Bert Jansch - Moonshine (Reprise 1973) 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip
Bert Jansch - Moonshine (1973)
Vinyl rip @ 24/96 | FLAC | Artwork | 753Mb
Rapidshare/Hotfile | Folk-Rock | 1973 US 1st pressing promo copy mastered by Sterling Sound / MS 2129
Vinyl rip @ 24/96 | FLAC | Artwork | 753Mb
Rapidshare/Hotfile | Folk-Rock | 1973 US 1st pressing promo copy mastered by Sterling Sound / MS 2129
Bert Jansch - Moonshine (Reprise 1973) 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip
Even when performing with others, Bert Jansch has always continued his solo career. Moonshine was recorded in 1972 and released in 1973, and while it gained little attention at the time, it is greatly superior to later Pentangle efforts like Reflection. The arrangements are fuller than on his earlier solo work and more varied than Pentangle's, creating a distinct folk-rock sound. There are violins, harps, harmonicas, and even electric guitar. Things get started with the traditional "Yarrow," highlighted by a lovely flute, and brought to fullness by Jansch's deep vocals and acoustic guitar. Tony Visconti's bass work and Dave Mattacks' percussion build a sturdy bottom end that perfectly underlines the other players. The original "Night Time Blues" receives a nice boost from Aly Bain's fiddle, while "Oh My Father" is tinted with Gary Boyle's stinging guitar. Ralph McTell adds bluesy harmonica to "Brought With the Rain," and Jansch strips things down to voice and guitar for "Twa Corbies." In fact, there are no bad cuts here.
Jansch is in great voice throughout this project, and sings all except one cut alone. His duet with Mary Visconti on "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is fascinating. Her alto voice, like Jacqui McShee's, offers a perfect contrast to Jansch's deeper pipes. The arrangement is also intriguing, allowing Visconti to enter each stanza half a step behind Jansch, overlapping with the same lyrics.
Danny Thompson produced the album, lending a hand to its beautiful, dense sound. For Jansch, Pentangle, and folk-rock fans, Moonshine will be a real find. Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. AMG.
Further info:
During a warehouse fire in 1978, the master tapes to 'Moonshine' were destroyed. All subsequent CD reissues from 1995 onwards use a CEDAR noise reduction treated transfer from 2 copies of the UK pressing.
Track listing:
1 Yarrow 5:13
Arranged By - Bert Jansch
Arranged By [Musical Arrangement] - Tony Visconti
Bass [Fender] - Tony Visconti
Drums - Dave Mattacks
Flute - Les Quatre Flute A Bec Consort
Written-By - Traditional
2 Brought With The Rain 3:02
Double Bass - Danny Thompson
Harmonica - Ralph McTell
Lyrics By - Bert Jansch
Music By - Traditional
3 The January Man 3:33
Arranged By [Musical Arrangement] - Tony Visconti
Harp - Skaila Kanga
Written-By - Dave Goulder
4 Night Time Blues 7:14
Double Bass - Danny Thompson
Drums - Laurie Allen
Fiddle - Aly Bain
Written-By - Bert Jansch
5 Moonshine 5:01
Bells [Tubular], Arranged By [Musical Arrangement] - Tony Visconti
Cello - Marilyn Sanson
Clarinet - Thea King
Double Bass - Danny Thompson
Flute - Richard Adeney
Written-By - Bert Jansch
6 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face 3:03
Double Bass - Danny Thompson
Drums - Dannie Richmond
Electric Guitar - Gary Boyle
Fiddle - Aly Bain
Recorder, Vocals [Vocal Harmonies] - Tony Visconti
Vocals - Mary Visconti
Written-By - Ewan MacColl
7 Rambleaway 4:37
Arranged By - Bert Jansch
Double Bass - Danny Thompson
Drums - Laurie Allen
Electric Guitar - Gary Boyle
Fiddle - Aly Bain
Written-By - Traditional
8 Twa Corbies 3:03
Arranged By - Bert Jansch
Written-By - Traditional
9 Oh My Father 4:11
Bass [Fender], Shaker [Magic Bean Shaker] - Tony Visconti
Drums - Laurie Allen
Electric Guitar - Gary Boyle
Written-By - Bert Jansch
Many thanks to the original ripper: 'Euripides'
Media:
US LP 1st pressing promotional copy mastered by Sterling Sound.
Audio Equipment:
Vpi HW-17F Record Cleaning Machine,
Heybrook TT2 turntable,
Origin Live! Power supply and DC motor,
Origin Live! modified Rega RB300 Tone Arm,
Lyra Helikon M/C Cartridge,
Denon PMA 8500 Integrated Amplifier (Phono Section Only)
ESI Systems Juli@ Sound Card sampling at 96Khz/32bit.
Measured S/N ratio for this system was -86 dB
Audio processing:
Thorough forensic restoration using my custom scripts in Adobe Audition. 'Younglove' method decrackling script, thorough manual declick, click restoration from safety copy, noise reduction footprint-based fades, approx 1db sampled hiss reduction throughout, very light EQ through 32 band FFT with emphasis on improving bass response and attenuating several 'shouty' sections of Jansch's vocals. Several of you may disagree with these methods but I explain why I used them below. I would not normally. I believe the results speak for themselves… I hope they do for you!
Synopsis:
The most important element of the 'Moonshine' story is the loss of the master tapes in a fire in 1978, before any CD reissue could be made.
Moonshine has been reissued on CD using a remaster made with the CEDAR system of a vinyl rip, but it's pretty much beyond doubt that a better version was possible. CEDAR is an entirely automatic system and I felt a more hands-on 'manual approach' would be better. It's important to point out that several of the techniques used for this restoration were not available in 1995 when it was reissued by Jansch's own label.
In fact the whole reason I embarked on this restoration was because I read somewhere that the master tapes had been destroyed, I wanted to track down Jansch with a view to giving this transfer to him - a little publicity for my audio restoration. But try as I might, I was unable to get through to anyone with the vaguest interest. His agent and his label barely responded and refused to forward any messages. Some people, eh? Give them something for free and they run a mile! (Shame I never found Jansch - though if he ever sees this I hope he uses it.)
The bonus for you good people is that I put my every effort into making this a 'professional' restoration.
I used several tricks and methods that would not normally be used for a 'domestic' rip.
First and most important, I discarded a previous attempt using a UK pressing because I felt it was poor quality, especially where groove wall noise is concerned.
Several other unusual techniques were employed such as sampling hiss sections to overlap onto noise-treated fades (in order to preserve the length of the actual tracks). I did a very thorough declick with at least 5 manual passes through each track before I was content. I checked against the previous vinyl transfer by Jansch's label to find areas where I could improve on it.
There are several areas I feel have been improved; the US pressing mastered by Sterling is arguably much better than the bog-standard UK Kinney pressing, overall fidelity or tracking is certainly much better on the set-up I used, as was frequency response, bass response and stereo imagery. The fades on the original LP are fully preserved whereas on the previous rip they were severely truncated, presumably to mask groove noise in the fades (an issue I struggled with myself).
Most of all, I tried very hard to use as little noise reduction as possible for the main body of the music (except the aforementioned fades), where the previous version had rather brutal noise reduction. I have preserved the 'hiss' although I recall having dropped the level by about 1db. Not enough to do real harm.
My overall goal was to present the music as faithfully as possible while reducing vinyl artifacts to below the threshold of audibility. Given the nature of the material, quite a hard task to complete. I think it's about 90 % there.
I'm very happy with it. I hope it meets your approval :P
Big thanks must go to Son-of-Albion (who requested this) for going to the trouble of posting this for me.
Euripides Jan 2011
US LP 1st pressing promotional copy mastered by Sterling Sound.
Audio Equipment:
Vpi HW-17F Record Cleaning Machine,
Heybrook TT2 turntable,
Origin Live! Power supply and DC motor,
Origin Live! modified Rega RB300 Tone Arm,
Lyra Helikon M/C Cartridge,
Denon PMA 8500 Integrated Amplifier (Phono Section Only)
ESI Systems Juli@ Sound Card sampling at 96Khz/32bit.
Measured S/N ratio for this system was -86 dB
Audio processing:
Thorough forensic restoration using my custom scripts in Adobe Audition. 'Younglove' method decrackling script, thorough manual declick, click restoration from safety copy, noise reduction footprint-based fades, approx 1db sampled hiss reduction throughout, very light EQ through 32 band FFT with emphasis on improving bass response and attenuating several 'shouty' sections of Jansch's vocals. Several of you may disagree with these methods but I explain why I used them below. I would not normally. I believe the results speak for themselves… I hope they do for you!
Synopsis:
The most important element of the 'Moonshine' story is the loss of the master tapes in a fire in 1978, before any CD reissue could be made.
Moonshine has been reissued on CD using a remaster made with the CEDAR system of a vinyl rip, but it's pretty much beyond doubt that a better version was possible. CEDAR is an entirely automatic system and I felt a more hands-on 'manual approach' would be better. It's important to point out that several of the techniques used for this restoration were not available in 1995 when it was reissued by Jansch's own label.
In fact the whole reason I embarked on this restoration was because I read somewhere that the master tapes had been destroyed, I wanted to track down Jansch with a view to giving this transfer to him - a little publicity for my audio restoration. But try as I might, I was unable to get through to anyone with the vaguest interest. His agent and his label barely responded and refused to forward any messages. Some people, eh? Give them something for free and they run a mile! (Shame I never found Jansch - though if he ever sees this I hope he uses it.)
The bonus for you good people is that I put my every effort into making this a 'professional' restoration.
I used several tricks and methods that would not normally be used for a 'domestic' rip.
First and most important, I discarded a previous attempt using a UK pressing because I felt it was poor quality, especially where groove wall noise is concerned.
Several other unusual techniques were employed such as sampling hiss sections to overlap onto noise-treated fades (in order to preserve the length of the actual tracks). I did a very thorough declick with at least 5 manual passes through each track before I was content. I checked against the previous vinyl transfer by Jansch's label to find areas where I could improve on it.
There are several areas I feel have been improved; the US pressing mastered by Sterling is arguably much better than the bog-standard UK Kinney pressing, overall fidelity or tracking is certainly much better on the set-up I used, as was frequency response, bass response and stereo imagery. The fades on the original LP are fully preserved whereas on the previous rip they were severely truncated, presumably to mask groove noise in the fades (an issue I struggled with myself).
Most of all, I tried very hard to use as little noise reduction as possible for the main body of the music (except the aforementioned fades), where the previous version had rather brutal noise reduction. I have preserved the 'hiss' although I recall having dropped the level by about 1db. Not enough to do real harm.
My overall goal was to present the music as faithfully as possible while reducing vinyl artifacts to below the threshold of audibility. Given the nature of the material, quite a hard task to complete. I think it's about 90 % there.
I'm very happy with it. I hope it meets your approval :P
Big thanks must go to Son-of-Albion (who requested this) for going to the trouble of posting this for me.
Euripides Jan 2011