crapfromthepast
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Joined: 14 September 2006
Location: United States
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Posts: 2239
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| Posted: 07 April 2015 at 8:22pm | IP Logged
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I had a little trouble figuring out CD release dates, so I can't give a chronology of the masterings. Instead, I'll just list what I have, along with my preferences.
First, avoid Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 10 1978 (1990), which shows artifacts of noise reduction on the fade. None of the other CDs I own have noise reduction on "Night Fever".
The 2-CD Greatest (copyright 1979) sounds pretty good, with a nice EQ, no additional compression/limiting, and no NR. The downside is that it has a narrower soundstage than CDs that follow, may use higher-generation source tapes than the discs that followed, and abruptly truncates the fade.
A little better is the original 2-CD release of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (copyright 1977). It sounds a little better here, with a wider soundstage than Greatest, plus nice EQ, no additional compression/limiting, no NR, and a fade that extends about 4 beats farther than Greatest. The same analog transfer is used for Razor & Tie's 2-CD Disco Fever (1991).
Better still is the fabulous 4-CD Tales From The Brothers Gibb (1990), which seems to use the lowest-generation source tapes, has a perfect EQ, has no additional compression/limiting, and uses no NR. The same analog transfer is used for Cema's Entertainment Weekly Presents Rock Archives Vol. 2 (1990; absolute polarity inverted - don't worry about this).
And finally, my favorite: the 1995 1-CD remaster of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, which was mastered by Joseph Palmaccio. It uses the same analog transfer as Tales, and sounds almost exactly like Tales (i.e., outstanding), but the fade extends about 4 beats longer than Tales.
My recommendation: find the 1995 1-CD version of Saurday Night Fever (Polydor 42282 5389 2, or a record club issue of D111927)
Edited by crapfromthepast on 08 April 2015 at 10:56am
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Topic: Bee Gees - Night Fever
