Beating the RVG Horse

DM: When I say smooth, I'm talking specifically about texture. Most of the 80's BN CDs I've got sound more rough and brash compared with various later reissues, RVGs included. To me the older disks sound more 'digital' for lack of a better term. This is independent of overall tonal balance. Occasionally this quality can actually lend the material an excitingly up-front presence in a way, but I don't think it's as accurate and usually it sounds worse. But for me this is the only *consistent* difference I notice among BN CD reissues. Questions of tonal balance seem too variable to me for broad generalization.

OK, I just went downstairs and grabbed a bunch of RVG CDs and sampled each for about a minute in succession. Sound quality is, as suspected, all over the map. I think this must have mostly to do with the original recordings as opposed to the remasterings, the differences are too great, and not just of tonal balance. If I break them down into three groups from least distinguished sound to best (bearing in mind that this ranking is only a relative one among just this group of disks, and not in ultimate terms compared to all other disks), this is what I've got:

Group 1 (best overall):

Hank Mobley -- Soul Station
Wayne Shorter -- Juju

Of these, "Soul Station" is clearly the best sounding disk of the whole bunch (even though its top treble is probably a tad overprominent), but again I think this is mostly a testimony to the original recording.

Group 2 (middling):

Lee Morgan -- Tomcat
Lee Morgan -- Leeway
Hank Mobley -- Workout
Art Blakey -- Indestructible
Art Blakey -- Buhaina's Delight
Horace Silver -- Blowin' The Blues Away

Of these, "Tomcat" is the best, but again I think this is because of the original recording sound. A top end that's a little tizzy and bass that's a little light at the bottom keeps it out of the top catagory. Of all the titles listed in all catagories however, only the last two of this catagory, "Buhaina's Delight" and "Blowin' The Blues Away" have what I would call a bothersomely overcooked top end, and this I do suspect is attributable to the mastering. However, this tonal imbalance isn't enough in my mind to place them in the last group, where the original recorded sound is noticeably less natural.

Group 3 (distinctly less enjoyable sound):

Horace Silver -- Silver's Serenade
Lee Morgan -- The Sixth Sense
Joe Henderson -- In 'N Out

I think the fact that this group doesn't sound as good as the other two can't be taken as a generalization about the mastering, since they each sound quite a bit different from one another, with different kinds of flaws displayed (the recording dates range from '63 to '68). None of these has a particularly crispy treble, though none has a plush bass either.

Of all the titles listed, the only one I can specifically recall comparing the pre-RVG issue with the RVG issue is the Henderson disk, and the earlier issue conformed to the pattern I noted in my last post and was inferior overall. I don't think I've had the opportunity to compare any of the others to any alternate reissues, either CD or vinyl, or to vinyl originals.

Other than that, we need to remember that all these disks *are* Blue Notes, which usually means they're never going to sound like a really suave Columbia, Impulse! or RCA after all. FWIW comparing apples to oranges (not only are the formats and playback gear not the same, but as I say none of my titles overlap), I don't think any of these CDs sound as exceptional as the best handful of original vintage vinyl Blue Notes I own, even those from the 50's, but I'd love to hear a good original of "Soul Station".

Qdrone: I recently got the RVG CD of "Outward Bound" [New Jazz/Concord]. It's the only version I have, but I don't think the tonal balances sound all that natural and the ride cymbal can be downright annoying. The whole thing has a certain 'mechanical' quality -- some might say "sterile" -- that suggests to me it may have been tinkered with a bit too much in remastering, but since there's no indication that it's been remixed maybe the original wasn't that great sounding either. Wish I had an older vinyl to compare -- my guess, based on other Prestige vinyls I have, is that this edition would probably sound fairly different.

I haven't found that all of the RVG CDs I've bought have sounded tipped-up, but tipped-up or not they're certainly smoother texturally than most of the older Blue Note CDs. But to the point of your post, you can't know, between the response changes imposed by the original recording, the remastering, and your system and room, what the original performance really sounded like -- and even if you could, as I said it couldn't be accurately captured and reproduced anyway. So for all you know, when you adjust the tone controls to make the end result sound 'better' to you, you may well be making it sound more faithful to the original performance as well. Stop "beating the horse" (and yourself) and just ride it.