All 9 Steely Dan albums to be released on Hybrid Stereo SACD courtesy of Analogue Productions

[humprof]

Have they released The Royal Scam yet?
I’ve gotten tired of checking…the schedule (or lack thereof!) is ridiculous…

not yet The Royal Scam and Katy Lied are the remasters i'm most keen to hear at this point

Somebody on SHF says "one of the AS weekly YT drop videos mentioned KL coming this Fall and RS at the end of the year."

 

[Tres Discrete]

not yet The Royal Scam and Katy Lied are the remasters i'm most keen to hear at this point

You & me both!

 

[Tres Discrete]

Somebody on SHF says "one of the AS weekly YT drop videos mentioned KL coming this Fall and RS at the end of the year."

Now I just have to live that long

 

[mandrix]

I still don't know whether to be pissed or perplexed that they let the masters for Aja get away. Seems like they didn't really give a damn.

 

[Tres Discrete]

I still don't know whether to be pissed or perplexed that they let the masters for Aja get away. Seems like they didn't really give a damn.

I vote for pissed

 

[jamoke]

I still don't know whether to be pissed or perplexed that they let the masters for Aja get away. Seems like they didn't really give a damn.

I consider "Aja" one of the holy grail recordings of my lifetime, and got tired of being pissed about the non-existence of a multi-channel release.
I now very happily listen to the 2023 Bernie Grundman Hi-Res 24/192 stereo remaster release played thru a Surround Master.

I would still love an official multi-channel release but I'm "angry no more" as the itch has been satisfactorily scratched.

 

[key_wiz]

I consider "Aja" one of the holy grail recordings of my lifetime, and got tired of being pissed about the non-existence of a multi-channel release.
I now very happily listen to the 2023 Bernie Grundman Hi-Res 24/192 stereo remaster release played thru a Surround Master.

I would still love an official multi-channel release but I'm "angry no more" as the itch has been satisfactorily scratched.

As with so much in life “it is what it is”. Crying over split milk is a big enough waste of time. Even more so if I wasn’t the one who split it.

 

[Tres Discrete]

I consider "Aja" one of the holy grail recordings of my lifetime, and got tired of being pissed about the non-existence of a multi-channel release.
I now very happily listen to the 2023 Bernie Grundman Hi-Res 24/192 stereo remaster release played thru a Surround Master.

I would still love an official multi-channel release but I'm "angry no more" as the itch has been satisfactorily scratched.

So…did AP finally get around to releasing Aja on SACD?
Very kind of them…
Has anyone compared it the the Japanese SHM-SACD?
I have the latter & like it quite a lot…but would double-dip if reviews are positive

 

[sbrom]

You & me both!

Me three!

 

[Paulosophy]

Somebody on SHF says "one of the AS weekly YT drop videos mentioned KL coming this Fall and RS at the end of the year."

I have also heard that the Katy Lied reissue has done away with that pesky Dolby Noise Reduction that severely muffled the high end (cymbals) in the mix. If that's true, count me in!

 

[Eclectic]

I'm still waiting for the (long-completed) Elliot Scheiner mix of Pretzel Logic. Once I have that in hand, I'll think about new stereo mixes.

 

[JediJoker]

I have also heard that the Katy Lied reissue has done away with that pesky Dolby Noise Reduction that severely muffled the high end (cymbals) in the mix. If that's true, count me in!

The issue is baked into the stereo master tape. Unrecoverable; it can only be mitigated.

 

[ssully]

Im amazed that anyone is salivating of yet another remastering of a catalog that has been remastered how many times?

 

[JediJoker]

Im amazed that anyone is salivating of yet another remastering of a catalog that has been remastered how many times?

Not very many, actually. As far as digital western releases go, there were the original '80s CDs, the '90s remasters, and now these Bernie Grundman hi-res/hybrid SACD remasters. For the reunion albums, this is the first time they have been revisited.

 

[stoopid]

Im amazed that anyone is salivating of yet another remastering of a catalog that has been remastered how many times?

I just can't bring myself to care, the Citizen Steely Dan (boxed set) mixes sound great on anything I've played them on. I also recall reading those masters are 'highly regarded', primary reason I bought the set instead of the individual albums. I'm thinking polishing these any more is blinding their fans!

 

[dabl]

The issue is baked into the stereo master tape. Unrecoverable; it can only be mitigated.

Yes the real story is way more complicated than 'doing away with that pesky Dolby noise reduction' which as a statement by itself is meaningless. Anything encoded with Dolby (A or SR) noise reduction when played back without it would be radically altered plus have a shitload of hiss so nobody would do that.

But yeah, both 'Katy Lied' stereo master tapes (for vinyl and the remix for Citizen Dan) are what they are and it sounds like the multitrack isn't in good shape even if they wanted to try a remix (again).

 

[ssully]

Not very many, actually. As far as digital western releases go, there were the original '80s CDs, the '90s remasters, and now these Bernie Grundman hi-res/hybrid SACD remasters. For the reunion albums, this is the first time they have been revisited.

But it has't just been "Western releases' , has it? Various ridiculous Japanese iterations, like SHM-CD have been salivated over just a much.

 

[stoopid]

But yeah, both 'Katy Lied' stereo master tapes (for vinyl and the remix for Citizen Dan) are what they are and it sounds like the multitrack isn't in good shape even if they wanted to try a remix (again).

The good news is that today's digital tools are impressive in what can be achieved, so aside from full data loss or missing tapes, any minor issues can invariably be resolved in the right hands. It's possibly willingness, funding, and/or legal issues holding back meaningful releases [for material that the original tapes and/or masters exist].

Once the new SACDs have some time to circulate and enough reviews trickle in, maybe a consensus will build around them being the new defacto releases. At that time I'd maybe consider them, but probably not unless they're like $15-ish each.

So are these, at $35 each, really the end all be all of the Steely Dan releases to date?

 

[humprof]

The new AP masterings have been a mixed bag. As for earlier masterings: attempts by the guys over at SHF simply to account for them, never mind sort, describe, and rank them, will make your brain hurt.

The story of Aja, for example, just seems to get murkier, the deeper you dig. (See, e.g., the Aja installment of Josh Mound's The Best Version Of... series at Audiophile Style. But make sure you read all umpteen pages, including the latest update.)

And there are inconsistencies in the tales about Katy Lied told variously by Dias, Katz, Nichols, Scheiner, and Becker & Fagen that have never been completely resolved, as far as I'm concerned. How much the crunchy cymbals and hi-hat are attributable to NR and how much to mics and miking technique, for example, seems to be an open question. But it does seem that whatever issues listeners have with that album go all the way down to the multis, yes.

 

[JediJoker]

...new SACD mixes...

No new mixes, here, just new masterings of the original mixes.