SV: Re: HW: Live at the Kinetic Playground

[Henrik Hallgren]

Hi there!

I´ve read the mail concerning CD-R and my opinion is that as long as the bootlegs aren´t to expensive it´s just fun having them.
The guy who´s creating  the ones I´ve offered will know about your comments and I´m sure he will try to improve both the artwork and the content on the CD´s.
I´ve seen the artwork on "Atomhenge 76" and it´s a 500% improvement if you compare to his first product.
He´s is also rather new to computers so who knows what the future will bring...
Concerning the "poor" sound on bootlegs; I think we have to accept that some of the CD´s are not of "studio-quality" since the people who´s creating them don´t have that kind of equipment or the money. A good example of a "professional" bootleg is ELP´s "Live in Poland". I would say that it´s as good an official live-CD. But as it says on the cover, they´re licensed from Manticore records.
I myself actually get a free copy a each CD and a few free beers so this work is really fun :-))).

btw. I´ve seen his list over future projects and I´m rather excited since it cover a wide range of prog-groups.

All the best

Henrik




>I've been giving this CD-R a somewhat close listen-to since it
>arrived a few days ago.  It's a nice novelty, but also a minor
>disappointment.  Here's the deal, as I hear it:
>
>First off, the quality is the same as that of a multi-generational
>tape that has had the high end hiss removed, i.e. acceptable but
>with very limited dynamic range.  When I compared it closely with
>my 8-yr old taped copy of the show, my tape sounded *marginally*
>better.  Perhaps I was merely lucky enough to be closer to the
>original copy for my tape dub, I dunno.
>
>Second, and more telling:  This is the concert where the first(?)
>appearance of the lyrics that became 'Spirit of the Age' were
>aired.  It was a poem read by Calvert himself in an early HW guesting
>(if I remember right) titled 'Starfarer's Despatch'.  Such was my
>own tape labeled, as was that of another trader that I ran into
>years later.  Anyway, THE POEM IS MISSING!  It was cut out of the
>CD.  One of the most unique moments in early HW history, not present!
>
>Also, as Hawkjoe has mentioned, there is a 2-sec pause in between
>each of the tracks on the CD, even though they all ran together on
>the original tape that must have been the source for this music.
>This is merely an artifact of the CD-R mastering software that the
>author used.  I myself have used GEAR for burning music CDs, and
>have found it can avoid the 2-sec pause problem that is common (or
>so I've read) with other mastering packages.  Perhaps a word can
>be put in the ear of the author...?  GEAR can be a bit cryptic at
>times, but it is reliable once you have "mastered" it.  :-)
>
>Of course, being the HW whore that I am, all of these were points
>that I was willing to overlook to a certain extent.  The packaging
>quality of this item is not up to that of the 3-CD series from
>'Nova Drive Productions' (wink wink nudge nudge), but most CD-Rs
>are not.  It ranks similar to the packaging of 'Orgasmatron' or
>'Dawn of Hawkwind', except slightly lower.
>
>All in all, it was inexpensive, and the packaging showed it.  And
>the low price actually included postage to the USA, so I don't
>really have any reason to bitch.  Upon re-reading this it looks
>like a litany of complaints.  Sorry about that...
>
>Just be aware that such releases would NOT challenge an inexperienced
>buyer into purchasing this over the official product.  This is
>strictly for the kollectors in the group.  YMMV.
>
>..And, I'll still be tempted to purchase additional items in
>this series...  ;^)
>--
>Captain Cloud
>capcloud at palmnet.net
>http://www5.palmnet.net/~capcloud/
>
>ObConcert:  Strange Daze '98 (!!!)
>