From: akp1@quads.uchicago.edu (Adam K. Powers)
Subject: Re: Blonde on Blonde CD remastering
Reply-To: akp1@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 13:52:58 GMT

	A couple of months ago, John Howells asked about the 'Digital Compact 
Classics' issue of _Highway 61 Revisited_ on 24k gold CD.  Now, _Blonde on 
Blonde_ has been issued on gold CD by Sony Mastersound, and, for better or 
worse, I have now acquired both.  I don't have a 'state-of-the-art sound 
system by any means (my whole system cost just under $1000), and I'm not 
familiar with high-end audio equipment/techniques/terminology (yet), so don't 
flame me if this comes off as rather pedestrian.  For those of you out there 
comtemplating Christmas CD gifts or just curious, here's my $.02 on these 
gold CD's:

	In general, don't believe the hype.  The manufacturers want to dazzle 
you with their 'revolutionary 20-bit mapping technology' BS to take some of 
the wallop out of the $25 (or more, if your town only has rip-off mall-outlet 
chains) price tag.  The gains in sound quality aren't 'revolutionary'.
The fidelity of these albums has a lot more to do with the original tapes than
with whether or not the CD is gold or aluminum.  I bought these CD's for two
primary reasons: First, when Columbia originally released Dylan's catalog on
CD, they made virtually no effort to improve the sound.  Tapes do start to
deteriorate with age and wear, so I'd rather have a clean-sounding, digitally
remastered CD than a straight tape-to-CD version, since the original tapes are
more than a quarter-century old - otherwise, I'd just search out a pristine
1st-issue LP (which would cost me more than the gold CD anyway!); 
and second, these are 'limited editions' licensed by CBS/Sony, so they'll 
be out-of-print in a couple of years, if not sooner.  When I do save up enough
for high-end equipment, I don't want to have to pay even more for them! :-)

	I can't do a side-by-side gold CD vs. regular CD on _Hwy 61_, since I 
was only replacing a somewhat worn LP copy.  My reaction to the DCC _Hwy 61_:

o The high-frequency percussion (cymbals, tambourine) are very clear; on my 
	old LP copy, these parts were more of a continual background hiss.
o Each instrument seems to have a more definite spatial location in the mix.
o DCC did a nice job of reducing the artwork to jewel-box size, much sharper
	than typical CD's.  The rear-cover notes are legible, but you'd need
	a magnifying glass to read 'em, so DCC conveniently provides them
	in the booklet as well.

	I was among those who ran out to buy _Blonde on Blonde_ when it was
first released on CD, only to find out that they had faded out the ending of
"Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" about 30 sec. early (I didn't even find this
out until a couple of years later, when I compared the times to a friend's LP
copy).  Anyway, I replaced that with this new gold CD, and here's how they
stack up:

o The packaging is weird.  The outer box is plastic and has the jewel-box sized
	front cover glued to the front and the track listings on the back.
	When I first looked at the package, I thought that it might actually
	have been a 2-CD set, but it's all on one disc.  The CD is in a jewel
	box which can be removed from the outer box, but there is *no* booklet!
	Instead, the liner pics are on a fold-out, full LP sized sheet, which,
	annoyingly, is glued to the outer box.  The fold-out sheet also has a
	reduced size color picture which was originally the front and rear
	covers of the LP.  All of the LP credits (and no additional info about
	the sessions) are also on the fold-out sheet.  The old CBS CD crams all
	of the black and white pics from the LP sleeve into the booklet, and
	you never get to see the complete picture that is on the LP outer 
	jacket.  Mastersound's package is more complete, but not a lot better.
o The gold CD sound is *slightly* better than the regular issue.  On the louder
	cuts, like "Rainy Day Women," it's hard to tell the difference.  On
	quiet songs, like "Visions of Johanna," the bass guitar is cleaner
	sounding, and a few extra nuances come to the surface - I could hear
	the echo of the snare on the wall of the studio during "Johanna."
	Again, the higher frequencies are a bit clearer.

	Neither of these releases is worthy of unqualified recommendation, so
here's my advice: if you usually listen to your CD's in a car or on a 
portable or boom-box CD player, don't bother - there's not very much difference
in overall fidelity.  If you have a mid-range setup (like me) and are picky
about sound quality (or listen with headphones a lot, also like me), then it
may be worth your while, if you don't mind the extra cost (I've shelled out
$40 for rare LPs on several occasions, so I've gotten used to it).  If you're
on a tight budget or are looking for a huge improvement in sound, don't bother.
If you've got top-of-the-line equipment and like to hear every nuance and
subtlety of the recording, then these probably are worth looking into.  
If I had to pick one gold CD over the other, the DCC _Highway 61_ has a slight
edge over the Mastersound _Blonde on Blonde_ in my opinion.

						-Adam K. Powers
						akp1@midway.uchicago.edu