DAVE EDMUNDS PAPER SLEEVE COLLECTION

The new Dave Edmunds Mini-LP collection is out now including two of his albums with some help from Jeff Lynne.  Information (from 1983) and Riff Raff (from 1984 and a rarity on CD) have joined a growing list of paper sleeve collection CDs.

The remastering has me a bit perplexed, though.  Remember, both CDs were remastered and re-issued on BGO in 2002 with excellent results.  These new CDs however are much louder and powerful (and sweetened for lack a better descriptor.)  While I think some people will prefer the sound of these, I'm beginning to see why "flatter" is a bit better in this case.  The new CDs just blast through the headphones (a good thing) but I'm detecting parts where the fine little details are getting crushed and buried.

I have yet to give them a spin on the main stereo, though.  We'll see how they fare there.

Outside of that, the paper sleeves are beautifuly made.  However, the two Edmunds CDs I got contained only the album cover with CD and black and white lyric booklet inside.  That's it.  ELO, as you may or may not know, made out much better than that.

And no matter how good the remastering, I still, to this day, can't make out the first 6 syllables of Breaking Out.

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TOM PETTY GOES SHM-CD

Another Japanese release of note in the coming weeks.  Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Greatest Hits CD is being re-released on the SHM-CD format which is compatible with standard CD players. 

The format promises better sound through the use of a polycarbonate plastic disc.  But, if they're not using a better, newly prepared master, it's hard to figure out how much better the sounds on this disc will be.  Anyone who knows about this process and/or format, please weigh in.

Anyway, the disc (with 5 produced by Jeff Lynne cuts) is out May 28.

CONCERT FOR GEORGE

For the record, the Concert For George is now available digitally on most of the main online music outlets, and at least in the case of iTunes, the "album" includes the Sam Brown and Jools Holland's rendition of A Horse To Water that didn't make the original CD.

LOOKING AREA FLY ON

Well, indications are that it may take a while for any bonus material for the new Fly/Salvo edition of Looking On to appear online.  Other than the USA edit of Brontosaurus, there's apparently not much left.  The Salvo Looking On website is teasing us with Falling Forever "if you pray hard enough..." which I personally translate into "fat chance."  But hope does indeed spring eternal.

I GUESS BY NOW YOU GOT THE GIST...

The April 23 post of Musictap.net claims Rhino has the Traveling Wilburys Volume One and Volume 3 CDs separately on the docket for June 3.  If this is true, I would not expect anything other than what's on the Traveling Wilburys Collection CDs.

Since the Traveling Wilburys Collection seemed to satisfy everyone who wanted to buy the Wilburys again, I would think it would be wise for Rhino to tack on the extended versions and other related bonus tracks (like, say, the remix of Not Alone Any More) to their respective CDs.  I would not count on it, though.

IF YOU'RE NOT TOO BUSY...

Hey Jeff,

If you're reading this and you're not busy, the Dreamliners would like you to produce their next record.

They have a website and a MySpace page.

THAT'S GOOD SHIT, MAN...

 

The last round of earlier Move CDs was roughly 10 years ago and perhaps they fit the bill back then, but the bar was raised considerably with Move, ELO and other related releases. The last time Looking On was released on CD, the liner notes encompassed the band's entire career, the pics were out-of-era and while the sound of the music was ok, the bonus tracks were also way out-of-era. All of those areas got a substantial upgrade with this 2008 Salvo/Fly edition of Looking On.

For starters, the historical record is set straight in several ways. The liner notes are mostly contained to how the album came to be and all of the fun and craziness of that particular time. That serves this package much better than a full career retro. The photos are (at last) limited to the Move circa 1970, some of those photos so bad they're good. And the bonus tracks finally fit the album. Wild Tiger Woman and Blackberry Way just didn't fit on the previous edition of Looking On. So, now that there's a nice tidy-up on the details, it's easier to put yourself in Brimingham and/or London in 1970.

Now for the remastering. The 1998 version of Looking On was, for the most part, clear sounding. The 2008 edition takes clarity, improves it and adds depth, power, and much more detail. The parts that were given muscle in the studio have muscle again. Personally, I picked out percussion parts (among others) that seemed to be buried (or distorted over) before. I suppose that's the point of remastering any album and this CD slightly exceeded my expectations.

I'm a fan of having unreleased session material as bonus tracks instead of songs that were loosely released around the time of the album. (At least Lightnin' Never Strikes Twice fits the album's sound.) There's plenty to gain from even subtle differences in the mix like the extended banter between Jeff and Roy during Turkish Tram Conductor Blues or hearing "We're clapping now aren't we?" during the count-in to Duke of Edinburgh's Lettuce. And oooooh, to have been a fly (there's a label pun in there somewhere) on the wall while track 13 was being recorded...

Another smash-bang job by the Move remastering team. Now, we go from Looking On to looking forward to the upcoming Move box set.

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IT'S ALIIIIIIVE...

Prepare to lace up the skates up again.  Hot off the wheels of a Broadway hit, Xanadu (the original movie) is being re-modeled and re-released on DVD this June.  Expect a restored picture and new 5.1 surround sound on the DVD, plus a bonus CD of the complete soundtrack in all its campy glory.  US release day is June 24.

What, no blu-ray?

LOOKING ON RELEASE DAY

Looking On is indeed an enhanced CD with bonus online content.  However, the online part isn't uploaded yet and you're not able to acess the page.  I'll post some thoughts on the release once I get a chance to go through it.

LOOKING UP LOOKING ON

 

Two immediate thoughts.

1. The sound clips suggest a HUGE improvement... and

2. Re: the bonus track Feel Too Good.  They were all clearly feeling too good.  Fantastic.