🥂 50th A&M 50th Anniversary 3-CD Set
- Thread starter Steve Sidoruk
- Start date
- Status
GroovinGarrett
Well-Known Member
My copy arrived from Amazon an hour ago. I'm listening in the car.
Brickwalled TJB. Not a good way to start a set. Mastered by Mark Omann at Universal Mastering-West. The name fits: oh man, are these loud.
More impressions later. Right now I'm up to the We Five track, and it's rechanneled. Geez.
Brickwalled TJB. Not a good way to start a set. Mastered by Mark Omann at Universal Mastering-West. The name fits: oh man, are these loud.
More impressions later. Right now I'm up to the We Five track, and it's rechanneled. Geez.
Today is release day for the A&M 50 collection. Mine arrived in today's mail - here are some pictures:
Unfortunately, our idea of label styles didn't make it. The discs are plain-looking with a sort-of attempt at "ochre"
The package is a quad-fold cardboard package. Each disc has its own cardboard pocket. This is the front cover:
The rear cover with track list:
When you fold it open once, you get the picture and the liner notes:
The second unfolding yields four panels. The first is the thank yous and credits, the second is the pocket and tracklist for Disc 1:
(continued in next post)
Unfortunately, our idea of label styles didn't make it. The discs are plain-looking with a sort-of attempt at "ochre"
The package is a quad-fold cardboard package. Each disc has its own cardboard pocket. This is the front cover:
The rear cover with track list:
When you fold it open once, you get the picture and the liner notes:
The second unfolding yields four panels. The first is the thank yous and credits, the second is the pocket and tracklist for Disc 1:
(continued in next post)
And finally, Discs Two and Three in their pockets with track lists.
"Rise" is the shortened single edition, as is "Skokiaan". Carpenters "Close To You" is the single-length 1991 remix.
I'm puzzled with the title for Rita Coolidge's song. It's listed here as "(Your Love KEEPS Lifting Me) Higher And Higher" but my copy of SP 4616 ANYTIME ANYWHERE lists it as "(Your Love HAS Lifted Me) Higher And Higher".
Harry
"Rise" is the shortened single edition, as is "Skokiaan". Carpenters "Close To You" is the single-length 1991 remix.
I'm puzzled with the title for Rita Coolidge's song. It's listed here as "(Your Love KEEPS Lifting Me) Higher And Higher" but my copy of SP 4616 ANYTIME ANYWHERE lists it as "(Your Love HAS Lifted Me) Higher And Higher".
Harry
Nice graphics, and they included "Bridges" and "Black Pearl". Way better than what I thought UMG was capable of at this late date.
Actorman
Well-Known Member
"...Keeps Lifting..." was the title of the original version of the song by Jackie Wilson. The numerous cover versions over the years have fluctuated between "...Keeps Lifting..." and "...Has Lifted..." depending on the artist. Rita's version was most definitely titled with "...Has Lifted..." so Harry is absolutely correct. It was just sloppy work on behalf of whoever wrote the copy for the packaging. Kind of like the credit for Herb ALBERT on the Janet Jackson compilation a from a few years ago.
Thanks for posting the pictures Harry. Yes, the label art is pretty bland. And the different color capitals "A" and "M" in the individual disc titles is kind of forced and cheesy.
The liner notes look pretty sparce and disappointing. I was hoping for at least a booklet with some sort of history of the label, maybe some statistics (how many #1s, Top 10s, Grammys, gold/platinum, etc.) and some memorabilia/cover/record photos. It would also have been nice to reference the original LPs that the tracks were from and the various chart positions they reached. I thought that stuff was pretty standard on a compilation like this. Especially one that is supposed to celebrate the history and achievements of its subject.
Still looking forward to adding the handful of tracks I don't have to my collection, but not as excited about the release now as when it was first announced.
Oh, and please excuse my ignorance, but what does "brickwalled" mean?
Captain Bacardi
Well-Known Member
When you look at a sound wave it used to be what we called "peaks and valleys" - where there were loud passages (peaks) and soft passages (valleys) in a song. The way CDs are compressed today the sound wave looks like a solid brick wall - no fluctuation in sound. I just received mine but haven't played it yet, but it looks like the sound is crap.
Capt. Bacardi
Well, that ruins a perfectly good set.
Rechanneled? I have an LP of this and I swore it's in regular stereo. Ouch.
GroovinGarrett
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately no, it's never been in true stereo. The original LP was rechanneled, as are reissues. I know my pink label Memories 45 is rechanneled. You'd think someone along the way would have pulled out the mono master. I think the only way to get the true mono mix is LP-111 and the single, #770.
There are no dynamics to the music--it is pretty much has the life sucked out of it. No loud, no soft, no variation in volume: it is all pretty much made loud.Here's a comparison, using the Sound Forge editor. This is the Van Halen track "Ain't Talkin 'Bout Love" from their first album, taken from the DCC gold audiophile CD:
A lot of Van Halen's earlier music had some dynamics to it, as you can see. The midsection is stripped down and quieter, and you can see just after the middle where Alex hits the drums and cymbals on the 1 and 2 beat just after the quiet section.
And here is "She's The Woman" from their 2012 release A Different Kind of Truth:
The latter is a shame since there are some decent tracks on the album, yet the sound is fatiguing to listen to. It feels like all this music is being shoved at you all at once. I can only make it through a few tracks without having to shut it off for awhile.
The A&M set likely is not quite that bad, but nonetheless, any type of "brickwall" limiting will pretty much smash the sound into a mess.
GroovinGarrett
Well-Known Member
Shows you how closely I listened to the album.
It's mono on the A&M Forget Me Nots 2-LP set as well. I'm playing that now to give my ears a break after that brickwalled mess
It's mono on the A&M Forget Me Nots 2-LP set as well. I'm playing that now to give my ears a break after that brickwalled mess
Good deal! Casa Rudy is spinning vinyl. Yes, that is "Faeries Wear Boots" you heard five minutes ago.
(And so did the neighbors. 
)
That is just terrible... 
I looked for the cut in my collection but did not find it--I thought I may have an earlier release of that track which isn't slammed like that.
Here's the same track, from a 1998 various artists compilation:
The same song. It has a little bit of clipping here and there, but it is not brickwalled.
I looked for the cut in my collection but did not find it--I thought I may have an earlier release of that track which isn't slammed like that.Here's the same track, from a 1998 various artists compilation:
The same song. It has a little bit of clipping here and there, but it is not brickwalled.
Know what the real irony of this whole set is? For a record company that owned its own highly regarded studios, and one that launched the mastering career of Bernie Grundman (who is still active) and prided itself on good sound quality, this horrible sounding set goes totally against that.
Shameful. Just shameful.
Shameful. Just shameful.
I'm of mixed feelings here. We started the year doing our own little celebration of A&M's 50th, never expecting Universal to do anything. Then we got word of the Japanese reissues and this set and things were actually looking up. Now we get the set and it's a lot worse in sound quality, and a little underwhelming in the packaging department, than any of us expected. So I look on it as a nice gesture - but that's about it.
It could have been SO much better.
Harry
It could have been SO much better.
Harry
GroovinGarrett
Well-Known Member
Ah yes, I forgot about that CCM CD. I was going through a Kingston Trio/Frank Werber buying phase at CCM when I bought that. Thank you for the reminder!
That one looks just a little more smashed than the version I found. Mine is from some 1998 compilation called Chicken Soup For The Soul -- Love and Inspiration. It sounds pretty good.
I swore I had the Greatest Hits album on CD, but if I do it's probably stored away somewhere. I do have the LP. Pretty sure I bought it when Peaches closed up in our area.
I swore I had the Greatest Hits album on CD, but if I do it's probably stored away somewhere. I do have the LP. Pretty sure I bought it when Peaches closed up in our area.
GroovinGarrett
Well-Known Member
The same song. Brickwallled Captain and Tennille. I've seen it all.
Between the poor sound quality, lack of notes/photos, and Walmart bargain bin packaging, I think A&M's legacy deserved a bit better. The gesture was nice, but it's a let-down nonetheless.
MCA/Universal/UMG/whatever never seems to miss out on an anniversary opportunity on that other label they bought out...
Captain Bacardi
Well-Known Member
That statement sums it up in a nutshell. On paper this looks like a really good compilation. There are tunes here that I normally wouldn't have bought but I was glad to see them on this comp.
Then, I listened to it....
I mean, really, does a dictionary define "mastering" as "make it loud, make it really, really loud"? I keep imagining a mastering engineer just saying "well, I got this here compressor, so I may as well use it".
I just don't get it. It bores my ears.Looks like my vinyl collection isn't going anywhere anytime soon.....
Capt. Bacardi
- Status
Similar discussions
- Article
- Article
