CD mastering flaws/glitches

I thought it might be a good idea to create a thread where people can post warnings about dropouts, distortion, truncated fades, and other flaws and deficiencies they've encountered on CD. Maybe Pat might even want to print some of them in his book to warn other readers. I have several here get the ball rolling:

Chic - Le Freak: On Mega Hits Dance Classics Volume 10 (Priority 7059), the song's pitch suddenly slows down at the 2:43 mark as though the tape source was dragging.

John Parr - Naughty Naughty: On 18 Screamers from the 80's (JCI 3143) and 80's Rock Classics - Party Town (Simitar 55142), the sound quality is decent during the first 1:13 or so but then gradually becomes muffled as the song progresses. By the end of the song, the sound quality has degraded so badly that nearly all fidelity is lost! Obviously, a dreadfully inferior tape source was used here and anyone looking specifically for "Naughty Naughty" on CD should stay away from these discs. You can find the song in excellent, fully intact sound quality on John Parr (One Way 35176) and Greatest Hits of the 80's (Platinum A26823) (the latter title is not in Pat's book).

Restless Heart - I'll Still Be Loving You: There's a dropout in the left channel at 3:25 on Country Music Classics Volume VII (K-Tel 3048).

Sheriff - When I'm with You: There's a bad dropout in the left channel from 3:00-3:01 on Romantic Hits of the 80's (K-Tel 898).


Edited by Todd Ireland

Yes I will be interested in entries made on this thread and will enter appropriate information in my database for the next edition of Top 40 Music On CD.

Warren G & Nate Dogg - Regulate on Def Jam's Greatest Hits (36377) has a big digital "click" at 3:04. Does anyone else's copy do this? My CD is in mint condition, but if nobody else has this problem, then maybe it's just my disc.

This is a great thread for this board. There is a glitch on all CD copies of Melissa Manchester's "Don't Cry Out Loud" at 0:26 on the line "while she danced without a net upon the wire." It occurs during the word "she" -- there's a dropout such that the word "she" only appears on one channel. This is most noticeable on headphones.

I know why all the CDs are this way. They were mastered from the LP master, which also has the same exact glitch. What's most interesting is that the glitch does not occur on the 45, so all it would take to remedy the problem is to use the single master for CD, but NO ONE has ever done that.

I can set the record straight for you on Van Halen's
"Finish What Ya Started", Todd - you can blame Eddie &
Alex for that one! (I have "The Best of Both Worlds" as
well.)

For folks interested in staying on top of which new CD
releases are about to come out here in the U.S. each week
(both current & re-issues), I highly recommended picking
up a monthly magazine called "ice". (Visit their official
web site at www.icemagazine.com.) Lately each issue has
been 32 pages, and it has a cover price of $3.95. It's
been publishing since 1987(!), and I've been buying it
every month myself for 11 years now (and saved every one
of 'em, too). The March, 2005, issue (#216) just hit
stands within the last few days...

At any rate, the magazine also has a regular column
called "the cd watchdog". It provides a forum for readers
to write in w/ their complaints about any new CD releases
(which is the essence of this new thread that you started
here on the chat board). If found to be true (or if they
receive multiple complaints about the same CD), the
magazine then contacts the record labels, producers,
etc., in an attempt to get the scoop, and whether or not
the problem(s) will be corrected on future pressings. Of
course, VH being the immensely popular band that they
are, many other fans also noticed the supposed "glitch"
at the end of "Finish What Ya Started". Consequently, the
magazine was evidently bombarded w/ questions about the
mastering of the song on the "Best of Both Worlds"
collection. I'll go ahead and re-type the magazine's
detailed response to its readers in that column, as it
appeared in the September issue (#210) from last year:

To find out what happened, ICE contacted Rhino as this
issue was closing, at the very end of July. The label had
been working with producer Glen Ballard on a statement
explaining that it wasn't a mistake at all, it was
intentional. At the very last minute, Ballard submitted
his explanation, which was passed on to ICE with just
hours to spare, and which reads as follows:

"There's a great irony associated with our choice to
present 'Finish What Ya Started' in a way that belies the
title. We retrieved the analog master from the WB vault
only to learn that it needed to be treated, or 'cooked,'
to restore its ability to be reproduced on the analog
machine.

"The original two-track mix ends exactly as presented on
the new 'Best of Both Worlds.' In the first mastering of
the record nearly 20 years ago, it was faded manually,
and that is the way it appears on the original 'OU812.'
We literally decided to let it 'Finish' in its truly
original form, almost like a 'director's cut.' To the
legions of Van Halen fans who remember it the other way,
we can only hope that the added one second of music and
its slightly truncated ending represents a unique version
of a song that we all know and love, and becomes in its
own right a collector's item.

"We have spent hundreds of hours in conjunction with Ed
and Alex [Van Halen] pondering the tone, texture and
tenure of these amazing recordings, and we appreciate the
responses from the many listeners who cherish this music.
It has represented a sacred mission for all of us and we
present it to you with love, respect and passion, and if
you hear something you might have missed before, please
realize it is included to present what we deem to be the
more complete archive of this amazing band. Sincerely,
Glen Ballard."

I'm sure Pat will include some sort of note in the 11th
edition next to this version of "Finish What Ya Started",
but as you can see, it was definitely not a
"glitch"...