Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Neil Young Available Now
I don’t know why I wasted so much time critiquing the sound of this remastered (2009) pressing. Frankly, it really wasn’t worth it.
However, since I listen to records for a living, I figured I might as well listen to this one, head to head with an excellent vintage pressing, of course. What other way to do it is there?
Since we do shootouts for this album regularly, we know just how good the best pressings of After the Gold Rush can sound, and this newly remastered vinyl is missing almost everything that makes the album essential to any right thinking music lover’s collection.
We can summarize the sound of this dreadful record in one word: boring.
Since some of you reading this review are no doubt fans of Chris Bellman, the engineer credited on the album, and a man apparently held in some esteem by a great many audiophiles, perhaps we owe it to his fans to break down the sonic strengths and weaknesses of this pressing in more detail.
What It Does Right
It’s tonally correct. Unlike many modern pressings, it is not overly smooth.
Uh, can’t think of anything else…
What It Does Wrong
Where to begin?
It has no real space or ambience. When you play this record, it sounds as if it must have been recorded in a heavily padded studio. Somehow the originals of After the Gold Rush, like most of Neil’s classic albums from the era, are clear, open and spacious.
Cleverly the engineer responsible for this audiophile remastering managed to reproduce the sound of a dead studio on a record that wasn’t recorded in one.
In addition, the record never gets loud. The good pressings get very loud. They rock, they’re overflowing with energy.
And, lastly, there’s no real weight to the bottom end. The Whomp Factor* on this new pressing is practically non-existent. The bottom end of the originals is huge, deep and powerful.
The Bottom Line
This new Heavy Vinyl pressing is boring beyond belief. I wouldn’t give you a nickel for it. If Neil Young actually had anything to do with it, he should be ashamed of himself. If you want a good copy of the album, find yourself a vintage pressing. Please don’t throw your money away on this one.
And if Chris Bellman is such a good cutting engineer, as I hear tell, why does this record sound as bad as it so obviously does?
Were you perhaps a bit too impressed by the reputations of Young and Bellman and just figured those two guys must know what they are doing? It’s AAA, right? Made from the master tape? With tender loving care? Is there some reason it shouldn’t sound amazingly good with all that going for it?
No, no particular reason. It just doesn’t.
*More on Whomp
For whomp factor, the formula goes like this: deep bass + mid bass + speed + dynamics + energy = whomp.
If you would like to evaluate your system’s ability to reproduce whomp, here are some records that we’ve found to be good for testing that quality.
Further Reading
The blog you are on now as well as our website are both devoted to very special records such as this.
After the Gold Rush is the very definition of a big speaker album (both Harvest and Zuma qualify for that honor as well). The better pressings have the kind of energy in their grooves that are sure to leave most audiophile systems begging for mercy.
It’s clear that albums like this informed not only my taste in music but the actual stereo I play that music on. It’s what progress in audio is all about. I’ve had large scale dynamic speakers for close to five decades, precisely in order to play demanding recordings such as this one.
Naturally it’s also part of our extensive listening in depth series. Any record we get obsessed with we tend to play hundreds and hundreds of times, and this is no exception.
Further Reading