That's a riot. I shake my head in disbelief these days as I rip a CD and find all kinds of printed matter in there. And all those stupid tapes around the case as shown in that link yet I am buying it online so no risk of anyone stealing the discs.
Adele 25
- Thread starter Ron Party
- Start date
Agree 100% with this assessment. Million years ago is the standout and only truly memorable track, and few other decent songs and otherwise forgettable. disappointment musically overall. Played the album 5 times driving to Nashville for thanksgiving trip. Can't say I did not try. Found myself skipping tracks. Does not happen playing 21.
Also agree on Million years ago! That is the only track I am enjoying at the moment form the album.
Amazon customer feedback:
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
WORTH THE WAIT !
By Indigo Fields on November 20, 2015
Adele vocals are in the forefront on this cd. Every song is downright beautiful with powerful vocals that standout even more than on her previous cds - as if that's even possible. Honestly, I'm loving every track because I think her music can cover every genre. The highlights on the cd for me are of course Hello, I Miss You, Water Under The Bridge, Love in The Dark, A Million Years Ago, All I Ask, Can't Let Go & Why Do You Love Me. This album is worth the wait and no real Adele fan will be disappointed. There's no album fillers on here at all. My breakdown on the tracks are as follows:
1.Hello - What can you say, obviously this song reaches the masses. Almost anyone can relate to having regrets in a relationship.
2.Send My Love ( To Your New Lover ) - A very catchy song that implies to an ex to do better with the new love.
3.I Miss You - Awesome mid tempo track about bittersweet love.
4.When We Were Young - Another song I think most can relate to with beautiful lyrics and vocals.
5.Remedy - This song will have you jamming. An all around up tempo song.
6.Water Under The Bridge - I love this song. It's refreshing to hear the style of her vocals on this one.
7.River Lea - This one is a WONDERFUL SURPRISE song to me. Again magic vocals that works with the music perfectly.
8.Love In The Dark - My favorite on the cd. This is on constant repeat. Vocals,lyrics, & music is outstanding!!!
9.Million Years Ago - Another favorite. This one played on my heart strings heavy. The vocals were strong with so much raw emotion.
10.All I ask - The lyrics on this one is so awesome & it was a song Adele wrote with Bruno Mars - could be the next release. On repeat!
11.Sweetest Devotion - I sense a little country touch to this song & it's a little different, but I really like it.
12.Can't Let Go - This is the first bonus track. Very melodic & soulful - this one also stays in rotation.
13.Lay Me Down - The second bonus track. Adele's vocals are sweet but strong. I really enjoy this one too.
14.Why Do You Love Me - Lyrically this song is beautiful & moving. Vocals are pitch perfect. This song haunts me & I love it!!
Bottom line just buy the cd. This is a beautiful collection of songs & it's the best cd I've heard all year by far. If you're looking to finally hear some really good music Adele doesn't play games. She really takes her music seriously & puts out quality material time & time again. You'll definitely get more than what you paid for & this cd is worth the long wait !
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
WORTH THE WAIT !
By Indigo Fields on November 20, 2015
Adele vocals are in the forefront on this cd. Every song is downright beautiful with powerful vocals that standout even more than on her previous cds - as if that's even possible. Honestly, I'm loving every track because I think her music can cover every genre. The highlights on the cd for me are of course Hello, I Miss You, Water Under The Bridge, Love in The Dark, A Million Years Ago, All I Ask, Can't Let Go & Why Do You Love Me. This album is worth the wait and no real Adele fan will be disappointed. There's no album fillers on here at all. My breakdown on the tracks are as follows:
1.Hello - What can you say, obviously this song reaches the masses. Almost anyone can relate to having regrets in a relationship.
2.Send My Love ( To Your New Lover ) - A very catchy song that implies to an ex to do better with the new love.
3.I Miss You - Awesome mid tempo track about bittersweet love.
4.When We Were Young - Another song I think most can relate to with beautiful lyrics and vocals.
5.Remedy - This song will have you jamming. An all around up tempo song.
6.Water Under The Bridge - I love this song. It's refreshing to hear the style of her vocals on this one.
7.River Lea - This one is a WONDERFUL SURPRISE song to me. Again magic vocals that works with the music perfectly.
8.Love In The Dark - My favorite on the cd. This is on constant repeat. Vocals,lyrics, & music is outstanding!!!
9.Million Years Ago - Another favorite. This one played on my heart strings heavy. The vocals were strong with so much raw emotion.
10.All I ask - The lyrics on this one is so awesome & it was a song Adele wrote with Bruno Mars - could be the next release. On repeat!
11.Sweetest Devotion - I sense a little country touch to this song & it's a little different, but I really like it.
12.Can't Let Go - This is the first bonus track. Very melodic & soulful - this one also stays in rotation.
13.Lay Me Down - The second bonus track. Adele's vocals are sweet but strong. I really enjoy this one too.
14.Why Do You Love Me - Lyrically this song is beautiful & moving. Vocals are pitch perfect. This song haunts me & I love it!!
Bottom line just buy the cd. This is a beautiful collection of songs & it's the best cd I've heard all year by far. If you're looking to finally hear some really good music Adele doesn't play games. She really takes her music seriously & puts out quality material time & time again. You'll definitely get more than what you paid for & this cd is worth the long wait !
I can understand it if some members don't care for the music or the performance or both. It is 100% subjective, personal preference.
I, personally, like the music and the performance. Adele is one of my favorite female voices of all time. So far When We Were Young is my favorite song from the new album. I ordered the LP but I fear I am going to be disappointed with the recording quality (as I was with the LP of Adele - 21).
When are we all going to get it? Modern big selling popular artists are recorded to sound good on an I Pod, w/dynamics flattened, and everything sounding loud. W/all the "noise" around an artist as famous as Adele, recording/sound quality just falls to the bottom of the list of priorities.
I'm afraid people who sit down to listen to music, w/out doing their listening at the same time as cooking/washing their hair/avoiding traffic, are a dying breed, and we as a'philes are nearer extinction than ever before.
I would love it if Adele and her recording people would have an inkling what we're concerned about. But they don't. I really don't think they care about sound fidelity.
If you want great recording quality w/vocalists, reach for your lp's and spin some Frankie, Ella, Sarah, Aretha, Nat etc. Just don't play any Adele, Amy, Duffy, Sam etc.
I'm afraid people who sit down to listen to music, w/out doing their listening at the same time as cooking/washing their hair/avoiding traffic, are a dying breed, and we as a'philes are nearer extinction than ever before.
I would love it if Adele and her recording people would have an inkling what we're concerned about. But they don't. I really don't think they care about sound fidelity.
If you want great recording quality w/vocalists, reach for your lp's and spin some Frankie, Ella, Sarah, Aretha, Nat etc. Just don't play any Adele, Amy, Duffy, Sam etc.
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For the same reason they don't release Jurassic World on 8mm for home movie projector enthusiasts. I'm sure there's a dedicated crowd out there who really cherish and love the way film goes through a projector - and may even consider a good film print superior to a(ny) digital format - but they're just too insignificant in terms of the market to warrant doing so. "Audiophiles" (whatever that means in people's minds) are just way, way, way too niche a subset of the music buying public to figure in a major label's marketing strategy.
It's what made the multiple masters of Nine Inch Nails Hesitation Marks such an anomaly, and makes me grateful we sometimes have multiple format choices (WAV, FLAC, mp3, CD, Hi-Res download, vinyl... reel-to-reel... cassette...!) for as many releases as we do.
But let's say they did make an "audiophile" release available... Even if it was re-mastered, that wouldn't un-do the production and mixing choices, and wouldn't necessarily appease everyone anyway, as I'm sure there would be many who would lament the fact that their favourite mastering engineer wasn't asked to do it or run it through their favourite converters, or have it stamped at their favourite manufacturing plant, or...
So, wisnon, for your extra ten bucks, what criteria would you expect the audiophile release of 25 to meet? Who would you want involved in the process? Would you want a re-master, or a re-mix? What converters/lathe/pressing plant would meet your expectations? And do you think that would satisfy other audiophile's expectations?
I think it's important to remember even when NIN did go to the trouble of having bespoke masters made for the Hi-Res and vinyl releases people still complained about the mastering and sound quality. Some people are just never satisfied.
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And honestly, I think that's a fair thing to want. It's not unreasonable, especially given that more than just the audiophile community has expressed dissatisfaction with slammed masters.
But we don't know how much compression was used in tracking and mixing, at which stage there isn't much a mastering engineer can do. Magic fingers, or no.
It's possible, given Adele's standing and future prospects as more than just a one-album wonder (I think we're well past that), her legacy may be reviewed in the future, and who knows... we may get exactly what many seem to want. It's possible, but I'm not holding my breath.
I agree with these statements.
My father worked on the business affairs side of the record business for his entire career. His first job was working side-by-side with Walter Yetnikoff in the accounting department at Columbia Records. When Clive Davis started Arista Records my father moved to Arista. Later he worked for Atlantic and WEA Music Group.
After Mike Hobson started remastering and reissuing vinyl my father looked into using his record industry connections to do the same thing, but for more pedestrian rock and pop albums. Even my father's "warm" calls to his acquaintances were not encouraging.
Although we audiophiles think of reissue projects as "found money" to the labels it was not worth the executives' time and aggravation to even get approvals for so little "found money." If I remember correctly a one-time license fee of something like $50,000 was the minimum necessary to begin to interest anyone to bother with the project.
One of the most infamous victims of the loudness wars, Rush "Vapor Trails" from 2001, an originally harsh and borderline distorting production, was given the deluxe remastering/remix treatments (both had to be done because of the irreversible decisions made right at the mixing desk at the time) in 2014. Sure, the new version is more "listenable" w/less peaky breakup, and more natural highs and lows. But IMHO the soul of the album was ripped out, now better fidelity equated to less heart. I listen to both, but prefer the highly flawed original.
Maybe Adele's decisions on 25 were similarly made at the mixing desk, and can't be rescued, even w/remixing.
Maybe Adele's decisions on 25 were similarly made at the mixing desk, and can't be rescued, even w/remixing.
It is, at best, "mini niche" and getting smaller. The increase in vinyl sales should not be confused with an increase in the number of audiophiles. Reading forums like this really distorts our view of the market size, just like reading avsforum distorts our view of how many families actually have a projector hanging somewhere in their home.
It is all about the money and, for the most part, we are a segment that can easily be ignored
Yeah agree with all that and especially the point regarding compression and how that and loudness/hot track is perceived.
I strongly recommend most should watch the following Youtube segment by Ian Shepherd as it is superb for highlighting this very aspect on mastering with real world example; only 14mins long so short enough for most of us.
Cheers
Orb
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