Dusty Springfield remasters: opinions, recommendations?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by J.A.W., Apr 24, 2005.

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  1. henryjg

    henryjg Forum Resident

    Location:
    Biloxi, MS
    Thanks. I'll look for The Look of Love as a start. I assume the earlier LPs were issued in both mono and stereo? And I assume that like most pop stuff from the early/mid 60s, the mono LPs are preferable?
     
  2. Ricko

    Ricko Forum Resident

    I wouldn't say the US monos are necessarily better. Some of the stereo is fake, but it's not all that bad on vinyl. Your choice - it's a hard call - we're not talking about audiophile recordings here - but if you have a lot of Dusty on CD you might want to do mono vinyl for variety on the pre-66 stuff. And you're right: the mid-60s mono mix is invariably the definitive one. :)
     
  3. Troystar

    Troystar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Victoria BC Canada
    I'm waiting for the complete A and B sides CD to show up but yesterday I found "The Magic Of" 3 CD/DVD set for only $40 plus $ 3.50 shipping from Amazon Canada , it was too good to pass up.
     
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  4. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    Ouch!
     
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  5. DEAN OF ROCK

    DEAN OF ROCK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hoover, AL
    Anybody?
     
  6. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I have it off the CD remaster of The Look of Love that came out from Philips/Mercury or whatever in I believe the late '90s. It's alright. I find all of those remasters a bit tinny, but I suspect they aren't far off the sound of the original masters. There are some sloppy moments on them, though. Like the copy of "I Wish I'd Never Loved You" off of Dusty has the first second or so cut-off, which is just inexcusable. I "fixed" it by copying and pasting the first moments off of the version from the remastered A Girl Called Dusty onto it. But that version is a remix, and I hate all of the remixes, even though the sound quality is much better. They completely ruin the original mood of the songs.
     
  7. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I ran across that Targon twofer of Dusty's first two records - Stay Awhile - I Only Want To Be With You & Dusty - which folks have noted sounds better than the other available releases. It was apparently remixed, but unlike the remixes they did on the first record in the UK shortly before Dusty died, which radically reworked some of the songs (especially the vocals, which had a lot of their rough power neutered), these follow the sound and spirit of the originals more closely. If anything, the remixers seem to have amped up the '60s drama, which is what I loved the most about these tracks in the first place.

    They still aren't exactly hi-fi, but they certain sparkle compared to the other editions - there's some bass, good stereo separation, far superior clarity and somewhat less harshness. Although sometimes cleaning things up reveals some really weird artifacts (like, sadly, the vocals on "Wishin' and Hopin'"), occasionally the results are a dramatic improvement ("All Cried Out" is incredible here).

    A few of these sound a bit like the weaker, thinner versions from the late-90s UK remixes though - one of my very favorite Dusty songs, "I Wish I'd Never Loved You", is presented here with the multitracked vocals and orchestra pushed down in the mix a bit compared to the original I think, and it loses a bit of power as a result - the main vocal is supposed to be straining to be heard over those elements, not riding clear above them. Well, you can't have everything... It is much, much clearer than any prior edition though - you can really hear the impact NoNoise or whatever had on one older edition of A Girl Called Dusty - HORRID. Dead.

    The disc is sadly out of print now, but I'm glad I shelled out the $14 on it. Highly recommended for Dusty fans - I think her first two albums are arguably her finest outside of Dusty In Memphis, and in spite of a few bum tracks here and there (especially on Dusty) they're about as good as '60s pop got. It's probably sacrilege to say it, but I prefer these discs over any album The Beatles put out prior to Rubber Soul, and I think it's sad they seem somewhat neglected today (especially in the US).

    One plus to that '90s remixed edition of her first record though are the bonus tracks, which are fantastic. So it's still worth picking up just for those...
     
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  8. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I've been doing more side-by-side comparisons of the two-fer Taragon of Stay Awhile - I Only Want To Be With You / Dusty. It's . . . interesting.

    They made very different - and sometimes bizarre - EQ choices than earlier releases of these tracks, on the Philips remasters from the late '90s or the big Anthology 3-CD release. They definitely thinned out the high-bass on many tracks, which makes them less "tubby" and makes them sound clearer and brighter, but somebody literally went NUTS with the deep bass on many tracks - my subwoofer is pumping like it was playing Pet Shop Boys. No idea what's going on here - I thought a delivery truck was backing up to my front door on "Can I Get A Witness" . . . but I live on the 10th floor!

    My suspicion is they did all of the re-EQ in a computer. They probably found settings for thinning out the mid-bass - and boosting the low bass, to compensate, so the low end didn't entirely vanish - that worked well for several tracks, and then applied them to a bunch of tracks without carefully checking the impact... We're talking at least 12dB of boost in the low bass though.

    However, they didn't do it to all of the tracks. "Summer Is Over" for example actually has less bass than the version that appeared on the '90s A Girl Called Dusty remaster with bonus tracks. I actually prefer the '90s version, by quite a large margin.

    I'm also wondering if they NoNoised at least certain tracks on this Taragon disc. "24 Hours From Tulsa" has pronounced hiss at the open (and really all the way thru) in every other version I've heard, even the '90s remix has a bit (and they might have NoNoised that one). This one is dead silent, and the high end of the entire track seems seriously muted. Which is bizarre, because other tracks on this disc have a great high-end, without a ton of hiss. WTF?

    Further confusing things, a few tracks sound virtually identical to previous releases! And I'm also noticing there are different releases of these tracks on different discs. "Anyone Who Had A Heart" from the '90s A Girl Called Dusty remix/remaster is 3:11. On Anthology - my preferred version, with the original backing vocals pumped up in the mix and nice '60s reverb - it's 2:55. The version here is 3:10, but restores most of the B-Vox, although not the tasty reverb, and the high-end seems slightly muffled. (Listening to the three side-by-side, it's clear the '90s remix was actually played back a little too slow as well - what's up with that?)

    Stereo separation is all over the map on this disc. Several tracks have a much more pronounced sense of stereo separation than on any earlier release I've heard, but on a few it sounds somewhat collapsed.

    If you're a fan I'd still pick this one up, but I'd literally have to spend a day A/B-ing the various versions track by track to figure out which one is the "best", and some of them would be a coin toss since they all have (different) issues and there's no real consistency even on the individual discs (apart from the '90s remixes, which I almost uniformly HATE).

    Her catalog is such a mess. With CD sales having collapsed I don't suppose we'll ever get a properly remixed/remastered set, one where someone goes back and attempts to accurately recreate the original mixes and simply touches up the EQ to clarify and enrich a bit.
     
  9. Urban Spaceman

    Urban Spaceman Forum Eulipion

    Have to agree - Dusty's catalog is pretty much a disaster. I have the Taragon CD and some others where the quality varies pretty wildly between tracks. A few months ago I lucked into this CD and it sounds great! I don't have any background about the disc other than it has a 1988 date on it and it was made in Japan. Nice selection of tracks and it doesn't seem to have any funky junk applied to the mastering. I have no idea how rare this is - might not be. If you can find one for reasonable money I'd recommend checking it out:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Oops - I can see someone commented about this disc in post #2. I didn't notice sibilant vocals although the brightness might be a reasonable criticism. Has anyone ever heard or commented on the sound of the original master tapes? Now this would be a great project for Mr. Hoffman!
     
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  10. Marry a Carrot

    Marry a Carrot Interesting blues gets a convincing reading.

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Anthology is fake stereo. The original mono doesn't have the heavy reverb either.
     
  11. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I've seen The Silver Collection online, but never in stores.

    Interesting. I actually prefer it to the "real" stereo takes on the other two records - maybe the mono they cut it from is in much better condition (or was just a superior mix/EQ job to begin with). I know fake stereo and reverb are considered the devil by a lot of people, but sometimes it works with the material...
     
  12. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
  13. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Anyone know if in the case of A Brand New Me the 2005 Rhino is just a reissue of the 1992 Rhino? In other words, same mastering?
     
  14. I don't remember off the top of my head, but I doubt it.
     
  15. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Thanks.

    Anyone have the peak levels for the 1992 CD?

    Here's the peaks for the 2005 A Brand New Me CD:

    Track 1
    Peak level 100.0 %
    Track 2
    Peak level 86.9 %
    Track 3
    Peak level 88.6 %
    Track 4
    Peak level 97.3 %
    Track 5
    Peak level 83.7 %
    Track 6
    Peak level 100.0 %
    Track 7
    Peak level 87.2 %
    Track 8
    Peak level 97.9 %
    Track 9
    Peak level 94.5 %
    Track 10
    Peak level 91.4 %
    Track 11
    Peak level 99.9 %
    Track 12
    Peak level 100.0 %
    Track 13
    Peak level 97.2 %
    Track 14
    Peak level 80.5 %
    Track 15
    Peak level 69.8 %
    Track 16
    Peak level 79.6 %
    Track 17
    Peak level 85.3 %
    Track 18
    Peak level 95.7 %
    Track 19
    Peak level 99.6 %
     
  16. Urban Spaceman

    Urban Spaceman Forum Eulipion

    Hi George! I just ripped my 1992 disc of this title through EAC and the peak levels match the ones you posted for the 2005 CD interestingly enough! Same mastering is what it looks like. Cheers!
    --------- Chris
     
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  17. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Thanks, Chris! :wave:
     
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  18. balladfan

    balladfan Well-Known Member

    Are there any differences in sound quality between the Living without your love cd on mercury and the rip-o label?
     
  19. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict Thread Starter

    I think you mean the Hip-O label :)

    Haven't heard that one, but those Mercury reissues from the early 2000s suffer from noise reduction.
     
  20. balladfan

    balladfan Well-Known Member

    Are these the Hip-O label releases that suffer from this?

    Trying to work out the respective years of release for the CD, I think the Hip-O release was 2004, and the first release from Mercury was 2002, please correct me if that is incorrect.
     
  21. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict Thread Starter

    I said that the Mercury releases (2002) suffer from noise reduction. Don't know about the Hip-O as I've never heard that one.
     
  22. balladfan

    balladfan Well-Known Member

    Many thanks.
     
  23. balladfan

    balladfan Well-Known Member

    I will report my findings once I hear the Hip-O version.
     
  24. moops

    moops Senior Member

    Location:
    Geebung, Australia
  25. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict Thread Starter

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