Hybrid SACD

     

     

     

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Gold CD

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?search- ... g=imwan-20

Carole King's Music starts Mobile Fidelity's 2012 general release schedule. Amazon has it listed for January 31st:



http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004SGYIUU/?tag=imwan-20

Note that MoFi discs often become available at Amazon a few weeks after their initial release to the old specialty sites such as Elusive Disc. If you can stand to wait a little, Amazon is almost always cheaper. The title of this thread will include the most recent general release date, in any case (i.e. when the latest MoFi release became available at Amazon).

Foreigner's Double Vision is now also listed at Amazon for January 31st:



http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004SGYIXC/?tag=imwan-20

I have them both and think they sound excellent.

I have the Carole King and I like it a lot. Very underrated album. If you've always liked Tapestry but never heard this, do yourself a favor.

Wow...now it's Foreigner's turn for the gold-CD treatment...Is there any second-tier 80's act left that Hoffman has yet to remaster? The Fabulous Thunderbirds? The Hooters? John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band? Quarterflash?

Wrong thread, Andrew. This will be an SACD on the Mobile Fidelity label. Nothing to do with Steve Hoffman.

I didn't realize selling 100 million albums was second-tier. Also, Foreigner released 3 albums in the 70s including this one which sold over 7 million copies. They're not an 80's band.
And, The Hooters are great.

Oops. Hard to tell the difference, as neither of these outfits ever seems to remaster albums I actually own.

Yeah, the Hooters weren't bad. (Are they still together?) And I've always had a soft spot for Quarterflash. But, I swear to God, I couldn't tell the difference between Foreigner, Asia, REO Speedwagon, Styx or Boston if you paid me. As for album sales--"Glee" sells a million copies and it pisses everybody off. I've never claimed to be hip. All it takes is a look at the Hoffman/Mobile Fidelty release schedule to drive that realization home. (Hey, how about putting the Lovin' Spoonful on a gold/audiophile disc? What's that? They'll have to wait in line behind Marilyn Martin and Kenny Loggins? *sigh*)

Agree. It's a great album. It came out the same year as Tapestry and I've spun this disc 6 or 7 times now.

Heh heh heh - we're talking about how great the hooters are!

But don't confuse some of the later Foreigner/REO/Styx stuff with the earlier stuff (Boston as well). Those first four Foreigner albums are all between very good and great - it's not the blandish power ballad stuff that got all the notice later. Same with REO - up until "Good Trouble", they're a pretty rocking band (some will argue "Keep On Lovin' You" was the end). Styx gets something of a bad rap because of Dennis DeYoung's musical theater jones. And Boston was unique with a distinctive sound - much like AC/DC - but Tom Scholz just couldn't let some things go (I never got over the eight year wait for the third album). Those bands bear a lot of the weight of the "corporate rock" rap, but nobody was really saying that in the 70s when they were fresh.

Alan

Well said Alan!
I also don't know how any one of those bands sounds like the other. Really, I don't. Foreigner and Styx do not sound similar at all, nor does Boston.
Shit, all that awful Grunge in the 90s sounded the damn same from every faceless act that got signed and dumped even quicker in the wake of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, et al, but because they wore flannel they were cool and bands like Boston weren't (even though King Cobain himself stated he was a Boston fan).
As for the Lovin' Spoonful that gets an enormous "ewwwww" from me, and they are no more valid than Foreigner or Carole King (another huge ewwww act for me). Doesn't mean they don't deserve the high-quality audio treatment too, but they sure don't deserve it any more than a band like Foreigner just because they're from the 60's.
And The Hooters are indeed back together. I think they reformed around 2006 or so and remain huge in Europe. Being from Philly, they're still big here, but probably only pockets of the US even know they're still around. I saw them with Hall & Oates and Todd Rundgren to close out the Spectrum in Philly a few years ago and they were excellent-stellar musicianship with that Folk influence they've always had.

But this is the reasoning about these audiophile issues I question. Whenever I ask why there doesn't seem to be any gold CD for any album released after about 1987, the answer is always that everything recorded after 1987 sucks. Why doesn't Hoffman handle any grunge acts? Is it because they all sound the same--or because they all sound the same to Steve Hoffman? Fprget the Spoonful--why not a gold CD for Hootie and the Blowfish? They may have sucked, but they had an album that sold something like ten million copies. Exacftly what is the criteria here?

Can't help ya there. I do agree that there seems to be no real rhyme or reason to what they do. Then again, I only bought one and and sold it years ago, so I could care less!

I myself looking forward for the "Double Vision" remaster. MFSL issues of previous Foreigner albums were very good so I expect the same here. "Head Games", my personal fave comes out later in 2012 so I'll be awaiting for this aswell.

Rick A.

Also, many albums recorded after 1987 were recorded in 16/44 digital (in fact some earlier 80's digital recordings were actually done at a lower res than the cd standard.) Not a whole lot can be done with those other than removing compression added AFTER the final mix.

Wasn't Springsteen's "The River" one of those early 80's albums?

There have been a few post-1990 albums that have been released as something advertised as "remastered"--Dylan's "Love And Theft" is one I recall. Pearl Jam reissued both "remastered" and "remixed" versions of "Ten", and there ahve been a bunch of other anniversary editions of major albums from the early 90's--"Actung Baby", "Siamese Dream", "Nevermind" to name three at random. While I didn't have much of a problem with the original versions of some of these albums, there are other recent albums in serious need of some sort of audio tweaking (Springsteen's "Magic").

I'm pretty sure The River is an analog recording, & I agree it does need help, though it's one of the rare cases where I remember finding the early cd was actually better than the LP (because the USA LP was dreadfully mastered).

Audiophile labels have to think in terms of what people ask for, what they think will be successful - and most importantly, what they can license. The fact that you or I would like to see something get this treatment doesn't mean the label is gonna give it up.

I have to think that the people who are still buying CDs are over 30 - maybe even 40. I have to wonder about the logic of big box stores that are cutting back CD inventory & concentrating on current & recent product. Are the fans of this music even buying CDs now?

Personally, I don't mind the repetition - because I was totally unaware of DCC's & MoFi's reputation back in the "glory days". I just knew they were expensive & thought that only people with mega-expansive systems could tell the difference. I missed out on a lot.

As far as AF is concerned, my recommendation would be to e-mail Marshall & ask/request titles that you are interested in. I would be realistic though - and request titles that you think will sell in sufficient quantity to make the investment worthwhile. (If you were putting out the $$ for the title, would you make it back + a little profit?) I think there will continue to be a market for music on CD from multiple eras, and if they balance it properly, lables could release more than they do now.

If (when?) they follow up on their treatment of Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town with a a hallelujah-style set of The River, they need to put out a *remixed* version to accompany the remastered original. The garage sound on that album was very purposeful (ie, it actually lousy crappy on purpose), but The River outtakes that made it to Tracks sounds brilliant.

Since the Mofi 2011 topic thread is locked I'll post here that I just received my Mofi Hybrid Sacd "Pet Sounds" today. #00215. Haven't listened to it yet. Anyone else order it?