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"Famous Blue Raincoat"..

...what's all the praise about?

I have a mint US Cypress copy, (I'm trying to remember if this one or the Canadian issue was praised the most). I listened to some of it today. While it is "clean & clear", it has that digital, uninvolving edge that kind of turns me off.

Being Thanksgiving and all, and since I always pull out Suzanne Vega's "Solitude Standing" this time of year, ("Fancy Poultry Parts"), I thought I'd make a comparison. They are both from the digital recording age. (SV from 87' - JW from 86').

Playing the JW, I was thinking, very critically, not really enjoying the listen, the experience, the music.

SV, now, this is a totally different listening experience! It sounds great! Nothing edgy, nothing sterile, nothing out of the ordinary. It is in fact an lp I hold in the highest regard, still.

The SV should really be the lp commanding the high prices. Thankfully it is available to us, the ones who love music, for a reasonable price.
128x128slaw
don_c55
1,025 posts
 
@Sonictonics

There is digital sounding analog, and analog sounding digital!

The quality of the end result is not format dependent.
sonictonics
4 posts
 
@Don_c55
I hear what you are saying "There is digital sounding analog, and analog sounding digital! The quality of the end result is not format dependent." and tend to agree. But I don't agree with "Digitalis sounding to the max!"
I am not saying that the recording of Famous Blue Raincoat is true analogue bliss. I find that it does have a certain audio quality that keeps it from the top of the pile of the best recordings. I believe that somewhere in the mastering a more analogue character has been lost. I have FBR on the Canadian Attic label as a CD and the LP and also have the 12" 33.3 RPM promotional single on the US Cypress label. The single sounds like crap. This is what leaves me to believe that mastering is the issue with it's audio characteristics.
The intent of my post was to rectify the misinformation regarding the recording origins of this album.
sonictonics
4 posts
 
oops!
I should have said the title of the 12" promo in my previous post. "First We Take Manhattan" has a remix and an extended remix that was pressed on Quiex II vinyl.
don_c55
1,025 posts
 
@Sonictonics

I remember reading when Famous Blue Raincoat came out the recording was digital to analog tape.

So use there are original master tapes, but they were digitally sourced.
runnin
397 posts
 
I never owned Famous Blue Raincoat when it first came out. I heard it as a demo when I bought my first stereo, in the spring of 86. Anyone heard of Proton?

Anyway, much later on I bought the original cd copy and it became a go to cd for several reasons, one being her voice. More recently I bought the 25th anniversary remaster edition, and to me they didn't do anything bad to the original tracks. A really nice soundstage, the instruments floating in air and of course, that voice.

It's one cd that is timeless to me.
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