Elbow- Asleep In The Back Deluxe Edition

[markl]

One of my all-time desert island discs. Jumped on the new DE version the instant I found out about it. After long pre-order, it finally arrived.

As much as I'm mildly interested in the extras, main draw for me was the hope that it had been remastered. Why remaster such a recent CD? LOUDNESS WAR victim, plain and simple. Maybe now that tide is turning, we'll start to see re-issues of these dynamic-less CDs.

Anyway, received the Deluxe set today. Mastering credit is ambiguous. After the credits for the original album, it lists Bunt Stafford Clark as mastering engineer, same as the original; however, this may be just a simple cut and paste of the credits from the original booklet. On the next page, it says Deluxe Edition Credits, Tim Young mastering engineer. But does that mean he just did the new stuff on the bonus discs? Time to compare via EAC.

First clue comes from disc lengths. original is 61:44. The new one is 61:36 in length.

I didn't run all the tracks, just the first 7. Here is the Deluxe Edition peak levels (oddly low for a new CD):

1. 82.7%
2. 82.9%
3. 83.8%
4. 82.6%
5. 83.1%
6. 81.7%
7. 82.9%

The levels on the original for the first 7 tracks are all 100%

Verdict: Yes, we have a remaster at a lower level, maybe some dynamics have been restored. YAY!

Will give it a spin later tonight to see what iut actually sounds like.

Mark

P.S. If you don't know Elbow, you are truly missing out. Very modern sounding, but extremely woozy, boozy, watery, hazy, yet abrasive and gritty music that rushes and whirls set to extremely emotional, raw and honest lyrics sung with fantastic commitment by mumbly but emotive singer Guy Garvey. Owes a big det to Peter Gabriel if that helps any. This record is well worth the Deluxe Edition treatment, it's really a modern classic.

 

[bong]

Awesome news! I was reluctant to buy the DE Remaster as well but to hear there's a chance of more dynamic range has me interested. Asleep in the Back is certainly one of those albums where dynamic range is important, with all the peaks and lulls involved in the music.

One other good thing is I have the original first pressing of the album, which funnily enough does not include the track that bears it's title. Finally nice to have all the tracks on one CD.

Oh, and I always thought Guy Garvey sounds like Rob Dickinson from Catherine Wheel as much as Peter Gabriel.

Anyway, hanks for the heads up!

 

[Sherwood]

Interesting that Elbow would have succumbed to the loudness war. "Seldom Seen Kid" is one of the most dynamically diverse I have ever heard, and that' part of the reason I love it so much.

In any case, it's good to hear them updating their back catalog with better quality masters. Kudos!

 

[xantus]

I wonder if it is really more dynamic or if they just turned the volume down...

 

[SiriuslyCold]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif Interesting that Elbow would have succumbed to the loudness war.

it's not them probably - most pop/rock albums in the last decade and a half were getting progressively louder and more compressed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif "Seldom Seen Kid" is one of the most dynamically diverse I have ever heard, and that' part of the reason I love it so much.

the backlash started with Death Magnetic, I think - SSK came just after that and won recognition from turnmeup.org for being dynamic. even then it was louder than CDs released in the early 90s

 

[Canman]

Thanks for recommending this. I had never heard of Elbow but a preview on Amazon suggests this is an interesting album.

 

[Pangaea]

Saw this on Pitchfork today...
Pitchfork: Album Reviews: Elbow: Asleep in the Back [Deluxe Edition]

Been listening to the original version of this album a lot lately. Great album, probably should invest in the newer version.