Teenage Cancer Trust /Buddy Holly Fundation charity project

[goon525]

OK, fair point. But I’ll make a charitable donation rather than buy the vinyl, only a small part of the cost benefitting the charity.

[dustyvalentino]

OK, fair point. But I’ll make a charitable donation rather than buy the vinyl, only a small part of the cost benefitting the charity.

Was only pulling your leg.

[goon525]

Yes, well, my tongue was firmly in my cheek. But I gave up vinyl circa 1985 and frankly don’t miss it. (Digital is a lot better now than it was then.)

[JF]

Would love to decode who is playing by listening to it.

me too. I am impatient to see Guy's video with all names animated while the tune si playing

[dustyvalentino]

Yes, well, my tongue was firmly in my cheek. But I gave up vinyl circa 1985 and frankly don’t miss it. (Digital is a lot better now than it was then.)

Digital was fine in 1985, they got the CD right 40 years ago.

I’ll need to take your word on hi res, years of playing in bands has no doubt lost my capacity for hearing those frequencies, along with good old ageing.

But I’d be very surprised if Qobuz had a master with better dynamic range than the vinyl. It’s just mixed that way. I asked Guy a while back about why MKs solo albums lost dynamic range and he said he doesn’t care about it.

You either notice it or you don’t.

[Rolleyway Man]

Ok, I finally listened.

First the positives.

I loved the music. I just love this tune and honestly could have had another nine minutes. Couldn’t really tell who was who except MK and Duane Eddy but in all honesty after a couple of minutes I stopped trying and was just enjoying the tune. The cover is fantastic and the etching on side b is very cool.

The negatives.

As LE has noted, the mastering is ridiculously loud. It sounds mushy as hell. Can’t say I’ve ever heard a vinyl record as bad as this.

The vinyl itself was crackly and nasty. GZ are truly awful. I’m currently listening to a Gene Pitney album from 1964 and it’s better than this brand new release despite being SIXTY years old. Jesus Christ.

The ending. What the hell was that? Such a sloppy half arsed ending.

Frustrating that they’ve gone back to GZ Media for this release, but perhaps the records are cheaper to produce that way? I don’t know. The record I pre-ordered from the official store was warped. Thankfully I managed to obtain a second copy from HMV (the last one they had in stock) and that one is perfectly flat and sounds great. But GZ Media are extremely unreliable where vinyl quality is concerned. I hope the One Deep River discs are being produced elsewhere.

[dustyvalentino]

Yeah was just wondering about that. Will be pissed off if I pay £90 and the records are crap.

I went CD for the live box rather than risk it.

[Rolleyway Man]

Yeah was just wondering about that. Will be pissed off if I pay £90 and the records are crap.

I went CD for the live box rather than risk it.

The records in the vinyl edition of the Live set were thankfully produced by a different plant - Optimal in Germany I believe. So far as I’m aware, the quality has been a lot better.

[dustyvalentino]

Yeah was just wondering about that. Will be pissed off if I pay £90 and the records are crap.

I went CD for the live box rather than risk it.

The records in the vinyl edition of the Live set were thankfully produced by a different plant - Optimal in Germany I believe. So far as I’m aware, the quality has been a lot better.

Good to hear, I just couldn’t be bothered risking it when the CDs sound great at a quarter of the cost!

[quizzaciously]

The ending. What the hell was that? Such a sloppy half arsed ending.

There is a short paragraph about the ending in the liner-notes. Have it not at hand right now but it was some sort of weird explanation.

LE

"Weird" is the word that perfectly describes the whole situation

I'm curious what these liner notes said about the ending. Probably something like "This was the only part that was played by Ringo Starr and we didn't want to cut it out"?

[superval99]

The ending. What the hell was that? Such a sloppy half arsed ending.

There is a short paragraph about the ending in the liner-notes. Have it not at hand right now but it was some sort of weird explanation.

LE

"Weird" is the word that perfectly describes the whole situation

I'm curious what these liner notes said about the ending. Probably something like "This was the only part that was played by Ringo Starr and we didn't want to cut it out"?

This was Guy's answer to a question on his forum about the ending:

"Ah yes, the drum hits. That was my worry at NUFC. I think they missed it too but wanted to offer it to the capable hands of a certain Ringo Starr."

[Love Expresso]

This, from Paul Sexton, I was referring to:

"You talk about the vibe of Ringo and Zak together?"
"That's why I wanted the end like that, just that bish-bash-bosh on the kit. That sums it to me in many ways, just the spirit of the thing. "

LE

[Iron Hand]

Hahah, I’ve listened to it one million times today in the car, and it’s the greatest music thing I’ve heard in ages. I love it! Everything about it is great. Guitar and MK OVERLOAD!! Love it!! Incredibly well mixed. So cool and maximalistic. I accidently said that MK hadn’t been cool since 1981, but I was wrong. MK is still cool. And I am happy.

You mean "Guy Fletcher is cool"? Don't think Mark has been that involved to be honest, apart from playing his parts and handing his address book to Guy LOL

Guy even said "this one really was all my work" 

I asked Guy a while back about why MKs solo albums lost dynamic range and he said he doesn’t care about it.

You either notice it or you don’t.

The last few solo albums were a lot better, dynamically, than the much-liked Golden Heart and STP in their non-HDCD-decoded versions (as well as the remasters from the 1996-2007 box set). Those are really quite limited.

[jbaent]

I wonder if it would be a perfect moment to release that MK and friends gig at the Shepherd's Bush Empire 2002 that was played in aid for the TCT and professionally recorded and never released.

[quizzaciously]

This, from Paul Sexton, I was referring to:

"You talk about the vibe of Ringo and Zak together?"
"That's why I wanted the end like that, just that bish-bash-bosh on the kit. That sums it to me in many ways, just the spirit of the thing. "

LE

Well, this is a very eloquent answer that explains a lot of my "problems" with this track and current production techniques in Mark's work.

I understand where they are coming from, but excuse me, showing a bit of "fun" and "bish-bash-bosh" in an obviously overly-produced, overly edited and remotely recorded track is just plain ridiculous to me. It's like you would leave the original ending in the studio version of "Telegraph Road" where it just ends abruptly with random guitar licks, when everybody knows the thing was polished to death nearly rendering it lifeless. These are certain creative decisions I'm not a fan of.

If, again, there would be a video showing Ringo and Zak having fun, and after all 9 minutes they like "huuuuuh, we did it", that would make sense. But on merely just an audio version it's weird. I feel like Mark's previous works were less inclined towards a certain producer so much, or were made more neutral on purpose, which was much better. So you either "get it" and go along with it, and it's the best thing you've ever heard, or it goes entirely against the grain and you "hate" it like I do.