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"Famous Blue Raincoat"..

...what's all the praise about?

I have a mint US Cypress copy, (I'm trying to remember if this one or the Canadian issue was praised the most). I listened to some of it today. While it is "clean & clear", it has that digital, uninvolving edge that kind of turns me off.

Being Thanksgiving and all, and since I always pull out Suzanne Vega's "Solitude Standing" this time of year, ("Fancy Poultry Parts"), I thought I'd make a comparison. They are both from the digital recording age. (SV from 87' - JW from 86').

Playing the JW, I was thinking, very critically, not really enjoying the listen, the experience, the music.

SV, now, this is a totally different listening experience! It sounds great! Nothing edgy, nothing sterile, nothing out of the ordinary. It is in fact an lp I hold in the highest regard, still.

The SV should really be the lp commanding the high prices. Thankfully it is available to us, the ones who love music, for a reasonable price.
128x128slaw
Post removed 
tubegroover
2,320 posts
 
"It may be as simple as those that enjoy and cherish this music are drawn into the performance and focus less on any flaws, finding them minor."

That's about as true a statement, to me. The REAL problem with digital recordings was less the recordings than the playback, at least as far as trying to enjoy the music without being distracted by the sound which was quite difficult for me in the early years. Never owned a copy of FBR and don't care to as I am not drawn into the music and had the opportunity to hear the album from a friend before deciding it wasn't my cup of tea after all the accolades. I think it is quite well recorded and that isn't the issue. "Solitude Standing" is the very first CD I purchased in 1987 after hearing the song "Luka" on the radio and being so moved by the lyrics. It is a real masterpiece by a very gifted singer/songwriter/lyricist, couldn't agree more Slaw. I then purchased the album. It really is about the music. Unfortunately some of our favorite music is just not that well recorded or mixed for that matter, we just have to live with it.
don_c55
1,025 posts
 
There are pure analog recorded records, from the analog era,(before 1982) that sound "screechy", similar to early digital.
don_c55
1,025 posts
 
@Sonictonics

There is digital sounding analog, and analog sounding digital!

The quality of the end result is not format dependent.
sonictonics
4 posts
 
@Don_c55
I hear what you are saying "There is digital sounding analog, and analog sounding digital! The quality of the end result is not format dependent." and tend to agree. But I don't agree with "Digitalis sounding to the max!"
I am not saying that the recording of Famous Blue Raincoat is true analogue bliss. I find that it does have a certain audio quality that keeps it from the top of the pile of the best recordings. I believe that somewhere in the mastering a more analogue character has been lost. I have FBR on the Canadian Attic label as a CD and the LP and also have the 12" 33.3 RPM promotional single on the US Cypress label. The single sounds like crap. This is what leaves me to believe that mastering is the issue with it's audio characteristics.
The intent of my post was to rectify the misinformation regarding the recording origins of this album.
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