The Van Morrison cd thread

Veedon Fleece
U.S. WB 2805-2
Matrix: 1 2805-2 SRC=02 M3S3

54.7
44.8
40.3
49.9
54.4
64.9
64.5
47.5
41.0
47.4

"Fair Play" piano right
"Comfort You" opening acoustic guitar left

Another WB mastered at a pretty low volume. Crank it up and it sounds nice though - very smooth and analog sounding. I only had the '97 remaster to compare with and the WB is a clear winner. The remaster is loud and bright, in keeping with most of that series I have heard. This WB reminds me a lot of the Warner vinyl I had back in the day. Any takers for Polydor data and/or opinons?

 

A Period of Transition
U.S. WB 2987-2
Matrix: 1 2987-2 SRC-07

55.0
75.7
78.8
68.6
62.6
51.3
61.0

"You Gotta Make It Through The World" opening electric guitar left
"Cold Wind In August" opening acoustic guitar left


West German Polydor 839 165-2
Matrix: 834 330-2 01

98.7
100.0
97.7
97.7
94.3
93.0
97.7

This shootout is proving to be a tough call. At first I thought the Polydor was vastly better, but turning the WB up loud, it sounds nice too. The Polydor is brighter and has stronger bass. However there's no extra noticeable tape hiss, unlike Hard Nose, and I wouldn't call it overly bright. The WB is a bit dull again. The extra bass is welcome, and sounds more natural than on Hard Nose. I'm still leaning towards the Polydor here.

 

I have Tupelo Honey Polydor 839161-2 (matrix 834328-2 02 YC) and WB 1950-2 (matrix 1 1950-2SRC-11). To me the Polydor sounds fuller and with more midrange. Vocals are more fleshy, whereas Van's voice sounds a bit hollow in the WB. The WB is ok if you crank up the volume, but the Polydor is not bad either. In any case the Polydor is not too bright, as it is not the remastered version. That I have not heard.

I sampled the title track, and the solo acoustic guitar in the chorus is on the right channel on the Polydor and on the left in the WB. Both are different, for sure, but it hard to tell which one is better. I also have both VF's, but have not compared them.

 

Aha, who's got vinyl? Which channel is correct for that guitar? (Thanks for contributing juhtah! )

 

That's interesting. I've only heard the '97 remaster and the WB of Tupelo Honey. I thought the WB sounded nice, but I have also found a couple of the WB's need to be cranked up a bit or they sound a little aenemic. Are you sure that "fleshy" vocal sound is not due to added reverb - it has been suggested many of the early Polydors were tweaked in this respect.

Is there any chance you can post the EAC levels from the Polydor VF? Regardless, your opinion on the SQ of both versions would be most welcome.

 

I'm not sure if it has been discussed yet but the early WB Too Late to Stop has been a favorite CD set of mine since the 90s.

 

It's a goody. Certainly much better than the first Polydor remaster. But if you look back in the thread at least one person has opined that the original Polydor is better.

 

This album always struck me as one that would make for a quality reissue in either LP or CD. I have not yet heard the Polydor but I'm curious.

Is the new remaster of Too Late any good? Been seeing it at Borders and I'm tempted by it.

 

I have the original Polydor for Veedon. I like it, but still looking for a WB.

I preferred the WB by a mile. See posts #97, 98, etc.

 

Pardon me for jumping in few pages/months late on the Astral Weeks/Moondance/His Band CDs, but I have been wondering ever since they were "re-released"" as "digital re-masters" in Japan this Summer if those titles truly were re-mastered. Any thoughts or first hand experience on those?

J (Jerry) Crew/Jakeroux (newbie to the board, but old to Van-fandom)

 

Thanks for reviving the thread, Jakeroux, and welcome aboard I would be dubious of any new remasters coming out of Japan these days, but the proof is in the listening. . .

This thread has sort of died a natural death because not enough people have multiple versions of Van's cds (and Van fans don't seem to be as anal about SQ/mastering issues as King Crimson and Genesis fans. A pity Jeff Carney, Black Elk and Dr. Mergwukali aren't big Van fans ). But I will get back to pushing it along sooner or later. Or may be RussellG will feel inspired

 

I'm happy to carry on, but we got hung up trying to get peak levels for the Polydor Veedon Fleece. I was thinking we could continue anyway, although if we were to get the data and add it later in the thread it would make future research difficult. Can Gorts edit old posts? If so we could slot the new data in where it belongs...

 

Thanks guys, I'll continue to monitor. I actually do have the Japanese Warner/Rhino purported remasters from this Summer, but like billswildride's earlier post, I'm a little lost on the whole peak level measuring thing. I can say based on a casual listen to both the Japanese discs and my original US Warner discs of the same titles, I can't tell much difference, if at all. But then my equipment isn't audiophile grade nor do I have a good set-up for A/B comparison switching.

 

I am officially inspired! I've just been trying to modify the EQ on Beautiful Vision to improve the sound (this would have to be one of the strangest sounding CD's I've heard), and I want to discuss this CD. However the completist in me insists on going via the rest of the albums first. Before moving on from Veedon Fleece and A Period of Transition, I just revisited these two with my new amp (previously Sugden, now Naim). The WB Veedon Fleece is near enough to perfect for me. We still have no data or comments on the Polydor. The WB A Period of Transition, on the other hand, sounds like a transistor radio, and even with a hefty strengthening of the bass, would still be inferior to the Polydor, IMO. I don't know what went wrong with this one, maybe a substandard tape, but it's definitely among the worst WB Van Morrison CD's.

Following will be data for the next two albums.

 

Wavelength
U.S. WB 3212-2
Matrix: 1 3212-2 SRC+06 M4S9

88.0
96.5
95.9
90.1
85.2
89.8
81.7
99.9
100.0

"Venice U.S.A." opening electric guitar right
"Hungry For Your Love" acoustic guitar right


German Polydor 839 169-2
Matrix: 834 334-2 01 #

97.7
97.7
88.5
90.2
91.6
93.5
71.9
97.7
97.7

The main difference here is that the Polydor is considerably brighter. The WB sounds spot on for EQ to me. Otherwise these are quite similar - the Polydor may also have a little extra unnecessary bass on some tracks. It's interesting how much louder the first track is in comparison to the rest of the album on the Polydor. I easily prefer the WB for Wavelength.

 

Into The Music
U.S. WB 26248-2
Matrix: 1 26248-2 SRC=02 M2S3

88.5
88.1
88.2
88.4
88.3
88.3
88.8
89.5
89.7
90.4

"Full Force Gale" drummer's metals right
"And The Healing Has Begun" opening acoustic guitar right

Does anybody have the Polydor of this album?

A nice sounding CD, although it might veer a little to the bright side (of the road?) for my tastes in places. No other complaints - sounds like a good source tape. This has amazing consistency in the peak levels. You'd think it had been put through a limiter

 

I haven't heard the Polydor, but I think Wavelength is one of the best sounding WB discs. I've got no complaints with it at all. I'll try to confirm that my pressing is the same as yours this evening.

 

I think I remember seeing a Polydor of this one sold in the marketplace not too long ago. Hopefully, whoever snagged it can help us out.

The WB Into The Music, while not bad, is certainly a bit of a sonic let down after Wavelength, eh? Considering it was likely mastered by the same people using the same techniques, I have to assume the album was just not as well recorded as Wavelength. Again, I'll check my pressing against yours this evening.

 

As a housekeeping matter, I am linking to the thread discussing these new Japanese reissues. They do indeed appear to be remastered. Of interest is the fact that Moondance includes the original mix of "Into The Mystic".

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=160182

 

Seeing as no one else has addressed this one for you...

This one is the silent remaster/reissue prior to the recent remasters. The original CD release is catalog #834 325-2.

 

Thanks, Dave. That makes perfect sense. I don't know why I didn't think of that.

Heads up, Russell. We may have a lot more work to do

 

Wait until you try and decipher it for the US pressings. At least with the W. German pressings they had the decency to change the catalog numbers unlike in the USA and Canada.

 

Well, at least for Van's WB discs I am fairly confident the masterings were never changed. I think we've pretty well confirmed that for the 1st 3 anyway. So far no one has come forward with different EAC numbers for any other WB disc we've covered so far (of course, not many people may be paying attention to this thread). Based on my experience in the used bins, I don't think that many different WB pressings of the other 70s albums exist (they were replaced relatively quickly by the Polydor remasters). And I do have confirmation that the currently available WB Common One matches the disc I bought circa 1991.

Ok, all you European Van collectors, can anyone confirm or deny that the masterings of any of his albums changed when Polydor changed the catalog number/matrix number prior to the official remasters?

 

Craig, in a nutshell...

The silent remasters, and yes it's the same with USA/Canadian Warner Brothers pressings I'm afraid, are from the original masterings so no surprise they read the same. The difference is in the way they sound. They sound slightly brittle, hard and less cohesive than the originals to me.

 

Are you trying to give me a headache, Dave