Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

        
        I've got four; "Between the Buttons", "Their Satanic Majesties
        Request", "Let It Bleed", and "Sticky Fingers".  I think they're
        all quite good, the first two surprisingly so.  They've all
        got some hiss, but I expected that.  I think some copies of
        `TSMR' have been remixed digitally.  A friend has `Exile' &
        loves it, but says to avoid "Beggars Banquet".
        
	Something you may or may not be prepared for is that The Stones
        often engineered in some distortion; especially noticable on
        "Sticky Fingers".
        
        Rob

    I've got the London/Decca releases of THE ROLLING STONES,
    12X5, OUT OF OUR HEADS, AFTERMATH, BETWEEN THE BUTTONS,
    and THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST. The quality varies, not
    surprisingly. The first two are the biggest disappointments,
    but the original recordings weren't very good, either.
    
    I also have the Abkco release of AFTERMATH (the London/Decca
    CD copies the British LP line-up, while the Abkco CD follows
    the American). This sounds a bit brighter than the London/Decca
    version.
    
    If your main concern in audio quality, look for something else.
    I buy CD's to have music I like in a convenient (and *usually*
    high quality) format, so I like having my Stones CD's.
    
    --- jerry

    Not being a die-hard Stones fan, but I do enjoy most of their older
    stuff.  I decided to get "Hot Rocks", a double-disc of their best
    of the sixties and early seventies.  The selections were very good,
    but the quality was absolutely poor.  Then again, previous noters
    have said that the quality wasn't that great on vinyl either.  But,
    for $30, I was disappointed enough to exchange it for something
    else, not the Stones.  Maybe that ABKCO label discouraged me.  Also,
    I think that the Beatles cd's spoiled me in that their quality is
    outstanding. 

This is funny, reading these replies and Note #553, now that I've finally heard
the Stones on CD!

I borrowed "Hot Rocks" from Bob Hapgood last night to compare to my vinyl (both
original and Abkco), and was shocked!  I had trashed the remastering effort in 
the MUSIC notes file earlier, as well as in Note #553 here.  In another note on 
jazz remasters, I pondered whether Michael Good's CBS CD's sounded different 
from the vinyl remasters or whether his listening context is simply different 
from mine.

Both mysteries have now been solved, and it is now clearer to me just how 
much goes on in the production of a CD.

I consider it false advertising that Abkco released the "remastered" vinyl in 
the same packaging as the CD's, as though they are the same mixes.  Well, let 
me tell you, the vinyl remasters have more in common with the original American 
releases than with the CD's!

I know the noter who wrote reply .3 was disappointed strongly, but I was BLOWN 
AWAY by the high quality of the Hot Rocks CD!  My A/B comparison was VERY
revealing, and I now know that the companies are "cheating" and trying to 
trick people into replacing vinyl with vinyl if they don't want CD's, whereas 
in reality the companies are doing DIFFERENT mixes for the vinyl and are 
putting the REAL effort into the CD's.

I'm borrowing some CBS Jazz Masterworks CD's soon from Rem Aranda, to verify 
my suspicions about what is going on here.  I have a feeling I will be 
pleasantly surprised when I hear them!

Anyway, back to the Stones, how are the CBS reissues?  Are they remastering 
the 70's LP's that used to be on Atlantic/Rolling Stones?  I'm talking about 
the CD's only; the only ROCK vinyl I'm buying from now on is used & rare.

And who distributes/manufactures the Abkco CD's?

The vocals are a bit too soft, but the clarity is unbelievable.  The vinyl 
sounded so seriously compressed that the dynamic range seemed to have shrunk 
to about 10% of the normal range.  And there was no bass or lower mid-range 
frequencies, nor upper frequencies.  The vinyl sounds like an air tunnel.  On 
the CD's, the instruments are crisp, especially guitars, sitars and keyboards. 
And vocals are natural sounding.

I do not like any songs that I did not already like, but those that I do not 
like are more bearable on the CD.  And those that I do like sound like I always 
knew they were supposed to sound.


				Mark

    according to my (uk) catalogue, the following cbs stones cd's are
    available:
    
                                  Dirty Work
                                Black and Blue
                               Emotional Rescue
                               Exile on Main St
                               Goats Head Soup
                            It's only Rock'n'Roll
                                Love You Live
                              Made in the Shade
                                    Rewind
                                  Some Girls
                                Sticky Fingers
                                  Still Life
                           Sucking in the Seventies
                                  Tattoo You
                                 Under Cover
           
    hope this helps,
    
    -- Andy

    Exile on Main St. is available here as a single CD - all tracks
    look intact.