That is horrifying!! They must have taken a note from the recent Soft Cell releases on how to destroy your hard work. I have the DeTox boxes and I think they are adequate, especially compared to this. Seeing things like this just make me itch to start remastering another project. I wish I had a steady stream of them.
So do we all Scott. I've been keeping up on your label posts. Think for tracks that were previously 're-mastered' they just bumped them up higher. The un-released stuff isn't as bad thank God.
The weird case of Howard Jones and Bill Bryant MINE FOR LIFE: The Mysterious Lyrics of Howard Jones (and William Bryant)
So I managed to get hold of this - I have noticed it almost sounds mono? I wonder why? Has anyone else thought this? I compared it to listening to the original radio mix and I could really hear a difference.
Interesting interview regarding the new re-issues and more... unfortunately nothing about the compromised sound quality: www.superdeluxeedition.com/interview/howard-jones-talks-about-the-reissues-of-humans-lib-and-dream-into-action/
After reading that SDE interview you can certainly tell Howard does NOT want to talk about him: SDE: I hadn’t realised, but with the first record, you had this collaboration with Bill Bryant… lyrically. HJ: [slight pause] Yes, on some tracks. I think there are two or three [actually, six out of the ten tracks were co-written by Bryant]. SDE: How did that come about, was he a friend? HJ: Yes, he was somebody that I knew during that time.
So I have been dealing with Cherry Red this past week, regarding the poor quality picture disk vinyl in the box sets, and the defective stand alone Humans Lib white vinyl. At first I was encouraged since they seemed interested in resolving the issue. I send them sound and visual samples of all the damage, then the fun and games started. First they claimed I needed to clean them, then they claimed it was static, then they admitted I was just unlucky, then they admit the picture disk vinyl should sound poor due to the trade off of putting a picture on the vinyl. I ask them to replace my Humans Lib, they refuse. They tell me it’s Amazon UK that must replace this, I explained I live in the USA and Amazon only give 8 pound credit max for posting overseas, he still won’t do anything. I have dealt with many record companies over the years, and they always try and help, seems like that is not so with Cherry Red.
Wow, they have drowned the waveform! Should have called these "Aural Slip" and "Brick Into Action"! Amazing who and what gets deluxe editions nowadays. But I remember all too well - and I probably told this before - how severely I felt let down by "Dream Into Action" back in 1985. I was so looking forward to it but I never liked it as much as the debut. Haven't heard either since approximately 1987.
There are those that drone "You hear with your ears, not your eyes", to them I say you don't have to actually get hit by 10ton truck going at a high rate of speed to know that if you did it at the absolute least it would hurt. While the original "Dream Into Action" was one of the worst sounding Target CDs (likley made from high gen tapes) I'll gladly take it over this excremental mastering job without any hesitation whatsoever. Did mastering it that way really obtain them extra sales as the morons at the labels might think? I've no idea, what I do know it it prevented them from making at least one sale...mine. c-eling if you got this abomination from Amazon try returning it and let them know you believe it was defective or rather intentionally produced defectively
Agreed 100% Ricks, I did buy this for the unreleased stuff however, otherwise I'd return it as 'unfit for use' There is a US SRC of Dream Into Action, with way different levels than the Japan and WG manufactures. It may be Diament's.
Thanks for the early warning ... I cancelled my vinyl order yesterday for both albums. I am thankful I still have both titles purchased on CD from 1986. Dream Into Action was the 2nd CD I ever purchased so it was played extensively for quite some time. A shame that quality seemed to be way down the list of priorities for these sets ... especially given the prices being charged.
Got my replacement Humans Lib today, exact same fault on Conditioning. Awful loud defective clicks, cleaned after testing, and same issue. Cherry Red refuse to make it right, so Bezos will be told about this nightmare. I have only ever emailed Bezos customer care email once in 20 years,but it totally turns around any situation. A record company refusing to resolve clearly defective product, is IMO a good reason to reach out. Got my copy of Dream into action, also defective, just a really really bad release this.
I don't know why anyone is surprised that the quality here isn't that great. Cherry Red releases some interesting product that the major labels won't touch, but in my experience the mastering almost always leaves something to be desired (or is just plain bad). I'm not surprised to read that the pressing quality of their vinyl is also bad. At one time, Howard Jones was my favorite artist and I played Human's Lib every day for at least a year after I bought it. If anything, I am the kind of consumer that should have purchased the Human's Lib deluxe box on release day, but I haven't purchased either deluxe boxes or even the less expensive cd+dvd sets because I know I'd be buying them only for material otherwise unavailable and I just cannot see paying $100 for that small amount of material when I know the entire product will be of mediocre quality anyway. I'll wait for the eventual "fire sale" price on these sets before picking them up, and then it will just be for the otherwise unavailable mixes and dvds.
I got both SDE's and have been combing through then on and off since Christmas, admittedly with trepidation given the reviews on both content and sound quality. I'll begin by saying that these boxes were obtained courtesy of King Crimson who neglected to continue their annual SDE run in favor of a couple vinyl boxes which were not must-owns for me. Using the freed up money, the HJ boxes were admittedly indulgent purchases at about $70 each despite my concerns regarding content. On that note, conspicuously missing is a 5.1 mix which would have added tremendous value to the existing presentation. This is especially disappointing because of HJ's comments in his recent interview for the SDE site in which he acknowledges everything positive about 5.1. Another missing element is a substantial book. The tour programs are neat-o but there seems to be ample room in the box for a nice hardcover book. The content is what it is and as presented, the box is too thick by at least 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. Doesn't sound like much but given the space these things take on the shelves, both boxes are occupying 1"+ of space that could be used by another worthy addition to our collections without changing the overall aesthetic significantly. Reconfigure the layout inside and I bet we can knock off at least 1" from each one. Now I'm one of the few who actually likes vinyl AND CDs so the inclusion of both totally works for me. I have listened to the picture discs in their entirety with both playing flawlessly. Sure there is some crackle here and there and there is no doubt the sound could be much improved by a normal high-quality presentation but these are nice artifacts that will only be played on occasion. As for the music, I guess I'm less sensitive to compression than many in these pages. Those little squiggly line graphical depictions of the sound are things that I rarely bother with but cannot be ignored in the context of the discussion of these boxes. Yet I am sitting here listening as beamed via bluetooth from my laptop to a full stereo system and cannot complain about the overall sound in the least bit. I know great sound when I hear it and even seek it out at times but my wheelhouse for the "good" range is pretty wide. Again, no complaints. Regarding the visual content, check back with me a year from now. I might have a chance to scope those out by then...or not. Kind of a low priority in my world. Overall grade for both: A generous 6.75 out of 10 with the downgrades representing the missed opportunities and over-indulgent packaging that could have been pared down. I loved these albums when I was in high school and I'd be kicking myself if I missed out on these versions despite their flaws. I'm satisfied with the price I paid. Depending on how limited these are, I can see them dropping into the high-$50 range. Yet they could very well be quite limited in which case, delay at your peril.
My main complaint here is the pricing of the HJ stuff. Saw the bare bones single CD "Human's Lib" in the local Saturn store for EUR 16,99 (!). From the outside the booklet looked quite thin. The 2CD/DVD packages are hardly below EUR 35 and I never took the SDE packages into serious consideration. You can get the two disc deluxe (without the visual stuff) for 10 EUR each at iTunes, which is fair considering the wealth of material. The rather underwhelming audio quality should make sure that the difference between lossless and AAC @256 doesn't matter. Lossless downloads @7digital are about 43 EUR each, which seems a bit crazy. Cherry Red offers a re-release of the 1993 best of as a download or for streaming, which is apparently pieced together from remastered and non-remastered tracks with some large jumps/drops in volume between the tracks. Totally amateur hour, if you ask me.
I just ordered the Dream Into Action 2CD/1DVD set, so I don't have it yet, but what is the consensus about the sound quality on these CDs compared to past releases and is the DVD an NTSC disc?
c-eling, I just saw your SQ posts and I'm now attempting to cancel my order for the Dream Into Action 2CD/1DVD set, I ordered it yesterday, but can you be more specific about your thoughts of the sound quality on both of the Dream Into Action CDs...are they way too compressed and 'hot' or do they sound very modern, but are still good to listen to? Do we know the average DR number for this Dream Into Action reissue...I doubt it's brickwalled?
OK, thanks, yeah, I don't like LOUD either, but is this set brickwalled loud, like an ear-bleeder or not that loud?
OK, so you think these sound modern and compressed, but are still very listenable and not brickwalled in any way? I also like modern remasters with some compression, as long as they aren't too hot (need more clarity) or are brickwalled (numb the ears). I like most of the Rhino Bee Gees remasters, and those have an average DR 8, but I still like them for their modern sound, so would you say the 2018 Dream Into Action 2CD set sounds similar to those?
My opinion on the HJ sound is simply that I was expecting to be horrified based on what had been written and the (evdence?) DR #'s which were produced, yet I was pleasantly surprised to find them sounding quite nice. YMMV. Again, I have a wide range of tolerance which may be the wrong way to approach participation in an audiophile-leaning forum but it is what it is. As for Bee Gees, I just looked at those discs and none are Rhino so I'm afraid I cannot offer a comparison.
I'm curious what your thoughts are for the Dream Into Action 2CD/1DVD set...do we know what the average DR is for the 2018 CDs? In any case, I usually prefer a more modern sound with some bass (as opposed to a complete lack of bass) and it sounds like this reissue has that and it sounds like you feel these aren't way too loud either (numb the ears), but have a tolerable volume level?
