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Matthew Venuti's avatar

Listening to the recent Abbey Road Studios half speed master 180g pressing last week, I noticed how obvious it was the original tapes had lost a lot of high end frequencies before they got to the mastering process due to how many times they overdubbed. I always thought it was a production choice, but a new pressing and a new phono preamp made that clear to me.

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Paul Lefebvre's avatar

I believe it is mentioned in the Animal Instinct book that some of the tapes were so worn by overdubs that you could see through them.

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Matthew Venuti's avatar

Sounds about right. I think there is mentions of it too in the recent hardcover book.

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Michael Elliott's avatar

I was 13 years old at RA camp (Royal Ambassadors were an offshoot of the Southern Baptist church youth). A couple of friends of mine would sneak off and smoke cigarettes and get into all types of mischief. One of my buddies had a boom box and asked me if I'd heard the new Def Leppard album. I'd never heard of Def Leppard at all. "Check this shit out," he said, and hit play on "Rock! Rock! 'Til You Drop." By the time it got to "Rock of Ages" - which seemed like sacrilege to the RA counselors who were yelling at us to turn off this devil music that was co-opting the name of a gospel hymn - I was hooked.

Little did I know that just over ten years later, the producer of that album would be guiding Shania Twain to country superstardom with the same formula he used on Joe Elliott (no relation) and company.

It's a wild world.

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Paul Lefebvre's avatar

Great story!!

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Matthew Edwards's avatar

I received the cassette for my 10th birthday in May of '83 (also with Q-Bert for the 2600!). I had been hooked thanks to the radio & MTV play of Foolin' & Photograph. Now, 40+ years later, Coming Under Fire is by far my favorite track from Pyro.

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Paul Lefebvre's avatar

Comin’ Under Fire rocks! Love that song!!

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Nigel Poore's avatar

My first ever concert was the Hammersmith Odeon show on the tour for this album. Tinnitus for days. Loved it 😄

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Paul Lefebvre's avatar

I’m envious! Of the show, not the tinnitus.

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