Squeeze - East Side Story: Original or remaster?

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Anybody?

[Ess Ay Cee Dee]

nt

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...MoFi put this out? I had no idea.

I noticed a big difference between the MP3s of the album I grabbed from the internet (high bitrate) and the corresponding tracks on the "Singles" disc, which is the only Squeeze I own. I prefer the EQ on the "Singles" disc by a wide margin. Thing is, I have no idea which version of East Side Story the MP3s were sourced from.

[Ess Ay Cee Dee]

nt

[Dob]

I know it's long OOP, but I really don't think you can do any better than the Mobile Fidelity version.

The MFSL is much better than the original CD...and, IMO, the corresponding tracks from my (Japan) Singles CD. I haven't heard the remaster.

Last I checked (which actually was a long time ago), the MFSL was selling on Ebay for about $20. This title never did command much of a premium.

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Say...

Would anybody like to wing me a copy?

[J_Partyka]

The MoFi is the best CD version I've owned. I used to have the original A&M CD, and the MoFi is far superior. I also have the disc with the two bonus tracks from the imported Six of One box set, and it sounds unpleasantly brighter and more forward to me than the MoFi.

For vinyl folks: the George "Porky" Peckham-cut UK LP is outstanding. The US LP cannot compare. FWIW, Michael Fremer included a kind of mini-comparison of the UK LP and MoFi CD in his Stereophile review (http://www.stereophile.com/analogsourcereviews/309/) of the Rega P25 turntable a few years back. It reads in part:

... Staring me in the face was a new MoFi gold CD of Squeeze's great East Side Story. I sat down and played it on Naim's CDX HDCD player fitted with the optional outboard power supply (currently under review).

MoFi's transfer, using its new Gain 2 mastering chain, is really outstanding: immediate, dynamic, three-dimensional, and highly resolved on top. In other words, very "analog-like." The recording, by Roger Bechirian, Elvis Costello co-producing, is especially honest for a rock recording, and does justice to the great octave singing duo of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, who also wrote most of the tunes.

The gold CD has tremendous bass clarity and authority—especially the kick drum—and the cymbals ring, shimmer, and decay impressively. Since there's not a bad tune on the disc, I listened straight through.

Then I switched to the LP. Granted, I have an original British A&M pressing—a "Porky Prime Cut." This means it was mastered by George Peckham, one of the greatest rock mastering engineers of the analog era. (Look for "Another Porky Prime Cut" or "Pecko Duck" in the leadout-groove area.) It sounds much better than the American A&M version, but the difference, good as the MoFi gold CD is, was remarkable. The LP on the new Rega resolves much more detail, and while the CD was impressive on top, the shimmer and ring of the cymbals were far more real on the LP.