On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 00:26:08 -0500, Spindles in Beat Pops
Post by Spindles in Beat PopsPost by Mike EspinozaBad version of "Be In My Video"? Oh, great. Now I have to go and
compare the version on my "purple face" Them Or Us CD with the version
on "Clean American Version".
Well, I should elaborate. Someone noted on the Zappa Patio a while
back that the current, stock version of Them or Us has some of the
same problems that the other "bad batch" items (Sheik, YAWYI, etc.)
has: volume fluctuations, a chewed up right channel, etc. These
problems are audible on my Ryko '95 disc, although they're not nearly
as bad as those on YAWYI.
The easiest one to note is the horribly-chewed right channel on
Whipping Post. "Be in My Video" is a bit vaguer, with little swells
here and there.
Now, I figure that the "bad" master made its debut on the 1990 Zappa
Records CD, as we have reports that the 1986 issue matches the vinyl
in content; presumably, that Zappa Records disc also includes the
extended title track, etc. Problematically, the "Be In My Video"
version on my 1993 "You Can't Do That on the Radio" FZ25 promo matches
the 1995 Them or Us CD, which implies that Rykodisc might have swapped
masters for some of the "upgraded" Zappa Records titles (maybe
including Apostrophe/Overnight Sensation? That one's reported to be
different on the Zappa Records CD) around that point.
I don't hear these problems on my Them Or Us disc (circa 1993/1994),
but I do hear the volume swells in "Be In My Video" on Clean American
Version (1995 sampler). That's weird.
Post by Spindles in Beat PopsThis is, incidentally, one of the major issues I'd love to see
resolved.
I don't understand how or why it happened. Do you ever get the
feeling that the ZFT doesn't know what sounds better so the keep
changing masters to see if we will notice.
With this exception (and maybe Zappa In New York), have you noticed
that most of the "bad batch" items were "remastered in 1989" and
released in 1990. Weasels, Chunga, Fillmore, JABFLA, Zoot, and Sheik
(as well as the old Tinsel Town and YAWYI). I can listen to Weasels,
Fillmore and JABFLA just fine, but I can't bring myself to listen to
the Chunga or Sheik CDs (and I've never bought the Zoot CD). These
are the ones I wish they'd correct. (I wonder what was going on in
1989 anyway.)
And another thing: Does anyone actually own a Thing-Fish CD with the
vinyl mix on it (including the correct Prologue intro vamp and Wistful
Wit A Fistful vocals)? With or without the Watson "He's So Gay", I
have not heard a CD version of Thing-Fish that matches the vinyl.
--
Mike E.
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"Too often, men measure themselves by what they can consume or destroy rather
than what they can create."