Old Polydor CD "Strange Brew-The Very Best Of Cream" mastered by Dennis Drake. Best sound, cheap!

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, Dec 25, 2016.

  1. Tommyboy

    Tommyboy Senior Member

    Location:
    New York
    Okay!

    Well the copy of Strange Brew that I have is a U.K. pressing and sounds terrific. Not a dub of a dub. Perhaps the US is a dub of a dub, but this may be a different animal. I own the CD as well and the vinyl edition is every bit as good.
     
    Buff Terror likes this.
  2. RK2249

    RK2249 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Jersey
    Talking about Strange Brew: The Very Best of Cream
     
  3. old school

    old school Senior Member

    Go back and read the very first post Steve Hoffman wrote. The USA Polydor is the one Steve is talking about mastered by Dennis Drake.
     
  4. Tommyboy

    Tommyboy Senior Member

    Location:
    New York
    I remember Steve’s comments. No need for me to go back.

    I know that the original CD was mastered by Dennis Drake. I own a copy and it sounds great. My comment way back when was about the UK Polydor LP of the same title, which I own and it sounds every bit as good as the Drake CD. That’s all. Let’s move on.
     
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  5. old school

    old school Senior Member

    You got me so confused? How did Fresh Cream come into the conversation? Yeah, we better move on.
     
  6. Tommyboy

    Tommyboy Senior Member

    Location:
    New York
    Forget Fresh Cream! I was off.

    My last few replies to you were about the Strange Brew LP and CD. Sorry. Let’s move on.
     
    old school likes this.
  7. captainsolo

    captainsolo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Murfreesboro, TN
    I just picked up a dollar copy of this at a record show. Original RSO LP with masterdisk HW stampers. I picked it up on a lark and darn if it doesn’t sound pretty damn good! My originals so far are the go tos but pretty noisy.

    So the Drake mastered cd version is supposed to be much better?
     
  8. misterjones

    misterjones Smarter than the average bear.

    Location:
    New York, NY
    I just bought some Time-Life “Swing Era” CDs and was pleased to see (in the Discogs info) that Dennis Drake was the Mastering Engineer. Now I’m really looking forward to listening to them.
     
  9. murch

    murch Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    Just picked up a near mint U.S. LP of this - the sound quality blows my other cream comp "best of cream" (another U. S. first press) out of the water. I'm guessing that "best of cream" was hastily assembled from tape copies and that "strange brew" went back to as close to originals as they could, the fidelity is great.
     
  10. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Sorry, BEST OF CREAM LP used all original mixes spliced together from the original albums (and a big chunk was pulled out of WHITE ROOM right on the master). It's just crappy mastering. Makes a difference.

    I think it was Bill Inglot (or maybe Bill L.) who pulled the BEST OF CREAM tape reels apart and put the songs back on the proper album reels.
     
    DK Pete likes this.
  11. murch

    murch Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    Wow, thanks for the info! Hard to believe they would just hack apart the album masters, but I guess they weren't thinking we'd be talking about these albums 50 years on. Glad they were restored! You're right, sometimes we underestimate the power of good (and likewise bad) mastering.
     
  12. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    I had Best Of Cream LP back in the day, I needed the studio version of Spoonful. Even then I thought the album sounded like it was recorded over the telephone.
     
    DK Pete likes this.
  13. Abbagold

    Abbagold Working class hero

    Location:
    Natchitoches, LA
    The best vinyl pressing of Cream I’ve got as far as SQ is the Heavy Cream 2 lp set. Has RL in the dead wax on all four sides. I got it for $5 at an antique mall. If you see it, grab it.
     
  14. Paul P.

    Paul P. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle, WA, USA
    Ooh - I have a copy of that! I had the solo compilations that went along with it too.

    Cheers,
    Paul
     
  15. Lexhibit

    Lexhibit Forum Resident

    Heavy Cream is a great comp I agree and it has that flip top album cover and a great track list
     
    DK Pete likes this.
  16. Lexhibit

    Lexhibit Forum Resident

    Finally got my copy of the Cream Dennis Drake u.s. cd today, this may be the best SQ of white room I've ever heard you can really hear it breathe, better than I thought
     
    Last edited: Aug 30, 2021
  17. Cool Chemist

    Cool Chemist Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bath, England
    I picked up this CD today for £2 from a market trader in Devizes, Wiltshire, UK. Run out matrix ends in 03. Made in West Germany. Mastered by Dennis M Drake.
    So is it....
    Listening to this CD it sounds superb and is clearly the Dennis Drake mastering.
    Lovely selection of tracks, great flow.
     
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  18. originalsnuffy

    originalsnuffy Socially distant and unstuck in time

    Location:
    Tralfalmadore
    Somehow I got in the mood and pulled this one out today.

    I am celebrating my hearing pretty much returning after picking up what was presumably the South American version of Covid (I was on vacation there).

    Our host is so correct. This sound just "right".
     
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  19. Lunar Laugh

    Lunar Laugh The Walrus

    Location:
    Oklahoma City
    My used copy (which I got dirt cheap because it didn't come with a booklet{!}) has these same exact peak levels and seems to be a later pressing without a ring that extends all the way to the center hole of the disc itself. Made in USA. Matrix is 811 639-2 07% LC
     
  20. Lunar Laugh

    Lunar Laugh The Walrus

    Location:
    Oklahoma City
    Not wanting to threadcrap but hopefully nobody minds me adding my quick two cents about comparing discs based on the timings.
    Older CDs pressed at different plants can be sourced from the same digital master (or a clone) and still have some differences in timing due to slight indexing variances. I have 3 copies of the 1987 Abbey Road each manufactured at a different pressing plant. The peak levels are all identical and the audio information cancels out when you line up 2 waveforms exactly and place one out of phase. Yet the indexing is slightly different from disc to disc. I think this is due to the indexing being done before the glass master for that pressing plant is made. This process was handled by the tape editor at the specific plant who was working from the (typically) U-Matic digital tape master and the mastering notes that state what the peaks should be and where the indexes needed to be placed. This would account for the difference.
     

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