Bob Dylan's Modern Times, a new Masterpiece?

Wendell,

If you happen to get a chance to compare the two directly through the same system - do let us know...

BTW I like Dylan too - just not pleased with the quality of this CD - that is all.

I just got the LP today. Have got through sides 1-3, haven't done side 4 yet. I think it would be a stretch to call it a "masterpiece" and I definitely have to listen more. There is a "flatness", sound wise, to the record that Ben describes above, without a doubt. I'd bet a lot of money the original master is digital not analog. While it sounds reasonable, I think it could've sounded much better with a bit more care in the studio. I find Bob's voice to be really miked hot on side 3 and think they should've dialed him down a bit. Then again, I've got a fairly big smudge and some scuffing on that side of the album (along with some problems on other sides including excessive label glue) which may be contributing to that but I doubt it. I like how Sony has a small blurb inside the record talking about the quality control etc. with their phone #. I'll be giving them a call but will probably just keep what I've got for fear that the replacement will be worse.

Bob taking writing credits for Rollin and Tumblin and Someday Baby is a bit of a joke. While he may have twisted a few words around on these ones, they are old blues songs that have been performed thousands of times. I like Bob, but he's really stretching it there.

My feelings pretty much mirror Hdm's in regard to sonics. While it isn't a bad sounding LP per se, there is little doubt it spent significant time on a hard drive somewhere. While you can hear some pre-echo at the beginning of a few tunes, indicating the album was tracked to analog, Dylan's voice itself is more edgy than it ought to be, and seems cut from a different cloth than the instrumentation itself. I find the album to be musically very rewarding, and while I wouldn't place it in the category of "instant classic", it will, I believe, be upheld as one of the better Bob Dylan albums from the opus. I also agree about Columbia's QC - my LP too was smudged and had several grimey fingerprints along the lead-in grooves, and around the first tracks, as if the quality inspector had just finished a grilled cheese sandwich before setting about his task. However, the surface is quiet, the pressing is flat, and overall I'm rather pleased.

-R.

Shadorne, as mentioned previously I've not heard the digital version. However, after hearing the vinyl many times, I understand your concerns better.

I guess it's routine to record the instrumental portions first and "dub" the vocal track afterwards. What I'm hearing, you call it compression or whatever, is a "mismatch" for lack of a better term between the instrumental track and the vocals. I do not have any technical recording experience to better explain what I hear but there is a clearly defined difference between the instrumentation and the vocals in this release. In most recordings they are "blended" or "mixed" to sound as if the vocals and instrumentation were performed simultaneously I believe. In this recording it is very apparent the vocals were added afterwards; at least with my analog front end:

Basis 2800 Signature
Basis Vector 3 w/VTA
Zyx UNIverse X LO

All of course IMO

Audiofeil,

I agree with your description. The instruments have a far away kind of sound and the vocals are edgy. Whatever is the cause, I find it has the monotonous kind of sound of much of today's pop music, which lack dynamic range due to compression in order to sound loud.

It is hard to compare Dylan to other pop music (and unfair as he is such a legend) but I would contrast Modern Times with the Oh Mercy Dylan album where the sound has huge and impressive dynamics from very soft to loud.