Abyssmal1 Out Of 5 Stars
After waiting years, all while clutching my old vinyl and long out of print double CD in my unrelenting grasp, I was really excited that the long awaited digital release of The Producers' two Portrait/CBS albums would be an upgrade to my valued treasures. My LP copy of "You Make The Heat" was signed by the band after I saw them in a small theater in Central PA, where "She Sheila" became a major requested hit.
But this. This is wretched. It's beyond wretched. It's an insult to The Producers and the fans that have anxiously been waiting for "You Make The Heat" and were unable to acquire it any other way. How bad is it? There's digital distortion and drop-outs all over the cursed thing. In the worst violation of a great new-wave classic, "Dear John" sounds like someone took an old, sun baked cassette off a hot dashboard after the car stereo had mangled it and creased up the tape, then posted the results here. I'm not exaggerating. It's that staggeringly awful. One can only hope that someone at CBS or the maybe even band themselves (although my guess is that CBS screwed them out of creative approval long ago) comes in, deletes this demolishment of a terrific album, and replaces "You Make The Heat" with the respect and remastering it deserves.
It pains me to say, but avoid this at all costs. As to The Producers themselves, I'm sorry that, once again, CBS made hash out of your work.
Get a good download of "She Sheila" here.
Addendum: I got an e-mail from the official The Producers' Facebook Community Page informing me that, as I suggested, the band has no control over what CBS does with these albums.
No comments:
Post a Comment