SH Spotlight Adventures in Mastering: First album by AMERICA on SACD for Audio Fidelity:

Considering that Steve actually remastered the single version of "Country Roads" by James Taylor in hopes that WB would allow it to be included on Sweet Babay James ..... my guess would be "no". I would love to be wrong though!

 

one question, what happened to the tapes of the first version of the album, without 'Horse with no name' ?

 

What a story! Thanks for sharing this.

But I have to say that it's pretty depressing also. Here I've been going along thinking that the state of audio quality was the fault of the artists & producers & labels who demanded that engineers brickwall & EQ the life out of their recordings - and here we have these engineers promoting their "house sound" to an audiophile label?

I don't understand why more engineers don't "get" what you and a few others "get". To me it's pretty simple. If an artist today wants to AutoTune & brickwall their new release to death, I'm fine with that. I don't like the way it sounds, but I'm fine with it because that was their original intent & vision.

But to take 40 & 50 year old recordings and do the same thing is a sacrelige, in my opinion. They don't do it to classical music. They don't do it (for the most part) to jazz music. What makes classic pop and rock and R&B any different? We are just as discerning about our heritage as classical & jazz fans are.

 

That is disappointing. Have these engineers really been conditioned to believe that this is the right way to do things? They can't recognize that this approach is especially inappropriate when dealing with an audiophile label? Know your audience!

 

'Everyone I Meet Is From California' got re-recorded as 'California Revisited' and issued on Homecoming, the second album by America

 

Thanks. I never knew that. It would be nice to have the original included though.

 

ok i wasn't clear. I try again : the tapes shown at post 1 and 2 of this thread are the 12 songs version, the second issue. The first version has 11 songs, no 'A Horse with No Name', 5 songs on side 1. So are the tapes of the 12 songs version a copy of the 11 songs version plus Horse with no Name or the original copy with 'A horse with no name' added ?

 

I actually looked at the tapes carefully and I think answer 2.

 

Weren't the songs on the Greatest Hits album from 'America' and 'Homecoming' NEW RECORDINGS??, not just remixes. They really sound different to me. I really notice it (and now it seems you NEVER hear the original mix of "A Horse With No Name" on the radio anymore...)
I'm confused...

 

They are remixes.

 

I just have to say this is one of the best stories I've ever read here, and makes me feel fortunate to be a member on a forum with these kinds of ideals and musical vision.

 

Since History: America's Greatest Hits is a unique and well-known album in its own right, I would LOVE for it to be on the future agenda for SACD reissue. That would be a big seller and present the remixes and unique crossfades in the best possible way.

 

I know what you mean but usually undecoded, the results are overly bright and the high end sound accentuated!

 

To me the WB CD is terribly thin and flat sounding, I hope some bottom end and body can be restored with the new SACD release!

 

Just like they did with Alice Coopers Greatest Hits

 

People forgot sound is just as important as the picture, what with all the Blu-Ray, downloading and home theater in todays world.

 

There seems to be little attention to nuance and subtlety with sound engineering with most mainstream product including surround tracks for movies! Loud and louder seems to be the mantra, virtually every "remaster" done by major labels is significantly louder than previous and the dynamics truncated! The last Rolling Stones reissues are a case in point .

 

I think this is a great album for Steve and his associates to tackle. It has great sounds with those acoustic guitars, great bass, and for me some of America greatest songs.
I always liked them more when there were three of them, after that it headed to lite kinda poppy songs. Your opinion might vary and I respect that I hope you can respect
my feelings.
Great choice Steve, I can't wait to get the cd upon release.

 

The mini-LP version of Homecoming sounds pretty good, much like the mini-LP of the self-titled album. But the DVD-A blows it away.

 

If it was encoded in Dolby, I would play it back that way. I was talking about tapes I made myself. I just left it off.