It’s not just bass that separates the real thing from the Classic Reissue. It’s weight, fullness, the part of the frequency range from the lower midrange to the upper bass, the area spanning roughly 150 to 600 cycles.
It’s what makes Daltry’s voice sound full and rich, not thin and modern.
It’s what makes the drums solid and fat the way Glyn Johns intended.
The good copies of Who’s Next and Quadrophenia have plenty of muscle in this area, and so do the imports we played.
But not the Classic. Oh no, so much of what gives Who By Numbers its Classic Rock sound has been equalized right out of the Heavy Vinyl reissue by Chris Bellman at BG’s mastering house.
Some audiophiles will claim that the originals are warmer but not as detailed.
I would have to agree, but that misses the point entirely: take out the warmth — the fullness that makes the original pressings sound so right — and of course you hear more detail, as the detail region is no longer masked by all the stuff going on below it.
Want to hear detail? Disconnect your woofers — you’ll hear plenty of detail all right!
Keep that in mind when they tell you at the stereo store that the record you brought in is at fault, not their expensive and therefore “correct” equipment. I’ve been in enough of these places to know better. To mangle another old saying, if you know your records, their excuses should fall on deaf ears.
More on the Classic
The Classic is not a bad record. It has very good extension up top, and mostly sounds correct, albeit in a modern way. If you’re not too particular and are looking for a copy for around thirty bucks, it’s hard to fault. If you have a modest stereo system by all means buy the Classic — what the originals do better is not going to be easy for a modest system to reproduce. It takes piston power and a seriously treated room, both of which are expensive and hard to achieve.
Side One
Slip Kid
However Much I Booze
Squeeze Box
Dreaming From the Waist
Imagine a Man
Side Two
Success Story
They Are All in Love
Blue Red and Grey
How Many Friends
In a Hand or a Face
