Customer Reviews

I Want Candy

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the music that comes to mind when I think new wave; fast beats with a punk undertone, high energy and fun. It's on my list of top 50 albums of all time (bear in mind I'm a huge new wave fan). I can play this entire album without skipping any tracks. If you like this one, you should also try When the Going Gets Tough by Bow Wow Wow.

Before buying this CD, I was listened to The Best Of Bow Wow Wow, which is the first CD I bought of them. Because I loved that compilation so much, it made me want to get the original material. I Want Candy was the first CD I bought in an effort to collect them.

When I put the CD in, I was surprised. Compared to the songs in The Best Of CD, there seemed to be more reverb in the sound, it was a slightly different mix, Baby Oh No had a shorter and worse mix, Go Wild In The Country was an extended version of the original and also worse. The thing that really bothered me was the reverb, which ruined her great voice.

While switching back and forth between the two CDs I noticed that I Want Candy was louder. I started to suspect that dynamic compression was used on the CD, something that I didn't expect in a 1993 CD, and used Audacity to confirm it.

Realizing that dynamic compression was used, it now made sense why it sounded as bad as it did. There is no point in listening to Bow Wow Wow if it's going to sound like this. The CD removed everything that I loved about the music. If you are thinking of buying this CD; stop and buy something else such as The Best Of Bow Wow Wow, 1996 or 1997 release. You get a great compilation of songs, a better version of Baby, Oh No and a really good previously unreleased track called Where's My Snake.

This is an early RCA mastering, not compressed to oblivion like most the recent collections, the sound is spectacularly good on this. "Baby, Oh No" is strikingly better sounding than on the more recent hits packages - indeed it's a completely different mix than what's on "The Best Of" CD, where the drums and bass sound like they're clipping.