Mendes re-releases listening reports

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Finally got around to listening to the new release of FOOL ON THE HILL. I would agree with Harry, the sound on this is excellent! If A&M Japan can do this with Sergio Mendes albums, please let'em at the Herb catalog!

I have yet to do an A/B comparison with the American release of the album, but there are little details in there I've never really noticed before. This rocks! (but "When Summer Turns to Snow" still drags.)

Now I'm debating whether to buy the new issues of CRYSTAL ILLUSIONS and YE-ME-LE. Already have the previous Japanese issues of these, but if FOOL sounded this much better........

NP: "Laia Ladaia"
 
The original Fool is one of the worst-sounding CDs in my collection. Superficially it sounds good, with no hiss...but at the volume levels I used to witness in the car, the "choked" quality of too much noise reduction was overly apparent. Then again, were the hiss-laden, washed-out late 80's A&M CDs any better? Hardly. (Few companies could reissue a CD properly back then.)

Not knowing how the original CDs of Ye-Me-Le and Crystal sound, there's no telling if the new ones are so much better. Not owning any myself, I'll trust that the new ones are going to sound as good as it gets! :D

-= N =-
 
Mike Blakesley said:
I have yet to do an A/B comparison with the American release of the album, but there are little details in there I've never really noticed before. This rocks! (but "When Summer Turns to Snow" still drags.)

That describes exactly what I did. The disc arrived, I plopped it in, listened to a few seconds of "Fool...", skipped to track 2, "Festa" and began noticing things I hadn't heard before. Same thing with "Casa Forte", which is when I dug out the old American release and began a side-by-side. There wasn't a whole lot of change on the "Fool On The Hill" track, but a real noticeable improvement on "Festa", "Casa Forte", "Canto Triste" and the whole rest of the album.

Mike Blakesley said:
Now I'm debating whether to buy the new issues of CRYSTAL ILLUSIONS and YE-ME-LE. Already have the previous Japanese issues of these, but if FOOL sounded this much better........

You too, huh!? I'd also consider HERB ALPERT PRESENTS, even though I have the MFSL LP.n We'll see...

Harry
...noting that Japanese Obiland was selling the entire set for $250 on eBay, online...
 
I got the new HAP too. I know Neil has mentioned the beginning of "One Note Samba/Spanish Flea" where you can hear the mix volume being turned down after the opening piano notes as kind of a sound benchmark for this album. That turn-down is clear on this new CD, so I guess it's right up there with the MoFi version! I only had the original A&M LP previously, so this sounds excellent in comparison.
 
Mike Blakesley said:
I got the new HAP too. I know Neil has mentioned the beginning of "One Note Samba/Spanish Flea" where you can hear the mix volume being turned down after the opening piano notes as kind of a sound benchmark for this album. That turn-down is clear on this new CD, so I guess it's right up there with the MoFi version! I only had the original A&M LP previously, so this sounds excellent in comparison.

That's good to know--they probably went back to some decent masters. In other versions of that song (especially the horrible-sounding Foursider), the sound was so buried under tape hiss that I'm surprised to hear a piano at all! :confused:

Picking nits--I wonder if the Japanese Equinox is any different from the US release? I'm not about to buy it to compare! :wink:

-= N =-
 
Me either. I could always take the recent Lp-sleeve reissue of EQUINOX and put the CD in my older Japanese issue jewel box, I guess. The sound is the main thing, and that domestic release is killer.
 
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