I have the original Track record and I have not found anything better. Most digital and vinyl recordings that came after lack a sense of bass and the guitars seem veiled--especially on opening track "Can you see the real me?" and "Bell Boy." My copy really rocks.
MCA is always problematic to collect. IMHO, Who's Next and By Numbers are the better sounding work--Glyn Johns did excellent production on both these and I think they are the ones to seek out. They were mic-ed perfectly around drums. Pete played a big Gretsch on Who's Next and you really hear this on the best copies.
The numerous remasters issued by MCA don't hold a candle to the original issued copies--hard to find master tape quality here but nirvana when you do. You will go through a sea of dead-sounding vinyl to find the diamonds. I had to dig pretty deep to get my copies. All these albums got heavily played by their owners and it is hard to find pristine clean-sounding copies. When you find the master tape quality ones, they really outshine anything that followed. Many of the current reissues come from a substandard tape called the "German master." Try to avoid these.
While this is not an endorsement of his etail store, Better Records, Tom Port just completed a massive shootout this week of this title and has a nice review of two albums that won out. check out www.dccblowout.com
