ICE Mag Watchdog Answers Stones SACD Questions

Re: Re: Seriously...

What? "Both they don't"?

 

Since your bringing up "Rod"...Did you listen to "YWIW" from a different source other than the MA? I'm still waitin for your comments...When and if you do, you'll be amazed...Or is that possible?. See ya back at the "Rod" thread after you've takin a listen...MERRY CHRISTMAS... Oh...The difference is..I enjoy the music, don't claim anything other than it's DRY and FANTASTIC. Not a digital ECHO to be found....Peace On Earth.

 

Yes, civility...on Xmas Day...not a bad route to go.

How this forum began to attract Abkco apologists is beyond my understanding, but stranger things happen out in the real world, so....

About the hiss: IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA is one of the mostly obviously hissy albums ever issued on the planet. You can hear the hiss throughout, but most especially during the quietest passages of the title cut. Yet it sold millions and nobody bitched. AFTER-MATH has always been loaded with hiss--"Goin' Home" and "Lady Jane" the most obvious examples. It's more obvious on the UK or German pressings than on the US, but no matter: it's there, always been there. Sold very well, as I recall. In both instances, you couldn't miss the hiss levels even on a basic VG copy with a bit of surface noise, it's that obvious. And these are just two examples; DISRAELI GEARS comes to mind as another.

The public at large? They could give a hoot less. Period. You don't need any Gallup polls to figure that out: go to WalMart and see some of the junk people buy and ask yourself if they care about high fidelity, let alone hiss. Hell, if they don't want to hear hiss, they'll get more of it on FM radio than on all the CDs in their collections combined. The fact remains there is a small number of audiophiles and critical listeners who are bothered by hiss and think it should be totally expunged from the final digital transfer regardless of the fact it belongs there. This minority, over the years, has been vocal enough that the majors have been listening more to them than to those of us who just want the 'natural sound' of the tapes, along with all the music we're entitled to, i.e. the mixes and tracks gone missing from the latest Stones reissues.

And how many times do we have to say it? Great job on BEGGARS BANQUET; well done on LET IT BLEED, BTB, 12x5, etc. That praise has been consistent here and elsewhere since the SACD's were released.
As for the flaws/mistakes/dumb decisions, what are we supposed to do, ignore them? We ignored them so much Ice devoted almost TWO unprecedented pages addressing the basic issues that were already addressed here and on other forums, through e-mail, etc. And still they either didn't ask or didn't get a straight answer about the "Ruby Tuesday" situation. Had this been a one-CD fluke, okay; nice variant(actually, it is nice, come to think of it). But that's no excuse for not using the original mix in the first place; as D points out, it's too big a classic hit to screw up like this.

Another fact: whenever you can get your name in print in a mag of Ice's stature regarding any question, then not only is your question 100% legit, but you said it just the right way to force the questioner and questionee to address it. Luke deserves the proper credit for getting that far. He wasn't the only one, but any time you can get the attention of the historically disdainful-of-fans Abkco, you've done something special.

Those are the facts; you don't have to like 'em.

ED

 

Ron,

Yes, that was helpful. What constitutes the pure authentic "Highway 61 Revisited" could be discussed for days. Steve wisely avoids that kind of issue by saying he masters in a way that the final product sounds good to him. He knows there is no absolute.

I'm not clear if it's only the new "Aftermath" you don't like or orther titles too, because you mention SACDs, plural, but you specifically mention only the one example.

 

Paul & David - back off from each other.

David, you have a PM.

Paul - stop the badgering.

Closing thread. If someone wants to try thing again as a civil conversation, start a new thread.

HZ