Are all the Byrds reissues remixes?
Also, has anyone heard the original CD's that use the original mixes? How do they compare?
The Byrds reissues - which are remixes?
The Byrds reissues - which are remixes?
"When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war." – Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Neither slave nor tyrant." - Basque motto
"Neither slave nor tyrant." - Basque motto
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lukpac
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AFAIK, everything on the original albums through YTY is remixed. Some bonus tracks obviously aren't (single mixes). Not certain past that, though.
"I know because it is impossible for a tape to hold the compression levels of these treble boosted MFSL's like Something/Anything. The metal particulate on the tape would shatter and all you'd hear is distortion if even that." - VD
I've actually been attempting to accumulate some of the original CDs, whether via ILL or by other means. I'm curious to see whether the Edsel and CBS discs differ (as I am with Spirit, actually). The few CBS discs I've heard sound bad-to-unbelievably-shitty. I just got 5d...yech. As much as I'm unimpressed with the remixed CD (it seems as if they attempted to mimic the nonexistent frequency response of the original vinyl), it beats the pants off of this disc.
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"Fuckin' Koreans" - Reno 911
"Fuckin' Koreans" - Reno 911
I asked about this elsewhere. I found no apparent mix differences on the YTY remix compared to the CBS CD, except for a couple of songs being notably longer:
Have You Seen Her Face: 16 seconds
Everybody's Been Burned: 6 seconds
Thoughts And Words: 2 seconds (and the original CD fades the song several seconds earlier)
Mind Gardens: 19 seconds
I prefer the sound quality on the remix much over the CBS CD. The CBS CD is very midrangey, sounds like a cassette. Now that Steve has confirmed that it is a remix, I think that the vocals are a bit drier on the remix. But the difference is not big enough for me to prove that it was remixed.
The intro to Have You Seen Her Face sounds quite different. On the remix, the right channel is muted, on the original it contains hiss. Not that this is a substantial difference.
But this song and Thoughts And Words are the two songs where the original CD sounds almost as good as the remix, namely a bit more open and natural. The midrangey eq ruins that advantage, however.
What's the deal with those Edsel CDs?
Have You Seen Her Face: 16 seconds
Everybody's Been Burned: 6 seconds
Thoughts And Words: 2 seconds (and the original CD fades the song several seconds earlier)
Mind Gardens: 19 seconds
I prefer the sound quality on the remix much over the CBS CD. The CBS CD is very midrangey, sounds like a cassette. Now that Steve has confirmed that it is a remix, I think that the vocals are a bit drier on the remix. But the difference is not big enough for me to prove that it was remixed.
The intro to Have You Seen Her Face sounds quite different. On the remix, the right channel is muted, on the original it contains hiss. Not that this is a substantial difference.
But this song and Thoughts And Words are the two songs where the original CD sounds almost as good as the remix, namely a bit more open and natural. The midrangey eq ruins that advantage, however.
What's the deal with those Edsel CDs?
I like the chatter preceding "Lady Friend" on the box (Crosby saying "I can barely talk, how am I gonna sing?"). They left it in for the 20 ESSENTIAL TRACKS sampler, but cut it out on every subsequent reissue.
It seems that the first four albums got the lion's share of remixes, and the rest MAY have a few exceptions, but overall used the originals.
Here's what I've got pasted in my notes (didn't save the sources for the interviews):
According to Irwin, the tapes for the Sweetheart of the Rodeo sessions “were in beautiful shape. I don’t think anyone had touched them from 1968 until I got to them. As far as differences go, the Nashville tapes were primarily one-inch eight-track recordings brought to Hollywood for sweetening, and there was another eight-track synched up to that to do the sweetening and to make it an actual 16-track. All of the basic tracks in Hollywood for Gram’s demos were cut to 1/2-inch four-track.
“[The rare International Submarine Band singles that open disc two of the deluxe edition] are so hard for people to find. I was able to get the masters on all of these. ‘Sum Up Broke’ and ‘One Day Week’ were all Columbia recordings, and those were in the vaults. The singles had such a unique and wonderful sound that I didn’t want to re-mix them. I used the original mono mixes. ‘Truck Drivin’ Man,’ we got the master from E.M.I., which was originally on Ascot, which was a subsidiary of United Artists…’Blue Eyes,’ ‘Luxury Liner,’ and ‘Strong Boy’ all came from the original L.H.I. 2-track stereo master, which was M.I.A. for a long time. Actually, when Sundazed released the vinyl edition about two years ago, that was cut from the absolute original two-track stereo master for the first time. The way we did that LP was that we found the tape and contacted the current owner of the tapes, Dale Davis, and told him, ‘I’ve got your original two-tracks here, and I’d love to do a vinyl and then send you your masters back…,’ and that’s just how that worked. So, naturally, we used those again [on Sweetheart of the Rodeo].”
The Singles Collection
Columbia compiled all the original mono single mixes on to separate Lp compilations that were later re-issued on CD. These compilations sound atrocious, particularly the CD, which is even worse. The phase cancellation problem on the original vinyl was carried over to the CD, which is “possibly the worst sounding disc ever from a major label,” according to Steve Hoffman. “Phase cancellation nightmare plus 5 dB added at 5k for that extra headache.” The CD was never remastered and is possibly out-of-print.
Fortunately, Bob Irwin’s own Sundazed label released a terrific vinyl compilation, which compiles all the original mono single mixes from the original master tapes. There is possibly no better way to hear these mixes than the Sundazed vinyl reissue.
It seems that the first four albums got the lion's share of remixes, and the rest MAY have a few exceptions, but overall used the originals.
Here's what I've got pasted in my notes (didn't save the sources for the interviews):
According to Irwin, the tapes for the Sweetheart of the Rodeo sessions “were in beautiful shape. I don’t think anyone had touched them from 1968 until I got to them. As far as differences go, the Nashville tapes were primarily one-inch eight-track recordings brought to Hollywood for sweetening, and there was another eight-track synched up to that to do the sweetening and to make it an actual 16-track. All of the basic tracks in Hollywood for Gram’s demos were cut to 1/2-inch four-track.
“[The rare International Submarine Band singles that open disc two of the deluxe edition] are so hard for people to find. I was able to get the masters on all of these. ‘Sum Up Broke’ and ‘One Day Week’ were all Columbia recordings, and those were in the vaults. The singles had such a unique and wonderful sound that I didn’t want to re-mix them. I used the original mono mixes. ‘Truck Drivin’ Man,’ we got the master from E.M.I., which was originally on Ascot, which was a subsidiary of United Artists…’Blue Eyes,’ ‘Luxury Liner,’ and ‘Strong Boy’ all came from the original L.H.I. 2-track stereo master, which was M.I.A. for a long time. Actually, when Sundazed released the vinyl edition about two years ago, that was cut from the absolute original two-track stereo master for the first time. The way we did that LP was that we found the tape and contacted the current owner of the tapes, Dale Davis, and told him, ‘I’ve got your original two-tracks here, and I’d love to do a vinyl and then send you your masters back…,’ and that’s just how that worked. So, naturally, we used those again [on Sweetheart of the Rodeo].”
The Singles Collection
Columbia compiled all the original mono single mixes on to separate Lp compilations that were later re-issued on CD. These compilations sound atrocious, particularly the CD, which is even worse. The phase cancellation problem on the original vinyl was carried over to the CD, which is “possibly the worst sounding disc ever from a major label,” according to Steve Hoffman. “Phase cancellation nightmare plus 5 dB added at 5k for that extra headache.” The CD was never remastered and is possibly out-of-print.
Fortunately, Bob Irwin’s own Sundazed label released a terrific vinyl compilation, which compiles all the original mono single mixes from the original master tapes. There is possibly no better way to hear these mixes than the Sundazed vinyl reissue.
Last edited by MK on Mon Jun 06, 2005 5:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war." – Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Neither slave nor tyrant." - Basque motto
"Neither slave nor tyrant." - Basque motto
I should add, when I say 'seems' like, regarding the use of original mixes, I mean that's what's going around. I haven't done any direct comparisons to check.
"When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war." – Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Neither slave nor tyrant." - Basque motto
"Neither slave nor tyrant." - Basque motto
Xenu wrote:I'm curious to see whether the Edsel and CBS discs differ (as I am with Spirit, actually).
Based on my admittedly-average ears, the three Edsel CDs are different, and sound notably better than their CBS counterparts. I unloaded mine when I bought the remasters years ago... now of course I wish I hadn't.