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I have it . Through eBay.How many of us own or have previously owned the Japanese 6-CD mail order set Sweet Memory?
There are six discs in the set. Here is the link to the first one
http://carpenters.amcorner.com/album/sweet-memory-all-at-once
Harry
Discussion and brief appraisal from a year or two ago:
http://www.amcorner.com/forum/conversations/sweet-memory-set.2907/
Yes, there are lots of mastering choices made for each and every disc. One might think that every version of a song sounds just about the same, but when you can do valid A/B comparisons, you can hear the differences in those choices. Some are mastered louder or softer, some have different EQ choices, and sometimes the indexing choices between segued songs are quite different.
It's interesting that with a group like ABBA, there are whole websites devoted to outlining the best choices for each track of each album, and that's because of the way ABBA was recorded, processed, and mastered over the years. Many think that the oldest versions on CD sound best, while some admit the the newer deluxe versions have some merit. The point here is that most of the time, Carpenters output in the digital age *sounds* just fine. I think that's a tribute to Bernie Grundman mastering and the engineers that Richard chose to work with, that we don't have to pick apart various issues because of bad mastering choices.
To be sure, there are some bad-sounding Carpenters discs out there, mostly from locations other than the US and Japan. That O MELHOR DE CARPENTERS from Brazil and THE CARPENTERS COLLECTION (THEIR GREATEST HITS) from Holland are two such examples of really bad mastering choices. But far and away, if you've got a compilation or disc that's official and genuine, it's gonna sound pretty good.
Still, as Chris-an-ordinary-fool brought up, some issues/sets sound exemplary. I've always been impressed with THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION. The sound just sparkles on that one - as it does on SWEET MEMORY. And, as with the "Bwana..." example, sometimes those old CDs might have something of value to them - and I suspect the age of the source tapes used could be a valid reason.
So if you're on the fence about adding another large Carpenters collection to your inventory, think about the fact that track-for-track, it is exemplary in the sound department.
Harry
I'm thinking that David's theory might hold some weight and this would be another great question for Richard. I was looking at my inner booklet inside the Sweet Memory CD (each CD has it's own booklet and it's rather thick) but on the last inner page it clearly says:
Music selection supervised and mastered by Richard Carpenter
Producer: Masamichi Nonaka
However, when did Richard master it and from what tapes, I believe it had to be a new master, a collection of songs specially mastered by Richard because why not just use the 35th Japan mastering and add those to the Sweet Memory Set and call it a day? In addition, did Richard master the Sweet Memory Set from LA and send the mastering set over to Japan to be printed and that's why we also see Producer Masamichi Nonaka? or were these Japan masters that this collection was taken from? and even though Richard mastered them don't we usually see another name who helped him master them like we saw on the 2 Ch SACD Singles where we saw Bernie Grundman's name?