Cream: Train Time

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by John Buchanan, Mar 23, 2002.

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  1. John Buchanan

    John Buchanan I'm just a headphone kind of fellow. Stax Sigma Thread Starter

    Steve,
    what is the cause of the distortion in Jack Bruce's harmonica at the start of Train Time on Those Were The Days 4CD set (between 0:13 and 0:16)?
    It's not on your version (of Wheels of Fire), which is way superior. Did you ever read the Allan Kozinn review of Cream:Those Were The Days in the December 1997 issue of Fi? That must have been disappointing. I still shake my head at how inaccurate that review was - soundwise as well as facts. Taught me a lot about not believing all you read in print. I still keep it for laughs (as well as the article about the various Jimi Hendrix releases) :mad:
     
  2. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    I never heard the set so I can't tell you.

    I don't recall reading the review you mentioned, but if it said something bad about the DCC Wheels Of Fire, my co-workers might not have shown it to me.

    The thousands of letters I got praising the DCC "Wheels" over any other version made me feel quite good. I must have done something right on it.
     
  3. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialistâ„¢

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    John,

    Just for giggles can you post the article?:D
     
  4. John Buchanan

    John Buchanan I'm just a headphone kind of fellow. Stax Sigma Thread Starter

    Guys,
    unfortunately I haven't got a scanner, but some of the clangers are:
    (1) "...and the few tracks that had been edited for their original release (Passing the Time" and the live "N.S.U." ) are presented here with the trimmed material restored..." In the case of NSU, this is a different performance, not an unedited performance, as indicated on non-US origin versions of Those Were The Days. If the reviewer actually knew the Cream catalogue, as he claims to do in this 3 page review, this would be strikingly obvious.
    (2)".... there is, however, a striking improvement in the studio material from Wheels of Fire over the DCC Compact Classics gold CD, which was itself an improvement over the standard Polydor release. Often, and paticularly in the tracks that are most vividly textured ("Passing the Time" and "Those Were the Days," for example), the DCC pressing sounded as though it were playing through a curtain when compared with this new mastering.
    The live recordings are also greatly improved: the horribly shrill sound of the original Live Cream Volume I CD, for example, simply cannot be compared with the smooth, far better balanced sound on Those Were the Days. With a more rounded top, greater depth in the bass and a clarity that gives all three instruments greater dimension than they had in previous issues, these recordings not only have a visceral impact that they lacked until now, but afford an immensly better sense of what Clapton, Bruce and Baker were up to in purely musical terms....." My take on this is it is just WRONG. Most of the tracks are brighter and more compressed on TWTD - it's just as well the "curtain" was there!. Bass also appears to have been shaved off in comparison with either the DCC gold of MoFi gold versions of the catalogue releases. The cover reproductions in such a historic set are inferior. The only reason I keep TWTD is for the remastered Oakland Coliseum stuff (they sound almost like a remix, except the Cream multitracks went in the Atlantic tape repository fire), and lacks all the glaring faults (channel imbalances, microphone bleed, volume alterations) that these tracks always had on Live Cream Volume II. The re-equalising of the LA Forum tracks heard on Goodbye Cream is a better compromise. You can now actually hear Ginger Baker's pressed snare rolls in Sitting on Top of the World, and Jack Bruces bass has been reduced from semi trailer size. ..... but trust me, apart from these 2 instances, the gold CDs are better and aspecially the DCC versions. Wheels of Fire's packaging is WONDERFUL and the sound is the best!
     
  5. John Buchanan

    John Buchanan I'm just a headphone kind of fellow. Stax Sigma Thread Starter

    Back to the topic, the harmonica overloads something in alternate left and right channels between those stated times on TWTD. Digital overload? Anyone?
     
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