Top 40 Music on Compact Disc: Huey Lewis - Japanese MQA CD remasters

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EternalStatic
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Posted: 05 July 2023 at 6:02am \| IP Logged

New MQA CD* remasters of the Chrysalis-era Huey Lewis albums (self-titled debut through Hard at Play) were released in Japan on June 30, along with a non-MQA Japanese Singles Collection
CD+DVD release. I have ordered the albums but foolishly did not include the Singles release. If any members have ordered this release, I would be very curious about the sound quality, as it includes the
Jellybean "Short Version" of "The Power of Love", which has been released on import CD before but in fairly marginal sound quality (IMO, of course).

(*The MQA CD, if you're unaware, if a mildly controversial new-ish product that is reverse-compatible with standard CD players/drives. The controversy around MQA technology stems from the fact that the
mastering-to-disc phase is technically lossy, even though the marketing purports it to be a lossless format. A lot of folks more technically minded than yours truly have made a lot of posts about it
throughout the internet and I'm sure our gracious host would not want us dragging those arguments into our humble and agreeable board! Experientially, though, I bought the recent Culture Club series of MQA CDs
and they sound fantastic.)

Here's an article at The Second Disc which contains the reported track lists.
(The "Short Version" of "Power of Love" is not listed on the Japanese Singles Collection here, but according to Discogs users who have added the album, it is included as a bonus track.)

(Edited to clarify the singles comp is not MQA, just the albums.)

Edited by EternalStatic on 05 July 2023 at 6:34am

thecdguy
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Posted: 05 July 2023 at 10:41am \| IP Logged

Eric, what's the Import that the "Short Version" appears
on?

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EternalStatic
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Posted: 05 July 2023 at 11:11am \| IP Logged

Hi Dan,

I think it's on this release:
https://www.discogs.com/master/85326-Various-Greatest-Hits-O f-The-80s

E

thecdguy
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Posted: 05 July 2023 at 11:46am \| IP Logged

I have that Box Set. It was my understanding
that the version there is the UK Single Mix.
Maybe the UK used that "Short Version"
(Jellybean Remix) for its commercial single.

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crapfromthepast
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Posted: 05 July 2023 at 11:53am \| IP Logged

Confirmed that it's on that 8-CD set from Disky.

I incorrectly assumed that it was the version that was included on the UK release of the Fore album. Nope; the UK Fore seems to be the common 45/soundtrack version.

This "Short Version" (4:18) appears on this 12 inch single. It's an edit of the John "Jellybean" Benitez 12" version (7:10), and is longer than the common 45/soundtrack version (3:53).

Edited by crapfromthepast on 05 July 2023 at 12:10pm

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EternalStatic
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Posted: 05 July 2023 at 12:20pm \| IP Logged

Thanks for confirming, Ron! Interesting that they would go to the trouble to add "The Power of Love" to the UK CD of Fore! but not make it the UK "hit"(?) version.

BTW, my discs have arrived ... the mastering ain't bad. It sounds pretty close to the old CD masters to me, honestly, for better or worse. Not a lot of futzing, even though I
always feel like Huey can use some brightening.

crapfromthepast
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Posted: 05 July 2023 at 12:32pm \| IP Logged

The original Chrysalis Sports CD sounded superb (the 1999 reissue... not so much). I remember the US Fore as also being pretty solid, but it's been a while since I dug into that album.

I also had a European best-of called Heart Of Rock And Roll (1992), which had excellent sound.

Let me know if you want me to compare the new MQA releases of Sports and Fore to the '80s-era Chrysalis releases.

Edited by crapfromthepast on 05 July 2023 at 12:33pm

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crapfromthepast
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Posted: 05 July 2023 at 3:20pm \| IP Logged

... and I got to do such a comparison.

For Sports and Fore, the 2023 MQA releases sound quite good, but aren't an improvement over the '80s-era Chrysalis releases.

Both MQA releases have great dynamic range, reasonable EQ, and no evidence of noise reduction on the fades. But that's the case with the '80s-era discs as well.

I think the 2023 releases may be new analog transfers of the same source tapes that were used in the '80s. I hear a tiny bit more bleed-though at the beginning and end of some tracks, compared to the '80s-era releases. But under normal listening conditions, you wouldn't hear it.

Bottom line: They sound nice. Enjoy them, EternalStatic!

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EternalStatic
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Posted: 05 July 2023 at 4:04pm \| IP Logged

Thanks Ron! Its funny you should mention the bleedthrough. I did jack the
volume of one track way, way up at the very end and I did notice that. But I
figure if I have to digitally enhance it that much to notice it, then it isnt
really affecting my listen!

995wlol
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Posted: 06 July 2023 at 6:30am \| IP Logged

crapfromthepast wrote:

This "Short Version" (4:18) appears
on this 12 inch
single. It's an edit of the John "Jellybean" Benitez
12" version (7:10), and is longer than the common
45/soundtrack version (3:53).

FWIW, I have a 1986 KDWB aircheck with the Jellybean edit.

thecdguy
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Posted: 07 July 2023 at 2:40pm \| IP Logged

I noticed the link to The Second Disc page with the track listings show a long version of "Do You Believe In Love" as a Bonus Track. I
never knew there was a longer version of it. Does anyone know if this longer version has ever been on any other CD, maybe a VA
compilation or Import CD?

I also noticed that the "Hard At Play" Disc only has the Remix/Sax version of "It Hit Me Like A Hammer" as a Bonus Track and none of the
edits of "Couple Days Off".

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LunarLaugh
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Posted: 08 July 2023 at 8:23am \| IP Logged

crapfromthepast wrote:

The original Chrysalis Sports CD sounded superb (the 1999
reissue... not so much). I remember the US Fore as also being pretty solid, but it's been
a while since I dug into that album.

I also had a European best-of called Heart Of Rock And Roll (1992), which had excellent
sound.

Let me know if you want me to compare the new MQA releases of Sports and Fore to
the '80s-era Chrysalis releases.

It's hard to improve on the original Chrysalis discs and they are super easy to find in the used
bins.

The 1996 "Time Flies..." compilation on Elektra records which was mastered by Bob Ludwig is
pretty solid but it uses the LP mix of "I Want A New Drug". All the original mastering engineers
are also listed in the booklet so it's possible that Ludwig just used the existing mastered
versions and adjusted them all to be the same loudness level.

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EternalStatic
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Posted: 12 July 2023 at 4:09pm \| IP Logged

LunarLaugh wrote:

Yeah, I'm glad the mastering is very in line with the original pressings. I could have gone to the used bins for a lot cheaper, but I really wanted some of these bonus
tracks, plus in the interest of full disclosure, I didn't have any Huey albums on CD except for Time Flies..., so it was nice to get them in a matched "set".

EternalStatic
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Posted: 12 July 2023 at 4:11pm \| IP Logged

thecdguy wrote:

I thought that was kind of weird too, esp. since that is kind of the only album on which they really skimped on the bonus material. Maybe the compilers were only
interested in "Hammer" since it was an actual different mix and not just an edit?

EternalStatic
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Posted: 12 July 2023 at 4:24pm \| IP Logged

I also wanted to recant something I stated in my original post, which is that the previous release of "The Power of Love" (Short Jellybean Version) was subpar ... having heard the Japanese Singles Collection
version now, I think that the fidelity issues that I had perceived originally could be inherent to what the master actually sounds like, as both CD versions that I have heard come across as notably lo-fi, kind
of muddy and grungy but yet still a bit shrill in the vocal effects.

That is not to say the Jellybean short mix sounds bad: there are a lot of "club" records from the mid-'80s that kind of sound like this, like they were going for a bit of boom box distortion or something. But
I've found it hard to play it next to the other Huey stuff, even after multiple attempts at re-EQ'ing. Anyway, that was a long way around the world to say that the mastering that appears on the Disky CD doesn't
sound great, but there might not be a way to make this particular track "sparkle".

thecdguy
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Posted: 13 July 2023 at 9:21am \| IP Logged

EternalStatic wrote:

thecdguy wrote:

I noticed the
link to The Second Disc page with the track listings show
a long version of "Do You Believe In Love" as a Bonus
Track. I
never knew there was a longer version of it. Does anyone
know if this longer version has ever been on any other
CD, maybe a VA
compilation or Import CD?

I also noticed that the "Hard At Play" Disc only has the
Remix/Sax version of "It Hit Me Like A Hammer" as a Bonus
Track and none of the
edits of "Couple Days Off".

I thought that was kind of weird too, esp. since that is
kind of the only album on which they really skimped on
the bonus material. Maybe the compilers were only
interested in "Hammer" since it was an actual different
mix and not just an edit?

That's what I thought, too. But there's also an "AC Mix"
of "Hammer" that's not included.

There's at least a few other Single Edits that aren't
included, like the one for "Give Me The Keys (And I'll
Drive You Crazy)". But I think most of their singles are
on the 3CD "Collected" Import that I have. It has some of
their extended versions as well.

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995wlol
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Posted: 13 July 2023 at 12:36pm \| IP Logged

EternalStatic wrote:

I think that the fidelity issues
that I had perceived originally could be inherent to what
the master actually sounds like, as both CD versions that
I have heard come across as notably lo-fi, kind
of muddy and grungy but yet still a bit shrill in the
vocal effects.

That is not to say the Jellybean short mix sounds bad:
there are a lot of "club" records from the mid-'80s that
kind of sound like this, like they were going for a bit
of boom box distortion or something. But
I've found it hard to play it next to the other Huey
stuff, even after multiple attempts at re-EQ'ing.

I only have the Jellybean mixes on the original 12"
single, but I agree that they do sound kind of shrill to
my ears as well.

EternalStatic
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Posted: 14 July 2023 at 5:23am \| IP Logged

995wlol wrote:

I only have the Jellybean mixes on the original 12"
single, but I agree that they do sound kind of shrill to
my ears as well.

Thank you! Good to know that it isn't something that's just gone "wrong" in transferring to digital.

kaqueno
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Posted: 22 June 2024 at 2:09pm \| IP Logged

I realize now that this Japanese compilation includes a
version of "The Heart Of Rock & Roll" labeled as a 4:42
Single Version, not the same as the 45 o LP version. Does
anyone know more about this?
On the other hand, I notice a difference in arrangements or
equalization in "stuck with you", could it be another mix?

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