Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Peter Gabriel Available Now
In 2016 a version of So came out using this currently popular vinyl format:
2 180g discs / 45 RPM / Deluxe, Numbered, Limited Edition /Half Speed mastered
As of this writing, there are 15 copies on Discogs, the cheapest of them starting at $139.77.
Sounds like it must be pretty good for that kind of money!
This So release was mastered by a fellow named Matt Colton, who has been doing this kind of work for a very long time, judging by the fact that he has 3,775 technical credits under his name on Discogs.
That did not stop this particular 2 LP set from being one of the worst sounding albums we have played in quite a while.
Let’s take a closer look at the specifics. We played sides one and four of the two-disc, four-sided album. That was more than enough to evaluate the sound quality.
Side One
Red Rain
-
- Hi-hat is smeary
- Big and loud but not extending high or low
- Harsh percussion and vocals
- Low resolution smeary percussion
- Bad
Side Four
Your Eyes
-
- Cut loud
- Bloated bass and kick drum
- Sloppy, not deep or accurate bass
- Vocals are veiled and spitty
- Percussion very smeary
- The whole thing is very dark and compressed
Big Time
-
- [Tonally] hot and congested
- No space at all
- So hard and thick and squashed
- Awful
Some of those who left comments on Discogs had a decidedly different take on the sound of the album. A few of the quotes that caught my eye today:
- “Anyone who claims excessive sibilance on their copies, I’ll take them. I have no sibilance on mine….Suggest you resetup your cartridge. It’s cut 45 so you will get more dynamics than normal.”
- “I’ve been through multiple US OG’s over the years and this release improves on all of them. Sibilance had always been a reoccurring battle with majority of the OG copies I’ve acquired over the years and this two disc 45rpm version has finally fixed that. Overall, the soundstage and separation are excellent. Such a joy to listen to this album in this presentation.”
- “Really really good sounding Vinyl.”
- “One of the greatest pop records of all time got the treatment it deserves. Outstanding in every way. This is the ultimate listening experience.”
- “These limited edition, numbered, 45 rpm half-speed master editions are awesome. They are whisper quiet and have a very strong signal (+1.5 dB on my scale)… They are produced directly by Peter Gabriel’s company and so they are done right. These albums are my most prized and loved possessions. I am a huge Peter Gabriel fan and had to get them all… As with all the others the production and mastering on this version is precisely perfect—a joy to listen to.”
We did not find these discs a joy to listen to.
On the contrary, this remastering is surely the worst version of the album ever made.
How anyone can be fooled by crap sound like this is beyond me.
Well, not exactly. See below.[1]
How Bad Is It?
If the new So isn’t the perfect example of a pass/not-yet album, I don’t know what would be.
Some records are so wrong, or are so lacking in qualities that are critically important to their sound — qualities typically found in abundance on the right vintage pressings — that the defenders of these records are fundamentally failing to judge them properly.
We call these records Pass/Not-Yet, implying that the supporters of these kinds of records are not where they need to be in audio yet, but that they are not without hope. If they devote sufficient resources of time and money to the effort, it’s possible that they could get where they need to be the same way we did. A million-to-one shot, sure, but not an impossible dream.
Tea for the Tillerman on the 45 RPM cutting from 2015 may be substandard in every way, but it is not a pass/not-yet pressing. It lacks one thing above all others, Tubey Magic, so if your system has an abundance of that quality, as many tube systems do, the new pressing may be quite listenable and enjoyable.
Those whose systems can play the record and not notice this important shortcoming are not exactly failing. They most likely have a system that is heavily colored and not very revealing. Such a system may not be very good, but it should not be considered hopeless.
A system that can play the MoFi Aja from 1980 without revealing to the listener how wrong it is would be on another level of bad entirely, and that is what we would consider a failing system. My system in the 80s played that record just fine. Looking back on it now, I realize my system (and the record!) were doing more wrong than right.
We Can Help
If you are stuck in a Heavy Vinyl rut, we can help you get out of it. We did precisely that for these folks, and we can do it for you.
The best way out of that predicament is to hear how mediocre these modern records sound compared to the vintage Hot Stampers we offer (or that you can find for yourself).
Once you hear the difference, your days of buying newly remastered releases will more than likely be over.
Even if our pricey curated pressings are too pricey, you can avail yourself of the methods we use to find killer records on your own.
Notes
[1] Of course I know exactly how it is possible to be impressed by bad sound. I spent my first twenty years in audio being clueless. Why should I expect the audiophile of today to have figured things out in less time than it took me? In addition, I was a clueless audiophile record dealer in the 90s, and I have the catalogs to prove it. Like the audiophile of today, I had lots of opinions, but not much to back them up and no critical listening skills to speak of. Those came later.
Further Reading