New Santana Album "Africa Speaks"

Especially when they attempt musical analysis and philosophize about musical matters in incoherent ways; then, go on to focus on the after-the-fact “compression” of the music which is a production value and ultimately has little to do with the artistic merit of the artist’s message.  Don’t think I would enjoy this recording the same way, but I enjoyed “Abraxas” on my Ford Capri’s crappy radio more times than I can remember.

I had an interesting conversation with a friend, who is knowledgable in the recording arts. Have you ever noticed that on so many LPs, the first cut has inferior sound to the rest of the record, which may actually be really good? My friend tells me that it is because that first cut is compressed to smithereens because it was intended for radio play. 

Abraxas is amazing.

Frank

That’s probably one of them old wives tales. If it doesn’t make sense it’s probably not true. They used to use 45s for AirPlay, who knows what they use now, a digital file I assume?

Especially when they attempt musical analysis and philosophize about musical matters in incoherent ways; then, go on to focus on the after-the-fact “compression” of the music which is a production value and ultimately has little to do with the artistic merit of the artist’s message.

Two questions: 

1) Incoherent? Where? 

2) The artists message. Where is this message? Other than in the compressed music. Please explain.

OK.

Incoherent because, FOR ME, the problems with that Santana recording are not the compression. That is not what makes the music, FOR ME, much less successful than recordings such as “Abraxas”. Sure, it would sound better if it had not been compressed so much....a little. But, it would still lack memorable melodies and the excitement of “Abraxas” which was the result of its place in time. And, it would still have Santana guitar solos which, TO ME, have sounded too similar for quite some time....been there, done that, kind of vibe. I like some of his “musician of the universe” vibe infused music, but I just don’t think that this music works all that well.

The net level of dynamic compression that is the result of listening to an uncompressed recording in most car radio environments and the resulting negative impact on the music are, in my experience, no less than that experienced when listening to a more compressed recording on a high end system. That is not the make or break aspect of the total listening experience for me.

To answer your second question, sorry to answer it with another question: So, are you suggesting that you don’t get the “artist’s message” listening to a great tune while listening on your car radio where the net level of dynamic compression is also high?