Early Years Box Set - improvements

[daemonspudguy]

I really want to know just what the hell happened to the sound quality on the Early Years boxset, especially the remixes of Live at Pompeii and Obscured by Clouds. How did they fuck it up that badly?

[Alanko]

I really want to know just what the hell happened to the sound quality on the Early Years boxset, especially the remixes of Live at Pompeii and Obscured by Clouds. How did they fuck it up that badly?

I think Pompeii is a case of rather brashly trying to use modern production values to improve source material that falls below the quality of studio multitracks. I feel like OBC was remixed to make it sound like a glossy Dave-Floyd album, with slushy guitars.

The biggest crime, for me, is the effects layered onto the Z-Point tracks we have no bootleg equivalents of. We've not heard these tracks before, but there's a modern flanger effect on the guitar. Tired boomer ears making too many decisions around production values, squeezing perceived sonic fidelity by trowling on harsh EQ curves and indiscriminate noise reduction algorithms.

The Early Years set is part tick-box exercise, so that the remaining band members can close a chapter of their history. Too little love went into making it, and there was too much desire to make the material fit a slightly Dave-shaped interpretation of the Floydian canon. In my opinion! They didn't use the best available sources for the BBC material, which indicates to me that it was a perfunctory exercise rather than letting some genuinely enthusiastic archivists do really deep trawls and follow up on any loose threads or vague leads.

[rontoon]

I think Pompeii is a case of rather brashly trying to use modern production values to improve source material that falls below the quality of studio multitracks. I feel like OBC was remixed to make it sound like a glossy Dave-Floyd album, with slushy guitars.

The biggest crime, for me, is the effects layered onto the Z-Point tracks we have no bootleg equivalents of. We've not heard these tracks before, but there's a modern flanger effect on the guitar. Tired boomer ears making too many decisions around production values, squeezing perceived sonic fidelity by trowling on harsh EQ curves and indiscriminate noise reduction algorithms.

The Early Years set is part tick-box exercise, so that the remaining band members can close a chapter of their history. Too little love went into making it, and there was too much desire to make the material fit a slightly Dave-shaped interpretation of the Floydian canon. In my opinion! They didn't use the best available sources for the BBC material, which indicates to me that it was a perfunctory exercise rather than letting some genuinely enthusiastic archivists do really deep trawls and follow up on any loose threads or vague leads.

This pretty much sums it up.

[diw]

I feel like more effort was placed in transferring the video material, and less in finding the best audio sources.

[Floydfan2410]

One of the think that disappointed me very much about the Early Years box was the fact that they had beautifully restored the London 1966/67 footage but only release about half of it using only Nicks Boogie audio. Im still waiting to see the whole thing in that quality!

[rontoon]

I feel like more effort was placed in transferring the video material, and less in finding the best audio sources.

Lana Topham did an exceptional job tracking down, procuring, and overseeing the restoration of video footage. She had been doing this for years. She also had no issues in reaching out to me when she had questions, unlike the audio team.

[rontoon]

One of the think that disappointed me very much about the Early Years box was the fact that they had beautifully restored the London 1966/67 footage but only release about half of it using only Nicks Boogie audio. Im still waiting to see the whole thing in that quality!

That was a creative choice. Unfortunately I think that it's highly unlikely that we'll see it uncut in the same quality.

[Floydfan2410]

That was a creative choice. Unfortunately I think that it's highly unlikely that we'll see it uncut in the same quality.

What a shame.
I thought I read somewhere a couple years ago that there were plans to release Peter Whiteheads film on Blu-ray, but maybe it was just a rumour.
It's too bad because that's probably the very best footage of Syd we will ever see.

[rontoon]

That's more likely than an official Floyd release.

[daemonspudguy]

The Early Years was a disappointment overall. Other than the remixed and remastered versions of A Momentary Lapse of Reason and the Delicate Sound of Thunder, the Later Years boxset has next to nothing of value at all IMHO.

[stonytokes]

I can't listen to the remixes at all. Listening to Nick's re-recording of the drum tracks takes me out of the listening experience every time. As much as I love his drumming on other Floyd projects his style just doesn't really fit the songs the way that the tracks recorded by studio pros Carmine Appice and Jim Keltner do.

[Emdy]

The Early Years was a disappointment overall. Other than the remixed and remastered versions of A Momentary Lapse of Reason and the Delicate Sound of Thunder, the Later Years boxset has next to nothing of value at all IMHO.

I appreciated the smaller sets that came out of those releases for what they were, reasonably decent value for what was given (in some sets) at ~$40-60 a set. While quite a bit of the material was already available in communities such as this, sometimes in better quality, there’s an ease of convenience that comes with simply popping a disc into a box rather than sifting through hard drives for files that may or may not still be where you thought they were and may or may not still be playable, keeping up with new revisions and sources of existing material, digging the old VCR out from under a pile of crap in the garage to watch an ancient compilation tape sourced from Nth generation transfers, etc… not that I discourage any of that, that’s why we’re here after all.

That said, yes, a hefty chunk of the material included in The Later Years could’ve ended up on YouTube for all I care. Venice, Knebworth, demos… I watched/listened to them once, and they’ve been enjoying life on the shelf for the last 5 (?!) years.

Again, I’m happy most of the material from these projects was released in smaller sets. Snag the 1970 Devi/ation set and the later Hakone release for around $100, you essentially have an Atom Heart Mother Immersion set with a third of the footprint of the actual immersion sets.

[Gern Blansten]

I think Pompeii is a case of rather brashly trying to use modern production values to improve source material that falls below the quality of studio multitracks. I feel like OBC was remixed to make it sound like a glossy Dave-Floyd album, with slushy guitars.

The biggest crime, for me, is the effects layered onto the Z-Point tracks we have no bootleg equivalents of. We've not heard these tracks before, but there's a modern flanger effect on the guitar. Tired boomer ears making too many decisions around production values, squeezing perceived sonic fidelity by trowling on harsh EQ curves and indiscriminate noise reduction algorithms.

The Early Years set is part tick-box exercise, so that the remaining band members can close a chapter of their history. Too little love went into making it, and there was too much desire to make the material fit a slightly Dave-shaped interpretation of the Floydian canon. In my opinion! They didn't use the best available sources for the BBC material, which indicates to me that it was a perfunctory exercise rather than letting some genuinely enthusiastic archivists do really deep trawls and follow up on any loose threads or vague leads.

They were presented with much better quality sources for things (including the BBC material) while it was in production, and they responded by threatening legal action. Which indicates to me that they don't care.

Equally annoying is how it was regardless presented as the ultimate vault-emptying anthology, as if they did all they could possibly do. And it was perceived that way by most, so discussing the shortcomings and combatting misinformation ("there is nothing left in the vaults to release, this is the best quality that exists, tapes don't exist, etc...") can be difficult or pointless.

[daemonspudguy]

And also, the idea that the tapes don't exist anymore for the BBC recordings is patently laughable. The BBC have archived all of their audio for many decades, going back to around 1967 at least. The original masters do still exist. The BBC has them.

[YASHA]

If these words are not your personal guess, please indicate the source.

I don't want to believe in the usual opinion about the destruction of archives BBC.

[rontoon]

<< They were presented with much better quality sources for things (including the BBC material) while it was in production,
<< and they responded by threatening legal action. Which indicates to me that they don't care.

What is the source of your info? I presented them with much better quality sources for the BBC material and was told that the CDs were already produced and it wasn't worth the expense of doing them over again. So no threat of legal action on my end.

[daemonspudguy]

There is another problem with the Early Years boxset that even if you were ok with the sound quality issues would still necessitate something to replace the contents with: a not-insignificant amount of people had the discs that came with their copy of the boxset just straight up stop being readable. There was a recall program that ran until 2020, but only for people who lived in a territory where Rhino Records (WMG's catalogue and reissue subsidiary) handled distributions. If you happened to have this issue and lived in, say, the United States, where Legacy Recordings (Sony Music's catalogue and reissue division) distributed it, you were just out of luck because they did not do a recall program.
Edit: and another thing! If you happened to end up with a copy of the Early Years boxset that had the audio only version of Live at Pompeii but not the remastered Obscured by Clouds (not that you'd want that but still), and happened to be in a territory where this was distributed by WMG, you would not be able to get a replacement CD because as far as WMG was concerned that was how it was intended to be, even though that's obviously nonsense!

[thedoctor]

If you have Prof Stone's BBC upgrades then you're pretty much caught up.

Since getting them myself a couple of months ago, it's all I use for my podcast. PFM seems to not notice any difference.

[lvri]

In regards to a second volume of TEY, that's never going to happen.

I won't be so sure... If the Pink Floyd "catalogue" (not sure for the english word) is sold, you will have plenty of TEY... And even more. When the band will have no more power regarding the releases, a lot of things will go out.
Except if selling the catalogue means only the "official" albums ?

[MrFender]

I won't be so sure... If the Pink Floyd "catalogue" (not sure for the english word) is sold, you will have plenty of TEY... And even more. When the band will have no more power regarding the releases, a lot of things will go out.
Except if selling the catalogue means only the "official" albums ?

Typically a catalog sale includes everything in the vault as well - any masters, live recordings, unreleased materials, images, etc. Anything that was put down on tape by the band and usually name, image, likeness for use in promotional purposes. I would expect a significant increase in releases with a sale.

Assuming Rog keeps The Wall with the 1987 agreement.