Rant: Eagles - Hotel California, Nice recording My Foot!

[dj_mocok]

I've been duped again.
Firstly, I gotta admit that sometimes I bought CDs just for the sound quality's sake.
Sometimes the music is not my taste at all, but if the sound quality is great, I still keep it for reference purpose.
When I read posts saying how great this 'particular CD' sounds, then I'll be tempted to get it and see what's the fuss is all about.
I know sometimes they are biased towards the band/song they like.

But this has gone a bit too far...

To those of you that think Eagles - Hotel California (755960592) is a "reference quality" album, well I gotta tell you this:

The Eagles - Hotel California Album IS NOT A NICELY/REFERENCE QUALITY ALBUM !! Its B.A.A.A.D.
You bloody tin ears..

I think some people should stop blindly saying the song they like as a nicely recorded piece...

I don't know where I read this, either here or some reviews I read off the net, saying this guy was using the 1st track (Hotel California) to test his new system, and everything sounded so great, the guitar was so realistic, bass, vocals, blah blah blah...

When I bought it and tried it, I was so shocked,it didn't sound good at all. The vocal actually sounds "sucked out". Nothing good in particular at all. I don't even consider this as an average recording. It is a bad recording, more like a cassette than a CD.

Now why that person was so bowled over by the quality, who knows... maybe I'm getting a dud CD ? I don't think so. Bloody tin-eared guy...

Another one is Massive Attack - Mezzanine, I met several posts saying how well this thing is recorded, the bass, etc... Well, to me it's not a bad recording, but nothing special either. I'll say it's only average at best.
I remember some guy said it sounded so realistic, it's scary.

I don't know what's so realistic in this recording... well, my CD player is not Linn Sondek CD12, so yeah, maybe, who knows...
Now I'm pretty sure I might get lots of flaming for this remark for Mezzanine since I remember a few people use this as one of their references.

But before you flame me, please know that I am only talking about the sound quality, not the music itself. So if you have the album, just listen to it one more time, subjectively, and tell yourself honestly, do you think the audio quality is THAT great?

Ok. Enough ranting. I feel better now. Flame me if you want.

 

[JMT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj_mocok To those of you that think Eagles - Hotel California (755960592) is a "reference quality" album, well I gotta tell you this: The Eagles - Hotel California Album IS NOT A NICELY/REFERENCE QUALITY ALBUM !! Its B.A.A.A.D. You bloody tin ears..

You ought to hear the DCC Gold version, or better yet, the DCC 180g vinyl pressing, both remastered by Steve Hoffman. I have them both, and they are indeed reference quality.

Incidently, I moved this to the appropriate forum.

 

[dj_mocok]

Well, DCC is different thing altogether then. But the problem is the one that this guy mentioned was the regular CD version, which IMO is absolute junk.

Talking about DCC stuff, I might get some of those DCC CDs from DCCblowout in very near future.

 

[elrod-tom]

I'd also suggest checking out the DVD-Audio of Hotel California. There's no doubt that it's reference quality.

 

[Voodoochile]

I have the Hoffman CD version, and it is very nice indeed. Have to admit I was pretty skeptical after being familiar with the normal issue version..

Same thing happened to me with Norah Jones' first CD. I heard a lot of rave reviews about the quality of the recording. I love the material, but the recording was not very good, I felt.

 

[strid3r]

I was thinking about buying this CD, but I think I may hold off now. Would anyone know if any other Eagles CDs are good recordings? I was thinking of buying the Hell Freezes Over CD.

 

[dj_mocok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voodoochile I have the Hoffman CD version, and it is very nice indeed. Have to admit I was pretty skeptical after being familiar with the normal issue version.. Same thing happened to me with Norah Jones' first CD. I heard a lot of rave reviews about the quality of the recording. I love the material, but the recording was not very good, I felt.

I agree with Norah Jones CD. Nothing to write home about too. Unfortunately some people like to exaggerate things.

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

I was thinking about buying this CD, but I think I may hold off now. Would anyone know if any other Eagles CDs are good recordings? I was thinking of buying the Hell Freezes Over CD.

Like most Steely Dan and CSNY,early Aerosmith (especially so Get Your Wings) and AC/DC plus mid section Led Zepplin recordingas it was mastered originally to sound smoooooth on just about any system and sound good on the radio.Not a bad thing until you step up in system class where these limitations are noticed
I find the dynamic range of all the originals to be severely comprimised and the only reason any instrumentals or vocals stand out is simply because they were brought up in level during the particular passges to spotlight the solo.

nice enough while driving or as background/party music,well short of state of the art for serious lsitening.

the recommendation for upscale remastered cuts is a good one and if you truly value the sound of your software the only way to go for refernce quality.These very same "reference quality" will sound like crap on the average or lacking system but awsome if your gear is up to the task.

If not don't waste your loot

 

[viator122]

Quote:

Originally Posted by strid3r I was thinking about buying this CD, but I think I may hold off now.

But if you like the music, why wouldn't you want to get the CD? IMHO, if you like the album, the only question should be which version to get, right?

 

[strid3r]

I already have some low-bitrate mp3s of the music, so my wanting the CD was mainly so I could have lossless files. If the recording isn't all that great, then I'd just rather stick with what I already have.

 

[pne]

to me the hell freezes over cd sounds great, but I noticed as well, differences from their cd's. I have their boxed set (4 or 5 disc, can't remember), the same songs compared to hell freezes over, vocals are very sucked out like you mentioned, it sounds like they have taken a good 20 steps back in the soundstage, whereas hell freezes over is right between the speakers where I like it. Try hell freezes over, I can hear a very noticable difference with a toshi 3960 and you most likely will too.

 

[S_Dedalus]

I have an old vinyl copy of hotel california, and while I agree that it isn't 'reference' quality, it doesn't sound bad, just not as good as the audiophile recordings I have.

 

[bundee1]

I think the one everyone is always gushing about is the performance of "Hotel California" from the Hell Freezes Over cd. Thats the one thats always used to demo systems at HiFi stores. I chose my Music Hall MMF CD25 over a Cambridge Audio cd player because the Music Hall had better detail and bass and was also not as bright as the Cambridge. The opening guitars are so perfect, the drums have so much impact and the bongos are placed perfectly on the stage. This is the version to check out.

 

[dj_mocok]

Funnily, the article that I read specifically mentioned this particular Hotel California album.

But don't think I'll be taking another risk for the CD (unless it's an DCC grade one like JMT mentioned).

 

[bundee1]

Dj this one doesnt have to be because its mastered so well. Check it out, its usually $12.99 or something here in the U.S.