[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Empty Glass Gold CD - got it




Hi there,
I picked up Pete Townshend's "Digitally Remastered from the original
master tapes" Gold CD.

It comes in a cardboard Box.  Inside the cardboard box is
the cd in its jewel case and a separate  booklet.
The Jewel case is like the ones supplied with the mobile fidelity
CD's, that make the CD sort of pop out when you open the case.
There is no booklet inside the jewel case.  Just a piece of paper with the
front cover of the album.  The booklet is separate, and is too thick
to fit into the jewel case.
It is too thick because heavy paper was used, not because it has too many
pages.  The booklet contains the lyrics, song titles, musician credits, etc.

Here's what's new with the booklet.  Pictures of the boxes holding the 
master tapes.  So now we know it was taped at 15 ips.. Not much else to learn.
We are told which songs were released as singles, and what their highest chart
position was.
There's a photo of Pete that I had not seen before.  There are 4 pages
showing the front and back covers of the original album, and the two sides
of the record sleeve, and there's a 4 page story written by Dave Marsh
telling us his insights into the album.  Dave Marsh thinks that there's 
a tie between "I'm a Boy"  and "Rough Boys."

I think I would have appreciated it more if I could fit the booklet into
the CD's jewel box, so I wouldn't have this extra booklet around.

OK, now to the important part..  the music.

The good:  Better dynamic range, much "brighter" and "crisper" sound.  
The bad:   Tape hiss is more noticable, some flaws in the tape are more
           noticable.  For example, at the beginning of Rough Boys from
           00:00 to 00:05 into the song, the tape is in real bad shape.
           Sounds like it got bent a little.  It can be heard on my
           original empty glass CD (with headphones), and it is more
           noticable on the gold CD.  So in short, while the music stands
           out more, so do the flaws and the noise.
           
Some songs seem to me more improved than others.  For example, I don't 
hear much of a change in I am an animal, while An I moved seems to 
have benefitted more.  The piano sounds much better.

Otherwise, the mix seems to be exactly the same, unlike the Tommy
re-release where there are some different vocal tracks, etc.

-David