It's still only a 96kHz recording and whilst Chandos are always bright and cheerful they are certainly not brilliant recordings for my stereo system. What lets them down is ...
I was very happy to see that this title had made it into the Atlantic 75th anniversary series. It made me think about my university days in the mid 70's and one of the share ...
We are living at the time of A I and ChatGPT so anything may be possible! Joking probably but will A I be able to fill in the missing data? Seems likely at some point if not ...
BTW I did see that the Maazel/Mahler cycle was available as a 24/96 download too. But I decided to go with SACDs. Hoping for a delivery soon (also from CDJapan).
Great review Mark and I'm 100% with you on the provenance disclosure issue.
It continues to baffle me why they think being open about the source material is a negative. To my ...
I guess also whether it would even be financially viable, first as a development and then a production project. Look at us here, a niche in a niche in a diminutive market ...
5 of 5 recommend this, would you recommend it? yes | no
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Comments (2)
Comment by Downunderman - July 6, 2023 (1 of 2)
Issued 2023 and from the 1/2-inch safety copy of the original master tapes. Around the mid 1990's A&M created a number of safety copies of various A&M albums and this safety copy is from that project.
It is not mentioned on the release, but the Intervention website advises the SACD mastering was done by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.
The safety copy sounds pretty good, and Chris Bellman appears to have done a pretty flat transfer.
The sound is well balanced and not noticeably compressed. An enjoyable listen all in all.
Comment by Kveld-Úlfr - November 19, 2023 (2 of 2)
Downunderman's comment above is absolutely confirmed with the Peter Frampton: Frampton title that I own. I have ordered this Camel album, as well as the Peter Frampton: Wind of Change one, and I expect without a shadow of a doubt the same quality treatment. Intervention Records never disappoints.
Now, why were safety copies -- as good as they are -- used rather than the original masters? Not that the loss is great: let us say it once more, these salety copies are in great condition and sound exquisite. But the sensible and logical course of action is to use the original masters when these are available.
Here is the problem: Peter Frampton was one of the many artists that lost most of their original analogue masters in the infamous and disastrous fire at Universal Music's warehouse on June 1st 2008 -- the day the whole music industry, as well as all music lovers over the world, went in mourning.
Although Universal never disclosed any details about which albums were lost (at most 175.000 tapes according to a 2019 New York Times' investigation) it is certain that Frampton was among those who lost tapes and it is safe to assume that these three SA-CD remaster reissues pertain 3 original tapes that burned in this tragic fire.
That being said, Frampton is not the only one having HD remasters suffering this (fortunately and competently well solved) problem: John Mellencamp also lost tapes in this fire and I believe that would explain the sound difference between the (very good) BD-A + CD + LP remaster (a remix as well, I suspect, due to the master being lost) boxset of John Mellencamp: Scarecrow (Super Deluxe Edition), and some previous editions of it that I own. On the dedicated webpage of this site I will write some comment about how this Mellencamp title sounds different when I have the time.
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Comment by Downunderman - July 6, 2023 (1 of 2)
Issued 2023 and from the 1/2-inch safety copy of the original master tapes. Around the mid 1990's A&M created a number of safety copies of various A&M albums and this safety copy is from that project.
It is not mentioned on the release, but the Intervention website advises the SACD mastering was done by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.
The safety copy sounds pretty good, and Chris Bellman appears to have done a pretty flat transfer.
The sound is well balanced and not noticeably compressed. An enjoyable listen all in all.
Comment by Kveld-Úlfr - November 19, 2023 (2 of 2)
Downunderman's comment above is absolutely confirmed with the Peter Frampton: Frampton title that I own. I have ordered this Camel album, as well as the Peter Frampton: Wind of Change one, and I expect without a shadow of a doubt the same quality treatment. Intervention Records never disappoints.
Now, why were safety copies -- as good as they are -- used rather than the original masters? Not that the loss is great: let us say it once more, these salety copies are in great condition and sound exquisite. But the sensible and logical course of action is to use the original masters when these are available.
Here is the problem: Peter Frampton was one of the many artists that lost most of their original analogue masters in the infamous and disastrous fire at Universal Music's warehouse on June 1st 2008 -- the day the whole music industry, as well as all music lovers over the world, went in mourning.
Although Universal never disclosed any details about which albums were lost (at most 175.000 tapes according to a 2019 New York Times' investigation) it is certain that Frampton was among those who lost tapes and it is safe to assume that these three SA-CD remaster reissues pertain 3 original tapes that burned in this tragic fire.
That being said, Frampton is not the only one having HD remasters suffering this (fortunately and competently well solved) problem: John Mellencamp also lost tapes in this fire and I believe that would explain the sound difference between the (very good) BD-A + CD + LP remaster (a remix as well, I suspect, due to the master being lost) boxset of John Mellencamp: Scarecrow (Super Deluxe Edition), and some previous editions of it that I own. On the dedicated webpage of this site I will write some comment about how this Mellencamp title sounds different when I have the time.