boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (08/27/85)
> From: saber!msc (Mark Callow) >> Here are some other titles I am looking for. Has anyone seen >> these? >> >> Beatles "White Album" >> Beatles "Abbey Road" >> Stevie Wonder "Innervisions" >> W. Carlos "Brandenburg Concertos" and earlier stuff >> ("Switched-on Bach" is easy to find). > > There doesn't seem much point in buying CD versions of old material > such as this since the masters are of considerably inferior > quality to that of the CD. Unless, of course, you don't own an old > fashioned turntable. > > Even some recent releases - "Thriller" comes to mind - are not up to > the standards CD's can achieve. Apparently (according to Audio) they > used the mix-down prepared for the regular album. For the highest > quality one must look out for digitally mastered CD's. I take issue with this. First of all, you proceed from a certain assumption that you have no reason to make --- that the only possible reason to buy a CD is for the claimed superior audio quality of the CD. I buy CD's for their lack of wear, their relative durability, their ease of handling and storage, and their portability. The audio quality is certainly a factor, but it is a lesser concern with me than it is with most people. And as for the audio quality, so what if the master isn't up to the up to the capabilites of the CD medium? I have a few CD's of material from the middle to late 60's, and they sound as good if not better than the corresponding LP's. Even if it's not as good as it could be, it's been *my experience* (no flames please, concerning specs, AB comparisons, and all of that crap that flooded net.audio a while back) that the CD's sound better than the LP's. Certainly, the best CD's are those that are digitally recorded, mixed, and mastered. I won't argue there. But that doesn't mean that ones made from an analog master are inherently inferior to the LP. Now that *that's* out of the way.... ...to the original question: I haven't heard of the WHITE ALBUM being released on CD at all. There was an Japanese import of ABBEY ROAD floating around for a while, but it was yanked because of some legal squabbles over distribution rights for Beatles material on CD. I only know of three W. Carlos CD's. I have DIGITAL MOONSCAPES and SWITCHED ON BACH (have you noticed that they re-pasted up the cover so that it says "Wendy" instead of "Walter"?). I also understand that one of the CLOCKWORK ORANGE albums exists on CD (I think it's WALTER CARLOS' MUSIC FROM A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, rather than the official soundtrack), but I've never seen it. I wish the rest of his/her stuff would be issued on CD, too. I have no idea about Stevie Wonder. 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA