[atlantaprog] another aspect

What about the recording quality of commercial radio music as compared to
that of the 70s?  While the variety of 70s FM radio was "a damn sight
better" than today, you've got to admit that a huge amount of it had
passages or sections that were unclear at best or barely audible at worst.
Some of the greatest and most influential recordings of that era were
incredibly shitty in quality, like Cream's Disraeli Gears, the Beatles
White album, almost all of Jimi Hendrix, almost all of Bob Dylan, etc.
Granted, these are 60s albums, but the that was the majority of early 70s
radio that I remember.  Even Kiss's recordings really sucked by today's
standards, they sound to me like demos.  The worst drums I have ever heard
were in Jimi Hendrix and Cream recordings.  Ever listen to those through
headphones and then compare it to something more modern? The difference is
absolutely huge.  You can even hear this on rock radio when they play old
and new songs back to back. Not everything in the 80s was vastly improved
either, but it did get a lot clearer.  

I consider Yes's 90125 to be the best 80s album ever, but you have to
really strain to hear some of the instrumentation.  Compare that to what
they do now and it's that huge difference in quality again.  I don't really
like the songs on Open Your Eyes, but it's in some ways much more
listenable than 90125.  Compare Metallica's Kill 'Em All with the Black
album.  Same thing, no matter whether you like the songs or not. I used to
really like Thomas Dolby, and last year I got a "greatest hits" cd of his.
I was really disappointed by the quality of it, it didn't come across as
strong as I remembered it.  Back in 1982, there was a whole different
standard of sound for commercial recordings.  Compression and other
processing was still not totally effective without producing a lot of
noise, as I understand it.  Today you can get a $100 digital compressor to
do the job of an old giant comrpessor with almost no noise, so there's a
huge improvement in making every musical element audible.  That is an
aspect in what makes what's playing on the radio right now more palatable
than the older stuff.  It's like an improved flavor and texture.  The
"younger generation" hears an old song where the audio is slightly muffled
and obscured by comparison, and they are potentially turned off becuase the
standards have risen.  Packaging has a lot to do with commerciality, and
the audio quality is part of the package now.  We can all take a lesson
from that can't we?  We could and should be using this forum at least
partly to talk about equipment - what works and doesn't work for us and why.

So did everyone REALLY like everything played on the radio in the 70s?
Even REO Speedwagon and Molly Hatchet?  There was quite a bit of crap on
the radio back then, just as there is today in my opinion.  In fact, the
wide programming variety caused it.  I can't stand Roxy Music, but they
were a 70s radio staple. When you have a wide variety, you have a big mix
of good and bad.  College radio is that way now.  You hear something
incredible, then right afterwards, you hear something horrible.  In the 70s
and early 80s in my hometown, there were about 5 FM rock stations.  I had
one favorite, but I would still channel surf all the time.  The
homogenization of radio has it's good side for the people that like it that
way.  It stops people from channel surfing when they hear the one thing
they like best all day long.  Atlanta really just doesn't have enough FM
stations.  In other cities I've been in, the FM dial is much more saturated
and you have a better chance at finding a station you like or at least, one
you can stand for a while.  I don't think radio programming is all because
of the control of an evil empire.  It's partly because it fills a demand,
and only partly because of coporate monopoly.  

While there's "no direct path" to commercial success, my whole point to
begin with was that since the standards have obviously changed, we should
adapt, or die.  I can already guess that some of you probably don't agree
with this. :-)  Hey, it's just my opinion. - VH

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