I just got a vinyl copy of the Black Album (the 1994 US promo) and am listening to When 2 R In Love. It sounds very clear and sharp to me, the best I've heard it sound. I have played the vinyl Lovesexy a few times recently and I don't remember the song sounding this sharp on that album. Was the song mastered twice, once for the Black Album and then again for Lovesexy? If so, does anyone else notice a difference in sound quality between the two versions? Or is it just my head playing tricks with me?

electricberet said:

I just got a vinyl copy of the Black Album (the 1994 US promo) and am listening to When 2 R In Love. It sounds very clear and sharp to me, the best I've heard it sound. I have played the vinyl Lovesexy a few times recently and I don't remember the song sounding this sharp on that album. Was the song mastered twice, once for the Black Album and then again for Lovesexy? If so, does anyone else notice a difference in sound quality between the two versions? Or is it just my head playing tricks with me?

It's not your head messing with you - different mastering sessions will indeed provide different results. These results will depend on many factors such as the mastering house epuipment and the time period and even the media used for storage. The Black Album vinyl may sound clearer because of the generation of the original 2 track master of When 2 R In Love used for the final sequencing as compared to the second generation master that may have been used for the Lovesexy vinyl. The only other noticable difference between the two is that the Lovesexy version has a backwards snare fade intro.

Sound the same to me. Except the beginning maybe there's a little part that's not in the black album. Hard to exlain what it is.

Jestyr said:

electricberet said:

I just got a vinyl copy of the Black Album (the 1994 US promo) and am listening to When 2 R In Love. It sounds very clear and sharp to me, the best I've heard it sound. I have played the vinyl Lovesexy a few times recently and I don't remember the song sounding this sharp on that album. Was the song mastered twice, once for the Black Album and then again for Lovesexy? If so, does anyone else notice a difference in sound quality between the two versions? Or is it just my head playing tricks with me?

It's not your head messing with you - different mastering sessions will indeed provide different results. These results will depend on many factors such as the mastering house epuipment and the time period and even the media used for storage. The Black Album vinyl may sound clearer because of the generation of the original 2 track master of When 2 R In Love used for the final sequencing as compared to the second generation master that may have been used for the Lovesexy vinyl. The only other noticable difference between the two is that the Lovesexy version has a backwards snare fade intro.

Yeh that's it lol

Sound the same to me too.

InternationalLover82 said:

Sound the same to me. Except the beginning maybe there's a little part that's not in the black album. Hard to exlain what it is.

Did you listen to it on vinyl or CD?

electricberet said:

InternationalLover82 said:

Sound the same to me. Except the beginning maybe there's a little part that's not in the black album. Hard to exlain what it is.

Did you listen to it on vinyl or CD?

It's the backward snare hit from the outro of "LoveSexy" that she is missing.

Spinlight said:

electricberet said:

Did you listen to it on vinyl or CD?

It's the backward snare hit from the outro of "LoveSexy" that she is missing.

Yes, I understood that. But she said they otherwise sounded the same, and so did nursev. I never noticed a difference on the CD versions; it's just listening to the vinyl that I thought I heard a difference.

electricberet said:

Spinlight said:

It's the backward snare hit from the outro of "LoveSexy" that she is missing.

Yes, I understood that. But she said they otherwise sounded the same, and so did nursev. I never noticed a difference on the CD versions; it's just listening to the vinyl that I thought I heard a difference.

I only have the CD's

InternationalLover82 said:

electricberet said:

Yes, I understood that. But she said they otherwise sounded the same, and so did nursev. I never noticed a difference on the CD versions; it's just listening to the vinyl that I thought I heard a difference.

I only have the CD's

The vinyl is hard to get. It was never officially released on vinyl in the US, only in Europe. The copy I have is a promo (and is technically the property of Warner Brothers, so I hope they don't track me down and ask for it back.)

electricberet said:

Spinlight said:

It's the backward snare hit from the outro of "LoveSexy" that she is missing.

Yes, I understood that. But she said they otherwise sounded the same, and so did nursev. I never noticed a difference on the CD versions; it's just listening to the vinyl that I thought I heard a difference.

The only version I ever owned was the 94 CD and mine had the same difference. That's just how they are.

electricberet said:

InternationalLover82 said:

I only have the CD's

The vinyl is hard to get. It was never officially released on vinyl in the US, only in Europe. The copy I have is a promo (and is technically the property of Warner Brothers, so I hope they don't track me down and ask for it back.)

Spinlight said:

electricberet said:

Yes, I understood that. But she said they otherwise sounded the same, and so did nursev. I never noticed a difference on the CD versions; it's just listening to the vinyl that I thought I heard a difference.

The only version I ever owned was the 94 CD and mine had the same difference. That's just how they are.

I'm not talking about a difference in the mix. It's just that the song sounded a little sharper, cleaner, etc., on the Black Album vinyl. Like it came from an earlier generation tape, as Jestyr suggested above, and which would make some sense as the Black Album was mastered first (my understanding is that the 1994 release simply reused the 1987 masters). Neither CD sounds as good to me as its vinyl equivalent, so if there is a subtle difference in sound quality, it might be harder to notice on the CD. But my hearing is not what it used to be.

Your ears belong to you, if your hearing is that sharp to notice differences than thats good for you. I can't hear the difference on either CD version. Enjoy what you have.

InternationalLover82 said:

electricberet said:

The vinyl is hard to get. It was never officially released on vinyl in the US, only in Europe. The copy I have is a promo (and is technically the property of Warner Brothers, so I hope they don't track me down and ask for it back.)

what??? Can I have it ?

Sure, just go to www.discogs.com and buy it from the vendor of your choice. Promotional copies aren't supposed to be sold, but I think WB has bigger problems now than tracking down promos that have been in circulation for years. But beware: there are more bootlegs of that album than probably any album that's ever been recorded, and some of them sound terrible.