Customer Reviews

Music From Big Pink (Omr)

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

 

 

Having bought music on vinyl and paid again for the same music on CD, I am now going through a third phase of buying whatever is available in the genres I like on SACD. SACD has the convenience of CD with much superior sound quality - I actually prefer it to LPs.

This SACD of a classic is highly recommended. All else is gaslight?

Can't seem to figure out why there are so many negative reviews of the sound quality of this Band masterpiece. For a piece of recording from 1968, this mastering job actually sounds terrific! The SACD layer definitely sounds richer but even the CD layer is commendable and up to par with other excellent MOFI releases. Mobile Fidelity has done it again. I'm proud to have Music from Big Pink amongst my other MOFI discs.

MUSIC FROM BIG PINK was recorded and produced by John Simon , using
Sennheiser and Shure microphones , with an array of Revox 16 track recorders and outboard live mixers in a New York studio .
Technically, the sound recording was revolutionary for a rock band.
Simon recorded and mixed MUSIC FROM BIG PINK like a classical recording ,
More like recording a chamber music group than a rock quintet.

The vinyl version is considered to be the standard for this particular piece ; the 200 gram version is highly recommended .

Original Master Recording comes very close to the vinyl standard .
Playback is the issue here, depending upon the playback system available.
Any decent audiophile quality system will do .
The main requirement is to playback using a SACD player , with multi analog outputs , rather than using a standard stereo CD playback mode.
The hybrid SACD will only deliver the SACD sound via this mode.
The amplifier should be SACD compatible as well.
The OPPO SACD player for example delivers the goods.
Hybrid SACD works using this playback mode.

This recording of MUSIC FROM BIG PINK has excellent depth and soundstage
with precise separation of the vocals and instruments.
It sounds "live" and breathes with presence .
Highly recommended .

It could be that since I have never owned either the vinyl or standard CD versions of this I have nothing to compare it to. It is obvious this is an older recording, the sound as one person says is flat and dull. I had to go and look at the cover again to confirm this was an SACD. I have older music produced on SACD format that sounds wonderful. This does not.It sounds like it was recorded on cheap equipment in a basement. Oh, wait, it was.

I guess that I am in the middle of these 2 guys, I don't think that it is a horrible recording, but there is nothing really earth shattering about it in it's presentation, I know these songs well, if my memory serves me well, as the disc gets further along ,The quality seems to pick up a bit.Definitely not worth 30 bucks and I hate the digipak packaging,ok for CDs, but not for hi end stuff. I'm going to hold onto it. There is some mild clipping occsionally, Think the person tried to go over the top, but it did not work

Solid, if a bit uneven, this effort from The Band is one of rock's iconic albums. For me, I think it's fine, but this is not my favorite Band album and Music from the Big Pink doesn't match the Brown Album.

This MoFi SACD is gorgeously mastered and may be worth buying, even if you're not wild about the music, just because of the sound.

I am very amazed that most of the reviews are so positive regarding the sound.The sound is terrible, in fact I gave my sacd to a buddy because the sound was so bad I could not listen to it. The sonics are flat,no low end,no dynamics flat treble and midrange. Lifeless and dull. There is just no doubt about this,so how can people write that
the sound is good?I have about 100 sacd's, so I should know.The music is also overrated,but some tracks are good.

I am a fan of The Band and have several Mobile Fidelity remasters, so I was looking forward to what I hoped would finally be a decent sounding CD from the group. In short, the sound is awful. Awful to the point of being unlistenable. Though there is something of a sense of depth and soundstage to the CD, the sound is so harsh and strident that there is no pleasure in listening to it. Don't waste your time and money. I can't believe that Mobile Fidelity put out an SACD of such poor quality.