It’s weird that I’m at the point where I wish cd’s never existed…
I’d extend that thinking to say I wish digital music technology full-stop never existed. Although it’s not the technology to blame, it’s the users of the technology. Digital technology has given music makers too much capability, and by God they’re gonna use every last little bit of it. The music itself has suffered as a result…
Ohhh, I thought you were going to have a go at the sound quality of streaming.
That’s something I’m prepared to put up with as a trade-off for the convenience of having instant access to a great majority of anything ever recorded, especially since i was brought up listening to AM radio.
But yes, both cd’s and streaming services (and FM radio, actually) have all had an impact on how and what sort of music is created.
But I was more lamenting spending so much time and money on…pretty much shiny coasters now.
1 Like
Is there going to be some music that’s just lost to the ether. I have some great rarer/bootleg type cd’s that aren’t on Spotify and won’t ever be released on vinyl. They will just disappear to the ether from musician back catalogues.
Have to imagine that’s true…
Lots of mid nineties small indie stuff.
Just got this in the mail. Some classic B3 heavy Blue Note jazz funk jammin from 1969. Its sounds incredible. I think i can smell the ashtray sitting on Lonnie Smiths organ…
3 Likes
Some people are coming around to the fact that CD mastering is important like records, and the stuff that gets put on streaming services or re-released or remastered often doesn’t sound anywhere near as good as has been.
Most people don’t care, but CDs from the 80s and into the early 90s can often be the best sound source for some albums.
3 Likes
^^ THIS!!! ^^
Quieter, yes (so they stick out like dog’s balls when tracks are in a playlist alongside more recent brickwalled stuff), but the sound quality is actually miles better.
The problem was mainly with early CD issues of albums that were originally released on vinyl (Models’ Pleasure Of Your Company being a classic case in point). The geniuses at record labels would simply have the “mastered for vinyl” master pressed to CD. Mastering for CD is totally different from mastering for Vinyl (as indeed is mastering for Beats Headphones, or mastering for streaming, or mastering for FM radio)…
2 Likes
Yeah, the “loudness wars” and brickwalling was said to take hold around the mid-90s, and there’s a held belief that the peak sound quality of CDs was around ‘91/‘92. Big dynamic range, mastered properly for the medium, played on quality home sound systems.
When I was 11 my parents asked what I wanted for Christmas and I said Substance. When my dad saw the double-CD was $40 he was against it. But I pleaded and swore it’s what I really wanted, and they got it for me. I listened to it so much over the next several years that it could’ve been $400 and I would’ve got my money’s worth.
Substance is being reissued this week in various forms and editions, so I thought I’d take my Factory UK original off the shelf for a spin. Once I had collected all the 12”s I parted with the CDs and got the more compact A-side vinyl comp.
5 Likes
Let’s face it… Substance is the quintessential New Order album. Many tracks were never on albums and, for those that were, the 12" version was miles better than the album version.
It also marked the end of their golden period. They’ve had the odd moment since (I particularly liked Crystal, Fine Time, Regret and Vanishing Point) but True Faith pretty much signified their last truly great work.
The thing is though, when I listen these days I really have to force myself to overlook just how poor a lyricist Barney is. Truly abominable. A grade 6 kid would manage better. They must surely be guide lyrics scribbled on a napkin over lunch that he never bothered to correct. Surely!..
1 Like
The whole time reading that I’m thinking wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, then boom there it is!
2 Likes
Tell me I’m wrong…
The honey money rhyme in crystal is possibly the worst rhyming lyric in music.
1 Like
It’s bad, but honestly there’s a howler in just about every song.
Every time I think of you
I get a shock right through
With a bolt of blue
I mean, COME ON BARNEY!!!
I know he was thurst into singer/lyricist through… uh… circumstances, but surely someone else in the band could do better…
1 Like
I’ve never considered the lyrics crucial to a New Order song, just something to mindlessly sing along with as you get lost in the hooks, and Hook’s hooks. I honestly don’t care what he’s singing, so it’s never bothered me.
1 Like
Lyricist sucks, bassist plays the same baseline every song, but still one of the greatest bands ever. It’s some achievement.
1 Like
Indeed, it is a phenomenal achievement.
And that True Faith b/w 1963 single will always be one of the great singles of all time! So will Thieves Like Us b/w Lonesome Tonight for that matter…
1 Like
That second photo looks astoundingly cool - her red dress against the backdrop of the room, the skull artwork in the foreground. Something mystical and dreamlike about it.
3 Likes