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Brian W.
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Joined: 13 October 2004
Location: United States
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Posts: 2507
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| Posted: 03 January 2013 at 7:22pm | IP Logged
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For anyone who cares, all of Shaun Cassidy's original
Curb albums are available as CD-R "on demand" discs from
Amazon. (They're also available as lossy downloads.) I
bought one, his first album, to sample. The good news
is: It's pretty well mastered, definitely from tape, and
certainly appears to be lossless when I look at it in
Spectral View in Cool Edit Pro. So...
Pros:
- These albums have never before been available on CD
- They're quite well mastered, if perhaps a hair on the
bright "trebly" side, and are lossless. Also, they are
definitely NOT brickwalled. They have full dynamic
range.
- They feature the original album artwork and have a one-
page folded insert and back insert
Cons:
- They're CD-Rs and will probably not last as long as a
factory pressed CD
- They are FULL RETAIL CD PRICE, so these CD-Rs will run
you around $15 a piece for a ten-track album.
- The artwork, while good and printed on glossy paper, is
not quite up to factory-pressed standards. There are
faint "lines" or "stripes" in the cover of my "Shaun
Cassidy" album, indicative of the artwork being printed
on a color laser printer.
What really ticks me off is Mary MacGregor's "Torn
Between Two Lovers" album was apparently available for
sale on Amazon as a CD-on-demand, and I didn't know about
it until it was too late -- it was just pulled in
November. Grr! Not positive if that was from the master
tapes or not... The album is for sale on iTunes from a
different company than sold the CD-R, and the one track I
bought from that Mary MacGregor album was definitely not
from tape.
Edited by Brian W. on 03 January 2013 at 7:29pm
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EdisonLite
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Joined: 18 October 2004
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| Posted: 04 January 2013 at 1:09am | IP Logged
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Yeah, I bought the Shaun Cassidy CD-Rs about six months ago, when I first discovered they existed. They had been out for 2 months at that point. I found the quality to be excellent. Luckily, the EQ was bright but maybe not quite as bright as the original LPs which were also bright. Curb is one of the hardest labels to get to reissue any '70s albums on CD (Mike Curb just doesn't care, I think), so the fact that they did these was great. If the only way they can feasily do these is to sell them at full price of $15, then I'm happy to pay the price (and did.) True, they are CDR's and probably won't last as long (and the cover artwork isn't quite up to the highest standards), so anyone who buys them might want to keep second copies (like on their hard drive). And yes, they are lossless. I definitely recommend them. He had lots of good album cuts and was a good songwriter (which most people are unaware of.)
I wish Curb would reissue some Debby Boone and Maureen McGovern songs they own but have never put out digitally.
And btw, as far as Cassidy, I happen to know from speaking to the record producer of most of his albums (Michael Lloyd) that it took 2 years to get all the paperwork through for these album reissues - they went to each and every publisher to clear every track, which even meant tracking down the ex-wife of Brian Wilson (she co-wrote a track). So a lot of work went into releasing these albums on CD-R.
Edited by EdisonLite on 04 January 2013 at 1:10am
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Brian W.
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| Posted: 04 January 2013 at 8:31am | IP Logged
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You didn't happen to buy the Mary MacGregor CD-R from
Amazon while it was available, did you, Gordon?
Edited by Brian W. on 04 January 2013 at 8:31am
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EdisonLite
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| Posted: 04 January 2013 at 11:57am | IP Logged
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No, I didn't.
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Brian W.
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Posts: 2507
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| Posted: 04 January 2013 at 12:09pm | IP Logged
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That's okay, because it turns out the current iTunes version of the Mary MacGregor album that I mentioned as being a disc dub is issued by Applause Records, which is owned by Margate Entertainment... which also owns Max Cat Records, the company that originally issued the Amazon burn-on-demand CD. So it's almost certain that the burn-on-demand CD was from this same vinyl source. Pity.
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musicmanatl
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| Posted: 04 January 2013 at 12:11pm | IP Logged
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I really appreciate this chat board and all of the information you all post. Because of this thread, I went to iTunes to check out Shaun's catalog. The only song I needed was "Do You Believe In Magic", so I got that. But the suggested songs listed below for me included some random chart singles that I had no idea were available digitally - "You Keep Me Dancing" and "In The Midnight Hour" by Samantha Sang and "Don't Drop My Love" by Anita Ward. Even if these were ripped from vinyl, they sound better than my current copies. The Anita Ward song is interesting because the titles all say "re-recorded" but I'm certain that these are the original recordings. I have an mp3 of "Don't Drop My Love" from the LP that I owned and it sounds identical. Off to do some more exploring now. :)
Frank
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Top 40 Music on Compact Disc : Chat Board
Topic: Shaun Cassidy CD albums now on Amazon
