Goes211
November 7th, 2006, 11:18 PM
Sting - songs from the labyrinth (http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/special/?ID=sting-dowland)
...I'll be honest...it's a good thing we still have a few connections at the record company (the wife used to work there)...not sure I would have bought it.
He's gone an done an album of songs by a medieval british composer called John Dowland (1563-1626). These are actual 'songs', accompanied by a lute played by virtuoso Edin Karamazov.
The music is actually surprisingly interesting and, if anything else, it's a cool insight into a different period. You can hear a few excerpts at the link above.
What drives me bonkers is that the vocal (which is very much by itself a lot of the time) is compressed to death. It's almost like you'd solo a compressed lead vox on an already compressed pop tune, pumping like mad.
It makes the songs work at very low levels, but if you turn it up it's almost unbearable.
There are a few 'spoken' parts which link the songs together...jeez, they've left the comp on there too.
I can almost count the hairs in El Stingo's nostrils, it's so harsh.
Also, they haven't really bothered doing some 'cleaning up editing'...so you can hear the comp releasing and taking it's time to do so...very strange.
Don't get me wrong : I like hiss and dirt as much as the next luddite. But this sounds like sloppy work, and I'm surprised to hear that on a 'classical' (Deutsche Grammophon) record...and then on a Sting record.
What pisses me off is that it's hindering me from actually enjoying the music.
Anyone else ?
...I'll be honest...it's a good thing we still have a few connections at the record company (the wife used to work there)...not sure I would have bought it.
He's gone an done an album of songs by a medieval british composer called John Dowland (1563-1626). These are actual 'songs', accompanied by a lute played by virtuoso Edin Karamazov.
The music is actually surprisingly interesting and, if anything else, it's a cool insight into a different period. You can hear a few excerpts at the link above.
What drives me bonkers is that the vocal (which is very much by itself a lot of the time) is compressed to death. It's almost like you'd solo a compressed lead vox on an already compressed pop tune, pumping like mad.
It makes the songs work at very low levels, but if you turn it up it's almost unbearable.
There are a few 'spoken' parts which link the songs together...jeez, they've left the comp on there too.
I can almost count the hairs in El Stingo's nostrils, it's so harsh.
Also, they haven't really bothered doing some 'cleaning up editing'...so you can hear the comp releasing and taking it's time to do so...very strange.
Don't get me wrong : I like hiss and dirt as much as the next luddite. But this sounds like sloppy work, and I'm surprised to hear that on a 'classical' (Deutsche Grammophon) record...and then on a Sting record.
What pisses me off is that it's hindering me from actually enjoying the music.
Anyone else ?