I have brought this topic up in the past. But now I have "gotten down to business" and carefully compared the original USA Discreet LPs with the Spencer Chrislu mastered equivalent tracks from Lather. (I do not own the other individual CD versions, which are supposed to be mixed differently.) My conclusion is that my ears were not as bad all along, and those LPs DO sound good (even VERY GOOD most of the time, save for Duke of Orchestral Prunes, which is quite muffled) . This in spite of Zappa's contending way back that the masters he had delivered to WB they couldn't manufacture proper records out of because they hadn't been provided with the necessary technical specs - I don't remember the exact technical term - to complete the job and EQ them correctly. Chrislu's excellent (as always?) CD mastering does have slightly better percussion (high-end detail). Also, as some of the end-of-side pieces progress towards the center of the platter, my little Grado cartridge doesn't track so well and distorts, so the CD equivalent in those cases is MUCH better... But that is only physics and not inherent to the master tapes. All in all, I find it weird that the sonic difference is very far from dramatic... at least to my ears! What's your own take/feeling/opinion on this?
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