Album Reviews

Though you could argue that Bayou Country containing "Proud Mary" and "Born on the Bayou" was a better album, I'm going with Green River as a stronger, more consistent overall album (you remember albums, don't you?), which also had some hits like "Bad Moon Rising" (with it's refrain "there's a bathroom on the right"), "Lodi", which at the time made me wonder why Fogerty was writing about New Jersey and of course the title tune. In retrospect, despite the New Orleans musical setting, much of what Fogerty wrote was about his life growing up in Berkeley, Calfornia. But I digress.

In any case, Fogerty and the group were as hot as a proverbial Tom Port "hot stamper" at this point in their career, having issued three albums in 1969: this one plus the aforementioned Bayou Country and later Willy and the Poor Boys. So these two are at the heart of the catalog.

For our purposes we will skip over Fogerty's unfortunate relationship with Fantasy Records and its then owner Saul Zaentz, which Fogerty memorialized in a song about a pig (though remember the late Zaentz also won 3 Best Picture Academy Awards), but again I digress!

The point is, here are two great American classics reissued by Fantasy's current owner, Concord Music. The original Fantasy releases of albums recorded at Coast Recorders (eponymous debut), RCA, Hollywood (Bayou Country, and Wally Heider's (Green River and Willy and the Poorboys) and all mastered by George Horn were obviously no sonic slouches! If you have clean originals of those pressed on thick vinyl, you are pretty much all set. If you have the Analogue Productions reissues from 2006 cut by Kevin Gray with Steve Hoffman's assistance you too are all set. Is the reissue better than the original? It's a toss up at 33 1/3 but if you have the 45rpm box, that's even better and the prices of those like the bad moon, keep rising.

So how are these two reissues cut by Miles Showell at Abbey Road 1/2 speed from high resolution digital files? First off, the tip on jackets and artwork reproduction are "top shelf". Pressing quality at I think Optimal too is "top shelf". Miles Showell's cutting is also "top shelf" and pays all respects to the original sound and intent.

If you don't have these records and buy the reissues, both of which belong in every collection of Americana rock records, you will be happy. The sound is clean, clear, full-range, with excellent bottom end clarity and transparency, and entirely enjoyable. However if you have clean originals and/or the Analogue Productions reissues, you will admire Showell's work but you will also hear how the digits degrade image focus and in the end, believability. Can't be measured but can be heard! Can be heard and it diminishes the illusion of being in the studio with the musicians. It just does.

It's very similar to what happened to Reference Recordings' reissues cut from high resolution digital at 45rpm. They sound great—until you hear the originals! Like Nojima Plays Liszt. I played both for a crowd at last year's Tampa Audio Show in a big room with spectacular sounding large Von Schweikert speakers. The original produced the impression of a live performance with an actual piano in the room, in startling focus. The one cut from digital totally lost that illusion! In the case of the Reference Recordings, they tell me the tapes are too fragile to use for cutting and I have to believe them.

Is that the case here? Or is Concord's position, "well it's easier and more convenient to digitize at high resolution and Dropbox or WeTransfer the files to Miles rather than shlep the tapes somewhere, or cut them 'at home', and it will sound as good if not better because it's cut 1/2 speed at Abbey Road and Abbey Road has such caché etc.".

I don't know. And if the tapes are too fragile to use for cutting, Concord gets kudos for doing the best possible job with the files because these do sound really good. But if it was done for expediency sake, too bad for us and you because cut from tape, these could definitely sound better and produce the startling "there" that the originals and Analogue Productions reissues deliver that take me by surprise every time I play them and explain why the AP reissues' moon is still rising.

I have no animus towards Concord, though after what I wrote about the company's Sonny Rollins Way Out West debacle, they might think so. I'm supposed to meet with someone from Concord to talk about all of this and to explain that my loyalties are with you the reader, and not with Chad Kassem and Analogue Productions and certainly not with Concord Music! I'd be happy to play all of these records for the Concord peeps. They might conclude that whatever differences there are don't make much if any difference—and probably not to the "average record buyer", but I'm dug in that they do! And I'm dug into this: if the tapes are good and can be used for cutting, use the fucking tapes! And if not, have Miles do it because he does it really, really well as you'll hear if you buy these. And if you do, you will enjoy listening, just don't, no matter what you do, compare them to the AAA versions!

As for the photo, those are 3 versions of the back cover off Green River. One's the original, ones the AP reissue and one's the new one. Which color is correct? I don't know. The original is probably not correct because printing back then was a crap shoot. Today, digital printing and prep produce superior results and greater consistency and accuracy. However, in terms of sound, the claim that digitization is a transparent process remains a lie or at best a misconception.