Best Versions on CD

[Trevor]

With all the different re-releases on to CD of the Brasil'66 (77) material, it seems some versions sound better than others...

For instance, Ye-Me-Le... Twice on CD in Japan and once in the U.S. Which CD has the best sound quality?

Which Equinox? Look Around? etc...

Some of this is opinion, but I feel that most of us will agree or at least narrow it down to 2 versions.

 

[Rudy]

Verve's domestic releases from the "HA Presents" album through "Ye-Me-Le" are the best out there right now. While I don't recall the mastering credits for "Look Around" and "Equinox", the others were done by Bob Irwin (of Sundazed) and are transfered nicely from original tapes. The aforementioned two also sound very un-futzed with and clean, very much like the best vinyl copies you can find.

I had some of the earlier Japanese releases (possibly from 2001, when they released the whole A&M catalog in Japan at one time), and found them to sound hard, cold, lifeless...digital. They were also compressed a bit, as they're noticeably louder than the domestic versions.

Beyond Ye-Me-Le on A&M, you pretty much have to take whatever is out there, including the mediocre Japan releases. (Keep in mind that any overseas market is going to get a COPY of whatever master tape exists here in the U.S.. where the recordings originate.) Beyond A&M? I have little interest in post A&M recordings, so I only own a handful. "Oceano" had very good sound from what I recall, as did "Brasileiro" (and both only had one CD release domestically, from what I remember).

"Timeless" is a typical "smashed" mess typical of all of today's "pop" recordings--loud, obnoxious mastering with a smiley-face curve on the EQ (meaning the bass is booming, and the highs are ear-bleeders). That might be in fashion in hip-hop and Top 40 circles, but it's headache inducing, and very unnatural and unmusical. YMMV, of course...