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Subject Topic: Bobbie Gentry - Ode To Billie Joe Post ReplyPost New Topic
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crapfromthepast
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Posted: 17 November 2019 at 11:50pm | IP Logged Quote crapfromthepast

Just a few mastering notes to pass along.

The first CD I have that includes the song is Time-Life's Classic Rock Vol. 15 1967 Shakin' All Over (1989). Here, it has noise reduction (listen for the absence of hiss on the fade), and has the left and right channels reversed. Not good. The same analog transfer (NR and all) is used on:
  • Heartland/Warner Special Products' 2-CD Hooked On A Feeling (1995)
Two years later, Time-Life's Superhits Vol. 5 1967 (1991) seemed to use the same source tape as Classic Rock, but swapped the left and right channels. I thought that it might have somehow omitted the noise reduction (or maybe performed one more analog step that added a small amount of hiss?), but it still sounds pinched and muffled on this disc. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of CDs that all use the same analog transfer as Superhits:
  • Time-Life's AM Gold Vol. 8 1967 (1991) - digitally identical
  • Reader's Digest's 4-CD American Pie (1998)
  • Time-Life's 2-CD Classic Country Vol. 7 Golden '60s (1998)
  • Time-Life's 2-CD Singers And Songwriters Vol. 14 1964-1969 (2001)
  • Time-Life's 2-CD Singers And Songwriters Vol. 20 The Folk Years Yesterday's Gone (2002)
  • Time-Life's Classic Country Queens Of Country (2003)
And if that's all you had to go by, you'd think that the song just sounded pinched and muffled.

Until Bill Inglot (or someone at Rhino) unearthed a significantly better source tape for the song, for Rhino's Billboard Top Pop Hits 1967 (1995). Plenty of glorious tape hiss, and now you can hear all the reverb! Plus, the fade extends farther than all the other discs listed above. I avoid hyperbole in posts here on the forum, but this one really is a night-and-day difference, compared to everything above.

The version on Cema's cheapie Rock-N-Roll Greatest Hits Vol. 3 Late 60's (1995) seems to use the same source tape as the Rhino disc, but adds noise reduction. Boo.

My recommendation, by a country mile: Rhino's Billboard Top Pop Hits 1967 (1995)

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There's a lot of crap on the radio, but there's only one Crap From The Past.
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AutumnAarilyn
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Posted: 18 November 2019 at 12:15am | IP Logged Quote AutumnAarilyn

My recommendation is: The Girl from Chickasaw County-The
Complete Capitol Masters 8 cd set.
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garye
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Posted: 20 December 2019 at 9:42am | IP Logged Quote garye

AutumnAarilyn is right. The Girl from Chickasaw County
not only has the best sounding version of "Billy Joe"
but also Bobbie's classic 1970 hit, "Fancy" including
the 3:15 Mono Radio Edit of the single, which was hard
to find for years.
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