Frankie Goes to Hollywood-Rage Hard: The Sonic Collection SACD

[Felix E. Martinez]

It's worth noting that this SACD - as one of ZTT's first attempts at the format - was transferred unmastered from the multichannel mixes. While it might not be a "loudness war" problem disc, some degree of mastering and TLC is needed at the final stage before manufacture (as anyone who owns David Bridie's unmastered SACD of "Act Of Free Choice" will know well, with track levels all over the place and an immensely quiet overall level).

Don't know what your source is, but I would agree with you. Volume levels are inconsistent, track to track.

 

[The Bright Side]

Such a weird disc. I LOVE Frankie and some of the mixes on this are stellar (e.g. Relax, Pleasuredome) while they e.g. completely destroyed Rage Hard. I really don't know what they were thinking. Plus, as noted before, every track has a different volume level, and we're talking really big differences here, too. Overall, though, this is a good disc to have. Glad I got my hands on it.

 

[fredblue]

Such a weird disc. I LOVE Frankie and some of the mixes on this are stellar (e.g. Relax, Pleasuredome) while they e.g. completely destroyed Rage Hard. I really don't know what they were thinking. Plus, as noted before, every track has a different volume level, and we're talking really big differences here, too. Overall, though, this is a good disc to have. Glad I got my hands on it.

I grew up with this music and I so wanted to enjoy it but the DTS rip I found about 5 years ago is just horrible! I can never get through it all without hitting eject and sticking something else on!

as a result, I've continually passed on this SACD ever since and I've seen it pretty cheap in the interim.

now it's on my wish list.. but it goes for stupid money.. and i really would only buy it now just to "own" it.. a bit sad really, as this one had the potential to be a demo disc, in the right hands.

 

[The Bright Side]

Hey Fredblue. Just FYI, the DTS rip accurately represents the sound of the SACD (except for the compression, obviously).

 

[fredblue]

Hey Fredblue. Just FYI, the DTS rip accurately represents the sound of the SACD (except for the compression, obviously).

thank you for the info, The Bright Side!

maybe I should just scratch it off my wish list on sa-cd.net after all..!?

do you have the Propaganda SACD?

I'm on the lookout for that at a sensible price.. but as another ZTT release from the same era, I may be wasting my time looking for it, if its as crummy as the Frankie Rage Hard SACD..!?

 

[quattroatl]

They should have just done a multichannel mix on "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" instead of this disc. At any rate, this disc does sound pretty bad. I hear compression noise shaping when listening to this disc. Such a shame because it could have and should have been treated better in competent hands.

 

[LizardKing]

thank you for the info, The Bright Side!

maybe I should just scratch it off my wish list on sa-cd.net after all..!?

do you have the Propaganda SACD?

I'm on the lookout for that at a sensible price.. but as another ZTT release from the same era, I may be wasting my time looking for it, if its as crummy as the Frankie Rage Hard SACD..!?

I think I prefer the Propaganda SACD to the FGTH disc...

 

[The Bright Side]

Revisiting this right now.

Years back, I ripped this disc, normalized the volume levels across songs and packed it all into one FLAC for gapless playback.

Listening today, I actually find this quite pleasurable. Since I last gave this a proper spin, I have moved into a new place and set up my system differently, with my large front speakers mounted on the wall before my desk, at ear level.

Perhaps that's why right now, I'm really enjoying this disc! The only thing that, still, bugs me a bit is that in Rage Hard, the beginning of the stereo has a real bang when it kicks off. That's been taken down a whole lot of notches in the mch version. But overall, I really do think this is a cool listen.

I also think the mixes are of great quality all the way through. Sure, some are more active than others. I mean, Pleasuredome just has more to play with than other songs, so of course it'll be more amazing in multichannel. But yeah, I find that since I moved into my new place, a lot of discs that didn't seem to exciting to me before now work much better. So, again, perhaps a setup thing.

I would probably give it somewhere between a 7 and 8 if I were to vote.

After volume normalization, that is!