Dreaming CD question

[dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford)]

From: larry@csccat.cs.COM (Larry Spence)

>A quick TD question.  Since the album was mixed to digital, is it reasonable
>to assume that the US and UK masterings sound (nearly?) identical?  I finally
>got a UK HoL, and the difference is pretty obvious in places (e.g., beginning 
>of "Mother Stands for Comfort"), although as IED pointed out, there's still
>a lot of tape hiss in various places.  Has anyone compared the two TD 
>masterings?

It is *NOT* reasonable to expect US and UK masterings to sound identical.
I remember being horrified at how EMI America botched the initial US CD
of NFE.  Hiss between the tracks and an awful clunk at the beginning of 
'The Wedding List'.  My UK TD CD has an AAD on both the back and on the disc.
Still even with digital mixing the mastering to CD can be done differently.
The UK TD is mastered and pressed by Nimbus UK.  It is unlikely you will
find a better sounding CD IMO.

The latest crop if US KaTe CDs do not sound bad.  I must admit but I have
never compared them directly with the imports I own.  BTW I saw
a US copy of TKI and the disc was made by EMI in Swindon and Capitol had
printed the titles etc on it.  Capitol have done this with a few CDs.
I am afraid I cannot comment on a direct comparison.  But do remember that the 
import comes with the lyrics unlike the current nice-price domestic.

Anyone compared their 'old' import CDs with the TWW CDs (I know I have asked
this before)?

Derek
dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu