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August 1997 [Music Reviews for August] [Golden Zone for August] Special Semi-Annual
Music Feature A whole bunch of SoundStage!
Contributors wanted
The following are excerpts from an interview with myself, conducted on July 6, 1997. Bruce 1: First of all, let me say it is a pleasure to finally get to interview you, one on one. Now down to the business of the day. I see by taking a glance at your CD collection that you have an extensive discology of Rush music. That leads me to wonder, why would you choose to review a retrospective on a band, which I can only assume, you are already well familiar with? Bruce 2: Well, I would like to say that I am flattered that you would take time out of your busy schedule to interview a humble music reviewer, like myself. As for the "why" I would choose this CD to review, I would have to say my reasons are twofold really. Firstly, the cellophane wrapper stated "digitally remastered from the original masters" and this piqued my curiosity. Would I be able to hear a noticeable improvement in the music? And, if there is an improvement in sound is it worth it to a die-hard Rush fan to shell out the bucks for the disc? Secondly, for those people not familiar with Rush's music, but who are fans of the hard rock genre, does this CD contain an appropriate selection of songs that would give new listeners an appreciation of the musicianship, writing abilities and evolution of, arguably, one of the most talented hard rock groups of all time? Bruce 1: So what are your conclusions? Bruce 2: I painstakingly took the time to listen to a
song from the new disc, than the original CD, than the
new disc again. It was clear in every song to song
comparison that the remastered version was sonically
superior. The "Retrospective" version is more
sonorous with more detailing evident in all of the
instruments and vocals, resulting in a As for the song selection I think they did a fantastic job. There are a couple of songs (i.e. "In the End" - Fly By Night / ANC-1-1002 and "Natural Science" - Permanent Waves / ANC-1-1021) that I would have liked to see on there but then you have to decide which ones to remove to make room. Very tough job, but overall I'm impressed. Bruce 1: Thanks for your views. Bruce 2: Thank you. ...Bruce Bassett Electric Rag Band - Electric Rag
Band The Electric Rag Band are self-proclaimed purveyors of 20's and 30's blues and ragtime. Their repertoire draws from the very roots of much of the blues, jazz and rock we hear today. Covers of such classic blues artists as Lonnie Johnson and Eddie Lang, Roy Smeck, Kokomo Arnold, Casey Bill Weldon and a flock of vision impaired artists, Blind Boy Fuller, Arthur Blind Blake and Blind Willie McTell are included. If you are a fan of blues you may be wondering, "Why would I want to hear redone versions of some of the classics?" The answer lies in the fact that this band is a real life musical anachronism. They are not trying to emulate the past... they are reinventing it. The use of electric guitar and bass dramatically changes the complexion of the music, thankfully in a refreshing way. The disc showcases some fabulous slide work and guitar pickin' and their vigour for the music shines through abundantly. So there you have the updated '90s part of the equation. The anachronism is born through the way in which this music is recorded. All tunes are live two track recordings which belies the fact that this CD was recorded in modern times. When you add in PatCook's, "I just gargled broken glass" vocals, you can almost picture this trio jamming in a dimly lit, smoke filled studio back in 1925 (or at least how I imagine it would have looked). This disc took me a few listens to acclimatize myself to the unrefined nature of the production. Being accustomed to the often overproduced releases of today, I found it somewhat difficult to get beyond therevealing nature of the two track recording. In the end, when I was able to focus on the music itself I began to truly appreciate what a breath of fresh air this group is. For more information on the Electric Rag Band, I am sure they won't mind if you visit their website at www.busprod.com/ragband/. ...Bruce Bassett World Party - Egyptology The cover of this album contains a sticker saying, "You are now holding the new WORLD PARTY album. The last one came out four years ago. It was great. This one's better. Buy it now. You won't be disappointed." As long as you agree with the line about the last album, you'll agree with the rest of the sticker. 'Nuff said. ...Todd Warnke T.D.F. - Retail Therapy For those few that the Great Hype Machine has failed to touch, the story goes like this. T.D.F. was to be a group whose membership would remain faceless, in fact the album shows only 3 people in motorcycle helmets. The music, dance floor Electronica mixed with new age and pop, was marketed to the Enigma crowd. When sales results were flat the identity of the band members, or more precisely, the identity of guitarist/producer "x-sample" was leaked. Eric Clapton. If Clapton's involvement had remained hidden I doubt this review would have been written. I'm not saying the album is bad, but rather that is neither revolutionary nor a particularly strong piece of Electronica. Several of the songs (Angelica, Sienna) are a kind of new-age/pop, while others (Seven) are pop/dance attitude gestures, not much more. Still, Rip Stop moves along with a nice house/pop feel. Eric plays great guitar throughout, recalling the Rush soundtrack at times, while adding the much needed voice of guitar to Electronica. Is the album worth it? For someone looking to Clapton to tear the roof off of Electronica, no. For the curious, yes, but wait till it shows up in the used CD bins. ...Todd Warnke Brand New Heavies - Shelter Brand New Heavies love '70's Philly soul. Brand New Heavies love songs with peace and love messages. Brand New Heavies have a brand new female singer. Brand New Heavies do not have a brand new sound. Brand New Heavies need some brand new ideas. I don't think you need Brand New Heavies brand new album. ...Todd Warnke
Leonard! Turn down those Dead Leopards! Has it really been ten years since this album came out? It certainly doesn't seem that long. In '87 and '88, I wasn't paying much attention to the entrance of Guns N' Butter, err, Roses to the music scene. If I was looking for music with that level of obnoxiousness, I was listening to Def Leppard. Those crazy remastering folks at Mobile Fidelity have taken two shots at improving the sound of their albums before. Their version of the 1983 Pyromania stands out in my mind as one of the most improved remastering efforts they've ever done. They took a dull, compressed album that managed to be immensely cool despite the crummy sound quality and opened the whole thing up, making one of the best sounding hard rock releases ever in my mind. I liked it so much I hoarded an extra copy I've got in storage when I found out it was going out of print. MoFi's work on 1987's Hysteria wasn't nearly the same sort of night and day improvement, but as a whole their remastering treatment tends to lend less of an improvement to newer albums, simply because they typically weren't as butchered by the record company as the earlier CDs were. When I was talking with the staff at Mobile Fidelity recently, I had to ask about the Def Leppard CDs. Just who were they selling them to, anyway? I mean, I see the kind of people who listen to that band as one group, the audiophile buyers of their premium priced gold discs as another, and I don't picture a whole lot of overlap in the middle of that Venn diagram. Apparently, there are at least two sources of sales for MoFi even if the usual audiophile market doesn't fall for a new release. First, there are people who buy every disc they release just because they collect them (lucky dogs). Second, most of your more popular bands have a huge number of fans that will buy every release remotely associated with them, regardless of whether they pick up a qualitative difference. So when they release an album from Def Leppard, Nirvana, or other bands with mass appeal, those hordes of fans will snap them up regardless of whether they appreciate the improvement in sound. Somehow, I suspect there are more Nirvana fans who will buy everything connected with the band than there are guys like myself who snap up, say, MoFi's version of Robbie Robertson's solo album in hopes that they'll get that extra bit of treble extension and soundstage realism. Ah, the wonders of the music market. Anyway, I was supposed to talk about Guns N' Roses, right? If there was ever a band with limited audiophile appeal, these guys are it. I personally find the contrast between the classy gold and purple "Original Master Recording" logo and the drawing of the band member's skulls inset in it absolutely hilarious. Appetite for Destruction is one of the those discs I never bought on CD. I know enough people that own a copy I can borrow, and whenever I do it's quickly returned because it just sounds so awful. Not the music, the sound quality of the CD itself; it's terrible. No dynamics, everything is rolled off, it's an ugly mess. Now, you never can tell with music like this whether the noise and crap overlaid on the music is intentional or just the result of incompetent mastering. MoFi releases like Rush 2112 have given me a whole new appreciation for an album that sounded horrific on CD, so I figured I'd see if similar improvements were worked on Appetite. "Welcome to the Jungle" starts out with that big guitar. At least, it's supposed to sound big; on the Geffen release, you get a big guitar mess instead. The kick drum comes in with a bit, sloppy "thuds. Is this what you're supposed to hear? Apparently not. The remastered version reveals two distinct guitars playing together, and the drum is deep and tight. Cymbals in the background go from being high-frequency noise to fairly well defined instruments (this is obviously not a purist recording that does a perfect job in that area). The entire percussion set is far cleaner, and you can actually hear a real sounding cowbell instead of some hard to identify sound. Pretty good so far. Moving on to "It's So Easy," we get this little bitty soundstage and more crummy guitar recording. That's not what you were supposed to hear, apparently, because the MoFi version blows out to the edge of the speakers just like it should. Holy cow, where'd those two guitars come from? As soon as you hear the opening notes, you can tell how much this track is improved. With "Nightrain," we again hear the cowbell rise from an indistinct muddle to an instrument that properly jumps out at you. Axel's vocals are just a bit more prominent, which is especially impressive considering how much more your can hear the other instruments. Even though the rest of the music is so much more forward and alive, the vocals aren't lost in the mix. Let's skip ahead and see how the other hit singles from the album sound. "Paradise City" has yet another set of wimpy cymbals and a dull thump as a poor excuse for a drum. Even more embarrassing, the layers of harmony vocals blow; you can tell there are multiple people singing, but the details are difficult to hear. Throughout the song, there are extra little bits of backup vocal subtly added over Axel's lead that you can just barely discern. Enough of this version, skip to the new one. Ahh, that's better, Steven Adler has real drums now. The kick drum is still a bit on the dull side, but that sounds intentional now rather than just lost in the mastering. The guitars have considerably more depth, and all the vocalists are now distinguishable. "Paradise City" is one of the better sounding songs on the original. The opening guitar wailing sounds good compared with the compressed mess most of the songs have, and the drums actually have some depth (even if the cymbals are as dead as usual). Happily, this doesn't mean there's no room for improvement on the remaster. The interplay between the lead and rhythm guitars is much easier to pull out of the mix, and there's more echo to those instruments. The cymbals are real again, but overall there's less of an improvement in the drums than on some of the other songs. Mind you, these are the songs they intended on turning into singles. Some of the other tracks, like the album closer "Rocket Queen," just plain suck. Even the vocals are compressed. MoFi's version is like a whole new recording, it's dynamic, full and extended in comparison. Browsing around the liner notes shows nothing new and exciting to covet. In fact, the Geffen release shows better contrast in the black and white picture of the band on the last page. Then again, with the way these guys look, perhaps being able to see them more clearly isn't something you should be happy about. No, even Mobile Fidelity's GAIN system doesn't turn Appetite for Destruction into a precise audiophile disc. But their mastering makes quite an appreciable improvement on this album, turning a barely listenable mess into a rather well recorded album for this genre. While this isn't in the very top tier of MoFi improvements, it's certainly well above average as remastering differences go. I don't know how many Guns N' Roses fans there are that will appreciate the improved quality of this disc, but anyone who likes this music would be much better served buying Mobile Fidelity's release instead of that poseur release Geffen sells. It's a much more enjoyable CD to listen to. P.S. Anyone who can find me a copy of "Wish my Mom was a Biker Chick", "Death by Misadventure", or the lyrics of said songs will be forever my friend. I've been humming both songs ever since I started listening to this album again and I just can't seem to find out anything about them now. .....GS Copyright © 1997 SoundStage! |
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