I've been cruising around in my vehicle blasting PAIS TROPICAL at top volume.
I won't speak about the sound quality much, as even with a home stereo I'm not enough of a golden ear to be all that picky....but I did hear a fairly prominent dropout at the end of "Gone Forever." There is juat a bit of tape hiss throughout, and I haven't compared this to any of the other releases of some of these songs yet...but overall I would say it sounds very good.
This is the first time I've listened to this album all the way thru in quite some time. One thing that hasn't changed...the proceedings grind to a halt on cue, in the middle of each side, with "Morro Velho" and "I Know You." I was hoping I'd maybe grown into these songs a bit more over the years, the way I have with some of the earlier ballads, but no go. WHY did Sergio put this MOR stuff into his albums when the band was capable of such great driving uptempo stuff?? WHY WHY WHY?
OK, now that that's over, a couple of other observations.
One thing I never noticed before is that "Tonga" is about a minute shorter in real life than it is listed on the album. (Either that or this is an edited version, but I don't think so.)
Other than that, the most noticable "flaw" in the album is that they cut off the studio intro bit on "Zanzibar," where you hear a few guitar plucks, then a count-off before the song actually starts. However, they just killed the audio...the "time" between "Zanz" and the preceding track is the same.
The bonus track, "Pais Tropical" Japanese version, sounds like it was transferred from a cassette tape...mucho hiss. Also, Sergio's piano is mixed WAY back to the point that after the introduction, you can hardly hear it. You can actually hear the piano volume decrease twice...first when the vocals start, and then again at the end of the first verse. (I'm not sure if it's this way on the original version (which I have on a rarities disk, thanks to another member here) but will compare.) It is cool in that now you can hear the guitar better, but I prefer the mix on the English version much more.
Lastly, the cover. It's very cool in that they reproduced (on the booklet) the "flap" that came with the original LP. The inside has thumbnails of the other Mendes releases, and the "flap" is added onto the front cover so that it folds over the back. It was a nice touch and unexpected. The only quibble I have with the package is that the text is reproduced from the original LP and is very very tiny. (It was small even on the LP!) But given these couple of small quibbles, I'm highly satisfied with the whole deal. Never thought this would EVER see the light of CD.
I won't speak about the sound quality much, as even with a home stereo I'm not enough of a golden ear to be all that picky....but I did hear a fairly prominent dropout at the end of "Gone Forever." There is juat a bit of tape hiss throughout, and I haven't compared this to any of the other releases of some of these songs yet...but overall I would say it sounds very good.
This is the first time I've listened to this album all the way thru in quite some time. One thing that hasn't changed...the proceedings grind to a halt on cue, in the middle of each side, with "Morro Velho" and "I Know You." I was hoping I'd maybe grown into these songs a bit more over the years, the way I have with some of the earlier ballads, but no go. WHY did Sergio put this MOR stuff into his albums when the band was capable of such great driving uptempo stuff?? WHY WHY WHY?
OK, now that that's over, a couple of other observations.
One thing I never noticed before is that "Tonga" is about a minute shorter in real life than it is listed on the album. (Either that or this is an edited version, but I don't think so.)
Other than that, the most noticable "flaw" in the album is that they cut off the studio intro bit on "Zanzibar," where you hear a few guitar plucks, then a count-off before the song actually starts. However, they just killed the audio...the "time" between "Zanz" and the preceding track is the same.
The bonus track, "Pais Tropical" Japanese version, sounds like it was transferred from a cassette tape...mucho hiss. Also, Sergio's piano is mixed WAY back to the point that after the introduction, you can hardly hear it. You can actually hear the piano volume decrease twice...first when the vocals start, and then again at the end of the first verse. (I'm not sure if it's this way on the original version (which I have on a rarities disk, thanks to another member here) but will compare.) It is cool in that now you can hear the guitar better, but I prefer the mix on the English version much more.
Lastly, the cover. It's very cool in that they reproduced (on the booklet) the "flap" that came with the original LP. The inside has thumbnails of the other Mendes releases, and the "flap" is added onto the front cover so that it folds over the back. It was a nice touch and unexpected. The only quibble I have with the package is that the text is reproduced from the original LP and is very very tiny. (It was small even on the LP!) But given these couple of small quibbles, I'm highly satisfied with the whole deal. Never thought this would EVER see the light of CD.
Feel the Love!)
)
), but sometime around 1983 or 1984, I cured most of that problem with the Shure V15-VMR cartridge. If the vinyl isn't damaged from lesser cartridges, it plays the inner grooves with little or no distortion, and was the only cartridge I've ever heard that could track a 7" 45RPM single correctly. 
