Looking at the spectrogram, you can see that the frequency response continues upwards from 16kHz and there is none of the blockiness of the Edsel image. This sounds like an album that could do with being properly remastered, from the original tapes, with a little extra warmth and bass in the EQ and the more natural and transparent sound of good quality modern A to D conversion. The EQ is quite thin and the sound is slightly brittle – although once the listener has adjusted to this there are no unusual or distracting artifacts. This CD sounds exactly as one might expect for a reissue done at this time. Original Island CD from the 1980s Spectogram of the original Island CD (click to enlarge) As a test, using a clean uncompressed version of the same track as a control, I found that a reduction of the bitrate to about 192kbps was required to reduce the perceived quality to something similar to the Edsel CD (see this image to illustrate).Īpart from the data-compression artifacts, the album sounds quite thick and bloated (too much low-mid) and very closed off in the top end, although this latter point will be partly to do with the data-compression. The sound of the disc is also consistent with this, with the top end of the recording appearing to switch on and off, the stereo image flinching, and some twittering artifacts in the top end, as one would expect from low resolution data-compressed signal. The spectrogram image (above) shows clearly that there is no useful audio data on the CD above 16kHz, and the blocky nature of the display is consistent with the audio having been subjected to some form of data compression such as MP3 or AAC or similar. Here’s what Nick had to say.Įdsel Reissue 2013 Spectogram of the Edsel reissue (click to enlarge) To keep things simple this comparison is based on the first track of the album One Last Look. One was the new 2013 Edsel CD, the second was an original Island CD from the 1980s, and the final disc was the 2011 remaster from US label Culture Factory. We gave Nick three versions of Palmer’s 1976 album Some People Can Do What They Like and asked him to analyse them. In his 23 year career Nick has worked with bands like Faith No More, The Kinks and The Libertines and he co-owns (with Tim Debney) of Fluid Mastering in London.
#Faith no more deluxe flac professional
There are a number of different masterings, and rather than heap amateur analysis on top of amateur analysis, we asked mastering engineer Nick Watson to give us his professional opinion. If the new Edsel releases are indeed less-than-optimum, then what is the best way to listen to Robert Palmer’s Island albums? Exactly which CDs sound the best? Are the Edsel reissues, really that bad? Some were stating that the albums looked like they’d been mastered from MP3s. Unfortunately, enthusiasts who’d purchased these sets started reporting in online music forums that the sound quality was not what you might expect from an original tape transfer. Most of the albums also came with bonus tracks.
#Faith no more deluxe flac archive
Regular SDE readers will know, we rate the Yorkshireman’s diverse ’70s output highly and like many fans were frustrated with the lack of activity around his catalogue.Īlthough the reissues that came out at the end of August were budget conscious combo-packs, with two albums in each set (three, in one case), the packaging itself was excellent, with slipcases, thick booklets, essays, lyrics and some great archive photography and scans of sleeves and record labels.
Both sets are scheduled to hit stores on June 9th (they’re currently available for pre-order on Amazon) and will pack rarities-stuffed bonus discs including remixed versions of “Epic” and “Falling to Pieces,” as well as live performances of “Surprise You’re Dead,” “Underwater Love” and the Black Sabbath classic “War Pigs.” The CD bonus disc will also feature the B-sides “Cowboy Song” and “The Grade.” You can listen to all 11 rarities below.When Edsel Records reissued Robert Palmer‘s Island era albums on CD, we were delighted. That album is of course now considered to be an alterna-metal classic, and as such is being reissued in two deluxe new editions, one on double-CD, the other on heavyweight double-vinyl.
Amazingly, the group’s most popular record, The Real Thing, didn’t even appear on the Top 200 when it was released in June 1989, only entering the chart the following year, buoyed by the smash single “Epic.” Released two weeks ago, Faith No More‘s highly anticipated comeback album, Sol Invictus– their first in 18 years – debuted at Number 15 on the Billboard Top 200, marking the weirdo-rock band’s highest rank on the chart since 1992’s Angel Dust hit Number 10.
0 kommentar(er)
