Thread: Complaints about Dylan re-issues?

Posts: 3

Post by vonwegen October 5, 2003 (1 of 3)
I saw several passing references about people being disappointed in the recent Dylan re-issues in postings, and I was wondering if you all could be more specific. What aspects disappointed you and why?

Sound quality? Again, what exactly about the sound quality?

Which album(s)?

Thanks!

vonwegen

Post by sgb October 7, 2003 (2 of 3)
Vonwegen, the sound quality issue will differ from listener to listener, I'm afraid.

By way of analogy, I know that there are many who prefer the taste of one cola drink to another (the old Coke versus Pepsi taste test comes to mind). Indiscriminate soft drink consumers won't be bothered much by the fact that some fast food chains offer the Pepsi product even though Coca-Cola predominates. They might not be too discerning about the taste differences in those instances, but when they stock up at the grocery store, they will continue to buy their preference out of habit.

Some Coke drinkers may have never tasted a Pepsi, thinking to themselves that since Coke outsells Pepsi by a huge margin it must be better (instead of just different). So, while avid Pepsi drinkers might say that Coke is sweeter tasting but with less cola taste, the Coke proponents might say that Pepsi isn't sweet enough and has an overpowering cola taste.

In another thread, and in my review of Another Side Of Bob Dylan, I described my comparison of the SACD (Coke) with my original LPs (Pepsi). I also noted that my findings were fairly similar on all five of the vintage Dylan albums I had sampled.

Post by vonwegen October 10, 2003 (3 of 3)
sgb said:

Vonwegen, the sound quality issue will differ from listener to listener, I'm afraid.

By way of analogy, I know that there are many who prefer the taste of one cola drink to another

Interesting that these releases produce such divided opinions, while Roxy Music's Avalan gets universal raves (you can add me to that growing list, too).

Seems to me that some of this has to do with including 5.1 mixes in a reissue, especially ones done by Bob Clearmountain. Eliot Scheiner, on the other hand, seems to get mixed reviews, and his work on the Dylan series is no exception. I've heard similar sentiments about his work on the Hotel California DVD-A.

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