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| SUBJECT: | Pat Metheny projects remastered Back to Subjects |
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naut Apr 27 2019 at 3:36 PM |
This is addendum to Gyuri’s post of 2015: The albums I know of that have been remastered include Secret Story, Still Life, Song X, Letter from Home, We Live Here, Question and Answer--on Nonesuch. Can anyone fill in gaps on what other albums have been truly remastered, and not necessarily simply issued by Nonesuch (a GREAT label!), such the first Metheny/Mehldau & their Quartet records? TIA. |
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Aristide Dec 09 2019 at 3:39 PM |
I am 69 I have all the original records from ECM and Geffen and then bought the remasters. I don’t hear many
differences. Same instruments, and the voices sound just the same. I suspect it’s just marketing to the younger
generation.
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franksexton May 06 2019 at 12:42 PM |
Personally, I am someone who rips music in mp3 with max compression. As I age my ears don’t hear the range they
did when I was younger.
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aloc May 06 2019 at 5:41 AM |
I’d also recommend Burton’s book, it is a very interesting read indeed!
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molesoulsandal May 03 2019 at 7:05 AM |
it would be most difficult for me to pick my very favorite pat album, but if hard pressed, i guess i’d have to nominate wichita falls . . . . but like pat says, it’s all just one long song anyway, so fortunately we don’t have to pick just one . . . . just re-read gary burton’s terrific book ’learning to listen’ . . . i don’t hear too many folks mentioning it, but i just think it’s one of the great music autobios of all time . . . . when i was an early teenage saxophonist coming up in mid-missouri, i was taken aback by that young vibraphonist in stan getz’ group . . . . gary made quite an impression very early on . . . . i was lucky enuff to meet him at the old & renown ’london house’ jazz club in chicago in (i think) 1966 when the getz group was playing there . . . . . gary was very sweet and forthcoming, but stan (who was kind of my ’sax hero’ at that time) was quite surly (maybe drunk?), very rude, and wasn’t playing very good that night . . . . but gary stole the show anyway . . . . . he was lights out and always has been, as we all know . . . . he points out in his book that pat’s dad ran the local gas station/auto garage there in lee’s summit, missouri, and that the name of it was ’burton motors’ . . . . . what a hoot!
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naut May 02 2019 at 1:36 AM |
mole, "To the End of the Word," "Red Sky," "Stranger in Town," "Here to Stay," "Something to Remind You" and every other song on WLH are among "my fave songs of all time"!! I really, really dig the grooves Pat and crew get on that album. BTW, you’ve prolly heard this one, which some attribute to Mr. Samuel Clemens while others don’t, but "Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason." I likes that! ;) -- Bob, getcha some Logan Martins. They’re cheap. hehe...
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BobSmith1 May 01 2019 at 7:09 PM |
naut--yeah I could have! mole--I’d only spend that exorbitantly on something from Pat! And I agree about the transistor radio. I wish I could qualify as an audiophile but that requires more money than I’d ever be able to muster up!
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molesoulsandal May 01 2019 at 7:08 PM |
yes naut, i likewise purchased secret story to have the double disc - and i agree that the remastered song X is superior to the original, not to mention 6 extree great tunes . . . . and as for WLH, something to remind you is one o’ my fave songs of all time!!
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naut May 01 2019 at 4:52 PM |
Yer prolly right, mole. But I bought Story to have the double disc, and honestly, Still Life is noticeably better remastered; as was noted elsewhere, it was a little on the soft side on first pressing. Song X was amplifried and augmented for the 20th edition, and in my book, you can’t own too many copies of We Live Here, as mine was the lone vote for that mahvelous record in the recent "Top Three All Time Albums" survey. Yer HDT "thing" reminds me of Groucho’s quip: "’I wouldn’t want to belong to a club that would have me as a member." Love Pat’s solo on "It’s for You"! -- Keep us posted, Bob. (If you’d read mole before ordering, could’ve saved yourself fifty bucks. hehe...)
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molesoulsandal May 01 2019 at 1:57 PM |
i safely believe that i could listen to pat metheny on a 6-inch transitor radio from the 1950s and i would still hear everything that pat & co. intended . . . . . . i have no doubt about this . . . . . . i’ve always ’suspected’ audiophiles . . . . reminds me of that thing that thoreau said about bewaring of accepting any employment that required special clothing . . . . otherwise, have just been listening to wichita falls and trying to find my congressional medal of honor here, someplace in the sand (charlie babbitt made a joke).
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BobSmith1 May 01 2019 at 10:45 AM |
naut--Well I actually purchased the White Album (Christoph Stickel SACD remaster) from da bay. 50 bucks USD but I have loved this record for so long I just wanted to hear it at its (hopefully) best. I’ll report back, probably in a couple months, as this one takes a long time from Japan (Tower Japan is the actual source I believe).
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aloc May 01 2019 at 7:20 AM |
Onwards from Song X the albums have been produced by Metheny Group Productions who then license the
records to the record company for release and distribution (source: the Song X podcast on this site). So I’d imagine
that Metheny Group Productions owns the masters as they are and the remastering for the NoneSuch re-releases
has not been done because of contractual reasons but for reasons that relate to the quality of the end-product.
The differences between the originals and the remasters most probably vary from album to album (haven’t done
a comparison myself) due to the fact that other albums have been more in need of retouching than others. In the
Song X podcast Pat speaks about that album having been in particular need of remastering due to issues
pertaining to the bass (though in the end they wound up not only remastering but also remixing that album
because of the addition of the 6 new tunes that were not on the original and thus hadn’t been mixed at all).
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kejur Apr 30 2019 at 5:57 AM |
Secret Story, Still Life Talking, Song X, Letter from Home, We Live Here, and Question and Answer were all on the
Geffen label. I’m not sure if they needed to be remastered or not in order to be transferred to the Nonesuch label?
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naut Apr 27 2019 at 6:45 PM |
Oh boy. Those are two albums I’d love to have remastered. I don’t think my changer will play those formats, and the sticker shock kind of limits my access as well. Someone should start a GFM page so you can get the discs and let us know your impressions, Bob. ;) BTW, I been using discogs more this year and have found it a mighty handy site for release info. Helped me verify my Metheny remasters, SS, SLT, LFH, SX & WLH. I hope Speaking of Now gets a remastering sometime, but as far as I know it hasn’t been done yet. (Someone correct me if I’m wrong.)
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BobSmith1 Apr 27 2019 at 4:56 PM |
Two of the extant Metheny Hybrid SACDs (has a CD and SACD layer--plays on SACD and normal CD players) are remasters: Bright Size Life and White Album. The SACD layers of the aforementioned were remastered by Christoph Stickel, owner of the German company CS Mastering. The CD layer retains the original ECM mastering. I understand Stickel worked with the original analogue masters. I have read on Steve Hoffman forums that some have reported improved sound on both of these. One of the posters said Lyle’s Oberheim on WA sounded like it was coming direct from the analogue outs--lush... and overall the SACD layer sounded less bright. If I ever get either of these I’ll try to post my impressions. I have an older DVD player that plays SACD and DVD-A (and the upgraded DVD-A format-Morph the Cat, etc.) so I really should check it out. Pricey though, $80.00 to $100.00 in CDN dollars from a popular auction site.
discogs.com/Pat-Metheny-Bright-Size-Life/release/10194551
discogs.com/Pat-Metheny-Group-Pat-Metheny-Group/release/10495895
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