HW: Castle CD's

[Chris Warburton]

At 16:20 09/03/00 +1100, Tim Gadd wrote:
>I have a quick question: I don;t have Live 79 or Levitiation on CD. I've
>noticed several copies of Live 79 for sale have mentioned that they're on
>Castle records, and in one case that the album is re-mastered. I've owned
>several Castle CD's from the 80's, and in every case it seemed to me that
>their 're-mastering' process must have involved sticking the album on the
>stereo and holding a microphone up to the loudspeaker. Every Castle CD from
>thatera which I've heard was at worst horribly tinny and compressed, and at
>best, markedly inferior sonically to the LP versions. Is this true of the
>Castle HW releases as well?

I don't know whether or not the Castle re-issues are in any way
re-mastered, but I like the cute digipak cases, though I know a lot of
people prefer "jewel" (erk!) cases that don't scuff (just shatter & need
replacing).

I have an "old" Levitation from Castle, and in "absolute" terms has
terrific sound quality, perhaps their best from a purely technical POV - I
can't imagine it would ever need anykind of remastering except for transfer
to another medium.  Likewise I have no complaints about my "old" Palace
Springs.  I have "The Xenon Codex" from the re-issue series and there's
nothing seriously amiss with it, though I have a feeling that I'd like this
one better on vinyl - but the regulars in these parts don't need me ranting
on about that again ;-{)>

ChrisW
NP: Swamp Thing 12" - The Grid