[BC] CD vs LP

[Kevin Tekel]

Mark Earle wrote:
> How about ABBA as the first artist on the first commercially made CD?!

I don't think that's true.  Maybe in Europe, but not in the U.S. market.
When Sony introduced the first CD player on October 1st, 1982, the initial
launch library for the CD format was 50 titles, the first of which was
Billy Joel's "Turnstiles" album.

I believe the ABBA album in question is "The Visitors," which was recorded
digitally in 1981 (and released on vinyl and tape at that time), and then later released on CD in 1983.  I have the original 1983 version of that CD
and it has breathtaking dynamic range and percussive impact, but the
complete lack of "sweetening" leaves it sounding a bit "thin" and "cold."

Several "Digitally Remastered" versions of it have been released since
then, each newer one with progressively more EQ, compression, limiting, and
clipping applied to the audio.  The latest ABBA box sets are particularly
squeezed within an inch of their life; I'd rather listen to worn-out old
LPs than any "Digitally Remastered" CD released in the past few years.

Besides, isn't it a needless redundancy to "digitally remaster" an album
that was recorded digitally to begin with?  It's not like they can make up
for the lack of bit depth and sampling frequency of the original recording.
In 1981, 16-bit 44.1 kHz may not have even been the standard yet.  I've
heard 12 bits was common in very early digital recordings.

p.s. The Red Book CD audio standard was designed to include support for
quadraphonic audio, but it has never been put into use, and the format for
such audio on a CD was never finalized.  It's hard to tell if they had some
discrete four-channel format in mind, or if the Quadraphonic enable bit was
just a flag for CDs recorded with quad matrixed down into two channels.