RE: (TV) Collector's Choice reissues - just got 'em / Desecration too strong a word?/ THE LOST MIX lives

["Philip P. Obbard" <pobbard@yahoo.com>]

I think I know what's going on. Read on...

Just like the LOST MIX, the opening bars of "Souvenir From a Dream" are all
compressed into the center channel on the reissue, unlike the wide-open sound
on the original CD. Then, around 0:20, the remaster suddenly opens up the
stereo spectrum, panning instruments right and left (but leaving the rhythm and
lead vocal in the center). The original CD *kinda* does this, but not nearly to
the same degree. 

The guitar carrying the riff is also located elsewhere, and again the EQ is
significantly different. On the original CD, this riff is carried out in the
center channel. On the remaster, it's very much in the left channel, with
considerably more treble. Also, the instrument - sounding like a horn, and
repeating every two measures starting at 0:24 - is in the far right channel,
and much louder than it is on the original, where it's centered. 

Again, DRAMATIC differences in the stereo mix during the "empty handed" part
(1:05) - much like the opening bars. The changes in the mix and additional
treble make the lead piano part here much clearer. And just check out the
differences in the "why don't you say it" fade-away at 2:20 - you cannot fail
to hear the difference, with or without headphones. Or the beginning of the
code, at 2:44, where the organ appears in the right channel of the original,
it's now mixed-down in the center channel - holy esmoquino, Batman, it just
goes on and one.

OK - it's killing me. Is this the same CD as the LOST MIX? And the answer is...






... Mostly. I've just compared the versions of "Grip of Love" and "Souvenir
>From a Dream" on the new remaster with my copy of THE LOST MIX. Although the
fidelity on THE LOST MIX is poor, these are clearly the same mixes. The lyric
change in "Grip of Love" at 1:38 is present in the LOST MIX. The "ringing"
guitar bit at 2:20 is absent on THE LOST MIX, as it is on the new remaster. All
the changes I noted above in "Souvenir" are present in THE LOST MIX. I'm
guessing that all the "weird" EQ'ing on the new remaster is also present on THE
LOST MIX, but the poor condition of the source hides it.

But here's why I say "mostly": The maracas prominently heard at 3:18 in "Flash
Lightning" on THE LOST MIX, which are clearly NOT present on the original CD,
are also NOT present on the remaster. However, the remastered mix of "Flash
Lightning", as Leo noted, is MUCH different than the one on the original CD.
While I don't hear maracas, there's a whole new rhythm guitar part in there - a
'beeping' guitar sound that starts at 3:32 - that I can't hear on the original
or on THE LOST MIX. 

I definitely need to do a LOT more listening, but it looks like Verlaine has
used this opportunity to restore his debut album to a mix he preferred, if not
exactly THE LOST MIX we know. For all we know, there were dozens of attempts to
mix the LP, and the one that found its way to THE LOST MIX CD could have been
an alternate version of Verlaine's "hot" mix.

I will also say that, while I really love the TOM VERLAINE record and wouldn't
change a thing, I don't really object to this "new" mix on the remaster. I
agree with Leo that the bottom end suffers - it could use more bass - but
otherwise I basically like it. I definitely appreciate the better clarity of
the remaster, and I think some of the changes in the mix make this considerably
more adventurous, experimental, and less FM-ready than the offical
Clearmountain, Elektra-sanctioned mix. It reminds me of my own comment, on
first hearing THE LOST MIX (which, admittedly, I didn't think much of at the
time, but clarity does make a difference), that I wondered if Verlaine was
using the opportunity of his first solo LP to try some of the things he and
Fred Smith had started doing during the recording of ADVENTURE - "weirding" the
sound up.

--Philip


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