Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

Want to review the latest CD reissue? Or a 30 year old LP you just picked up? Discuss it all here.
User avatar
MK
Posts: 946
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2003 4:24 pm
Location: North America

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

Postby MK » Wed Mar 24, 2004 12:00 pm

A local store had a new copy for only $30 so I picked it up. Every review complains about the dimensions of the package and how they don't like the paintings that make up the cover and the front and back two pages, or the children's book parody that resulted in both. I couldn't care less, it's packaging.

I have to say, I'm definitely getting the remastered CD's if they end up sounding like this box set. I have the two CD "Sand in Vaseline" from 1992, and over the years I've compared that concise anthology to the stock CD's of Fear of Music and Remain In Light. I don't have either of those last two albums on me now, but in the past, I found SIV to be an improvement. Clear, good detail, good definition, definitely NOT maximized, not by a long shot, but still a notch louder than those stock CD's which were mastered a pretty low volume. Sounds like they use the great sources, most likely the original tapes (I hesitate to say the absolute originals only 'cause it's not like I was there) since this is Bob Ludwig circa 1992 and every other anthology he did around the same time (the Lou Reed box set, among others) that took the time to detail the mastering seems indicate a careful approach to the mastering.

Comparing the new box set, OIAL, to SIV, it's another notch louder, but after matching the volume levels, I couldn't tell if OIAL was compressed. Ludwig has squeezed things in recent years, but if he did any on OIAL, it was so little you can't tell. I think he nudged up the upper midrange and treble frequencies on the Stones SACD's to give them that 'gritty' sound he described the original vinyl having, and supposedly he's had a tendency pushing the treble on other remasters, but if he did on OIAL, it's no more than what he did on SIV, and I personally wouldn't call either bright or harsh. In fact, the EQ in general is really good on SIV and OIAL. The only change I can notice is the bass on OIAL.

The bass may have been pushed something like ONE decibel at one pressure point, MAYBE two, but it's really well-defined, a little bit more than SIV so I'm not sure if that's impacting my judgment. I personally think Ludwig pushed the bass on the Stones SACD's, but I think he pushed it more on those than he did here. Some people mentioned the overwhelming bass, and I had the impression when I heard the first track of OIAL, but after hearing SIV, I realized why I got that false impression: the first track on both sets is "Sugar On My Tongue." I get the impression that put the mic REALLY close to the kick drum. That and/or mixed it way up, because the opening kick drum not on both just THUMPS against your speakers. It's startling, but that's the way the damn thing was recorded. In fact, a lot of those early rough recordings on both sets seem to have a similar feel where an instrument was miced real close or mixed way up. You skip ahead to the more balanced recordings, and that's where you'll get a better idea of where the EQ's going. Check out "Born Under Punches" or "Heaven" and compare it to "Sugar On My Tongue": that kick drum is a lot lower in the mix, not so close miced anymore, and there's no way I'd call the bass even close to being overwhelming on either.

So in terms of sound, THIS IS IT. Yeah, it probably could sound better, but I think you'd be asking for something that isn't likely to happen or will come soon ("Let Steve master it," "License out the catalog even though it's been made clear by other labels how hard it is to license just one song from the Talking Heads," "Do it all in analog and on tubes, even though 99% of music from 1975-1992 remastered for CD in the past 10 years hasn't been done that way") It's definitely better than the old CD's, which were so-so, not very good but not very bad either.

As for other things:

The DVD is really cool to have, especially if you're an 80's fan. Definitely one of the best video collections I've seen on video with some of the best music, though the competition is pretty weak. I wish the DVD was dual-layer, maybe they could've gave it superbit resolution had they done so. It feels like it was mastered from a VHS master, but the videos weren't exactly Technicolor films shot by Jack Cardiff.

Rarities: Really nice, but unless you're a completist, it doesn't make the whole set worth getting. A good chunk are available on SIV, which is a great compilation anyway, more concise and a better summation/introduction for the average fan. Which brings me to the next point:

As a compilation, you're better off getting the individual albums. Unless you've got a very particular budget where getting this box set is somehow more economical (I guess the only serious alternative you'd be considering is getting every album), then go ahead, but their debut through Little Creatures is worth getting in their entirety, and SIV picks up the best of the last two with a good chunk of rarities thrown in. If you're just not that big of a fan, that stick with SIV and if you still want more, get Remain in Light next, then More Songs About Buildings and Food, then Stop Making Sense (expanded edition, better yet, the DVD), and if you still have a hankering, you've reached the point where you need to get everything up to and including Little Creatures.