Official Review [Album]: "PASSAGE" (SP-4703)

I just got the same disc in the mail yesterday (I've also got a Remastered Classics version on order). Here's what I'm finding, when I'm listening through
my Yamaha surround system using the Pro Logic setting.

B'Wana - entire track is in mono

All You Get From Love- stereo with just enough seperation to call it stereo, also allows for a tiny bit of surround.

I Just Fall In Love Again- surround stereo.

Don't Cry For Me Argentina- mono

Sweet, Sweet Smile- surround stereo

Two Sides- Surround stereo

Man Smart, Woman Smarter - mono

Calling Occupants - stereo with just enough serration to call it stereo.

 

I have to disagree with you Harry, as when I was listening to B'Wana everything was coming out of the centre speaker. Same with Argentina, although I want to get my copy of the UK Treasures out, since it seems to me that the choir, the few times I've played that disc through Pro Logic, the choir actually filled the front speakers. But for the songs I marked mono, even when I switched to stereo they had about as much stereo sound as the original mono versions of the tracks on the Beach Boys 2001 Pet Sounds CD.

But that's also why in my original post with Love Songs and Occupants I said that I found those two barely qualified as stereo to me, as I did hear different instruments and vocals coming out of the left and right front speakers, but everything was still pretty much centred. In a way I would compare those two tracks to the old Capitol Duophonic stereo process.

 

Well you might want to double check the version on the 80's Passage CD vs. the UK Treasures CD of Argentina. Even in stereo the UK one is much fuller (and it sounds like there might be added reverb in some sections), but on Pro Logic the recording goes from being just dead center to being surround, and the chorus, especially after Karen's last "too" really swells on Treasures across both channels. Treasures might've received a remix of the song. (Treasures also had "I Just Fall In Love Again", but it sounded the same as the Passage CD.)

 

It's more than a bit louder. The version on Treasures is full stereo, the A&M CD is more 2.0 mono.

 

I think the art work on Passage is top notch! Even using different 'font' on Carpenters is like using the typeset on I Won't Last A Day Without You and Top Of The World record sleeves. I think using the regular logo against the cover art might make it look like a coloring book, so the typeset here just goes with the flow. I even love the label on the alumn, too! I love Passage, even the songs I don't like are still great for listening, just stylistically different so individual tastes are more prominent, yet, brave for a pop sound! I was proud they made it and I am still proud to own it in all the media forms I have purchased it.

 

I get what @tomswift2002 is getting at too. While it's definitely in stereo, it feels very "mono". This is especially true of "B'Wana". Musically, it's the most dynamic tune on the record, yet it sounds like it was recorded in a tin can. A lot of recordings were done in this style and it's a style that never should have caught on. If they were "bouncing" all along, there wouldn't be any way for Richard to "unpack" it for proper mixing. All he'd be able to do is brighten it up a bit. He won't, but he could if he chose to.

Ed

 

I bought my copy of Passage back in the mid 90's from the long defunct Our Price. Normally I hate stickers being stuck directly onto a CD case. But in this instance, and by pure coincidence, it matched the album perfectly (though it's an annoyance on my Horizon case). And having finally figured out how to post pictures you can see it for yourself...

 

How does the CD look?

 

It looks different to the one you posted

 

Yes it is different, mine was bought in 1988, Made in USA, obviously an import. I would say your CD was pressed somewhere in EU.

 

Try listening with a set of headphones to B'Wana She No Home and All You Get From Love Is A Love Song. Is there any difference in the stereo separation between the two songs?

 

I shall plonk the headphones on, though from memory I believe there's a difference. Bear with...

 

There is, a big difference. Looking at the centre of the cd it says it was made in Germany by PMDC. Is this the brighter version that's spoken about or the other one?

To chip in with the discussion earlier on about mono/stereo, B'wana is definitely stereo, though barely. You can hear an electric piano or organ playing faintly throughout to the left, plonking away on the chords and when you come to end of the flute section with the 'ooooh, ooooh' background vocals and just before the third verse, the drum kicks in on the left before venturing back to the middle (or seems to with these ears anyway).

 

After listening to B'Wana She No Home, All You Get From Love Is A Song is for me with headphones, a completely different listening experience even though both tracks have various instruments and vocals going on in the mix. They are mixed in completely different ways which to my ears is disturbing especially as one track follows the other.

 

"Two Sides" comes across to me with a bit of a wider feel.
Another overlooked selection on that album. Quite nice I find.
This is interesting because now I understand why a lot of this I don't put on as often either. It does feel "narrow" in parts, but there's reasoning why.
After a while, aside from the odd remix like "Occupants", there was something "muddy" about the mix that didn't have the same clarity and presence like "Horizon" for example.
Why that could never be achieved again is kinda baffling no?

 

Ah! A Polygram disc. My "Song for You" is as well. Careful of "ring rot".

Ed

 

Most of my Carpenters CDs are. Are Polygram discs more susceptible to ring rot then? Worried now! I was aware CDs are supposed to have a limited life. Many of mine are over the 20 year mark.