Queen Greatest Hits II revisited

Things were a bit delayed here with feeling rough midweek but we do actually have a post.

I've always liked the rock group Queen standardizing in the late 1980's on compact discs and adding new albums as issued in that format from a mixture of cassettes and eight track tapes.

Queen had three Greatest Hits sets although the third issued post Freddie isn't essential and contains a number of dubious remixes with guest rapping.

I originally brought Greatest Hits on compact disc in 1986 and a few years back as I've been getting back into vinyl bought the recent half speed mastered double version which contains all those songs from Seven Seas Of Rhye to Flash via Bo Rhap which does sound better than the original lp did.

The second volume, Greatest Hits II came out in late 1991 just as many of us were mourning Freddie Mercury's death from HIV/A.I.D.S. taking us from Under Pressure from 1981 to Show Must Go On via the likes of Radio GaGa, Who Wants To Live Forever and I Want It All.

I originally brought that straight on cd - it was one of the first cds over 75 minutes - although I picked up a copy of lp some years later.

I wasn't too happy with that lp as for one thing it sounded a bit thin and my copy had a few marks and crackles so I brought a week ago the reissue on Virgin rather than Parlophone that also was half speed mastered.

While the reissue has reference to Queen's website while it didn't exist in 1991, this does sound extremely good with lots of detail and nice deep bass plus dead quiet surfaces.

I usually clean any record even new to remove any dust and grime that might of got in at the pressing plant.

The jacket is much better quality using thicker card and more impactful printing that you'd be proud to own in your record collection and the inners are printed card so I'd suggest using a couple of thin mylar or rice paper "rounded bottom" inners between disc and card inner to protect them.

Being just over seventy-five minutes this gives us around eighteen minutes per side being a double album which is around the optimum for good sound.

For the modest cost I feel this reissue is well worth getting. 

Dire Straits on Super Audio cd Part II

 After a four year gap we return to this topic with a new entry.

Dire Straits bowed out in style when they released On Every Street in 1991 some 6 years on from the massive selling Brothers In Arms which was both the first big selling compact disc being used to promote that format and the first in this series of Dire Straits albums issued on sacd in 2013.

They'd taken their time since the knockout success of Brothers In Arms, waiting six years to deliver a follow-up which would satisfy fans of their inimitable sound. 

Mark Knopfler's dusky tones weave many a tale, and there's that pervading sentimental mood hanging over the record like a Dire Straits album should have, but there's also some of those Southern boogie rhythm sections to lock onto, not least on the drawn out splendour of 'Calling Elvis'. 

Remastered by Rob Lo Verde at Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs, this has a much better sound stage and dynamics than the stock Vertigo/Warner Bros issue this released a few days ago joins the remainder of the collection.

Dire Straits on Super Audio CD

The path I travel along

It's been a fairly cold week here having to wrap up while out exploring the local countryside which does tend to tell you a fair bit about me as I stay still, downwind watching the birds and squirrels merging into the background.

However much it can be difficult at times, there is and remains a awful lot of scouting  ways and thinking running through me that tends to creep out simply because much of what you learned and the basic philosophy within it is so me.

It's not that just joining makes you it, it's really rather more the road of curiosity and adventure you embark upon, learning new skills, the preparedness to step out of your comfort zone,a "can do" attitude, being guided by a clear set of values that makes you one.

Across the week I have been reading this recent book by the Chief Scout of the Scout Association which looks very much at that, the things you can brush up upon or even learn as we never stop learning that will aid and inspire you along that journey.

For me it's everything.

The Beatles 1962-1966 on vinyl redux

On November 10th, as we were gearing up to Remembrance Day after the release of the "new" single Now And Then a week before two very different versions of albums we've known for all our lives appeared in both vinyl record and compact disc.

We're going to talk exclusively about the vinyl edition.

Originally coming out in 1973 the Beatles 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 compilations known to a number of us as the RED and BLUE albums were either gateways into their music growing up in a post Beatles pop world or neat resumés for original fans.

What made them so essential was they took all the hit singles and added a good selection of notable tracks from their albums in chronological order capturing well the essence of the Beatles appeal and their musical development plus  added the lyrics for every song on the inner sleeves.

Short of putting them in a box with a glossy booklet wrapped up with ribbon they could not of been better so over fifty years they've always been around in a variety of formats from records, cassette and 8 track tapes to the compact disc and being given copies for many of us was a rite of passage musically.

One thing they cannot be ignored is however the stereo mixes especially of many of the songs on RED are rather primitive with vocals and backing at the far sides of the stereo image and nothing in the middle which doesn't work too well on headphones.

Compared with today there were only a handful at best of individual tracks to create a stereo mix from and in any event that just wasn't the main aim in how the recording session was done as in the early sixties especially mono was king with most recordings being played on mono portable record players apart from the more well to do grown ups who bought classical, show and film soundtracks who quickly brought into stereo sound.

One major structural difference between the two cd set and the vinyl edition lies in how the expanded track selection is handled which is that the cd has the new selections placed between the original twenty six while the vinyl version keeps the original order but places the extras one the third disc.

Used initially in assembling the Get Back film and then in the new edition of Revolver last year using Artificial Intelligence so it would "learn" all the elements which then gives you lots of separate tracks you can remix this has been applied to every song on RED for this edition.

Thus for the first time ever we get "true stereo" Love Me Do from the original singles version too and She Loves You which have only ever existed in mono although to my ears the source of that track sounds inferior to all previous editions.

Many of those irritating hole in middle vocals on one side mixes have been redone totally and even generally good stereo mixes like Ticket To Ride have the drive reduced in stereo album mixes restored that the original mono 45 had.

Yesterday's string quartet is now spread across both channels which as long term classical musicI know is how they appear.

In the main this works and especially well on the Rubber Soul tracks which bolds well for the much looked forward to remixed stereo version of that album easily the worst in stereo in the catalogue.

Observant eyes will have noticed there's more tracks on the rear cover of the cd (on vinyl the listing is at the bottom of the gatefold photograph like the original)  - 34 not 26 - which allows for a better selection from albums as the beatles generally didn't have singles on albums unless they came out before or were tied in things like the films.

While the criticism could be made the 1973 original was over heavy in representing Rubber Soul, oddly that has gained yet another track so now half of that album appears on this compilation and a similar number from Revolver.

Strangely there has no improvement in the representation of Beatles For Sale (Beatles '65/VI in the North American original Capitol albums) with just Eight Day's A Week, a U.S. chart topper from early 1965 making that the least represented album.

On vinyl the mastering is better as in wider dynamics and sound-staging compared with the cd but that decision to place the extra tracks is awkward feeling like a bonus compilation rather than an integral part of this new version.

I can see for regular playing the 2014 all analogue issue using the original 1973 mixes but with the fake stereo replaced by mono being the regular played edition but this is a great new envisioned version especially for the second side with remixes from Rubber Soul and Revolver which had issues in the original stereo mixes and that bonus disc.