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Razor & Tie should be ashamed

Sam Ching | California | 12/23/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"OMG do NOT buy this CD.



I grew up listening to a wonderful stereo vinyl version that we took very good care of, and later on I bought another one before it went totally out of print sometime in the 80's. That vinyl print is the album Chet made -- this CD has royally jacked it up in a way that is truly unlistenable.



It's as if R&T forgot to bake the tapes before mastering. Each and every song starts about a half step flat until the tape speeds up after a few seconds. In some cases, there is such bad wow and flutter throughout the tunes that I feel as if I'm about to lose my lunch. What a disrespectful smear on Uncle Chet's legacy ... indeed, on high fidelity in general.



A note to Razor & Tie (a label not usually associated with releases that suck) -- next time, call RCA's corporate office in Tokyo, Germany or elsewhere and find a real clean safety master of the original if one is available. The keeper of the vault who released this particular master to you should be banished and shot. It really is that bad. The alternate takes alone render this release a non-event. None of them are good enough to sit alongside Chet's original choices, and they are all sonically compromised as well so why bother?



I am confident I could transfer my cleanest vinyl copy of this album to digital and have something a million times better than this. A sad footnote to a brilliant career and an equally brilliant album .. :'("