Bad Company CDs - comments on different versions of Bad Co and Straight Shooter?

The remasters have more treble than the hallowed Diament versions but they don't "suck" by any means. The music rocks. This is Bad Company, not Nat King Cole. Crank it up and enjoy.

 

The source were the first-generation analog mixes, and it sounds to me if any EQ'ing was done, it was *quite* minimal, if not a completely flat transfer.

 

Hi Matthew,

I do know that Real Groovy import bulk second hand CD's from the U.S. which end up in their second hand bins with letter codes denoting prices. The problem with this however is that most of the audiophile sought after discs have already been picked out by the time they get to us so we end up pretty much with the dregs. In saying that, a few sneak through unnoticed. I got all my West German Moody Blues CD's, Diament Zeppelins, Diament 'Close To The Edge', Dylan DCC Gold 'Highway 61' and many others searching through these second hand bins.

As far as Bad Company is concerned, Bad Company and I are real bad company. I had the AF Gold 'Bad Company' at one point and sold it. Real dumb! Shortly thereafter I came across a near mint Diament master of 'Bad Company' in the second hand bins in Real Groovy. I procrastinated and when I finally decided I should buy it, it was too late! All I ever come across these days is the Marino remasters of their first two albums. I have held off buying these titles until I come across the AF Gold s/t or the Diaments again. Good luck with your search.

 

Do you know where it is established that the source for Straight Shooter was the first-gen master mixes?

 

I'll second (or third? who's counting?) the recomendation to find the original Diament mastered self-titled cd. If the Audio Fidelity version is too pricey, the original Diament is a great bang for the buck option.

With 10 From 6, you might want to search the Bad Company threads. There is one long discussion on that one where there are some wildly divergent opinions on the sound quality of 10 From 6, and I think it turned out that there were two different versions of what appeared to both be the unremastered Diament. One sounded significantly better than the other, but I can't remember how you distinguished one from the other, and don't feel like searching right now.

Or maybe I'm fuzzy in the head tonight and I dreamt the whole thing.

 

Can someone please post what the Diament Straight Shooter catalog number(s) is?

Looks like this thing was released a number of times. From allmusicguide:

1990 CD Swan Song 8502
1994 CD Swan Song 92436
1995 CD Swan Song 7567-92436-2

2007 CD WEA 12543
2007 CD Wea Japan 12543
2008 CD Swan Song 75319

Are the ones on top Diament's and those on the bottom the remasters? Or is only the 8502 the Diament?

 

Don't believe me, Eh?

This was just one of the few references made in this forum about this CD:










*Originally Posted by Steve Hoffman*

The original USA Swan Song/Atlantic CD release (mastered by an SH Forums member) is the ONLY good sounding CD of this great album. Mastered from the original master tapes.

Can't be TOO hard to find, can it? I even bought one from a Forum member last year for a few bucks after I heard a few songs on the DREADFUL SOUNDING double CD.

Because I am in such a good mood right now, Fats Domino playing on the Jukebox and all, I'll skip right upstairs and take a look for this... Back in a flash.


OK, its:

BAD COMPANY/Straight Shooter
CD number: Swan Song SS 8502-2
Made in USA by WEA Manufacturing...
CD mastering by THE ONE AND ONLY BARRY DIAMENT, Atlantic Studios







http://stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=2420479&postcount=5

 

Its not that I don't believe you - I just want a source of info. Example - how does Steve know? Did Barry tell him? Can he "hear it" from the CD? Did Barry say so on here?

 

Yeah. It was my friend's demo/show off disc for many years and I loved the way it sounded on any system, especially the first track which simply exploded into the room. It has a good EQ if not as smooth as Steve's but somehow it really, really rocks. This CD sounds punchy if you know what I mean. When I heard Steve's it was rather dissapointing to me....

 

Well, for the last few years it's been confirmed over and over again, I'm sure that Barry had mentioned it somewhere down the line. Have you heard this CD?


Well, here's a clip, for those who haven't:

http://www.mediafire.com/?a1zl9yzziyn

 

No.

I haven't been reading this forum the last few years and in all my searches on Bad Company I have not found a specific comment from Barry that confirms what tape he was supplied with (I'm not saying he hasn't, just that I haven't come across it).

I've no doubt the CD sounds great but this doesn't stop me wanting to know where its born from, for certain.

 

George, The top one(Swan Song 8502-2) on your list is the Diament mastering. The rest of them are the remastered versions.

 

Thanks. So it was remastered twice? Or was the remaster simply reissued under different catalog numbers?

 

Thanks for that - sounds nice! Out of curiosity I downloaded the Marino version for comparison - sounds completely different to the Anthology master.

Anyway, here is a waveform comparison of George's version (top) and Barry's verion (bottom). Both have been amplified to peak amplitude 0dB:

 

Just snagged one for $1.50 on amazon

 

Hmm, the thing with those listings is they don't always detail the versions - did your seller confirm which edition it was?

 

She did. Within an hour too.

 

I got both and I don't agree. You'd be fine with the remaster of "Straight Shooter" if that's all you could come by. It's a nicely produced record.

 

Did Barry do the original "Rough Diamonds"? Can someone post the catalog # of the original so I can check it against what a seller is providing me? I think its. 90001-2, but wanted to make sure. Any comments on how this one sounds? I'm not familiar with any of the songs.

 

I picked up Barry's CD of Run With The Pack today and it sounds real nice.

 

I've been thinking about this subject and I have some further thoughts, or I guess questions. Forgive me for I'm a novice on this sort of thing but here goes:

We know 'Bad Company' as mastered by Steve Hoffman is from the original session master mixes, we know this because Steve confirmed this and all the rigmorale he had to go through in order to get them from England where the album was recorded and mixed.

Now (and correct me if I'm wrong here) but don't dubs get sent overseas for production in other territories? 'Straight Shooter' was also recorded and mixed in England (according to what I can find on the net). Therefore I'm assuming a dub copy would have been sent to the USA for production. Or, would information found on the net stating "Cut at the Mastering Lab, Los Angeles" imply the original master session mixes were shipped to the USA and England would indeed have ended up with a dub for their production purposes (confusing huh)?

What I'm driving at is this: if the USA was supplied with dubs of both albums for production, when it came time to master these albums for CD would they have not been produced from these dubs since the CDs were mastered in the USA? Same for the Sterling Sound remasters. Or, would the original master mix tapes have been shipped to the USA from the UK for CD mastering? It is my understanding that at least back in the 80s the record companies didn't go to this trouble which is why for example you have the Free albums sounding different (better) on the Island label as opposed to the USA produced versions.

(phew, got that out!)

 

Hey Matthew! You actually asked in a very good way something that's been in the back of my brain for a long time.

I have another example: Genesis fans here seemed to have found that the Sanyo from Japan mastered version of Live is one of (if not *the*) best mastering of this release. But it was recorded in England. This is just another example. Led Zep's original US CDs are another (also Barry's, except for IV). But it always struck me as odd that the best masterings of a lot of CDs did not come from where the CDs were originally recorded. So the original masters get shipped around the world for when a "new" CD mastering gets done?

 

Matthew Barry does not use compression. Just so you know.

 

Thanks for clearing that one up. Why would the originals have been in the States at that time?