Monocles - "I Can't Win" in super audio

[Don Julio]

I guess this is old news, buy why does the version on BFTG's original vinyl sound like garbage, while this version, apparently from BFTG's CD pressing, is vastly superior? Am I correct in assuming that Tim only had a G copy for the vinyl while this is from a mint copy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE-pXftei-4

 

[Don Julio]

Was anything else "upgraded" from the vinyl series to the CD series, especially this dramatically?

 

[massb]

I remember some years ago Bosshoss wrote he provided new mastering for the second release of the BFTG volumes on CD.

Mark, do you confirm?

 

[MopTopMike]

This question can be answered if you look it up in TeenBeat Mayhem

The 1st pressing of "I Can't Win" is really hard to come by in any playable condition. Took me almost 25 years to find one. A black label, with gold print for the text / font. The mastering is crystal clear. This can be purchased quite cheaply on the reissue done about 10 years ago. The guy in the band claimed it was a different mix / take. It is not, it matches the 1st pressing.

Subsequent repressings came out after the 1st pressing sold out, given away or sold in conjunction with tickets to Monacles performances at movie theaters. Issued on yellow wax (which often turned red over the years) or black wax. The label design is different, white text, with Monacles in larger print as compared to the first pressing (which you can see for yourself within the TBM Top 1000 label scans section in the book). But the source of the repressing was a played stamper, resulting in the swishy / more muffled sound. All variations suffer from the inferior pressing.

Tim, and most every one else back in the late '70s and '80s only came across these muffled pressings. It wasn't until the '90s that a few of the 1st pressings surfaced. I believe that only Mark C. owned a first pressing in the olden days, and he wasn't about to spill the beans.

 

[bosshoss]

I remember some years ago Bosshoss wrote he provided new mastering for the second release of the BFTG volumes on CD.

Mark, do you confirm?

Only volume 8. It was one of the first remastering jobs I did. Unfortunately, I didn't really know what I was doing, and while it sounds better than the original because I used better condition copies of the discs, I also used compression without knowing enough about how to use it properly. Tim asked for it to be loud and hot! So I obliged. We both know better these days. It's really not all that bad and I was pleased with it at the time, but I wish it could have been done now instead of then.

 

[Don Julio]

But the source of the repressing was a played stamper, resulting in the swishy / more muffled sound.

That's a strange turn of events. I haven't heard of stampers being used to create a new master. I guess the master tape was damaged or destroyed?

 

[MopTopMike]

A producer and a mastering engineer both confirmed that whenever you hear a slushy / muddy pressing on a record, it is no doubt due to the master disc being played back on a record player. It can be played, but often will cause damage. Sometimes, the master was played it back on a record player for curiosity's sake, or to "check" the signal, etc.
Rather than pay again for a new master & mother disc from the tape (if the tape itself wasn't erased over, the norm of the day for vanity client projects), it' is apparent that the manager of the Monacles simply repressed more copies from the master disc.

 

[diamondc]

The new (original) pressing makes it sound like another take from the one on BFTG. But I still really like the shitty sounding version, too. Genius lyrics

 

[MopTopMike]

Here is the first pressing with the clean mastering:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Monacles-I-...8642560?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item2593834100

Tho I doubt the record is VG as claimed. Refer to other thread....

 

[Mr.Segment]

Wow, that one looked ROUGH! Too bad.

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

This question can be answered if you look it up in TeenBeat Mayhem

The 1st pressing of "I Can't Win" is really hard to come by in any playable condition. Took me almost 25 years to find one. A black label, with gold print for the text / font. The mastering is crystal clear. This can be purchased quite cheaply on the reissue done about 10 years ago.

Maybe my copy is an "aged" reissue - was it an exact repro?

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

This question can be answered if you look it up in TeenBeat Mayhem
Subsequent repressings came out after the 1st pressing sold out, given away or sold in conjunction with tickets to Monacles performances at movie theaters. Issued on yellow wax (which often turned red over the years) or black wax. The label design is different, white text, with Monacles in larger print as compared to the first pressing (which you can see for yourself within the TBM Top 1000 label scans section in the book). But the source of the repressing was a played stamper, resulting in the swishy / more muffled sound. All variations suffer from the inferior pressing.

This doesn't accord with the info given in TBM - I take it that the maroon/burgundy wax issue mentioned in TBM is actually just aged yellow wax? and there's no mention of a black wax second pressing in TBM either.