A couple of new Hollies hits collections (aren't there enough already?...lol)

Picked up the latest US Hollies budget hits collections. Sony's Irwin/Anesini remastered "Greatest Hits" CD (the latest version of the 1973 Epic album) and the "Classic Masters" disc done by the McMaster/Sandoval team over at Capitol.

The Sony disc uses the original album track lineup and adds "The Air That I Breathe" as a bonus cut. It also uses the original stereo mixes on all of the cuts. The Capitol disc has one less track, but keeps the same basic lineup as the Sony except for losing "King Midas In Reverse" and "Dear Eloise", and adding "Jennifer Eccles". Here though, "Look Through Any Window", "Just One Look", "Pay You Back With Interest" and "Bus Stop" show up in their lower-fi, but musically superior original mono mixes.

Sonically, each disc has it's own eq/compression scheme. Both of the discs actually, IMHO, equal or surpass the highly touted EMI "2O Golden Greats" disc (and the EMI "All The Hits and More" for that matter) - which for all of its master tape merit always sounded way too artificially bright, crudely "digital" and harsh to my ears.

In other words, these two new discs *seem* to use original masters too, which is why I suppose I'm mentioning them in the first place. Personally, on initial listen, I think I prefer the mastering scheme of the Irwin/Anesini disc, between the two new ones, a bit more on most of the cuts. The top end being somewhat tamed and down-tilted, yet still with plenty of natural detail...that rare balancing act. The Sony A/D conversion process of this mastering duo seems to be getting slightly better as the years pass by. The respective tracks on here sound richer and smoother than the lifeless and crudely transferred tracks on their previous "Epic Original Master Tapes" collection (not really *the* masters) from a half decade ago ("Carrie Anne", "King Midas" and "Dear Eloise").

The McMaster/Sandoval disc mastering holds its own too. A little louder, brighter and bassier...which actually works pretty good on "Long Dark Road". "Carrie Anne" seems to have some overload distortion here on one part of the middle section that is more obvious than I've ever heard before...perhaps it's just a better tape and less masked than others. Your sonic mileage on both of these new discs, of course, may vary depending on your system.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Hollies have been reissued so many time on vinyl and disc over the years, the tapes fiddled with by so many different engineers. I wouldn't even want to wager what the *original* analog UK masters truly sound like in their flat state on some of these songs (e.g. "Dear Eloise")!

 

Latest Hollies Remasters

David,

Thanks for the scouting report. I saw them in the stores and, of course, was wondering about what they sound like. Your observations appear to make them "worth the ticket".

Thanks!

Bob

 

We talked about these two in a previous post, but nobody had listened to them yet - so thanks Dave for that comprehensive post.
However, we were dissapointed that these 2 cd's clock in at under 40 minutes.