remix-bad

Boz Scaggs / Self-Titled and Remixed

More of the Music of Boz Scaggs

If you like your music dry and clean, try the remixed version, the CD, or perhaps there is a heavy vinyl version out there (at one-tenth the price).

That’s not our sound here at Better Records.

The best recordings from the era do not have that sound, so when we find that kind of analog richness, sweetness and naturalness on a pressing such as this, we know the record is right.

The nearly 13-minute long version of Loan Me A Dime on side two is out of this world and the best reason to play the album. Another good reason: Duane “Skydog” Allman on guitar!

Remix? Not at Better Records

According to Wikipedia:

The Atlantic album eventually went out of print and in 1977, it was completely remixed and reissued on Atlantic 19166. This remix brought out Duane Allman’s guitar in a more up-front way, which changed the original mix, drowning backing voices and keyboards. This remix is the version that’s currently available on CD.

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Ron McMaster Strikes Again – Who Approved This Miserable LP?

Hot Stamper Pressings of Roots Rock Albums Available Now

Flat, compressed, no top end, no Tubey Magic, this Band release is Ron McMaster’s work at its worst, helped along by the fact that he does not have the original master tape or even a copy of it to work with, but instead the new remix that was made a few years back because the original tape had been lost.

And somehow there are audiophile reviewers who like it.

When you see that little RM in the dead wax of one of these new Heavy Vinyl reissues, you should get the sinking feeling that there’s a very good chance you’ve just flushed your money down the toilet.

There ought to be a warning label on the jacket: Mastered by Ron McMaster. On some records there is! I saw one not long ago with his mastering credit right on the front of the jacket.

It’s only a warning to those of us familiar with his work of course. The general public, and that includes the general audiophile public, probably won’t have much of a problem with the sound of this record or anything else he does. He still has his job, doesn’t he? What does that tell you?

A well-known reviewer notes that “…the Capitol LP is very good, believe it or not.”

Well, I don’t believe it, not for a minute. It’s pretty much a joke and I’m guessing that even Hoffman’s new CD would be better. I don’t care much for Hoffmann’s CD, but at least it has a top end.

UPDATE 2013

I can’t stand it as a matter of fact. It badly lacks weight and warmth, which is what the RL vinyl has going for it in spades.