New Skylarking Options

[Keltik]

Crikey!
This would never have happened if Jeff Truzzi was in charge!

[Per Aronsson]

Wow, and all this years have we blamed Todds poor engineering for the thin sound.

Will be very very interesting to hear the album as it should have sound.

[Kendley]

...and those of us without turntables will have to wait a bit longer, it seems.
:<

[Keltik]

I'm going to get a new turntable. The old one busted 12 years ago and I never replaced it, but this is the final impetus. Plus a complete set of Beatles albums that haven't been played since then.

[allears]

Kind of a shocking revelation after all the years, what? ... a faulty XLR ... huh?
... the usual aural effect of audio being out of phase is having no 'middle' image
and/or the sound leaps to left or right depending where you place yourself between the speakers.
The string quartet on 1000 Umbrellas seems to jump from side to side a bit and I do get a sense of 'thin' sound
in many a spot (like the 12-string on 'Mermaid'.... yikes). Happily the songs and performances have transcended the production imperfections. I look forward to hearing the remastered results hoping that a special reduced price for the 'right' one might be introduced for we nuts who've purchased the LP, Cassette, CD, repackaged CD, etc. Sheesh!

The music still soars ... so bring on the coherent sonics ... as my turntable's mothballed and I've got umpteen
versions of the packaging, I'd appreciate a reasonably encoded download in short order. Perhaps the 'silver lining'
is that the cash will go to the creators this time ;0)

Damned humans and their errors!

[hummingbird]

Sonically improved Skylarking? Sweet! Hey Per, you seem to be the master of Ebay and technology here, having seen your badass soundsystem. Can you tell me the best way to go for a turntable nowadays? Anyone?

[Andrew Swainson]

Kind of a shocking revelation after all the years, what? ... a faulty XLR ... huh?
... the usual aural effect of audio being out of phase is having no 'middle' image
and/or the sound leaps to left or right depending where you place yourself between the speakers.
The string quartet on 1000 Umbrellas seems to jump from side to side a bit and I do get a sense of 'thin' sound
in many a spot (like the 12-string on 'Mermaid'.... yikes). Happily the songs and performances have transcended the production imperfections. I look forward to hearing the remastered results hoping that a special reduced price for the 'right' one might be introduced for we nuts who've purchased the LP, Cassette, CD, repackaged CD, etc. Sheesh!

The music still soars ... so bring on the coherent sonics ... as my turntable's mothballed and I've got umpteen
versions of the packaging, I'd appreciate a reasonably encoded download in short order. Perhaps the 'silver lining'
is that the cash will go to the creators this time ;0)

Damned humans and their errors!

Sadly I expect downloads and a CD release will be entirely in the hands of Virgin and who knows when they will get around to doing their new editions - they have been "in the pipeline" for 5-6 years now. I just hope that they will properly remaster Skylarking now that this new "shit" has come to light. Maybe if they choose not to remaster properly there will be some scope for Ape to do so... but either way that won't happen until Virgin get going. Until then it will have to be Ape's 'lowly' vinyl offering which at least we know will be the best it can be in Andy's hands.

Andy said today that he had heard some of the new remastering and he compared with what is considered to be the best sounding CD release of Skylarking so far (damned if I can remember which one it is now) and he said it was a significant improvement. So good news. Can't wait. Maybe I should upgrade my Freecycle turntable!

[Keltik]

I wonder....could Todd Rundgren be slightly deaf at higher frequencies?

[Fellinifiend]

Just dug out my Technics turntable.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

[saturnboy]

I don't have a turntable right now - but this could make me go get one! I'll probably buy it for the packaging alone! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

Is this just going to be the album track order as originally released on two LP's, or is there "other goodies"?

[donavan]

I don't have a turntable right now - but this could make me go get one! I'll probably buy it for the packaging alone! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

I get the packaging thing first time around. But I'm baffled about the excitement years later. I mean you wouldn't dig up a Roman coin and colour it in with felt tip pens. It was/is perfect in it's own way the first time around, yeah? Isn't that why we love it? So why try harder?

This post has been edited by donavan: Jul 3 2010, 09:19 PM

[saturnboy]

I don't have a turntable right now - but this could make me go get one! I'll probably buy it for the packaging alone! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

I get the packaging thing first time around. But I'm baffled about the excitement years later. I mean you wouldn't dig up a Roman coin and colour it in with felt tip pens. It was perfect in it's own way the first time around, yeah? Isn't that why we love it?

I understand your bafflement - I really like the original art, but because my understanding is that the packaging is going to incorporate Andy's original concept for the Skylarking sleeve that ended up being vetoed by the experts on marketing at Virgin, I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes out.

[donavan]

I'm more into the content. Isn't it about the music?
sorry i edited my post whilst you replied sats......... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Keltik]

Having had an amateur interest in archaeology since I was a kid, I can appreciate your analogy, Don. But imagine you dig up (IMG:http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/albums/userpics/17381/thumb_Claude%20Sesterce%20SPES%20Aug.jpg) a Claudian sesterce as your first-ever Roman coin? Nice, and you'll always cherish it.
But years later, you might dig up this baby:
(IMG:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Claudius_II_coin_(colourised).png) You wouldn't grumble, would you? ( Pause while Donavan chucks coin back into hole and fills it in. ) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

This post has been edited by Keltik: Jul 3 2010, 09:54 PM

[donavan]

I'm just a sentimental old Hector. Stop messing with the past. Nowt wrong with that , nowt wrong with owt. Thanks Kelts. Live and let die...................I remember Tony Wilson introducing XTC singing All Along The Watchtower. He said it used to sound like that, now it sounds like this.......................I'm not sure what I'm saying here but I loved it all as it was. Perhaps it could sound better now? But I like my XTc music with soil on just like those old coins................ (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Keltik]

Nothing wrong with that at all, Don.

[Jeff Truzzi]

In the course of world renowned mastering engineer John Dents work on preparing the new double vinyl set of XTC's Skylarking for release, an interesting and wonderful thing has been discovered. John has informed us that that somewhere in the chain from Todd Rundgrens Utopia sound studio and Londons Master room studio, way back in 1986, a fault has occurred that means all of the versions of Skylarking you've ever heard, on CD or vinyl, have sounded...how shall we put this?... wrong.

How can this be I hear you think, sounds fine to me?

The band themselves always had a nagging doubt that the album sounded a little too thin and bass light, not like they remembered it sounding from the recording process. Well, what John has identified is that the previous vinyl and CD's {including the flashy US Fidelity version unfortunately} have been manufactured with their sound polarity reversed. In laymans terms this mix up means that sound waves that should be pushing out from your speakers are actually pulling them back and projecting from the rear. Something as simple as a wrongly wired XLR plug in Todds studio or the Master room would have resulted in this sound mishap. Making the record sound distant and thinner. He has identified that the original tapes appear in very good condition and with this problem now rectified APE will be able to present to you shortly a splendid double deep vinyl cut of this classic XTC album as it was intended to sound, but never has done due to human error.

We are all VERY excited by this prospect and will give you more info shortly. Stay tuned.

[Jeff Truzzi]

The above is from the APE news site.

Much has been written about the sound of "Skylarking" not being as pristine or as 'audiophile' as most of XTC's albums, much of it by me.
And I believe I have mentioned certain phase anomalies, particularly in the higher frequencies.
But I'm pretty sure the whole thing isn't out of phase.
I mean, I started my recording career doing jingles in the 80's, and phase was a pretty big deal then, because if something is out of phase it disappears in mono (which was TV at the time.)

And I remember transcribing "1000 Umbrellas" on headphones, and there WAS vocal in the center.

So I'll be very interested in what is said about this by AP and others.

This post has been edited by Jeff Truzzi: Jul 5 2010, 12:22 AM

[Jeff Truzzi]

...and those of us without turntables will have to wait a bit longer, it seems.
:<

Well, that's the thing: CDs and cassettes (and digital audio files) don't care if something is out of phase, because the two discreet audio channels don't have any physical interaction with each other. Whereas records have to be VERY phase compatible, being as one side moves the needle up and down, and the other from side to side. If a quick event is out of phase on a record, it will pop the needle out of the groove. (Ever have a record where every copy skipped in the same exact place? That's probably what was happening.)

This is interesting to me, as "Skylarking" was (with "A Decade Of Steely Dan" and "The Compact King Crimson") my very first CD purchase back in '86.
I never heard it on vinyl, but those who have say the vinyl sounded far superior to the CD.

[Keltik]

I'm intrigued, though, Jeff: if the band thought it sounded strange compared with the sound in the studio, where did the issues creep in? Was Todd responsible for the final mix, and would this "error" have been audible to him?