Move Reissues - Discuss!

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Xenu
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Move Reissues - Discuss!

Postby Xenu » Sat Sep 01, 2007 1:47 pm

Well, if anybody ends up getting them.

Thus far, I haven't been wowed by Shazam. Given the hyperbole I've heard over the years---nth generation tapes! missing bits!--I was sort of surprised to hear it sound, well, more or less the same on the new reissue. And there IS noise-reduction (although let's not get hyperbolic about it).
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Postby JWB » Sat Sep 01, 2007 10:29 pm

I can tell you one thing...they don't have a clue what the fuck is going on at SHTV. One person says it's smothered in NR, and another person says there is no NR...then someone sends me some MP3's and I can clearly hear the NR...then someone says that there is no NR and that I'm hearing MP3 artifacts... Typical bullshit!

The only thing I care about when it comes to a digital mastering is...

Was NR used?
Was it compressed and hard limited into oblivion?
Was it poorly remixed?

Because those are things that you cannot undo. I can make my own remasters if I'm not happy with the EQ, but if it's been NR'd then it's totally useless to me!

I'm looking forward to comparing these new remasters to my old remasters, for which I mainly used the Movements box and the original RZ pressings. I also can't wait to write a scathing review on Amazon if neccessary. It's always funny to see the Move/ELO fanatic/suckups getting flustered and writing "retaliation reviews". Just look at the reviews for the first two ELO albums that were Mew-tilated. One or two people will explain how the CD's have been NR'd to death and sound dead...and then 20 morons will say "you don't know what you're talking about...Rob Caiger worked hard finding the original tapes...and it shows because they sound awesome!" and give it 5 stars, and then click "this review was not helpful" 20 times. I'm sure this will happen again.

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Postby Xenu » Sun Sep 02, 2007 11:09 am

BTW, is it just me, or is "mind" Roy Wood's favorite word?
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Postby JWB » Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:56 am

So I've listened to the first LP deluxe and it's a total mess. Some songs are brickwalled, some songs not. There is heavy NR on the intros and outros. The EQ is less than desirable. It's worthwhile for some of the better sources and stereo mixes, but for the most part, it's far from being a perfect reissue. You'll notice that a certain somebody has given a detalied review on SHTV, and people who have yet to hear the CD still refuse to believe the descriptions.

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Postby Xenu » Fri Sep 07, 2007 10:44 am

It's definitely inconsistent, but which tracks are "brickwalled?" The little "Cherry Blossom Clinic" sample I have seems a bit loud, but not egregiously so?

However, the *stereo* Cherry Blossom Clinic is hilariously out of sync. Far worse than "Eleanor Rigby."
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Postby My Avatar Is A Hot Babe » Fri Sep 07, 2007 1:51 pm

JWB wrote:I also can't wait to write a scathing review on Amazon if neccessary.


I'm creaming my jeans in anticipation!
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Postby JWB » Fri Sep 07, 2007 2:16 pm

Xenu wrote:However, the *stereo* Cherry Blossom Clinic is hilariously out of sync. Far worse than "Eleanor Rigby."


Just the first verse seems off. Fucking idiot brit engineers.

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Postby Xenu » Sat Sep 08, 2007 12:11 am

Out of sync vocal tracks bug me like nothing else. Christ, does anybody bother LISTENING to this stuff before it goes out?
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Postby My Avatar Is A Hot Babe » Mon Sep 10, 2007 1:40 pm

Goddamn limey bastards. We should have finished them off when we had the chance in 1783.
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Postby JWB » Tue Sep 18, 2007 3:42 am

I finally got my copy of the first album deluxe and I just wanted to confirm what I already knew...

The mastering is horrible, and some of the remixes are highly questionable.

They brag on the back of the CD case that their remastering is "immaculate" and "superb". I guess that means NR, shrill EQ, and brickwalling is the "immaculate" way of mastering something. Unbelievable.

The stereo remixes range from very good to terrible. Night Of Fear is smothered in reverb. Don't Throw Stones At Me and Zing Went the Strings of my Heart have a horrible delay effect on the backing vocals, and it happens BEFORE the beat instead of after it, as if they moved the backing vocals back a half a beat in Pro-Tools and then added a delay to happen where the beat should have been. (I don't really know how to explain it.) Anyway, it's horrible. Kilroy Was Here has echo added to everything, and only a tambourine is off to the right, so it's barely stereo. Flowers In The Rain is missing the woodwinds in the middle-8, even though they could have been extracted from the original stereo mix by taking it out of phase.

They said in the promo material how they "synchronized stages of 4-track" to make these remixes, but they only actually did that to two or three songs. The rest of them are done from 4-tracks with backing track and lead vocals in the center and overdubs off to the left or right. Sometimes the result is pleasant and sometimes it's not, with added effects like the afore-mentioned delay to give some stereo imaging.

Walk Upon The Water sounds horrible in mono and stereo, in addition to being badly EQ's and brickwalled. Movements (mono) and the original UK LP (stereo) sound much better, so I don't know what the fuck happened there.

In terms of the original mono mixes...

Kilroy, Zing, Fire Brigade, and Cherry Blossom all sound better on the Disky "Flowers In The Rain" comp.

The Girl Outside and Walk Upon The Water sound better on Movements.

The rest of the songs sound significantly better on the remaster, despite being badly mastered.

I give them a C+ for their efforts. All that work looking for the original tapes and it's mostly for naught.

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Postby JWB » Thu Oct 04, 2007 4:23 am

I finally got around to listening to the "Shazam" remaster.

It sucks.

There is heavy NR all over the place. The kind that pumps in and out. It's also too bright and too loud.

After some EQ, the remaster sounds just like the Movements box. The difference is very minimal, despite what the usual goofballs say on SHTV.

The only good thing about the remaster is the stereo remixed bonus tracks.

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Postby Xenu » Sat Oct 06, 2007 3:08 pm

So, fair to say, you're a bit disappointed?
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Postby Mark F » Mon Feb 25, 2008 8:21 pm

We should soon be having more Move remasters to comment on. Sorry I missed this thread having been away for while (computer crash and all that). :)

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Postby JWB » Mon Apr 21, 2008 1:14 am

Has anybody heard the "Looking On" remaster yet?

The CD single mastering of "Feel Too Good" sucks ass so I'm not looking forward to it.

On SHTV I'm hearing the same crap stories as the first two...

"It is clearer and there is less hiss, so it's obviously taken from a better tape."

I'm sure nobody will mention that Movements sounds exactly like the UK LP, which was cut from the master tape (I assume.)

They'll just cream themselves over how much crisper and cleaner and less hissy it is. You think SHTV'ers would be wise to that kind of shit but they're just as stupid as the kind of consumers they're supposed to be against!

I'm sure the back of the Salvo CD case will say "brilliantly remastered from the original tapes by jesus christ almighty himself for stunning superb clarity" and people will write 5-star Amazon reviews regardless of how badly it's mastered.

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Postby Xenu » Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:57 am

Eh. I don't mind it so far. It doesn't sound like Movements at all, though (but nor does it really sound that much like the Repertoire).

I mean, I'm happy to upload a track?
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