RE: The Sound of Bushness

[CLBECKWITH@aol.com]

>Anyone know which of Kate's CDs have sound quality differences between >US,
UK, and Japanese editions?

>The only one I've directly compared is the US vs UK TWS, and the UK is
>noticably superior.  Would anyone who's compared the others be willing to
>share their insights on the subject?

>--David Reff  :)
>With apologies to my AOL brethren who may have already seen this inquiry

I've had equally minimal experience, but can point to at least one instance
similar to that noted by Mr. Reff.  The direct comparison I've made is
between CDs of _The Red Shoes_.  I bought the US Columbia on the day of
release, and purchased the EMI-United Kingdom version at Going for a Song in
London as an overstock when I was over for the Kon.  

The UK issue was definitely superior.  And if an album ever needed a sonic
improvement, surely it is _TRS_.  On the EMI (manufactured in Holland) a
layer of digital grunge is gone, and the bass seems a little more prominent
and warm.  But on the whole _TRS_ was a lost cause sonically by the time it
reached the mastering stage, a classic digital recording abomination worthy of
 Michael Bolton (I am, of course, not referencing the content! :-) 

The UK version's booklet is also markedly superior in design and print
quality although, as with the US version, there is no discernable
correspondence in track order between the CD contents and the lyric sheet.
 I've never seen that issue addressed directly although I can intimate by
Kate's observation in the Musician interview that she had real difficulty
deciding on the final running order that the decision-making process took her
up to the final prodction date for the packaging and beyond.

--Chris B., also concerned about the passing mention of no more Love-Hounds
collections