FOOL ON THE HILL scheduled for US re-release

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Harry said:
Meanwhile back to Sergio...

Since I spent last night at a hotel near work, due to the fact that every possible route I might take home was closed due to flooding, I didn't have an opportunity to check out any more stores for FOOL ON THE HILL.

Today's adventures included a web search at my local Borders to see if any of them had it in stock. Seeing that one close to work was listed, I headed over there at lunchtime. I looked around in vocals - they had CLASSICS, GREATEST HITS, GOLD, and one of those Collectables discs, but no FOOL ON THE HILL.

Then I looked in the World Music Brazilian section - nothing there, but I did see a bunch of other artists in that Brazilian GOLD series, like Ivan Lins and Caetano Veloso.

Then I looked over in Jazz, since they sometimes list Sergio as Jazz. Nothing there, so I went over to their Title Sleuth computer, looked up FOOL ON THE HILL (digipak), printed out the slip, which said it was supposed to be in Jazz, looked again in Jazz, deeper either way in the alphabet, found nothing, and headed for Customer Service with my handy-dandy slip of paper that said they had it.

The somewhat snotty clerk said that if it wasn't in Jazz, that they only had one copy and someone might have bought it. "Would you like us to order it for you?" she asked, not realizing that I already owned three CDs and two LPs of the album. The point was to go to a brick & mortar and find what I was looking for!

Remembering that another, farther away Borders also listed it in stock, I headed there.

Nothing in Jazz, nothing in Vocals, nothing in Brazilian, ask the somewhat more willing clerk for help. This time HE looked it up on the computer, found that it should be around, and of course he looked in Jazz. Not finding it, he suggested that it might still be on the new release cart. (Why the new releases weren't put out YESTERDAY on release day is anyone's guess, but that's another story.) After a quick look through two carts, he decided to call his manager, who suggested that it HAD to be on the carts - look more carefully, there was only one copy.

I then suggested that we were looking for a digipak, to which he said, "What's that?". I described what a digipak was, and he said, "Oh yeah!"

Finally he found it on a lower cart shelf - the only one they had, and I rushed to the cashier to pay for it.

There it was, in all its glory, finally FOOL ON THE HILL with the proper cover art, and it was MINE!

I opened it eagerly in the car and listened to it on the way back to the office and on the way home tonight. It sounds fine, but I haven't made any comparisons yet. I *think* I can hear the HAECO-CSG processing, but with a headcold that I seem to be getting, life in general sounds like it's got HAECO-CSG processing on it!

Harry
...having a bad couple of days, with some good points, online...

I had to ask for the easy listening section at Tower- that alone is funny- but there it was!
I think the Rebound issue sounds better! - the new one has better yet flawed packaging. More on this soon.
 
Thank you, thank you. Now I geddit, the canticle. It's the sort of airy counter-melody from Art G. But it is there in Dave Grusin's orchestration, kind of.
Chris
 
JMK said:
I'm a little mixed on my first listen--it actually sounds like there are improved highs to me, but the mid-range sounds a little "boxy" at times. The percussion is really jumping out on me on this remaster, but I'll have to go back and compare it to the two others to see if I'm just listening more to it this time. It is great to have the original cover in all its glory! :wink:

Something jumped out at me too yesterday in the car - but we're talking about 'in the car' and I have a head-cold, no less, so I've thrown those impressions out the window.

This morning, the head-cold seems to have headed south to become more of a cough - as a result, I think I trust my ears a bit more this morning, but I must precede the following marks with the caveat that I do indeed still have a cold and my hearing may be affected.

My comparisons were done between the new Verve remaster and the Japanese remaster from 2002. It was my opinion back in '02 that the Japanese remaster had better highs than either the A&M or Rebound Cd's, though the noise reduction was still there as was the HAECO-CSG.

Well HAECO-CSG is still there, but the new remaster has dialed back the noise reduction as well as getting rid of the smiley-faced EQ (that's where they goose the highs and lows but create a more unnatural sound). This Verve remaster sounds more vinyl-like than any of the previous Cd's, with a warmer, more natural sound.

When you get to the quiet parts of "Festa", the life isn't sucked out of the recording - instead, we hear Lani, all of her overtones, and even some hiss.

At the beginning of "Lapinha", instead of hearing a clean but lifeless guitar on the right channel, we get the natural tape hiss as well as the guitar on the right and all of its natural overtones.

This disc might prove difficult to listen to for some that have gotten used to loud, modern remasters where the noise reduction is overbearing. This new Verve disc is also mastered at least 5 db lower than the Japanese remaster.

Bottom line - I think what jumped out at me yesterday in the car was the naturalness of this new disc. The 96 kHz, 24-bit remastering, plus the lack of NR and EQ make for a very pleasing vinyl-like experience.

The reissue was produced by Bryan Koniarz and mastered by Bob Irwin and Jayme Pieruzzi at Sundazed Studios, Coxsackie, NY.

The packaging to me seems like a real attempt to give the feel that the original LP had. Yeah, the insert is printed in black & white where SPX 4160 had color, but then this is more budget-line priced. As I recall, SPX 4160 was a buck higher than other albums. The colors on the outer cover look pretty close to the same to me as SPX 4160 - I think the jewel-box reissues were more pale by comparison. The song titles on the back cover look bolder - but I think they had to do that, otherwise they wouldn't have been readable at all.

As Mike mentioned, the disc itself replicates the ochre label, just like the LOOK AROUND and EQUINOX Verve re-issues. What's curious about this release is that Amazon and other online services list this as an A&M Records release, where they list the others as Verve. Just goes to show some of the confusion at Universal I guess.

So, all in all I recommend this disc to anyone who wants to recreate the vinyl listening experience from 35 years ago when FOOL ON THE HILL was new. Those who cannot stand tape hiss would be better served with the Japanese reissue from 2002.

Harry
...happy with this one, online...
 
Harry...

Ditto...Ditto...Ditto...

Couldn't have put it better myself -- well said!!

Jon
 
JMK said:
I'm a little mixed on my first listen--it actually sounds like there are improved highs to me, but the mid-range sounds a little "boxy" at times. The percussion is really jumping out on me on this remaster, but I'll have to go back and compare it to the two others to see if I'm just listening more to it this time. It is great to have the original cover in all its glory! :wink:

The other discs were over-processed to death...the Japan CD wasn't as bad, but the Rebound is pathetic. (For $3.99, why would I expect otherwise?) If the midrange sounds boxy, that's what was on the original master tape. (More on that in my reply to Harry. :wink: ) What stinks about the other CDs is they first whack out the tape his with digital noise reduction (which sounds mediocre at best), and then they try to compensate by boosting the highs. Sure, it sounds good on the $30 boom box, but on a halfway decent system, ALL of the overtones of the voices, instruments, etc. are lost. As Harry put it, the life is just sucked out of it--no "air" around anything anymore.

And, why Japan did it to this CD and not the others...I don't know. I didn't find the others to sound as processed as this one.

Harry said:
Bottom line - I think what jumped out at me yesterday in the car was the naturalness of this new disc. The 96 kHz, 24-bit remastering, plus the lack of NR and EQ make for a very pleasing vinyl-like experience.

The reissue was produced by Bryan Koniarz and mastered by Bob Irwin and Jayme Pieruzzi at Sundazed Studios, Coxsackie, NY.

Sundazed is actually a smaller specialist reissue label that has put out some really nice sounding product. Nice to see that Universal farmed this one out to a respectable studio to get it remastered properly, rather than use one of their "squash and burn" house engineers.

Actually, I'd rephrase your first bit there to say, "a very pleasing analog-like experience". :D These would sound awesome on SACD, BTW.

The only flaw is that darned CSG processing, which is impossible to get rid of without a complete remix. :mad: I really notice it on computer speakers, but even in the car, it wreaks havoc with the subwoofer--when the left and right signals combine, the bass gets really boomy and exaggerated. I notice it more with my Butch Cassidy CD though, another great album ruined by CSG.
 
Rudy said:
The only flaw is that darned CSG processing...I really notice it on computer speakers, but even in the car, it wreaks havoc with the subwoofer--when the left and right signals combine, the bass gets really boomy and exaggerated.

I agree. I've noticed the same thing -- really wreaks havoc with my car system -- I'm constantly adjusting and readjusting to get a good balance of sound. I wonder if one day they will do a complete and total remix of this album? It would be nice to hear it without the constant hiss associated with CSG.

Jon
 
I finally got this CD--on my first couple of listens, it's a keeper. The music finally has a chance to breathe, and aside from the CSG processing, it sounds more natural. The hiss is not all that bad either--it's no better or worse than any other album of its age. The Rebound version can't even come close to it IMHO...then again, with Rebound, you got what you paid for. :wink:

If Sundazed did the mastering for this CD, I wonder if they reserved rights to release a 180g LP version of this in the future.
 
I think I mentioned this before, but I never did own the Japanese release of FOTH or otherwise. I only owned the Rebound version, which sounded fine to me. Now I'm curious and must get ahold of this new copy everyone is talking about. You'd think, being the Mendes completest I am, I'd have my hand on one by now!! :oops:

Jon

...slow on the uptake...
 
It's cheap enough--I got mine for $10.99 on Amazon, free shipping because I ordered quite a few things for gifts.
 
I'm still surprised that Sergios #2, 3 and 4 on A&M are now available domestically, but #1 isn't -- even though it contains one of his biggest hits! Somebody must've overlooked it, eh?
 
It'll get reissued in a year or two, on their current schedule. :D
 
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