The history of mastering from analogue tape of the 4 seasons catalogue is worth checking out. Yes ….. SOME of the vinyl is quite superb and SOME of the CD releases quite poor. So the news that Rhino is going to re-issue the original hit albums ‘Gold Vault Of Hits’ and ‘2nd Gold Vault Of Hits’ in January can either be a big deal or nothing to shout about. Some of the Philips original releases of albums in the last half of the 60s displayed the quality of mastering and pressing of stereo vinyl albums that buyers wanted back then. The best of these releases was the 'Edizione D'Oro’ 1968 double album and it sold in the bucket-loads: packed with alternative STEREO ‘takes’ it was superbly mastered and pressed in a ‘high quality’ package. However the master tapes appear to be ‘lost’ as it has never re-appeared on either vinyl or CD.This was an important set of tracks for Four Seasons fans when issued in the 60s as Paul Urbahns told us…..”The two Gold Vault of Hits albums are critical to 4 Seasons fans because they include the original Philips masters in true mono and stereo (as available), as well as stereo album versions of 9 of their Vee Jay hits (on 2nd Gold Vault). The original Philips Reel to Reel release, manufactured primarily for audiophiles, from the pre EQ'd tapes sounded fantastic for the time. These two Philips albums remained basic catalog product and remained available until the mid 70s.
The original Gold Vault vinyl albums, are regular
sellers on eBay and unused copies of the 1997 issues are selling for as much as
$30 each indicating that there is a market.”
But for this ‘vinyl’ and CD release it is suggested Rhino will use so called ‘flat’ recordings from the original vinyl EQ’d ‘master tapes’. Well as these where customized for vinyl they should have a good dynamic range reading. (vinyl mastering needs specific eq levels to keep the record ‘in the groove’….literally). The main reason I think many audio enthusiasts still think the ‘vinyl rules’ is that very few very good transfers to CD of the Four Seasons back catalogue exist. And many of these do not match the 45s of the day……some don’t even match the stereo LP versions.
The recent dynamic range(DR) meter (a component for Foobar 2000 music player) by the Pleasurize Music Foundation allows instant checking of CD’s and individual digital tracks and this should produce reading of 12 or 13 for good DR readings on the best mastered CD’s. The Curb series of the Four Seasons back-catalogue shows not so good readings with some tracks at 8 or 9.(whilst some are excellent) These are a bit ‘loud’ compared to vinyl, and can give a distorted and more tiring listening experience. The ACE series from 1996 shows the ‘Rag Doll’ songs at virtually the same reading as the Curb release.
The last time these ‘Gold Vault’ albums appeared on CD was in 1997 on Curb (with the 2nd Gold Vault also appearing in Japan in 1999). These like the other Curb and ACE releases all seem to come from an analogue/digital transfer done sometime after the 1988 25th Anniversary Box Set and these individual albums/twofer CD’s started appearing between 1994 and 1997 ( See UK Appreciation Society web site CD discography). But if these CD’s leave a lot to be desired, in terms of dynamic range then it must be down to the mastering engineer. I checked out the Dutch Disky CD DCD 5411 ‘Rag Doll and 15 Others’ from 1995 and this has DR readings generally between 10 and 12 which means they have better dynamic range.
This ‘Gold Vault’ re-issue is probably a very cheap project for Rhino but it WILL provide an alternative to previous CD releases of the hits from the 60s. With minimal work for the sound engineer, and, if the master tapes for the original albums have been used, the re-mastering work will be minimal and the sound should be superb.
It is our assessment that a serious re-mastering job is needed on the whole Valli/Seasons catalogue but it appears unlikely as Rhino(along with others) appear to be cutting back on CD production….according to some press sources…. due to poor CD/DVD sales during the last 6 months.
But this IS a step in the right direction and a clear focus on sound quality, so we expect to be recommending this release to all fans come January. What remains to be seen is how the versions compare with previous CD masters and the ‘original’ vinyl?. We still don’t have the ‘Edizione D’Oro’ versions on commercial CD (but thankfully in our ‘masters archive’) but we will hopefully be able to report back re this collection ‘from original vinyl album master tapes’ next year and how it compares. Maybe a further search in the vaults next year will reveal more goodies?
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