Comments on: Osaka ‘76

By: Jamez (again)

Jamez (again) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:28:05 +0000

It would be cool especially with shots of the Japanese landscape behind Zappa playing ‘Black Napkins’.

By: Jamez

Jamez — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 08:41:26 +0000

Anyone know whether there is video footage of this band, especially from Japan?

By: metafunj

metafunj — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 22:01:35 +0000

Thanks Michael, maybe I’ll find a copy of the original in a store that sells old records someday.

By: Michael Pabst

Michael Pabst — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 10:14:05 +0000

Hi metafunj,

the CD version of ZA sounds very muffled. Some kind of “dynamic filter” (among probably other appliances) has been used for the remastering. Such a device reduces the high frequencies when a signal gets quieter. This is to reduce the amount of hiss in the quiet passages. That means the signal gets even more muffled in the quiet passages of the music. This is very obvious for instance during the fade outs. The overall sound is kind of constantly swelling up and down in the high frequency spectrum.

May the original master tape was not in good condition anymore or the people who did the original mastering for the vinyl pressing did a beter job in the 70s.

Or they even used a vinyl record to produce the master for the CD.
In the case of We’re Only In It For The Money (the newer “original” version) this could be true also. I can hear some crackling here and there at least in some parts of the album, especially at the very beginning.

By: metafunj

metafunj — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 03:34:35 +0000

That sound is probably from the CD being slightly scratched. I don’t think much can be done about it. Still sounds pretty darn good. I taped over a copy of the LP Zoot Allures and i didn’t worry about it until i read these last few comments.

i was gonna buy the CD, but now I read its not so good.

Is it really horrible compared to the LP or just not quite the same?

By: Bob Again

Bob Again — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 13:42:11 +0000

Yes! The punch of those first guitar notes from the vinyl is something my former neighbors will never forget! I never did get the cd, but purchased the dweez ZPZ disc and almost sent it back. Sound so watered down…

By: Michael Pabst

Michael Pabst — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:47:44 +0000

It is such a pity that the CD version of Zoot Allures is so bad (soundwise). It is really the worst case of ALL CD-rissues (all versions are indentically bad). The vinyl version is so much different and better, at least my german pressing. Almost a different album. Who never had a chance to hear the vinyl doesn’t know what can be missed.

By: sluggoaudio

sluggoaudio — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 06:17:40 +0000

Just for fun, I loaded Black Napkins into Sound Forge (an editing program) just to see if I could come up with the dream version of the song. Finding the exact edit point that FZ made to get rid of Nappy’s sax solo was a fascinating experience. There is literally no room for error, down to the millisecond level. Remember, FZ just had a wax pencil and a razor blade to edit with… it works out to the width of a few hairs on either side of the edits that he made to assemble one of his finest tracks. I’d guess that there are about a dozen equally precise edits in the album version.
Anyway, I made 2 edits: one at the beginning of the song to replicate the beginning of the album, and the aforementioned one (at 1:16). Everything else is left as is. Its a 9MB mp3 file. I’ll store it as an email attachment at blacknapkinsedit*at*gmail.com, password: sluggo. I hope you all enjoy.

By: Birdman!

Birdman! — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 05:23:39 +0000

Thank you very much for bringing this up, Latent Appliance. I assumed that this glitchy sound had something to do with me downloading this show while running another processor-intensive program, and that other people didn’t have the problem. I also didn’t feel comfortable whining about a free download, but this show is so frickin’ great that it’s a real tease to hear “Filthy Habits” with rapid ticking sounds in the high end.

Long Live KUR!

By: Latent Appliance

Latent Appliance — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:01:24 +0000

I really hate whining because I love this site and the fact that we get wonderful shows posted on here…. This would be an excellent boot, the sound quality is amazing, Except that the songs on the first half of the show (including Black Napkins) seem to have a kind of high brushing sound. this is very noticable during the beginning of Filthy Habits, How Could I be such a fool, black napkins, etc… It’s making me crazy to hear these things because the sound quality and playing is so good.

I’ve heard these kinds of artifacts before on some of my CDs as they are begin to deteriorate. (Does anyone else hear what I’m talking about?)

Anyway if someone has a clean copy of this show I think it would be well worth reposting…

xxxooo

By: Another Barry

Another Barry — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 23:49:34 +0000

This show is absolutely fantastic. Wonderful quality and wonderful songs!

By: sluggoaudio

sluggoaudio — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 05:43:02 +0000

Many thanks for this show: I’ve been searching for it for ages. I’ve heard the album version of Black Napkins a million times, but hearing the original version is such a treat. FZ’s editing skills are unmatched to this day, and to think he did it with a razor blade.