EMI-America

[William LeFebvre <phil@rice.edu>]

> Well, don't say you weren't warned, William. At least two separate
> postings affirmed the inferiority of the U.S. CD. You get what you
> pay for. IED thoroughly sympathizes with your remarks re the
> Government's import policies.

Unfortuantely, for me, the warning came a little too late.  I had
already purchased the EMI-America disc when I saw the comments on
Love-Hounds.  When I first played the disc, I said "this doesn't really
sound as good as I would have expected.  Why do I have to turn it up so
much?  But, It's Kate Bush, so I'll ignore the poor quality."  I'll
tell you this, though---once EMI-America finally gets around to
releasing domestic copies of KB stuff, I'm not buying until I'm
convinced that the quality is acceptable.

By the way, the import policies are not the government's fault, it's
the fault of the domestic record label companies.  They're the ones
threatening retailers with law suits.  They're the ones applying the
lobbying pressure to Washington.  And what really gets me enraged is
that they have turned up the heat so much that many retailers have
decided to drop ALL imports.  They just don't want to take the chance.
So, for example, imported Kate Bush stuff, even though the profits
probably still go back to the same parent company that owns both
EMI-London and EMI-America, and even though EMI-America probably
doesn't care if retailers sell import copies of Bush's stuff, will not
be carried because retailers have stopped carrying ANY imports----ANY
imports at all!  Even imports that no domestic company has the rights
to sell won't be carried any more.  The stores are saying "why take
chances?  We don't know who has the rights to what."

True life example:  I went back to that store that was selling HoL and
TWS at $20+ to see if maybe they had The Dreaming.  The guy said:  "we
aren't ordering imports anymore.  We're just going to sell the ones we
have in stock and not order any anymore.  It's just not worth the
risk."  So I finally bought a copy of HoL, even at $21, because I was
afraid that I might not see it for sale again for a L-O-N-G time, and
that I might never see the import version ever again.

BTW, since Houston's import scene seems to be drying up, can anyone
tell me where I can get a copy of "The Dreaming"?  Can I mail-order it
from some brave retailer?  Someone mentioned a phone # and address on
this list recently.  Is that a good place to get it from (I don't
remember the specifics off-hand)?

> Really-From: ed191-bq%violet.Berkeley.EDU@berkeley.edu (Taylor)
> (from Hugh Maher)
> 
> I don't know what everyone's been talking about regarding the 
> poor quality of The Whole Story CD. I got mine from Tower in San Francisco -
> a domestic EMI-America pressing, and it sounds fine! In fact, many of the
> songs sound great, and except for a bit of intial hissing on
> "Wuthering Heights,and "Wow," I can't see what the problem is. Does
> anyone want to give
> specific sections of songs that sound especially bad?

Try this experiment, if you can.  Attach a second CD player to your
stereo.  Place The Whole Story in one player and Lionheart in another.
Get "Wow" playing on each player (TWS track 5 and Lionheart track 3).
Now switch back and forth between them.  You should notice a BIG
difference.  Not only will the TWS version sound softer (not as loud),
if you turn it up to compensate for that you will also notice that it
is not as clear and not as "bright".  Swap the discs out and repeat the
experiment.  This should convince you that it is really the disc and
not the player/input combination.  If you can't find a second CD
player, then try it with just one.  First play the Lionheart version
then quickly (while it is still going thru your mind) slip in the TWS
version.  I did it this way and really noticed a difference.  I haven't
tried this yet, but I think you'll notice similar differences between
TWS and cuts off of HoL.  And now that The Dreaming is out you can
compare those cuts, too.

All for now, I'm too depressed to continue.  Does anyone have the
address of EMI-America?  I'd like to write them and complain.
Seriously!

			William LeFebvre
			Department of Computer Science
			Rice University
			<phil@Rice.edu>