Mercury Rev – Deserter's Songs

Memorable record. The "Holes" track is a stand-out.
I've always been intrigued by the cover. Is it a member of the band on the couch smoking?

The mastering on this is great, but not quite the revelatory upgrade over the CD edition I was hoping for. Bass is decent, and both the vocals and the instrumentation have a lovely warmth to them. Both sides are cut pretty close to the dead wax, particularly side A. This means there is a small degradation in quality to the last songs on both sides, but not hugely noticeable, but there is some slight sibilance on the vocals.

What lets things down is the pressing. There is an inherent low level crackle present even when the vinyl is free of damage. My presumption is that the vinyl used around this time was of poor quality.

Would love to hear a US original to compare, as that one is purportedly cut directly from the master 35mm magnetic film whereas this UK one is (likely) from a copy.

Tragedy 😭
I will keep only the cd
V2 1998.

Well, sometimes the record gods smile down on you…picked this up in the used bin at a local record store and found the limited to 100 signed photo inside.

Audio is distorted on my copy. Best to avoid this. Honestly, the best sounding version I found is the 2011 remastered CD.

Once correctly cleaned, all the pops and ticks disappeared. The sound of this pressing is clear, very detailed and dynamic. The voice is well placed, strong but never over the arrangements.
This is just an excellent pressing we listen with a great pleasure.

Like most, I first heard this on the UK V2 CD release in 1998. If you , the back sleeve proclaimed (very unusual for the day) "Original master recorded on 35 mm magnetic film" and there's some articles archived to the internet with Dave Fridmann discussing why, sonically, they opted to do that.

I have had the Light In The Attic/Modern Classics 2016 repress of the 2011 edition for several years. I believe that the same metal parts were used to create the stamper for the reissue the band themselves put out on their Excelsior Melodies label in 2018.

It is certainly not a bad remaster by any stretch of the imagination (although mine is pressed off centre on Side B). That said, it seems to be the remaster that Dave Fridmann did for the 2011 CD Deluxe reissue in 2011. Great producer that he is, I don't suppose he suddenly trained to cut lacquers on a mastering lathe, so Light In The Attic - it seems logical - had Fridmann's digital file for the CD remaster as a source and (insofar as I can see) an uncredited mastering engineer cut the lacquer.

How does it sound? It is quite a bit warmer - and I don't just mean that bass notes are more impactful, although that is the case - but the whole sound is tilted, with quite a bit less air around the instruments, it feels dynamically (and of course, there's some real dynamic swings in some of these songs) as though it never quite takes off, and the leading edge of transients to me are heard as a bit blunted (contrasted with how the album sounded burned into memory from years of CD).

Importantly, I am not saying it is a bad reissue.

Recently, I bought a NM V2 original US pressing. I was specifically wanting the US pressing, which was mastered at Masterdisk by Greg Calbi (back to the 35 mm tape again), although I think Calbi may have stopped cutting lacquers by then and perhaps this was done by Scott Hull (there's no clue re. cutting engineer in the deadwax). My assumption is that the original source was not shipped to the UK for the V2 UK pressing (which was done by Tim Dennen who, with all respect, doesn't have the reputation of a a Calbi, or Gray, or Grundman, et al).

As for this US pressing, it's fantastic sounding! It really is head and shoulders above the Light In The Attic reissue. The soundstage is is much wider and deeper, texture on instruments is so much more engaging (really noticeable on Garth Hudson's saxophone, for example), there's detail and much more top end without sounding at all strident or brittle.

So my advice - costs and availability notwithstanding - is to go for a US V2 1998 original pressing. Caveat, I have not heard Tim Dennen's mastering for the UK V2 original pressing.

For anyone wondering, I am not going down the "first pressings are inevitably better" track. I also own the UK V2 original pressing of "All Is Dream" (again mastered by Calbi but the cutter - whether him or someone else - is uncredited) and also the 2020 Cherry Red reissue (expanded edition) and in this case I most definitely prefer and recommend the 2020 reissue over the V2 original.

My pressing sounds awful. Avoid this pressing. Go for the CD, stream or the original pressing. It is too bad though, since you expect a better quality from light in the attic and it is such a great album, that will enlighten any record collection

Great pressing, I haven't heard the original V2 press, but am very familiar with the original CD issue and this version gives all of the detail but added depth over the CD issue.

Seriously guys, not to be blasphemous but the remaster CD sounds better, richer, deeper https://discogs.sitiosdesbloqueados.info/Mercury-Rev-Deserters-Songs/release/4381388