The Sonics Are Astonishing
5 Stars
Posted
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
by
AnalogJ
While this record has its share of filler, the sound of this reissue is off the charts. I have an original mono, and I have the MFSL All- Time Greatest Hits, the latter painstakingly done from the original individual album masters. There are lots of micro details that are revealed on the MFSL, but the MFSL, overall, sounds a bit cold and clinical. You'll go "Wow, I never heard that before" in terms of detail. And the music, of course, is great.
The AP, on the other hand, with the same songs, makes you melt into the arrangements and performances. The sound is warm, rich, and lush. The details are there, but they don't hit you over the head. This was probably tube mastered (at Bernie Grundman's), I'm guessing. The result is that this music has a beguiling characteristic.
As most of Orbison's albums do, this one contains filler, largely on side 3. I could skip that side and be happy. But the other songs, and particularly "Crying" and "Running Scared" w