CCR & Green River Have Arrived

Whohoo!

I'll post an opinion when I have a listen to them later tonight.

I have the DCC Green River Gold CD to compare it with.

 

Anxious to hear your overall thoughts on the new lps as well as a comparrison to the DCC gold cd.

 

OK. Here goes.

I have listened to side one of Green River.

I listened to it as I sampled it at 96 Khz/24 bit into my PC. I then downsampled to 44.1/16 and cut a CDR of both the DCC Green River and the new Green River LP of the song Green River for A/Bing on one disc.

The LP is considerably brighter sounding than the CD, but not harsh. Some of it may attributed to the sampling rate Steve used on the CD if it was 44.1, but I don't know the facts.

The individual instruments stand out more clearly on the LP; the imaging is much better. You can hear all the guitars during the solos very distinctly and clearly.

The LP has a very nice 'air' about it. The ambient decay of the reverb applied to the instruments during mixdown is clearly heard and not muffled. This is what I personally listen for and what 'makes' a particular pressing standout for me. If the ambients are there and clear, I love it.

The midrange is very close on both recordings. There is a little more definition in the LP in my opinion. Once again better separation of instruments. The guitar licks seem to have more of that percussive sound of the amplifier speaker popping on the LP than on the CD.

The bass on the LP sounds just a little less prominent, but that again could be due to the sampling rate of the DCC CD and/or my turtable/cartridge (MMF-7/Eroica). The bass is outstanding and more natural sounding on the LP even though it is less prominent in the mix to me. Sampling at 44.1 can make a recording sound a little compressed as opposed to 48 Khz or 96 Khz.

Overall, I love the LP. The pressing is quiet and it sounds very nice.

Thanks Steve and Kevin! Another great job!

 

Thanks for the review. Tim!!

 

Where did you get it??

 

I preordered all 5 albums from Acoustic Sounds.

I am in Texas and AS is in Kansas, so it is a short trip by UPS ground.

 

I have now listened to both albums and am very impressed with these LPs.

I didn't hear more than a dozen pops on either pressing. RTI did a better job on these than on some other labels pressings in the past. Good job RTI!

Side two of Green River was awesome. You can hear the buzz of the strings on the acoustic guitar in Bad Moon Rising very well. The back beat of the bass drum was very evident as well; I didn't remember it from previous listening of the DCC Gold CD or my lousy Fanatasy Creedence Gold CD. You can here the sound of the shell on the snare drum as well. Steve was right, it is really a stereo mix that is mostly a mono mix with a few items off center.

The rest of side two is as good as side one. Same comments as before.

Now on to CCR!

Michael Fremer accurately described the opening track 'I Put A Spell On You' in his oft-quoted test pressing write up. It is astonishing! I have never heard this album and it sounds great. This really is the best track on the LP in my opinion.

The only thing I have ever heard was Suzie Q (who hasn't?) on the aforementioned Fantasy CD. The mastering on that CD of that song is fairly compressed and harsh.

On the Ananalogue Productions LP of CCR we have a much kinder, gentler Suzie Q with lots of subtle dynamics to boot.

I give them both an outstanding rating for the mastering job done by Steve and Kevin! Bravo!

And having an geniuely awesome quiet pressing as well makes them five star releases. I place a lot of importance on a quiet pressing, having bought four copies of one LP I love to piece a quiet 96 Khz master together.

I hope everyone enjoys them as much as I do. Now we just have to wait for the others!

 

I'm going to have to get me some of these CCR's!

From the Phonogram LP list:

In a message dated 4/14/02 1:05:21 PM, revolver writes:

<<Had a chance to sample the new Acoustic Sounds
Hoffman/Gray reissues of CCR during a visit to Richard's
yesterday. On the basis of a pretty fair sample, including
the key tracks from Willy & the Poor Boys and almost all
of side one of Cosmo's Factory, I have to agree with what
other pholks have said. These are killer! Natural, no glare,
exceptional resolution (every detail of the moderate distor-
tion off the guitar amplifiers, for example), and just plain
swing. >>

-------------------------------------------------------------

Oh goody goody we can't wait! The South Florida contingency
have them already on order thanks to overall cool dude Mike
Malone. I think we get them next week -- and kudos to Mr.
Hoffman & Mr. Gray for evidently a job superbly done! (like
I had any doubts).

Ozwaldo

 

I broke down today and ordered "Willy and The Poor Boys" and "Cosmos Factory" from Acoustic Sounds- I think they just got them in stock today.

I asked about the possibility of the CCR albums coming out on SACD, and the girl that took my order said I was the second person that day ordering CCR LPs that asked that. Well according to Chad, it looks like a very good possiblitly "in the future" - and probably not that quickly.

Now if only "Pendulum" were also on Steve and Kevin's short list of remaster LP projects.....

 

It is! Take a look at Steve's home page.

 

Duh!!! Yes it is there - "Pendulum" - I guess I never look that far down on the home page until I read he was doing that album in another thread.

Well - one more thing to wast....I mean spend my money on.

 

"I didn't hear more than a dozen pops on either pressing. RTI did a better job on these than on some other labels pressings in the past. Good job RTI! "

good job???? For 25$ one would hope for no pops....

 

Has anyone compared these to the 1st release original Fantasy albums? Would be curious to know.

Cadillacjack

 

I picked up an original "GREEN RIVER" for $5 and I was amazed by how good that sounded,and so................ from the people whom I have talked to who have heard test pressings, I know we're in for a real treat!!!!!!!!!!

 

RandyHat,

This is not always the case with RTI pressings. Most of the time they are good. I have a few with constant surface noise.

I am not sure what causes that though. Maybe one of the other members or Steve or Kevin could explain what causes some of the production anomalies.

A lot of labels use RTI though (Classic, DCC, Analogue Productions).

 

Mosaic also uses RTI. All RTI's pressings are a mixed bag. The sound they can get on vinyl is nothing short of astounding. But, as years have passed, I contend their pressings have gotten noisier, sometimes with really loud pops. I couldn't tell you why. But, looking at Classic Record's press releases, it looks like RTI fiddles with (or tweaks) their vinyl formulations and manufacturing process. The spin Classic puts on it is that they are striving for perfection, but like any other business out to make a profit, I think they are looking for "cost effective" ways to deliver a quality 180 disc to you for no more money than you paid in the mid 90's. Well, I think some corner-cutting is going on somewhere.

Compare a few your 1st round 180gm Blue Note Connoisseur (sp?) series pressings with a few of anything RTI has pressed in the past couple years. Don't focus on the mastering, just the quietness of the vinyl. Notice any differences? Should be like night & day, unless you're getting luckier than me on these later pressings.

None of the above will stop me from buying these Creedence LPs! Just thought I'd toss that in.

Mike

 

It will be interesting to compare the DCC "Willy and the Poor Boys" LP with the Analogue Productions version LP as well.

I imagine by now, RTI has its quality control in FDA approved condition. My copy of DCC "Madman Across the Water" has an annoying loud pop in "Tiny Dancer". Imagine listening to quiet soothing music then someone pops a 100 gallon balloon in your living room.

 

My Madman Across the Water has is somewhat noisy as well.