I thought I'd drop in this thread to correspond with this Dave's MFSL recommendations thread. A lot of you have been asking about particular MFSL's so I thought I'd make this thread available to show you all the pressings I've heard that didn't make the cut for me. If it's not on either list, I haven't heard it. UDCD 509 Huey Lewis and the News Sports UDCD 511 The Police: Synchronicity UDCD 514 Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington Together for the First Time/The Great Reunion UDCD 517 Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon UDCD 537 Pink Floyd The Wall UDCD 544 Brian Adams Reckless UDCD 568 Queen A Night at the Opera UDCD 571 U2: War (still the best sounding U2 album on MFSL) UDCD 582 Boston Third Stage UDCD 588 Queen: News of the World UDCD 590 Rush 2112 UDCD 591 Todd Rundgren Something / Anything? UDCD 595 Pink Floyd Atom Heart Mother UDCD 597 Heart Heart UDCD 604 John Mellencamp Scarecrow UDCD 607 Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto Getz / Gilberto UDCD 608 Eric Clapton Just One Night UDCD 610 Queen: The Game UDCD 612 Moody Blues On the Threshold of a Dream UDCD 613 Jean Michel Jarre Oxygene UDCD 614 Rush Signals UDCD 615 XTC Skylarking UDCD 616 John Mayall Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton UDCD 617 The Allman Brothers Band Brothers and Sisters UDCD 625 Cream Live Cream / Live Cream Volume II UDCD 628 Bob Marley & the Wailers Exodus UDCD 631 Joe Cocker Sheffield Steel UDCD 633 Rick Wakeman Journey to the Centre of the Earth UDCD 634 John Mellencamp The Lonesome Jubilee UDCD 637 Utopia Oops! Wrong Planet UDCD 639 Eric Clapton Eric Clapton UDCD 641 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee Sonny & Brownie UDCD 642 R.E.M. Murmur UDCD 643 Moody Blues Every Good Boy Deserves Favour UDCD 647 Jean Michel Jarre Equinoxe UDCD 653 Eric Clapton Backless UDCD 654 Bob Marley & the Wailers Catch a Fire UDCD 657 Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated R&B From the Marquee UDCD 662 John Mayall The Blues Alone UDCD 664 Counting Crows August and Everything After UDCD 665 Sonic Youth Goo UDCD 666 Nirvana Nevermind (unfortunately still the best pressing) UDCD 667 The Searchers It's The Searchers / Take Me for What I'm Worth UDCD 668 Queen: A Day at the Races UDCD 671 Moody Blues To Our Children's Children's Children UDCD 672 Bernard Herrmann The Four Faces of Jazz UDCD 676 Canned Heat & John Lee Hooker Hooker 'N' Heat UDCD 677 R.E.M. Reckoning UDCD 680 The Bee Gees Trafalgar UDCD 681 Cream Goodbye UDCD 696 Harry "Sweets" Edison & Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis In Copenhagen UDCD 697 Blue Oyster Cult Agents of Fortune UDCD 699 Guns N' Roses Appetite for Destruction UDCD 700 Moody Blues Long Distance Voyager UDCD 705 Don Henley Building the Perfect Beast UDCD 711 Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion I UDCD 712 Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion II UDCD 713 Jimmy Buffet Son of a Son of a Sailor UDCD 718 Moody Blues Seventh Sojourn UDCD 721 Don Henley End of the Innocence (not that great, but I haven't been able to find a better mastering... yet) UDCD 724 The Velvet Underground White Light / White Heat UDCD 727 Jeff Beck Blow By Blow UDCD 728 Don McLean American Pie UDCD 729 10CC The Original Soundtrack UDCD 736 Joe Cocker Mad Dogs and Englishmen UDCD 737 Moody Blues A Question of Balance UDCD 738 Blue Oyster Cult Tyranny and Mutation/Blue Oyster Cult UDCD 744 John McLaughlin with Mahavishnu Orchestra The Inner Mounting Flame UDCD 746 Jimmy Buffet A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean UDCD 748 Guns N' Roses G N' R Lies UDCD 749 The Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters UDCD 750 Counting Crows Recovering the Satellites UDCD 751 Joe Satriani Surfing With The Alien UDCD 754 The Who Who's Next UDCD 755 The Who Live at Leeds UDCD 758 Roy Orbison Lonely and Blue
UDCD 517 Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon, are you serious on this Dave? wow I'll need to re-hear my copy tonite......
Thanks Dave, great idea! What better versions should I get to replace my MFSL "Abraxas" and "Layla", if you don't mind me asking?
Dave, for the REM and Counting Crows titles and the BOC twofer what digital pressings do you recommend that beat the MFSLs in sound quality?
My reaction too, as I think it is the best sounding version I have heard. Which one sounds better, Dave? Evan
I'm not Dave, but I prefer the W. German Dennis Drake mastered Layla over the MFSL. I know Dave is going to recommend the first Jpn. pressing for Abraxas. I have to disagree with him on that though, the MFSL is easily my favorite. I'm no fan of noise reduction, but that Jpn. first pressing is one of the most hissiest CDs I own. I highly doubt it is from the original master.
For Abraxas I prefer either the SACD or the Japanese 1st pressing. For Layla I recommend the RSO W. German pressing mastered by Dennis Drake.
I thought the MFSL of Mellencamp's Scarecrow is a slightly different mix compared to all other pressings. If that is the case there should be nothing else to compare it to.
Moody Blues = original London masterings. Country of origin has no bearing on these as far as I know. Trafalgar I have been unable to find a better mastering of so far, but I still stand by my original statement. It isn't that bad really, just not up to what MFSL has given us in the past IMO.
I disagree on a lot of that list. There's a ton of discs that better the MFSLs, but Hooker N' Heat? Murmur? Oh well. To his their own.
Dave, You can't be serious about some of these? Non-recommended? Peter Buck and Mike Mills (of R.E.M.) have been quoted as saying M.F.S.L., "finally got it right" with regards to 'Murmur'. If the band members themselves say, "It finally sounds right" I think I'll stick with their opinion. However, you can add Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Second Helping" to your non-recommended list!
Dave, this is just another great thread and really appreciated. It would be extremely helpful to refer to the CD pressing(s) which think better the respective MFSL's. A couple of questions where I assume I know the answers, but a final confirmation would be great: UDCD 585 Derek & The Dominos Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs Is it the early WG RSO and/or Polydor 2-CD-set (are they both the same mastering)? UDCD 607 Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto Getz / Gilberto Do you prefer the regular non-remastered Verve CD? Was that one mastered by Dennis Drake? UDCD 616 John Mayall Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton and UDCD 662 John Mayall The Blues Alone Do you prefer the WG London CD pressings in both cases? How about the other listed Eric Clapton CD's, are these bettered by the WG Polydor's/RSO's? Same question regarding Cream, also the WG RSO's? I am really curious in regards to the Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee album also. And, doesn't "Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story" have to be added to the list? I think it is consensus between quite a few forum members that the Dennis Drake mastered WG CD is the winner. Thanks for all the input. Roland
Dave, you seem to enjoy bringing pain and suffering upon yourself by publishing a list like this. Wait until Mr. LoVerde sees this! I'd like to know what, "Something/Anything," digital pressing bests the MFSL.
I have all of the above titles and enjoy them, except for the R.E.M. which I am looking for and would gladly buy off you or anyone else here on the forum. That R.E.M. is reportedly the only time they flat-eq transferred the master to consumer media. I gave away the PF to a buddy who REALLY loved the album, it was his 50th birthday. I have since replaced it with the SACD, which i have never heard the redbook layer of. The Searchers disc i use to demo new stereo equipment with!!! The Marley Catch a Fire disc completely stomp the same tracks that appear on his 4-cd box.
Well that doesn't work for me, when Jeff Lynne remasters his own stuff, when Roger Becherian remastered Costello and Gus Dudgeon remastered EJ's classic years, the results were . . . let's say . . ."less than optimal". Nevertheless I do really want that R.E.M.
So, what's wrong with the Cream MFSLs? What would be a better choice (if any)? Did you consider that in some instances there's only so much that can be done with how those live tapes were recorded?
