Bob Weston explains why the Jesus Lizard reissues sound so good
Friday, November 6th, 2009
Bob Weston Self-portrait
Mastering Engineer at Chicago Mastering Service Bob Weston (Shellac, Mission of Burma) discusses what made the reissues of the Jesus Lizard’s Touch & Go records, Pure, Head, Goat and Liar sound better and louder.
Chad Radford: Did you have any reservations about whether or not the Jesus Lizard’s records should be touched-up?
Bob Weston: Well, “no” is the simple answer. But the question is wrong. We didn’t “touch them up.” That implies that we took the mastered versions from the original mastering jobs and made some changes to those. Instead, we did an entirely new mastering job from scratch… Like the records had just been recorded and mixed the week before we started.
There have been major improvements in analog to digital conversion quality, and in digital audio level metering in the years since these records were first mastered. Simply playing the stereo master tapes back through modern mastering-grade analog to digital converters will immediately make the CDs sound a lot better. And then the ability to properly meter the digital audio as it is being converted allows us to take advantage of all the headroom allowed in the digital audio domain. Whereas in the past, engineers needed to be more conservative with digital audio levels in order to prevent any digital “overs” (which would cause the Master CD to be rejected by the pressing plant).
Even if we had done nothing different from the original mastering sessions in terms of processing the sound with equalization and compression, these new masters would immediately sound better and louder.
Before there was grunge, there was Bleach, Nirvana’s harsh, ‘89 debut that dragged punk’s contemptuous sneer through the mud to churn out one damn fine album. Bleach isn’t the voice of a generation that came two years later with Nevermind, but it’s an infinitely better record. “Blew,” “School,” “Love Buzz,” “Negative Creep” — they’re all raw classics that were too visceral for the masses. Cobain’s half-baked yowls still sound like they’re going to fall apart every time he opens his mouth, and the remastered job makes the album’s highs higher and lows lower. It’s a dirty album, and the production needed to be touched-up. A booklet of photos and a live show from the era are nice add-ons, but it ain’t the bells and whistles that matter here. The songs themselves make Bleach a ramshackle work of perfection. (Sub Pop) 5 stars out of 5
The second full-length from U.K. duo Fuck Buttons is an impressive shift toward accessible melodies without sacrificing the experimental grit of their ‘08 debut, Street Horrrsing. As such, it’s inappropriate to call Fuck Buttons a noise group, per se. Sure, they shun the verses, choruses and whatever else goes into what most people call songs. But the drifting rhythms and crystalline sounds in “Surf Solar” and “Space Mountain” lay out a blueprint for the group’s restrained ears. There’s nothing harsh about the album’s modernist industrial and math rock structures. Even as the buzz and mutant cut-ups on “Rough Steez” morph into obtuse beats, there’s a soothing quality to the clutter that reaches in through your brain, grabs ahold of your guts and tugs you along ever so subtly. (ATP Records) 4 stars out of 5
When Lester Bangs, Lenny Kaye and every other half-cocked rock critic on the planet has weighed in on the Velvet Underground, what’s left to discuss? Not much. That’s why Chicago Sun-Times pop critic Jim DeRogatis lets the pictures do the talking in this friggin’ gorgeous collection of photos, fliers and album art that captures the Velvets in all of their glorious vanity. A brusque 1975 interview with Sterling Morrison is the most revealing component. Otherwise, the coffeetable book has to be the greatest visual history ever produced on the band. What’s more, it isn’t overwrought with pointless hero worship like the kind that guides so many other books that broach the Velvet Underground. DeRogatis’ Walk on the Wildside shows Reed, Cale, Morrison, Tucker, Nico, Warhol and the rest of the hangers-on in the good, raw and ugly. (Voyageur Press) 4 stars out of 5
Much like ’07’s North Star Deserter, Vic Chesnutt’s At the Cut finds Athens’ grim folkie still soaring beyond the devices of a traditional singer/songwriter. Many of the players who made North Star Deserter so bold and beautiful, including members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and former Fugazi vocalist/guitarist Guy Picciotto, have returned. But whereas North Star crystallized Chesnutt’s stark visions into swirls of strings, rhythms and dissonance, here the expansive sound feels natural. “Coward” opens with epic drama, and Picciotto’s guitar adds terse immediacy to “Phillip Guston,” while “Granny” wilts with somber remembrance. Riding these peaks and valleys is emotionally exhausting, but if you’re a fan you already know the kind of pain you’re in for. At the Cut doesn’t hold North Star’s surprises, but it’s a stunning companion album. (Constellation Records) 4 stars out of 5