War - "Low Rider"

Correcting an entry in the book, and also clearing up something that's been bugging me for years.

The version on Priority's The Best Of War And More (1987) runs 3:13 and sounds quite nice. Levels a little low, but a very warm EQ and plenty of nice, warm tape hiss on the fade.

There's a digital clone of ...And More on Time-Life's Solid Gold Soul - Superbad! (2001), which brings the levels up nicely and tweaks the EQ. Not a hint of noise reduction on either one.

I compared the above ..And More version to the two others I have on CD, and those two turned out to be possibly the worst-sounding tracks I've ever heard on any CD.

The discs in question are Warner Special Products' 2-CD Mystic Music Presents Good Times (1991) and Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies - 1975: Take Two (1991). Both obviously use the same analog transfer.

These two have the heaviest noise reduction I've ever heard on any recording, anywhere. Listen to the barely-recognizable cowbell on the intro. Yes, it's really a cowbell; it's crystal clear on ...And More, but it's just noise on these two CDs. Plus, they run about 2% faster than ...And More and fade early. There's absolutely no high end at all on the fade - another sign of heavy noise reduction. These two CDs could be from vinyl - heck, they could be from an 8-track and they might sound better.

Anyway, the Time-Life CD runs 3:01, correctly noted in the book, but it doesn't have ":09 edited from the end of the song", as the book currently reads. Just runs too fast and has an early fade.

I'd also bet that the Art Laboe and Jock Rock CDs also use this same awful analog transfer, and probably should get the same comments.

It's almost worth hunting down the Time-Life CD just to hear this one track. It's THAT bad.

Edited by crapfromthepast

I just listened to "Low Rider" on my Time-Life Sounds of the Seventies 1975: Take Two CD and it sounds like it was taken straight from the Oldies But Goodies Vol. 15 various artist disc on Original Sound 8865, which used that awful high-end killing "Waring-fds" noise reduction process. I'm surprised Time-Life, which usually seeks out good sounding tape sources for its compilations, went with that inferior source for "Low Rider".

On a side note, does anyone remember a CD publication that came out during the '80s called CD Review, which featured music critics analyzing all the latest CD releases/reissues and rating the performance and the sound quality of each disc from 1-10? The magazine would also compile an updated alphabetical listing of every CD title released to date. CD Review would encourage readers to mail in their own performance and sound quality ratings and once ten responses for a given CD title were received the magazine would publish the average reader scores.

Anyway, I can remember how many of the magazine's CD critics would often dock points for sound quality whenever tape hiss was audible on a CD and routinely give higher ratings when no hiss was present. As a result, these critics would often give high sound quality ratings of 8 or 9 for those Original Sound Oldies but Goodies CDs and rave about how clean they sounded when, in reality, the "Waring fds" noise reduction process used on these discs had not only removed all the hiss but just about every trace of the high end as well, making these tracks sound lifeless and even "underwater" at times! I loved reading the CD reviews, but could never figure out why these critics practically regarded tape hiss like it was the plague!