Dolby Deterioration

Speaking of Dolby.....I’ve always been mystified why Tea For The Tillerman is considered to have such good sound quality. I have had an original UK pressing of it since its’ release, and always found the drums to sound very muted---with no snap and stick-on-the head sound, and the cymbals almost absent. The acoustic guitar strings also lack sparkle and that "scratchiness" of the pick sliding across them.

Michael Fremer discussed the difference between his original UK copy and the reissue on Mobile Fidelity, and panned the reissue, saying the highs has been boosted. Can you guess where this is heading? Turns out whomever mastered the original didn’t know it had been recorded with Dolby, so didn’t put the signal through the second half of the Dolby process, the part that restores the frequencies depressed during recording! The original is missing it's high frequencies, it's no wonder I don't hear the cymbals!

That was not the case when Mobile Fidelity remastered the album. Their version was done using the correct Dolby processing, and their LP is what the recording actually sounds like. To his credit, it was Fremer himself who brought this to everyones’ attention. He may be full of himself, but he’s a big enough man to admit a mistake.