Quote Originally Posted by Ex Lion Tamer
I agree with you on the compression, but you gatta admire the crystal clear midrange that make the vocals from Lanegan and others sound wonderfully vivid and present. I can almost reach out and touch he and P.J during both their duets.
I assume you must have the LP because I don't remember Polly or Mark in the room with me. If so, glad to hear they didn't screw it up as much as the CD, but vinyl almost always sounds better on vocals and it's not entirely because it's inherently better. I've always believed that the constant noise on even the best pressings does bring the music into the room better than any of the digital formats. Just listen to the sound between tracks on a record and the room still sounds kind of alive as opposed to a CD where it's the same as turning it off. And I think SACD benefits some from the added high freq noise because it sure sounds a lot less alive when you increase the filtering.

But they definitely do master many of the CDs hotter than they do the vinyl release, and that means more compression and clipping. I tossed in a copy of my last Monkey Bones comp so you'll be able to hear what the CD sounds like too, although I did reduce the level a bit so it's not exactly what's on the CD. But probably close enough to notice there's no "crystal clear midrange". Hmmm, then again, maybe I haven't listened closely enough lately on my halfway decent system in the bedroom.

But regardless of the sound q, great album!