Search - Popol Vuh :: Letzte Tage Letzte Nachte (Dig)

Disappointing......not re-mastered

greyhoundude | Corvallis, OR | 06/20/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I purchased this item with the expectation of a re-mastered recording. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Of all the Popol Vuh albums, this is, by far, the most poorly-recorded and could have used re-mastering.



Having said that, this remains my favorite Popol Vuh release. The guitars ring, the songs all find a nice groove and the tunes are good-to-great.



Additionally, the bonus tracks are wonderful! But here's the thing: the bonus tracks, presumably recorded at around the same time, all SOUND better than the original eight tunes on the disc. They are also mastered at a higher volume, so be careful if you have your sound system cranked up.



This was my first purchase of the reissued Popol Vuh CD's. Now I'm not sure about picking up the rest of 'em. If they don't sound any better than the discs I already own, there's simply no point in doing so."

SPV re-issue versus Japanese "remaster" ....

Alexander Mills | 03/27/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Just a brief review to clear up some issues raised by Greyhoundude.



Firstly, the SPV "remaster" of Letzte Tage, Letzte Nachte does indeed sound pretty awful. Curious to find out whether this was a lazy, transfer-based blunder or just a poor recording in the first place, I managed to track down a friend who has a mint, original pressing on LP.



The good (or bad, depending on how you want to look at it) news is that the audio quality of this SPV re-issue is no fault of the mastering process. The original LP sounds just as dull, muffled, and flat as the re-issue listed here. I also tracked down the latest Japanese mini-LP release of this album, and although the audio quality is marginally better (for the sake of approximation, let's say 5%), I would put this down to a slightly higher quality of mastering (common amongst Japanese re-issues), as opposed to any sort of authentic RE-mastering process. As is often the case with Japanese re-issues, sellers (including Amazon) will frequently list them as being fresh, new, Japan-only, high quality remasters, when in reality they are often just ports of previously available Western remasters, repackaged in miniature LP sleeves. As such, be sure to do your research before forking out $50 for such items.



The previous reviewer also pointed out the jump in sound quality between the original album and the bonus tracks. Although I sympathise with his point, I think his gripes lie more with Florian Fricke's recording techniques than any lack of 'remastering' on the part of SPV. All the other re-issues in the series sound truly amazing, and the more I hear Letzte Tag in various other formats, the more I realize that this re-issue is, sadly, probably as good as the album's ever going to sound."

'A Journey Westward'

Steve Zubal | Pine Island FL | 02/22/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As the cover art may suggest the sound of this recording leans more to western Europe musicial traditions than any other in their catalogue. This is the first album to include English lyrics, sung by my favorite singer Renate Knaup...I want to award 5 stars, instead I'll try to be non-bias. Track 1 is as heavy as this band gets, really cool eletric guitar sound...a great begining. Track 2 follows nicely in a medieval flavor, transporting you back in time to the strange unknown. These are two excellent instrumentals. Then the "Haram Dei Raram..." chant makes its first appearance with a reprise on track 6 and on bonus track 11. Each lasts about 1:30. The rest of the song is all music...kinda' redundant. A better song here would have made this album side perfect. Especially considering the two vocalist that were present. "In Deine Hande" has an Irish quality about it...warm acoustic guitar in a pastoral setting...it sounds like the cover art looks. "Kyrie" harkens back to 'Hosianna Mantras' flawless vocals. This performance, though fine, is totally different so you can't compare the two versions. The final 2 songs on the original album feature Renate Knaups' lead vocals..."Dort ist der Weg" is a bit rough, could of used some polishing. The title track though is fantastic! I'd say among her best, and somehow a completly different style than any of her other songs! How does she do it? There's a newer version of this song on '91s "For You And Me" entitled "When Love Is Calling You"...the arangement is almost the same. This album is a song or two from being great, and indeed the S.Q. is sub-par, so 4 stars seems adequate."