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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Mark London <mrl@psfc.mit.edu> |
| Subject | Reissue wishlist. |
| Date | Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:03:41 -0400 |
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Hi - What vinyl albums would you like to see finally reissued on CD?
Some years ago, I made up a small list of LPs that I especially liked,
but I had come to the conclusion that they would probably never get
reissued. For those LPs, I tried to create especially good sounding
transfers, good enough to listen to using headphones, without even
hearing the smallest of defects. In order not to change the audio
dynamics, I avoided using any automatic noise reduction software, but
instead used software that allowed manual correction of individual
defects. With some songs, that meant fixing many hundreds of small
defects. A total waste of time, but it was lots of fun.
What I didn't bother to do, though, was to first compare my transfers
with other people's transfers. I thought my transfers sounded great at
the time, so I never bothered to see if even better transfers could be
made. Thus, I would be interested in swapping transfers, to see how mine
compare with others. I did try several of the more popular online
services that do transfers, but I was unimpressed with their results.
I'm also curious as to whether anyone can tell me why some of these LPs
have never had official digital reissues!!!
In any event, here's the list, in random order, with a few comments:
The Act - Too Late at 20 1981
Does anybody know why this great album is not on CD? Fantastic lyrics,
vocals, and a great bright guitar sound (which for me, is the key to
making great power pop music). Luckily, the hot audio quality makes for
a nice sounding transfer, although sometimes the drums sounded a bit too
sharp for my aging ears, I've toned them down a bit, to allow the guitar
sound to dominate the sound.
Gas - Emotional Warfare 1981
These guys had a real anger management problem. And that's a good thing,
because this LP ends up being a real unique album. Bright guitars and
great vocal and lyrics, offset by some real emotional angst. Great!
Heroes - Border Raiders 1980
This LP has one of the brightest guitar sounds I've ever heard on vinyl
from that era. The production is really cool, with lots of layered
vocals and other studio tricks. Not to mention great songs! A very under
appreciated album.
Interview - s/t (Snakes and Lovers) 1980
You can find great articles about this album on the web, so I can't add
to what's been written about it. "Snakes and Lovers" is the UK title,
while in the US it was self-titled, and lacked the cool UK cover. The
track order is also different, although in this case, the US order might
have actually improved the album. But as good as the vinyl version
sounds, I would really like to see a remixed CD version, with the
guitars made just a bit brighter on some the tracks. But from reading
about this album on the web, I think the chance of it ever being
properly reissued, is close to zilch.
Charlie Fawn - s/t 1979
IMHO, this great power pop LP starts with one of the greatest power pop
songs ever, "Hothead Handshake Tremblet". With super production, this
album is filled with both fun and charm. Many years ago I was told by
Charlie, that it was unlikely that the master tapes were saved. But if
anyone has recent news about this, I would appreciate knowing!
Robert Ellis Orrall - Fixation 1981
I've had this LP longer than any other power pop LP, and it still sounds
exciting and fresh to listen to. But I never see it on any list of great
power pop albums. Am I the only one that considers it power pop, or
thinks it's that great? Everything about it is top notch, IMHO. Bright
production, great vocals, creative lyrics, and nice addition of synths,
keyboards, and horns. Basically, it's a blast of fun to listen to.
However, this LP was one of the few transfers where I increased the
volume via compression. I almost never do this, because it often ruins
the music's original dynamics. I'm afraid that might have happened here,
but unfortunately I didn't keep a copy of the raw transfer of this LP,
in order to make a comparison. So I especially would like to hear other
people's transfers of this LP.
Full Time Men – Your Face My Fist 1988
This is perhaps the best garage rock album ever made, and it's not on
CD??? Anyone have any information about why this is not the case? A
great rock album, period.
Dazzlers - Feeling Free 1979
This British power pop LP probably got lost amid the tons of LPs being
put out at the time, but I think it's one of the best from that era. It
has a really great bright guitar, great vocals and production, and
lyrics that are original and don't sound dated, unlike other LPs from
that era.
And FWIW, here are a few albums that have been reissued on CD, but which
I have complaints about:
Flys - Waikiki Beach Refugees 1978
The official CD only included only 2 songs from the Flys first EP, which
IMHO is the best EP from that era (punk, power, or otherwise). Why
weren't the other 3 songs included? The 2 songs that were included, were
also issued as a separate 7". Did the master tapes only exist for those
two and not the other songs? Or was there a licensing problem for the
other three songs? In any event, I was able to create some really clean
sounding transfers of those songs. As for the album itself, I would have
liked it to have a much more brighter mix. The EP songs sound so much
brighter and punchier in comparison.
Radio Birdman - Both of their LPs need to be reissued, with a proper
mix. Here's a web page I made up years ago, which talks about this:
http://web.mit.edu/london/www/r.html
And that's it. If your favorite LP was not on this list, sorry!
- Mark
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