Primary Wave has recently released a new, deluxe remastered edition of Olivia Newton-John's If Not For You. Sadly, as is par for the course in 2022, the remaster compresses dynamics significantly. While it's not a ridiculous amount, DR drops from 12 from the older release of the title track on her Let Me Be There album to 9 on the new remastered "Deluxe Edition" album.
What?? I had no idea this was in the pipeline ..... I'm still grieving ! what timing. Are the others expected to follow ? Olivia Newton-John - If Not For You[Deluxe 2 CD] - Amazon.com Music This was released a month ago .... where was the thread ?? Ordered ! look and see ONJ Foo Fighters to play two Taylor Hawkins tribute shows .
I have this on order. Too bad it’s compressed. But the entire second disc of additional tracks can make up for that. I’m glad I kept my Japan Pastmasters series disc from 1990 that sounds absolutely beautiful!
There’s plenty of talk about this in the ONJ appreciation thread. The reissue actually came out last Friday. Not a month ago. Unfortunately there’s a delay with the CD which now seems to be arriving in late September/early October. The vinyl version is out though.
The Pastmasters version is an absolute beauty. The INFY album is also included in full on the 1994 48 Original Tracks compilation. This remains one of the best sounding CDs I’ve ever heard. By anyone.
I got the vinyl today and thought it sounded great. I’m really pleased with the mastering and the pressing quality.
The reviews so far for both the vinyl and the double CD are good. Even @Bobby Morrow, the fussiest of Olivia connoisseurs, is satisfied! A lengthy essay, a note from Olivia and a singles discography in the CD booklet, plus loads of rare bonus content on the second disc as well. x
Never forget that it’s a prerequisite on here that new remasters are given rapturous initial reviews only for people to turn on them a few days/weeks later. But I do have to say they’ve done a great job with the mastering on If Not For You. The package is worth buying for the bonus disc alone, but I’d tell anyone who’s on the fence about this release to definitely get it.
Since I'm still waiting for the delivery of CD, don't know if the booklet inside also mentions that several singles B-sides are sourced from vinyl. According to this site: Reissues Roundup: ABBA, Olivia Newton John, Marianne Faithfull | Music Features, Spotlights | musicOMH "The second CD of the 2CD package features 17 bonus tracks, including B-sides (several remastered from the original vinyl seeing as nobody saw fit to keep decent copies of these things back in the early ’70s) ... "
Both this new remaster and the earlier Physical one are obviously compressed. Sadly, I have certainly heard many worse remasters, but that doesn't make these ok. I would suggest checking them out on Qobuz, Tidal or Amazon HD and deciding for yourself as I would be the first to say one size does not fit all. Some completists might just want the extra tracks on the second disc while others might just want a CD version since no others are currently in print. Both of those are certainly valid reasons for buying these. In my opinion, the hardcore ONJ fans almost certainly have better sounding versions of the main albums.
