DCC Archive Opinions requested for A & M 25th anniv. CDs

For their 25th anniversary, A&M put out a collection CD for many, if not all, of their artists from (obviously) Herb Alpert and the Tiuana Brass to STYX, Cat Stevens, Pablo Cruise, etc. Just wondered what everyone thought, since A & M went under and was taken over (like a bunch of other labels). Didn't know how these stood up to other releases of the material in the opinion of the forum. I have a few of the discs, but just wondered.

 

I used to have the Cat Stevens, Peter Frampton, and a few others (the titles of which escape me now). I always found the A&M 25th anniv. CDs to be somewhat cold and uninvolving. MFSL came to the rescue (in non greatest hits gold CD form) for the two mentioned above... I love the Cat Steven's Gold CDs! Yum!

 

I'd have to agree with Kevin the MFSL's of both artists are the best versions I've heard yet, where as the 25th anniv. editions have no breath of life to them and sound kind of like a piece of cardboard.
a lot like the difference between the new remastered version of The Who: Who's Next and Steve's MCA version.

[ December 28, 2001: Message edited by: Dave ]

 

I have a few... Squeeze, Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, Styx (hey, don't laugh!). I find that I don't listen to them very much, but never really analyzed why.

I'll see if I can pull a couple of them out and compare them to vinyl and other cds I have.

to be continued...

 

I have Cat Stevens, Pablo Cruise, and Peter Frampton from this series. The sound is incredibly variable. Some tracks sound like masters, and some several generations down. Some of the tracks, I have read, in other volumes in this series, are edited from their original length...even though many in this series fall way short of the discs' capacities.

 

One of the most neglected catalogues in the "see the light of day on CD" category: Humble Pie. The Japanese imports are as good as it gets (for now). Domestically, their catalogue is a joke.

-ED

 

Well, then I'm not far off. I have never found them to be that wonderful either, but I didn't want to give my opinion ahead of time. And of course we now have learned that the phrase, "From original master sources" or whatever incarnation of that phrase appears on a disc is most likely the creation of whomever did the design and layout for the packaging with no relationship to what is really on the discs (with the exception of DCC and a few others of course). Even if they were pure 100% original first generation masters, they're lifeless flat transfers.

 

A few of them were overhauled a few years ago, like Peter Frampton, Quincy Jones, Joe Jackson, and The Brothers Johnson. Styx and the Carpenters got upgraded along with their own people.

The original A&M CDs sucked.