Countdown to Ecstasy on LP

[JoZmo]

I picked up a mint copy of this and Gaucho at SA the other night.

When I played it I couldn't believe how bad it sounds.

It's muffled and there's very little seperation of the instruments yet Gaucho sounds fine.

Just wondering if it's me or if anyone thinks the same?

 

[millerdog]

You made me bust it out. It's a little dirty still, but yeah, it does sound kinda shitty. Sort of got better with "Razor Boy" but still....Bodhisattva sounded really strange. What's up with that?

 

[sasaki kojiro]

Most Steely Dan is pretty bad. Aja was the breakthrough. I got'em all on vinyl.

 

[michael w]

I disagree.

IME with early NZ pressed Steely Dan LPs, they were all above average in sound quality compared with recordings of the period.

Can't Buy A Thrill has great dynamics and imaging. Listen to Palmer's voice on Dirty Work.

Countdown was a bit so-so with muffled vocals but clear instrumentals.

Pretzel Logic had the boys back on track with a highly polished, punchy sound.

Katy Lied was a stepup from earlier albums with a tighter more transparent sound , Bad Sneakers is pure honey. The back cover even goes into audiophile territory with talk of SOTA mixing desks, expensive German mikes and eschewing individual EQing.

The Royal Scam had a harder, grittier edge in both the songs and the sound.

Aja marked a return to Katy Lied's sweetness and improved upon it with better dynamics and transparency. Black Cow and Peg are demo quality pieces that can be used to show analog still rules over digital.

Gaucho was even better. Perfectly balanced, from the first track to the last, this is the penultimate Dan recording.


cheerio