It's extraordinary to me how good this sounds (the vinyl). I gave it a clean, but it looked good (out of the depressing sleeve that I quickly replaced with a better inner sleeve). So happy to replace my well-loved original US wax with this one. Flat, clean, relatively cheap, and black...purchased from my local shop last night. Not sure I'm seeing the digital in Qobuz/Roon...there's usually a "versions" tab, that I'm not locating. The qobuz info seems to say it's UMe -- product ending in "320".
Not entirely sure what you mean by this, but this mastering is available on Qobuz in two resolutions. Here's the download store links... 24/96: Album This Year's Model, Elvis Costello | Qobuz: download and streaming in high quality 24/192: Album This Year's Model, Elvis Costello | Qobuz: download and streaming in high quality The 24/192 page has an option to download in 24/96, but it's $6 more expensive than the standalone 24/96 one for some reason.
Thanks for that. My most recent roon upgrade seems to have removed some of the metadata and/or a versions tab. Now it's just "credits" and not very complete. Not the store, which I really don't have much interest in, but the streaming app. Sorry for being unclear. Guess it's really moot after my vinyl purchase.
I keep forgetting Qobuz has a streaming thing, despite having to navigate around three ads for it every time I try to download something!
Pump it up sounds better to me on the Demon CD. It's great to hear a modern remaster that retains the dynamic range but I'm not sure it is better overall. I've been listening intently to Chelsea and thought the 2021 had the edge, then listening again I'm not so sure! Tim
Is this around 0:02-0:03? If so, I hear the same thing on the Imp Records CD reissue. It's likely this subtle glitch exists on the original two-track master tape and isn't tape damage.
I sure hope so. It seems like a beautiful piece that's lovingly put together. I'd gladly plunk my money down for this.
After now having the opportunity to compare these, I think I find the Ryko/Demon from the early 90s the most satisfying listening experience of all - a full sound with bass more apparent without being brickwalled - as long as you can live with the a couple of remixes included. The new remaster does sound like a remix as others have mentioned with the vocals sounding more apparent, a more dry mix with less bass presence - overall very good and if you don't have a CD already then this one is recommended, and also recommended if you do as it's different listening experience IMO. The problem I have with the IMP CD is the elogated shhhs.... and chhhhs on the vocals - not an audio expert but I believe it's called siblance which I find offputting and is noticeable as soon as I was playing No Action. Shame as the overall sound is good.
It's in the right channel during the first half of the drum intro, and it clears up by the second measure. It's not present on Girls Girls Girls.
Correct. I'm finding the remaster more enjoyable and sounding more like itself through speakers. It's still a little too alien to me through headphones.
When there is tape damage, and a decent earlier CD transfer exists, I don't understand why the remastering engineer doesn't just patch in a repair. Glad I've still got FIEND CD 18. Tim
They probably didn't have a CD on hand. There's also the matter of the obsession with HD audio – can't be HD if you use a CD source. (Never mind that, in most cases albeit not this one, the HD audio is completely obliterated beyond recognition in mastering.) At any rate, the uncommon-ness of other engineers doing this is the reason my skill at editing has improved tenfold over the past year.
High Def? I’m into the vinyl pressing here, but HD and CD are nowhere close to mutually exclusive. For example, Apple’s new HiRes is CD (or 44.1kHz). Same with Spotify’s new service that’s coming out. Maybe I am missing your point.
Awesome that the new issue is getting great reviews. I will definitely pick this up so that I can give my now-rather-valuable MOFI 33 a well deserved rest.
Try telling that to the labels and platforms that push 24-bit/44.1 kHz as "hi res" when all it means is a lower noise floor (which would only matter if there was 6 dB of headroom or more on a mastering). As long as they can point to a number and say it's technically better, they're satisfied, and they seem to think their customer base will be satisfied as well. I guess I missed the obvious point replying to @onlyconnect's post – the reason they don't patch in damaged sections from older CDs is because they don't care in the slightest.
I just got both "This Year's Model" (2021 remaster) and "Spanish Model" on CD this week. Here's a few observations on the packaging of both: 1. "This Year's Model" (2021 remaster) is credited to Elvis Costello while "Spanish Model" is credited to "Elvis Costello & The Attractions". 2. "This Year's Model" (2021 remaster) cover is the UK one but without the printer's colour bars offset. The back cover and the inner sleeve glove pictures are also the UK ones. "Spanish Model" cover uses the Swedish and Finnish cover as its basis. 3. The booklet for "Spanish Model" has lyrics and credits (in Spanish) covering recording, publishing and musicians involved. It also has amongst pictures of the various artists photos of the UK inner sleeve (fuzzy glove) and the Swedish and Finnish inner sleeve (red vinyl glove). There's also a photo of the UK back cover as well as an outtake from that session with Mr. Costello seated. Elvis Costello – Spanish Model (2021, CD) 4. The booklet for "This Year's Model" (2021 remaster) is very thin with only one page of information. Elvis Costello – This Year's Model (2021, CD) Regarding the musician credits: "This Year's Model" (2021 remaster) doesn't credit Mick Jones on guitar for "Big Tears" but previous releases have as well as "Spanish Model". "Spanish Model" also credits him on "Pump It Up". I'm not sure if that's a mistake because "Big Tears" was the b-side of "Pump It Up" or if when they went back to the master tapes for "Spanish Model" they used a track that wasn't on the original "Pump It Up". I'm not sure if I'd be able to tell if there was an extra guitar on the "Spanish Model" version. If there was it didn't immediately jump out on a casual listen. Finally, both releases have "Elvis Costello appears courtesy of EMI Records" which is interesting because EMI is part of Universal (which both these releases are) and his last two albums came out on Concord, so it looks like maybe another label for Mr. Costello.
EMI went out of business in 2013. That's incredibly odd that eight years later he would be credited as an EMI artist, when I don't think he ever was in the first place!
Checking the elviscostello.info/wiki page there's the "Pump It Up" (Dance Mix or 1984 Monster Mix) that was a b-side to "The Only Flame In Town" that also credits Mick Jones on guitar so I'm assuming he was mixed out on the original "Pump It Up" single. Pump It Up - The Elvis Costello Wiki
From the EMI Records page on wikipedia: On 16 June 2020, Universal rebranded Virgin EMI Records as EMI Records and named Rebecca Allen (former president of UMG's Decca label) as the label's president.[3] I don't think Elvis Costello was any kind of EMI recording artist before so this must be a new deal.
Interesting. Well, sort of. It all feels like a big shell game, honestly, shuffling artists around under names of labels that aren't really labels anymore, just different names under the same big label. Not sure I understand the point, but whatever, I like a good challenge.
I'm pretty sure I read in one of the many recent Spanish Model articles that Mick Jones can just be heard at the end of Pump It Up. On Spanish Model the track is longer at the end and you can definitely hear some different guitar work. It's my understanding that that's Mick.
Has anyone who also has the original FIEND CD been able to compare and could post how the 2021 issue stacks up? Details would be appreciated.
I'll wait for someone who has the one you're specifically after to comment (paging @strippies – by chance, do you have the new remaster?), but I have compared it to three Columbia CDs: the secret remaster of This Year's Model (with matrix DIDP-020325), Taking Liberties, and Girls Girls Girls. Taking Liberties is awful; you can read my review of three tracks from it at the end of this post. Girls Girls Girls is a bit thin-sounding, with some attention needed in the low midrange area, but it sounds quite good. The 2021 remaster of This Year's Model (for the shared tracks, anyway) clearly comes from a superior source tape. Some may prefer the treble on Girls Girls Girls slightly more; the 2021 remaster is a bit darker sounding. The Columbia secret remaster of This Year's Model – which may or may not* be based on the same mastering as the Demon FIEND CD 18 – is pretty good. The source tape is inferior and it's missing "Chelsea" and "Night Rally", but it's a worthy CD. There is more treble here than on the 2021 remaster. Surprisingly, I dig it. I like the dark tonality of the 2021 remaster, but compared directly against the Columbia, it sounds a bit muffled. The trade-off is that during denser passages (and particularly on backing vocals, such as the "see your friends" part of "The Beat"), the Columbia sounds quite harsh, while the remaster does not. I feel like there's a middle ground here, EQ-wise, that would satisfy both conditions – open up the top and bring some clarity without becoming harsh. (Note to self: compare the EQ and find that middle ground; signed, yourself from probably 14 years ago.) *In another thread, @strippies determined that some of the Columbia "secret remasters" were based on the Demon CDs with slight differences. However, the ones I have available to test are all quite different. Based on the comment at the bottom of the page, This Year's Model seems to be extremely similar to the Demon CD, but as far as I know, nobody who has both has compared them.
Hey All, Just EC & the Imposters with CS last night in Cincinnati - they were awesome! This was the setlist: Elvis Costello & The Imposters Setlist at The Andrew J. Brady ICON Music Center, Cincinnati Straight through, no encore. Also picked up the "This Year's Model/Spanish Model" vinyl split; autographed one's were $150 - bit high for me, got the non-autographed for $50.
