I thought I had every ToP cd until I recently found this one. Same line up found on early 80s' Dinosaur Tracks (I'm assuming), another excellent cd. Regardless of the line up, Mimi and Doc always make sure the band cooks and maintains ToP excellence. No liner notes on this cd and, while four of the ten songs are listed as "unreleased," all ten of the cuts are new to me. Every note of every song absolutely cooks! Excellent recording quality and production. A must have for ToP fanatics.
Sadly, at least What Is Hip is a remake (Lenny Williams should be singing). Fan Fare/You Know It sound pretty much like I remember it sounding on vinyl album, but the "Previously Unreleased" version, the flat ending, I can't believe TOP would write it like that. No information at all in a (2) page (blank) booklet. No reply from Sheffield.
The Sheffield vinyl version was my favorite sound system and recording technique demo album for many years. I also had Sheffield's first CD of the same session. The LP _KILLED_ the CD in every way! It wasn't even close. The first CD sounded squashed when compared to the LP. The LP songs kicked hard! It was great to find this new release with a couple of different takes that weren't on the LP. Squib Cakes is a little different arrangement CD vs. LP. The sound of this CD compares very well to the original LP.
As an avid collector of over 30 years of Sheffield vinyl starting with the Missing Link and recently many of their CD's I can compare their recordings directly in my custom built multi channel THX PM3 music suite.
While I never expected their CD's to be comparable to the original vinyl, being nothing more than copies from that vinyl or a two track digital master, many did a good job and provided the convenience of the CD.
This CDR is without doubt the worst release that I have had the mis-fortune to purchase. I have heard "two bit" garage band label companies produce better sounding recordings than this. It has no realtionship to the opriginal vinyl OR any of the other Sheffield Lab ORIGINAL CD's that I have purchased. It is a disgrace and an embarrasement for Sheffield Lab to allow this type of production to be relaesed on their behalf and to call it" Reference Audiophile Recording", is a gross misuse of the term. Not to mention that this NEW disc had several scratches on it from the production process...whatever that was.
Amazon "claim" to use uncompressed originally files supplied and authorised by the record label to produce the disc for YOU. IF this is true then they are really messing up the duplication/burn process. This recording is severally compressed with poor dynamics, has poor imaging and depth of field, and resticted LF and HF performance. What a waste of money.
As a direct result of this I would advise anybody considering buying an AMAZON CDR not to do so and only putchase a new or used original Sheffield Lab or any other lables original CD. I know it costs more but you will not be dissapointed with your purchase, EVER.
Do not buy this product unless all you want to listen to is the musicianship, because that is all you are getting, the sound quality vanished somewhere between Sheffiled Lab and Amazon.