I posted this in the DV thread but I've had a quad conversion DVD-A of THE HOOPLE for years and it sounds much more alive and open than this new release, which to my ears sound muddy and boxy by comparison. That said, the stereo versions of all three albums sound cran-tastic but man I hate the configuration of this set (chronological order and splitting an album across two discs).
That's not much different to a record and doesn't bother me at all. The main thing for me is the outstanding sound of the stereo mixes.
So these cds are worth buying, and have a better sound than what went before, even you just have a regular cd player, then?
Is this already out of print or will Dutton produce another batch? Because it is not listed on their homepage anymore. No vendor in Germany has it in stock. I kind of relayed this purchase because the other Dutton SACDs always stayed long in print. May be for this one the demand was high and/or it was not manufactured in smaller quantities?
Wow, that was quick. I'm sure glad I got my copy. Maybe they only had a very limited licensing window for those titles? Or maybe (and I'm totally speculating here) they got a bunch of blowback about the gap between "Momma's Little Jewel" and "All The Young Dudes" and pulled it as being defective. It seems very hard to believe that they sold out of the whole pressing that fast. They still have that Deodato twofer in stock that I bought from them three years ago.
The first pressing has sold out and D-V are awaiting the arrival of a repress - these discs enjoy a wider popularity than just this forum and QQ thanks to D-V's reputation worldwide, and the storm in a teacup here about the gap between the two tracks had no bearing on it.
Thanks! I'm glad to hear that, it just seemed so odd that it became unavailable so quickly, it left me grasping at straws. I really underestimate the popularity of those albums!
To me this error and the cheap packaging and poor sequencing (the albums are not even chronological) betrays a lack of care in the release, which is unfortunate.
It's literally the only way they could be sequenced to meet the technical limitation that the album with the multichannel/quad content (The Hoople) had to be first so that the tracklists from the stereo and quad programs matched up. Splitting an album over two discs is unfortunate, but getting three albums on two SACDs is the only way D-V can make these releases financially viable between the licensing and replication costs, and at least the split is between the A and B sides of the album like the original vinyl. Wherever possible D-V try to get two full albums on one SACD wherever possible, but if the choice is between split between two discs and not released at all, I know which option I'd prefer. As for lack of care, I suppose that's a matter of opinion, but how many other digital remasters of these albums saw the original recording engineers consulted about the Dolby-A calibration tones?
Couldn’t they have put Hoople (stereo and surround on one disc) and Mott and Dudes on the other? I confess I hate the gap
Yeah, the other drawback is that if I set my SACD player to Multichannel to hear The Hoople, the tracks from All The Young Dudes are not visible. I have to re-set the player to Stereo to see and play the Dudes tracks. If I put a straight-up stereo SACD in the player with it set to default to Multichannel, it just plays the stereo layer as it should.
Their first album is terrific but they got better. Brain Capers and Mott are still their best albums with the underrated Wildlife a close third.
I finally got around to listening to these more carefully and did some conversions to DSF, hi-res PCM etc. As ever, it is interesting how many "big" differences disappear when you carefully match sound volume. I focused on a couple of tracks, Sweet Jane from All the Young Dudes and I wish I was your Mother from Mott. Listening with a DSD DAC and HD600 headphones. I get the impression (note I have not heard the master tapes) that this is pretty much a flat transfer. The sound to my ears is very close to the sound of the early CDs eg the Castle Mott and the early Columbia All The Young Dudes. It is slightly different EQ from the later remasters eg I could easily ABX the Original Album Classics Sweet Jane from the Vocalion (Original Album Classics is brighter) but have difficulty vs the early CDs. Playing the native DSD has a theoretical advantage but I can't easily set up an ABX test for this. There are frequencies right up to above 30kHz etc if you care about that sort of thing. Tim
Vocalion has found a niche which works for them, a sort of budget high end, quality audio but budget packaging. That's OK but I think with the Mott there would have been a good market for doing this nicely with three SACDs and replica packaging of some kind. The original Mott sleeves had an elaborate cut out sleeve, would be nice to see that back, even in small size. No doubt expensive! Tim
If Sony had their **** together, they would do it. They had a chance for a definitive boxed set for all three albums.
I could be wrong but I recall Ian Hunter quoted as saying that the master tapes of " A.T.Y.D" we're/are missing?
If they used a copy or safety master, etc. it sounds fine. They've been using something since the introduction of CDs that sounded pretty good (although honestly ATYD always needed a bit of mastering help). I believe he may be referring to the multi's.
He did say that but the recent biography said the master tapes for the ‘Dudes’ album turned up – but were sold at auction. I asked Ian and he wasn’t aware of this. So I’ve no idea what Vocalion used
