Recently a friend and a frequent reader of my website suggested I review the 50th Anniversary Edition of David Crosby’s debut. He’d read my article from a while back in which I made comparisons between two different Hot Stamper copies of the record, and he knew I was a fan the album.
I’m sure he also knew, as any of my regular readers would, that I’m extremely skeptical of modern reissues. You can find many examples on this site of reissues I’ve written about that have failed miserably to impress me. But this friend was pretty insistent that this one, remastered by long time engineer Chris Bellman, was different. He also told me it was on par with original Monarch pressing of …My Name he also owned.
Bellman was responsible for cutting one of the few heavy vinyl reissues that my friend Tom Port has liked and recommended – a European pressing from 2020 of the Dire Straits record Brothers In Arms. Tom likes precious few “audiophile” reissues. He’s mentioned maybe 4 or 5 over the years as being worthy of any consideration. Given that, and the fact that my friend was so insistent, I figured why not give Bellman’s recut of . . .My Name a shot?
I’ll admit here that my skepticism of this reissue went beyond the record itself. Perhaps I’ve just become cynical, but I wondered if my friend’s stereo and listening skills were really strong enough for me to rely on his recommendations. After all, he was apparently still buying heavy vinyl reissues, despite their questionable track record.
But then again, he’s not alone. Many audiophiles are buying these modern reissues, a fact that I sometimes have a very hard time understanding. What are people hearing that I’m not? Or, perhaps the better question is – what am I hearing that they’re not?
Here’s an example of one collector’s opinion from the Discogs page for the 50th anniversary reissue of . . . My Name:
“Proof that an audiophile pressing need not break the bank. One of the best reissues in recent memory – just for the sonics.”
Kumar Saha – Discogs customer
The thought that crossed my mind when I read this was that audiophiles who are buying these reissues are only comparing them to other modern reissues to determine how good they sound. That is, if they’re comparing them to anything at all.
In Kumar’s case, when he says this is “one of the best reissues in recent memory – just for the sonics,” it suggests to me he’s comparing the sonics of this Crosby reissue to those of other “audiophile” reissues of other titles he’s heard.
If that’s indeed the case, then the reason for the problem I’m highlighting here becomes painfully clear. If we’re using the modern “audiophile pressing” as our standard for how good a record can sound, then we are setting a very low bar indeed.
We’re also going to find some modern records that quite clearly stand out from the pack. So many of these audiophile reissues are so painfully bad, that if one comes along that isn’t a total hack job, it can seem like a bona fide revelation.
Case in point this 50th anniversary edition of Crosby’s debut. As modern reissues go, it is no hack job. Not by any stretch. When I first played the copy my friend loaned me, I was pleasantly surprised at how big, open and spacious it was. The top end extension was impressive, given the fact that Bellman had used a 50 year old tape, and it had very good bass that wasn’t bloated and flabby the way it can so often be on these modern reissues.
Not that I would claim to know his mind, but I’d guess from the sound of this record that Bellman set out to cut a reissue that was very true to the original. It’s a very musical, easy-to-like record. In fact, I’d have to agree with Kumar on this one. It is by far the best audiophile reissue I’ve heard “in recent memory.”
Having said that, the record is not without its faults, which became clear to me when I compared it to my own copy, an early U. S. pressing. After playing the first few tracks, I could hear that the guitars and vocals sounded much more natural on my copy. Going back to the reissue, my sense was that the guitars sounded a bit boosted, giving them a hard-edged sound that quickly began to wear on me.
On “Music Is Love,” the bongos had a pleasing, airy “snap” to them on my copy that was absent on this reissue. And on the all-important “Laughing”, the vocals sounded pushed forward on the reissue, while my copy sounded much more open and natural, and had a pleasing “tubey-ness” that suits this music so very well.
When I wrote about this record before, I highlighted the appealing balance it strikes between power and delicacy. The songs can overwhelm us with their size, scale and force, and at the same time draw us in with their sweetness and sensitivity.
Nowhere is this latter quality more evident than on “Traction In The Rain.” On this reissue, the guitar and vocals both sounded dry and somehow forced, a terrible fit for this lovely track. Meanwhile, listening to the same track on my copy, I was utterly charmed by the song. I felt drawn in, invited to listen and engage with the artist and bask in the intimacy of the performance.
Which brings me back to my earlier question – what, if anything, am I hearing that other audiophiles are not? Why so much love for a reissue that falls so far short of a good vintage copy that costs about the same, or even less?
The answer is unclear, although I do have a guess or two. First, one of the key distinguishing features of my system is that it’s built to optimize transparency, particularly in the midrange. A very transparent system, not a common feature in most audiophile systems in my experience, will reveal subtleties that a less transparent system won’t. And there are plenty of subtle elements to the album in question.
Second, using a low powered (35wpc) solid state amp is a very unusual feature in an audiophile system. Most audiophiles with SS amps have at least 100 wpc and most with lower powered amps are using tubes.
Low powered SS amps have an uncanny knack for revealing subtleties on a record. With my amp, nothing ever sounds forced or overblown, unless of course it was recorded and mastered that way in the first place.
Of course, these are just guesses, based on my decidedly limited experience. I haven’t heard hundreds of audiophile systems, or even more than a handful of them for that matter. Therefore I’m forced to acknowledge my sample size is insufficient for me to make any sweeping proclamations.
Nevertheless, something is going on here, and whatever this “something” is, I sincerely hope more audiophiles will try to keep it in mind when reading reviews of the latest and greatest audiophile reissue to hit the market. Some are good, many are terrible, a very tiny handful are excellent. If you ask me, those numbers fail to account for why these audiophile reissues receive the praise they do.
Do we somehow owe an allegiance to these small record companies who are going to what I’ve no doubt is considerable trouble to put out these audiophile reissues? Because these folks are fighting the good fight, does that mean we’re obligated to part with our hard earned cash to support their ongoing efforts? Regardless of the results?
Believe me, I’m rooting for Chris or Bernie Grundman or Kevin Gray __ (enter your favorite mastering engineer working today here)_____ to knock not just one, but a whole slew of resissues right out of the park! I’d be thrilled if any of these hard working guys could bring back the sound I love and that I regularly hear on my best vintage records, because I’m afraid that sound may be going away and never coming back.
But until a mastering engineer working today figures out how to make a new record sound like an old one, I’m afraid I’ve no other choice than to continue steering my readers away from audiophile reissues and toward their vintage counterparts.
And as much as I think Mr. Bellman has done a good job on this recent reissue of If Only I Could Remember My Name, all I had to do was play a vintage copy to remind myself of how incredible this record can sound, and I’ll take incredible over good any day of the week.