Sound quality of Steely Dan Greatest Hits Canadian CD on MCA?

I was not aware that Steely Dan's original 1978 "Greatest Hits" compilation came out on CD in Canada. I assume it came out around the same time as "Decade of Steely Dan" in the United States?

Does anybody have a copy of this on CD? How does it sound compared to "Decade" or the original MCA CD releases? I don't care for the remasters or "Citizen Steely Dan" box set because those have been de-noised or brick-walled and sound sterile.

I am curious what they used as a master tape source? Discogs mentions my colleague Bob Ludwig for mastering. But as far as I know, he only mastered the vinyl pressings. Perhaps they just used LP cutting tapes as the source? If so, then this disc would be sourced from at least third generation tapes.

As for now, I think the original MCA Cds and "decade" sound best because these were sourced from either the original master tapes by Mr. Hoffman, or from flat digital transfers done by Roger Nichols before the tapes deteriorated further, or burned up in the Universal fire.

I hope Steely Dan's tapes survived, It would be great if they could release high res transfers!

 

Many people on this forum love this Canadian CD.

 

Ludwig credit is carry over art.
No clue on who mastered this Canadian for compact disc. It comes close to mimicking my old US Ludwig 2x12 however.
Dynamics are intact. I don't have Decade so I can't compare. It's a nice disc to listen to for a comp. More critical listening I hit the oldie CD's, by Hoffman, etc...
Analyzed: Steely Dan / Greatest Hits (Canada Cinram)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR13 -0.71 dB -16.13 dB 5:56 01-Do It Again
DR12 -0.79 dB -15.41 dB 4:35 02-Reeling In The Years
DR14 -0.89 dB -17.89 dB 5:49 03-My Old School
DR13 -1.93 dB -16.98 dB 5:19 04-Bodhisattva
DR13 -0.90 dB -16.38 dB 5:28 05-Show Biz Kids
DR13 -5.08 dB -20.70 dB 2:50 06-East St. Louis Toodle-Oo
DR12 -1.05 dB -17.27 dB 4:33 07-Rikki Don't Lose That Number
DR12 -0.27 dB -15.25 dB 4:32 08-Pretzel Logic
DR12 -1.96 dB -17.13 dB 3:09 09-Any Major Dude
DR15 -1.36 dB -19.59 dB 4:02 10-Here At The Western World
DR14 -0.80 dB -18.16 dB 3:43 11-Black Friday
DR14 -0.80 dB -18.20 dB 3:21 12-Bad Sneakers
DR13 -0.80 dB -16.93 dB 3:57 13-Doctor Wu
DR14 -1.03 dB -17.32 dB 5:51 14-Haitian Divorce
DR13 -0.52 dB -16.32 dB 4:40 15-Kid Charlemagne
DR13 -0.72 dB -17.33 dB 4:01 16-The Fez
DR12 -1.23 dB -16.04 dB 3:58 17-Peg
DR14 -0.41 dB -16.99 dB 4:32 18-Josie

 

It sounds really good, so close to the first CD masterings done by Roger Nichols that it may even be the same transfers, if memory serves.

 

gets my highest recommendation

 

One of the best sounding CDs I have.

Some players (including DVD and Blu) may have difficulty playing the last track of this CD
due to the playing time being slightly over 80 minutes.
80:18 on my Onkyo.

 

I’ve just discovered a minor curiosity. I have two copies of this CD. The artwork is very similar but has minor differences, most obviously the spine text — one has “MCA” in a more condensed typeface that I see on later releases. Both are made in Canada by Cinram with the catalog number MCAD 6008. Both versions are documented on Discogs. [v1, v2]

Peak levels are the same on both except “Here At The Western World”:

v1
92.1 / 91.3 / 90.2 / 80.1 / 90.2 / 55.7 / 88.6 / 96.9 / 79.8 / 89.6 / 91.2 / 91.2 / 91.2 / 88.8 / 94.2 / 92.1 / 86.8 / 95.4

v2
92.1 / 91.3 / 90.2 / 80.1 / 90.2 / 55.7 / 88.6 / 96.9 / 79.8 / 85.5 / 91.2 / 91.2 / 91.2 / 88.8 / 94.2 / 92.1 / 86.8 / 95.4

I haven’t listened to them yet, but I suppose I will be doing that soon.

 

I brought it, I think because of what I read about it on this forum. I liked it so much that it replaced my A Decade of Steely Dan CD.

 

just askin:

has anyone ever once heard a bad steely dan recording?

they were ****ing perfectionists.

 

I have another one...

MCAD 6008
Matrix: #960315ll MCAD-6008 L382 MFG BY CINRAM IFPI6000 ("17" stamped).

Track 1
Peak level 92.1 %
Track 2
Peak level 91.3 %
Track 3
Peak level 90.2 %
Track 4
Peak level 80.1 %
Track 5
Peak level 90.2 %
Track 6
Peak level 55.6 %
Track 7
Peak level 88.5 %
Track 8
Peak level 96.9 %
Track 9
Peak level 79.8 %
Track 10
Peak level 89.5 %
Track 11
Peak level 91.2 %
Track 12
Peak level 91.1 %
Track 13
Peak level 91.2 %
Track 14
Peak level 88.8 %
Track 15
Peak level 94.2 %
Track 16
Peak level 92.0 %
Track 17
Peak level 86.7 %
Track 18
Peak level 95.4 %

 

I like it a lot. Haven't listened to it in a while but would recommend it.

 

I have one in my collection, Cinram in matrix. Here At The Western World is my go-to digital version on this cd.

 

If I’m reading that right, it just has a handful of numbers off by 0.1. I think this is just my v1. I should say that I use XLD (on macOS), which reports peak levels as floating point numbers at 6 decimal places... so occasionally I see rounding differences when comparing to EAC.

And, actually, those differences are rare, so the numbers here are surprising, but I’ll assume it’s actually the same mastering. I have a Python script to extract and round the peak levels and I recently changed the method for that, thinking it was more accurate. Perhaps, though, it’s less like EAC’s method now.

 

The CitizEn Steely Dan release may use noise reduction but they are not brickwalled by any means.

 

Glad you asked about this disc!

There's a lot of discussion about Steely Dan on CD - I'll spare you most of it - but many forum members - myself included - prefer the original run of discs released in '84/'85.

This CD was assembled from those '84/'85 digital masters. We know this because it has some of the "glitches" that distinguish those discs.

As an example, listen to "Bad Sneakers" - at about :22 between the lines "I can see the ladies talking" and "how the times are getting hard" - it's missing a beat. Compare it to the version on Decade - you'll hear it almost sounds like a splice. This matches the mastering on the original Katy Lied disc.

Or listen to "Any Major Dude Will Tell You" - you'll hear a faint click at the start. That click only appears on the original CD edition of Pretzel Logic.

There's more - but I don't want to spoil it for you until you're ready.

What you're getting with this disc is a slightly level adjusted sampler of the original '84/'85 masterings - plus a really nice transfer of Here At The Western World.

A complete winner in my book. I have two of them, myself.

Plus - any Greatest Hits that includes East St. Louis Tooole-Oo has to be doing something right!

Cheers,
Paul

 

Searched and came across this thread discussing the Steely Dan compilation I am playing now. I couldn’t agree more!! Love the track selection. And I don’t miss Deacon Blues. Love having Josie on a single disc comp. It was MIA on Decade. Love the sound!!!!

 

Anyone compare the common tracks on this to those on the original mastering of Decade?

 

George,

After I finish listening, I will do some comparisons.

 

I have the 32XD-149 of Decade. Compared Do It Again and Peg. I found Decade to have a fuller bottom end and slightly less top end on Do It Again. Once past that track, they both sound very close and great, though.

 

Hi George.
A while back, I compared in detail each track on the comp agaisnt various CD pressings from the 80's. It was a complex analysis and I did not want to bore people with it.
I was just trying to figure out whether the comp was a new mastering of the double LP or taken from existing digital mastering. IIRC, all but one track were taken from existing digital mastering at the time. Due to the advent of 1630 technology, there may have been additional mastering involved, intentionally or unintentionally.

 

Carolyn,

Curious about this Steely Dan comp. I only ask as I like the track listing and cover. How does this sound to you? Any NR?





Reelin' In The Years 4:35
Rikki Don't Lose That Number 4:30
Peg 3:54
FM 5:04
Hey Nineteen 5:04
Deacon Blues 7:26
Black Friday 3:39
Bodhisattva 5:18
Do It Again 5:51
Haitian Divorce 5:48
My Old School 5:45
Midnite Cruiser 4:09
Babylon Sisters 5:51
Kid Charlemagne 4:29
Dirty Work 3:08
Josie 4:30

 

Thanks, the comp you compared, is it Decade or Greatest Hits?

 

I have the 32XD, too but don't have the GH. I'd like to listen to the GH.

 

Thanks, that is what I would surely miss, since my system benefits from masterings with a fuller bottom and slightly less top end.

Might be fun to make a CD-R, compiling both CDs, since there is a lot of overlap and each has one song that doesn't appear on their albums. Myself, what I have done is put Here At The Western World on a 70s/80s CD-R comp (below) I made a few years back. I ripped it from a friends CD, since I already had Decade and was very happy with it.

 

For those comparing A Decade Of Steely Dan, there's two distinct masterings to consider.

The first version says Remastered by Bob Ludwig and Roger Nichols. (You can ignore the Gary Katz remastering credit on the disc itself - that's like a bizarre typo.)

This edition sounds great. Very similar to the original releases, but some of the mastering errors have been fixed (e.g. Bad Sneakers missing a beat)

The second edition - released around 1996 or so - has a Remastered by Glenn Meadows credit.

I haven't heard this one, but it's reasonable to assume it was created from the same transfers as Citizen Steely Dan - and would share some of the same characteristics (i.e. slightly louder - but not distorted - transfer, slightly boosted bass and treble compared to the earlier transfers, and a bit of NoNoise used here and there.)

Cheers,
Paul