Consumer Guide to Bruce Springsteen on CD

[MK]

I've done some comparisons on the Springsteen catalog on CD, and I feel like anyone who wants them should buy them instead of waiting and hoping endlessly for remasters. In ICE magazine, a rep speaking for Springsteen or his "people" said Bruce is reluctant to remaster his catalog because Bruce prefers the grittier sound of the current CDs, whatever that's supposed to mean. At the very least, I wish he'd upgrade the careless artwork reproductions. Get rid of the ancient Compact Disc Digital Audio logo on the front of every cover and print some lyrics for "The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle," which current is a folded sheet that opens up to reveal a large, blank side.

In terms of audio, I don't have much hope for improvement in any remastering. I get this from comparing some of the current CDs with the only two remastering jobs on Bruce's back catalog, "Greatest Hits" in 1995 and "The Essential Bruce Springsteen" in 2003.

Bob Ludwig supposedly mastered all the CD releases of Bruce's back catalog, at least up to and including "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town." Ludwig became Springsteen's preferred mastering engineer beginning with the original Lp mastering of "Born in the USA" and has mastered just about every reissue project, including "Greatest Hits" and "The Essential Bruce Springsteen." Chances are, if the catalog is ever reissued and remastered, he's the guy who will do it.

Expectations of any major improvement were kept in check by the fact that Ludwig mastered all this music. It's the same mastering engineer, and it's not like Ludwig slacked off the first time around and then, given the chance to remaster the music again, thought 'I'll do a decent job THIS time around!' His mastering equipment may have been upgraded, but his general taste in EQ choices and such probably have not changed that much.

The first thing anyone will notice is that almost all the music is recorded poorly to begin with. Just listen to the "Tracks" box set. They actually remixed every track, even making some new overdubs, and in the liner notes, Bruce attests that remixing has improved the sound. However most of the tracks still sound like they were recorded on cheap equipment, albeit different kinds of cheap equipment depending on the album sessions, and this becomes more apparent if you compare them to better-sounding records by other artists made around the same time. So you're going to have problems with distortion, muddy compression, and/or other nasties that remastering isn't going to solve.

Second, compression rears it's ugly head on some of the remastering. In general, tracks from "The Essential Bruce Springsteen" had to be reduced to about 60% of the original volume in order to match the levels of the individual album releases on CD. These individual albums may be much softer, but going through the CD's, you'll find at least one track that hits digital zero or comes real close, so the albums on the standard CD issues were mastered at the maximum volume. Sometimes, the compression isn't very noticeable, but there are cases where it really is.

I couldn't make a comprehensive comparison because I'm still waiting for some CDs to come in, but I think I got a good sampling.

The first album I couldn't make any comparisons, but the second, "The Wild, The Innocent, & the E Street Shuffle," was done with the standard CD and the two tracks on "Essential." No tracks were included on "Greatest Hits."

"4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" is definitely louder with some compression and a sharper top end. The recording is real gritty anyway so after matching the levels they felt pretty close. The compression is annoying, but it's even worse on "Rosalita," which really sucks on "Essential." A stronger dose of compression or just a whole lot more noticeable, the standard CD sounds much more open and dynamic. On "Essential," it's really squashed, and this wasn't a hi-fi recording to begin with.

I don't have "Born To Run," but the standard CD is supposed to sound very close to the original master, so I'll have to check that out when it comes in.

The album, "Darkness on the Edge of Town," seems to have much better engineering. Only one track can be found on both remastered compilations and that's "Badlands." There's a better bottom on the remastered CDs, not really boosted but more defined. In fact, it sounds remarkably similar on both "Greatest Hits" and "Essential," so much so I wonder if the same transfer was used or the same exact moves were applied. The remastered version is louder than the standard CD but it doesn't sound TOO compressed.

"Essential" also includes the title track and "Promised Land." The latter really sounds REALLY shrill and harsh. I feel like they boosted the top end because the harmonica sounded shrill to begin with and now sounds painful. The title track sounds pretty compressed, too, though not as painful as "Promised Land." So basically the standard CD is easier on the ears.

Only two tracks from "The River" can be found on either remastered compilation and they are the same two tracks. Again, they sound remarkably similar. Similar levels and sound quality, you have to wonder if the same transfers or same moves were done for both compilations. I don't have the standard album CD to compare to, though.

"Nebraska," the notorious lo-fi album is next. "Atlantic City" is on both compilations, and the title track is also on "Essential." Louder and definitely a tiny bit sharper, overall not really an improvement. The treble boost isn't painful but still isn't really needed either. Definitely different, but a tough call because of the way the album was done.

Next is "Born In The U.S.A." Four tracks were included on "Greatest Hits," three carried over to "Essential." Again, "Glory Days" and the title track sound really similar on both compilations. They can't be clones because "Glory Days" fades out a couple of seconds sooner on "Greatest Hits," but the levels, sound quality, EQ, everything sounds really similar. "Dancing In The Dark" is actually different on Essential. There's definitely different EQ applied with noticeably more bottom. It's a dance track so I can see why they did it, but it's not like the "Greatest Hits" mastering was bass-shy. Not very different from the standard album CD once you match the levels. The standard CD is quieter, but once you match everything, there's barely an improvement. It's possible compression was added to the compilation CDs but not a lot.

Now we're into the CD age. 1987's "Tunnel Of Love" was digitally recorded, the first Springsteen studio Lp to use digital recording (the live box set supposedly has a good chunk captured on digital recorders). The liners say it was originally mastered on a Neve Digital Console, if that means anything to anyone. In general, these recordings sound pretty bright to begin with. Only one track on "Greatest Hits," two on "Essential," and with all levels matched, they all sound pretty close to one another.

The original issues of the two 1992 albums sound good as is and I'd stick with them. Tough to go wrong with an original album release issued in 1992. Both compilations use an edited version of "Human Touch" that fades much earlier, and "Essential" sounds like it uses a touch more compression and a treble boost, neither of which is welcome.

"Streets of Philadelphia" was originally mastered by Bernie Grundman in 1993, and both compilations use an edited version that fades out much sooner. The compilations also use some noticeable compression. The original Grundman mastering on the single and the soundtrack CD is really dynamic and preferred.

The original "Ghost of Tom Joad" came in 1995, so it's not on "Greatest Hits" since it came afterwards. It is surprisingly dynamic. The title track is on "Essential" and they use a strong dose of compression. The original is preferred. Not really one of my favorites, though.

"Dead Man Walking" came a little bit later and the original soundtrack CD version is again surprisingly dynamic. This is on the bonus CD of "Essential," which again uses a strong dose of compression, so the original is still preferred.

At this point, I'm noticing that "Essential" is using a lot more compression on these later tracks, from 1992 to 1996. It makes sense because now we've gotten to the tracks from the "Madison Square Garden" two-disc live set and "The Rising," both mastered in modern style, i.e. REALLY LOUD. After "Ghost of Tom Joad," I feel like Bruce and company have given up and just succumbed to the modern way of mastering all their CDs.

That's all I've got so far, but I feel like any remaster we get will either be compressed with a possible treble boost, or if we're lucky, a minor improvement in terms of sound. I feel like the former is more likely, given how the much worse the tracks found on "Essential" but not on the previous "Greatest Hits" sound.

Again, this may not be all bad. Supposedly, Ludwig used the original masters on all the current CDs, and if "Born to Run" is supposed to sound just like the tape, maybe they all do. A lot of people complain how crappy they sound, but I wonder if they're complaining about something that's inherent in the recording, not the mastering.

Just so this isn't only about sound quality, here's how I'd rank all the albums

Greetings from Asbury Park: C+
The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle: A-
Born To Run: A-
Darkness on the Edge of Town: A
The River: B+
Nebraska: A+
Born in the USA: B+
Live 1975-1985: B
Tunnel Of Love: A-
Lucky Town: C+
Human Touch: D
The Ghost of Tom Joad: D
Tracks: B
18 Tracks: B-
Live at Madison Square Garden: B-
The Rising: B

[lukpac]

Yeah, I thought the Tunnel Of Love tracks sounded just about the same on the original CD and "Essential".

[Dob]

"Nebraska," the notorious lo-fi album is next. "Atlantic City" is on both compilations, and the title track is also on "Essential." Louder and definitely a tiny bit sharper, overall not really an improvement. The treble boost isn't painful but still isn't really needed either. Definitely different, but a tough call because of the way the album was done

Keep in mind that the very first CD version of Nebraska is in stereo. All the following versions are in mono. I feel the stereo version is sonically superior.

Next is "Born In The U.S.A." Four tracks were included on "Greatest Hits," three carried over to "Essential." Again, "Glory Days" and the title track sound really similar on both compilations. They can't be clones because "Glory Days" fades out a couple of seconds sooner on "Greatest Hits," but the levels, sound quality, EQ, everything sounds really similar. "Dancing In The Dark" is actually different on Essential. There's definitely different EQ applied with noticeably more bottom. It's a dance track so I can see why they did it, but it's not like the "Greatest Hits" mastering was bass-shy. Not very different from the standard album CD once you match the levels. The standard CD is quieter, but once you match everything, there's barely an improvement. It's possible compression was added to the compilation CDs but not a lot.

The first Japan CD of this one (catalog number starts with 35dp) is a bit less harsh in the treble (on most tracks) than my USA first pressing (which was also made in Japan).

It was my understanding that the Japan mini-LP versions (haven't heard any of them) that came out a few years ago were remasters. Also, shortly after those were released, regularly packaged Japan CD versions came out with identical catalog numbers -- perhaps they are identical in sound to the mini-LPs. I have this version of The River and on some tracks it sounds better than my early USA CD.

[Rspaight]

Thanks for the useful information.

I've got the MasterSound gold disc of BTR, but it's been ages since I compared it to anything and certainly don't trust my memory back that far. I remember thinking that it sounded a bunch better than the previous CD, but I thought that about *all* remasters back then. I don't have the "standard issue" anymore (did they switch the standard CD to the MasterSound at some point?), but I'll compare it against the GH and Essential when I have a chance and report back.

Re: Darkness:

So basically the standard CD is easier on the ears.

This is my favorite Springsteen album, and I always thought the standard CD was pretty good, though I seem to be in the minority. It's a lot easier to listen (soncially) to than "The Rising," at any rate...

Ryan