Crossfade: Love the band, horrible recording.

[Race Car Driver]

Ok, so one of my favorite albums, Crossfade, is such a drag to listen too.
I had a copy from a friend, and loved it soo much, but it sounded horrible, so I figured Id buy the album for better quality.

The album sounds just like the burned disc. I really like the band and the songs. But listening to it just plain bums me out.

Sounds like a cassette tape... or even worse... no highs no lows... must be BOSE! :W

Oh well, anyone else have a favorite album that just lets ya down?

[Hdale85]

I dont know about another album that bums me. But i also love that album and own it. I have noticed it doesnt sound so well.

[BTB]

Not a serious favourite but otherwise could've be a decent listen: Coldplay's "X&Y"... hard and compressed sounding,... rubbish, rubbish, rubbish!!! I bought that disc cause I thought that SQ would be ok, wasn't expecting serious audiophile stuff or anything, but really guys??? Surely one of the biggest rock bands in the world would bother how their music sounded on disc?

But one disc I do quite like that just doesn't deliver the sonic goods would have to be "Yoshimi battles the pink robots" by the Flaming Lips, just one of those that could've been much more than it is in terms of SQ. Great music that just sounds a bit flat at the best of times.

A serious issue to be sure... I want to like music for music sake but with some stuff it sounds so dreadful that a "sit down" listen is nearly unbearable, so it invariably ends up as background noise when I'm cleaning dishes or something.

[David Meek]

That's interesting. I've not heard it myself, but I've read in various forums that Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots is a "sonic masterpiece", etc. I guess I'll have to buy it and listen for myself.

Oops, back OT.

[Chris D]

Well, if we're talking about the Flaming Lips, now, make sure you're addressing whether it's the redbook CD version or DVD-A. I bought the DVD-A because, like David, I had read a plethora of reviews about how great it is. My take? I just can't get into the music at all. And because of that, I don't know if I could really say what kind of quality the audio is. I'll have to take another listen to see.

[BTB]

Hi David

The "Yoshimi..." disc is without doubt a fine effort, in fact, easily one of the finest of it's genre that you're likely to encounter, musically speaking that is. This makes it all the more frustrating that the recording can, at best, be described as average... certain tracks (like the title track) stand out with slightly better quality, but as for the rest... not quite awful, but certainly not splendid either.

To be fair, the music is pretty complex, in the sense of it being multi layered and miles away from the music by numbers drums & guitar scene. But I've heard other rock/electro hybrid albums with a similar "layered" production value that come off better than this one. Like "Give Up" by the Postal Service, which arguably doesn't have the "depth" of "Yoshimi..." but does serve to prove that this type of music can sound good too.

I am aware that this is a slippery slope... and I certainly couldn't live without the variety of music I do enjoy, and in the end, a poor recording of a brilliant performance has to win over a superb recording of soulless rubbish anyday. But wouldn't it be grand if it all came together a little more often than it normally does? In a perfect world I suppose...

[Chris D]

Yeah, I just wasn't a fan of the music that the Flaming Lips put on that disk. Now if they can put U2 on high-res audio discs, I think that would be the ultimate recording.

[aud19]

Shouldn't this be in the music section.....?