Hey all,
Just a quick question: has anybody ever done a survey of the "main" part of Alice Cooper's WB catalogue on CD?
I ask because I have the entire run of the "classic-era" CDs, and there's some pretty extreme variation going on. "Love It to Death" sounds OK. "Killer" sounds like shit. "School's Out" sounds pretty good. "Billion Dollar Babies" is fair to middling.
The thing is, these are some pretty varied pressings. I bought "Love it to Death" by itself, but the other three came as part of one of those here's-some-catalogue-items-we'd-like-to-get-rid-of-want-them-for-$12?-kind-of fake boxed sets. I ended up with a Killer from Australia, a US Billion Dollar Babies, and an incredibly chintzy looking "School's Out" from some German "Original Masters" series (all of the art looks like it was done on a mid-range color photocopier). Have all of the AC discs been the same all down the line, or were some "secret" remasters (which could explain the total shittiness of the Australian "Killer?")
-D
Alice Cooper - Catalogue Variations?
Wish I could help you, but I've never gotten the albums, all I've heard are "Greatest Hits" and the newer best of from Rhino. The Rhino CD supposedly uses similar mastering to the box set and the individual reissues.
"Greatest Hits" sounds like copy tapes - yeah, that's a pretty bullshit statement for anything that sounds inferior to other discs, but it just sounds less clear, less defined, etc., and it IS a vintage compilation - while the Rhino CD may have some limiting or compression with a definite upper frequency boost. Still, the Rhino CD was the best bet. I just burned a copy with some anti-DigiPrep EQ.
"Greatest Hits" sounds like copy tapes - yeah, that's a pretty bullshit statement for anything that sounds inferior to other discs, but it just sounds less clear, less defined, etc., and it IS a vintage compilation - while the Rhino CD may have some limiting or compression with a definite upper frequency boost. Still, the Rhino CD was the best bet. I just burned a copy with some anti-DigiPrep EQ.
"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
-
lukpac
- Top Dog and Sellout
- Posts: 4592
- Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2003 11:51 pm
- Location: Madison, WI
- Contact:
MK wrote:I just burned a copy with some anti-DigiPrep EQ.
I like it.
"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
It *is* a bit bright. I don't have the single-disc GH, but I do have the boxed-set (well, the first three discs thereof), and the mastering doesn't really fit the material. I felt the same about the reissue of "Welcome to My Nightmare," which I thought was *wayy* too bright.
-------------
"Fuckin' Koreans" - Reno 911
"Fuckin' Koreans" - Reno 911
-
lukpac
- Top Dog and Sellout
- Posts: 4592
- Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2003 11:51 pm
- Location: Madison, WI
- Contact:
Patrick M wrote:I didn't know you were British.
I thought he was from the US, since his comma was inside his quote.
"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