Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan

[marty]

If I were going to buy it, Shadows in the Night might be the only album available in 24/192 that I would consider owning as an MP3 in the hope it would mask the albums sins, most notably, the vocal track! The only thing that would make me suffer through this album again would be....well, I can't really think of anything.

It's so sad when the voice of a generation does something completely embarrassing at the end of their career to try and regain popularity. But it happens. The great Ella Fitzgerald did it, and Frank did as well. At the end of his career Frank sang songs that you knew he didn't give a damn about (i.e., Bad, Bad Leroy Brown). It was of course that listeners believed he "lived" what he sang about, that made him so credible and so beloved as a singer for the great majority of his career.

If nothing else, this album also confirms my long held belief that Fremer should stick to his day job as a reviewer of fine audio gear, not music.
Marty

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

Kind of had a liking for MF until he tried to sing a few tunes at the L.A.O.C.A.S. yearly gala a few years back and in recent years he has kind of gone off the deep end with his whatever you want to call it (persona). Kind of developing the "because I said so" attitude.

 

[Andre Marc]

If I were going to buy it, Shadows in the Night might be the only album available in 24/192 that I would consider owning as an MP3 in the hope it would mask the albums sins, most notably, the vocal track! The only thing that would make me suffer through this album again would be....well, I can't really think of anything.

It's so sad when the voice of a generation does something completely embarrassing at the end of their career to try and regain popularity. But it happens. The great Ella Fitzgerald did it, and Frank did as well. At the end of his career Frank sang songs that you knew he didn't give a damn about (i.e., Bad, Bad Leroy Brown). It was of course that listeners believed he "lived" what he sang about, that made him so credible and so beloved as a singer for the great majority of his career.

If nothing else, this album also confirms my long held belief that Fremer should stick to his day job as a reviewer of fine audio gear, not music.
Marty

FYI..there is no 192 version commercially available. The Dylan approved album was mixed to CD-r:

Bruce Botnick (PonoMusic)

"Recently there have been some enquiries regarding Bob Dylan’s new album Shadows In The Night, as to why it is at 44/24 instead of a higher resolution. We spoke with the recording engineer and he said that during the session they ran a CD recorder of a live Stereo mix and gave the discs to Bob Dylan at the end of each session for him to review what they had recorded. Bob Dylan listened to the discs over and over again and decided that he was happy with the sound and didn’t want any remixes, so that’s what the mastering engineer used to assemble the album and then master through a analog console. The CD’s, which were at 44.1/16, became 44.1/24 bit in the mastering process, and basically all that was done to them was to level the songs. There are 192/24 masters but Bob Dylan made the artistic decision to go with the CD’s because he liked the performances.

In the music business we have a truism, “you can’t beat the demo.” Years ago at the end of a session I did a rough mix to audio cassette of a song and gave it to the producer, he loved the mix, and when I tried to duplicate the mix at full resolution I couldn’t match the moment. The rough mix made to audiocassette became the master and that became a #1 record. We always want to make the very best sounding recordings and mixes we can, but sometimes lightning only strikes once and if you are lucky you capture it. So what Bob Dylan did can be understood as lightning striking and he realizing that the performance was more important than a remix at 192/24.

Function over Form.

As we get more into Provenance, we will have more to tell as I know how important this discussion on compression is and assure you that music producers are aware that this is a big issue and are working towards using compression and limiting as a enhancement and not as route to loudness.

Do remember that God invented the volume control and if what you are playing is at a lower level and you want to hear it louder, just turn it up.

Bruce"

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

Absolutely loved this on a multitude of levels.

Van with John Lee Hooker.

[video]https://youtu.be/tiBfc-94DBk[/video]

 

[GaryProtein]

I'm not "hating" Bob Dylan, just saying his voice was/is unlistenable.

There are many excellent songwriters who can't sing.

His songwriting ability is excellent and when people like Joan Baez and others sing them, they are terrific.

 

[Asamel]

Why can't Fremer like "Shadows in the Night"? I don't need to agree with reviewers, I just need them to tell me what the album, amp or restaurant is about. I knew some years ago that I was done with Dylan's new releases. If I were to buy SITL and hated it that would be my own fault.