would be able to compare.

 

That just means the glass master was made there.

 

OK thank you, I was not aware of that!

 

I prefer to listen to this "John Wesley Harding" album in mono, it's much better. His first four albums are also better in mono. I prefer stereo for everything else though.

 

Are there any notable examples of Dylan CDs (as opposed to vinyl) having different masterings (in terms of sound quality/content versus track indexing or uniform volume boost/cut) between contemporaneous international issues that you're aware of beyond what's outlined by Roger Ford here? (In the regular vein of things, I mean, as opposed to the DCC Highway 61 Revisited, which apparently reflects EQ differences between the US/JP pressings, a detail Ford has seemingly omitted or overlooked. Just curious if there could be other instances as well.)