This is stupid.
New vinyl releases can range from great to poor. Some labels simply release the CD master on a piece of wax while others take great care in reproducing the sound of the original recording. Since there is little available to make me an informed consumer, I figure from time to time I will try to help others be informed consumers… starting now.
Cinema for the Ears 01: Neko Case - Blacklisted
I could go on and on and on about this album. It is one of my favorite female vocal albums, infusing country, rock, folk and even some soul. While Fox Confessor may have been a critical hit, it bored me near to death compared to the raw energy of Blacklisted and the following live EP, The Tigers Have Spoken.
I wrote to Mint Records a number of times requesting a vinyl pressing, but never with any promising response. Lance Rock Records has finally done what should have been done 5 years ago – release Blacklisted on wax.
The only thing that ever bothered me about my Blacklisted CD was what I had perceived to be a symptom of poor production: brutally compressed acoustic guitars on the first two tracks. Not just slightly compressed, but demolished and painful to the ear. I was wrong. This wasn’t a production issue at all – it was the CD mastering. On the LP the guitars sound natural, musical and covered in tape hiss. In fact, the whole recording is much more naked about its roots in mid-fi production.
Neko’s voice, the highlight of this album, is changed too. It took me a little while to get used to the new sound. With much of the compression gone, her reverb-soaked voice has slightly less power behind it. It now has air and space around it, revealing a slightly tinny AM radio quality. Within a few tracks I found it to be more realistic, creating more of a fusion between her and the instruments.
I cannot recommend this piece of wax enough. It is a shame that the CD wasn’t mastered with the same care. This isn’t an issue of one medium being superior, it is an industry-wide issue of making ignorant mastering choices. Until this trend is reversed, or high-res versions of albums are available for download, vinyl will remain my medium of choice.
