I just borrowed "Blowin' Your Mind" (regular reissue, post-gold CD) and compared it to "Bang Masters." First of all, EVERYTHING is remixed, no 'original' mixes. The "Bang Masters" dates from 1990 or 1991 and produced by Amy Herot with thanks to Bob Irwin (among many others). Mixed and mastered by Mark Wilder.
BYM apparently is remixed as well, but no mixing engineer credit - mastered by Vic Anesini and produced by Irwin who also writes some production notes. I didn't compare the mixes closely, but a cursorary listen suggest little difference between these and Wilder's mixes. Wilder himself has gone on record saying he ALWAYS tries to mix in analog with the correct equipment (with a few exceptions like the Miles Davis BITCHES BREW box set) - even if there's a little mistake, he'd rather redo the whole thing rather than fix it in digital. The "Bang Masters" says nothing about how the music was remixed, just that it is (and that the old mixes sucked - less dynamic, etc. - but info like that is never reliable). That said, Irwin's notes on the BYM reissue does go the extra mile of saying HOW it was remixed, even though it leaves out the mixing engineer credit. Basically it's remixed ENTIRELY in analog (shades of Mark Wilder), on proper vintage equipment with minimal EQ and compression necessary in the mixing before mastering the final analog master with Sony's SBM.
The mastering on Irwin's BYM is louder, but not from compression - the "Bang Masters" CD has low output levels, many reaching 50-75% of the maximum output, so jack those up without any squeezing and they often exceed the volume on BYM. Definitely more detailed top end on BYM, probably from the mastering, but maybe a tiny boost in the upper frequencies. Not too much, I still prefer it.
Generally, though, "Bang Masters" STILL gets the nod. Why? Wilder did a good job mixing these. The mastering is still good too. "Spanish Rose" is unedited with an extra verse while BYM keeps the edit on the original Lp. Not a favorite song, I still prefer it unedited. BYM has the original Lp version of "He Ain't Give You None," better than the alternate on "Bang Masters" which was probably chosen because of the more explicit lyrics on that dude that's whacking off (I shit you not) - basically, it comes with an extra warning about his pedophilia.
The original Lp version of this song is really the only reason I'd check out BYM. The previously unreleased alternates on Irwin's reissue are not interesting and disposable, IMHO. As for the original Lp, it's got a crappy cover, and it's not really a great 'album.' According to the liner notes on "Bang Masters," the Bang sessions involved in creating BYM were really held to produce a single. When that single became a colossal hit, Bang quickly compiled and designed an Lp from those sessions WITHOUT Morrison's knowledge (!). To be fair, Bang picked most of the best tracks, but "Joe Harper Saturday Morning" should've made it, and it's presented unedited (with additional verses) on "Bang Masters," the first time ever.
BTW, "Brown Eyed Girl" is 'uncensored' on both CD's.
As for Them, I checked out a little bit of Astley's "The Story of Them," and man, did he do a shitty job. This is almost unlistenable. At least we got the original but unreleased arrangement of Paul Simon's "Richard Cory" that Van preferred and "Friday's Child," but everything has shitty compression, EQ, and probably CEDAR and Astley FUCKED up "Friday's Child" by grabbing the electronically processed fake stereo master (the liner says that song and a few others apparently only exist in electronically processed stereo - BULLSHIT, what about those clean, mono vinyl copies floating around on the web? At least do a needle drop, anything than this shit.)
The old London CD of "Them Featuring Van Morrison" really is the best sounding CD. "Stormy Monday" is fake stereo for some reason but everything else is top notch. It's missing a few key tracks ("It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" should have made it, no question about it) but it's a near-perfect Lp-length compilation. I don't know if these exist, but I wonder if there are old London CD's of "Them" and "Them Again" mastered the same way?
BTW, I found boots with the original unedited "Little Girl" where Van sings "I want to fuck you" to the title character towards the end. These transfers suck. Stereo transfer of a mono recording that allows you to hear the incredibly worn grooves of the vinyl source, tons of drops out that occasionally switches from channel to channel with wear and pops showing up throughout. Unfortunately, this is probably the only way to hear this song unedited. Maybe you can make some Frankenstein version with the edited version on CD, but a transfer from a first-generation tape would be great. Probably won't happen.
Van Morrison on CD - pre-WB years
Van Morrison on CD - pre-WB years
Last edited by MK on Tue Nov 01, 2005 12:14 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 thought that was Tommy Matolla?
Ahh, what a fight that would have been! Just think: if only Michael Jackson had targeted Astley, think of how different the sh.tv reaction would've been, eh?
He continues to get jobs because some people somewhere like his work, and also because the music industry seems to love the status quo. He's also from the looks of things a fairly nice guy.
Ahh, what a fight that would have been! Just think: if only Michael Jackson had targeted Astley, think of how different the sh.tv reaction would've been, eh?
He continues to get jobs because some people somewhere like his work, and also because the music industry seems to love the status quo. He's also from the looks of things a fairly nice guy.
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"Fuckin' Koreans" - Reno 911
"Fuckin' Koreans" - Reno 911
