American Poet vs. Sweet Jane bootleg

MJG196 · Post by **MJG196** » 13 May 2005 22:55

Something I have never mentioned here is the apparent sloppy mastering of the American Poet disc. I have a copy of the Sweet Jane bootleg of the same show, put out by the Oil Well label (#015), and it seems that the Oil Well disc is actually quite a bit better.

It seems to me, almost completely ignorant of the recording/remastering process, that for the American Poet disc, they took a quieter mix of the show (possibly a later generation analog recording than Sweet Jane) and boosted the sound. The result is a very "noisy" show, muddying up the soundscape. Very grainy.

The Oil Well recording is surprisingly crisp with very little tape hiss. There seems to be a little bit of sound distortion here and there, possibly from the tape deck fluttering during the transfer (check about 5 seconds into WL/WH and 2:40 into Waiting For The Man), but other than that, I'd say the recording is superb.

What do you guys think?

Homme Fatale · Post by **Homme Fatale** » 20 Jun 2005 12:12

On your recommendation I checked out the Sweet Jane boot as American Poet is one of my favourite Lou live recordings (including The Velvets, blasphemous as that may be).

And you are definitely not imagining it, the sound is way, way better than on the official version! Stronger and brighter. The difference is amazing, really! Makes you wonder what kind of master tapes they've used for the official releases of this and Bataclan... or how much trouble actually went into the mastering.

MJG196 · Post by **MJG196** » 20 Jun 2005 12:47

I just don't get it. Two legendary concerts are released on CD and the sound on both is CRAP (Bataclan & Poet). The booklet for Poet is absolutely pathetic, but that is another topic altogether. The fact that superior recordings are circulating pretty freely and are NOT being utilized is inexcusable. For anyone who thinks American Poet is amazing, get hold of the Sweet Jane bootleg. You'll be pissed you wasted your money on such a sloppy product.

BTW, Homme, is it just me or does Sterl look a helluva lot like Lennon in your avatar?!

MJG196 · Post by **MJG196** » 20 Jun 2005 12:50

So Homme, are you gonna put the Poet disc on the shelf and use the Sweet Jane disc from now on?!

Homme Fatale · Post by **Homme Fatale** » 20 Jun 2005 12:57

mg196 wrote:The booklet for Poet is absolutely pathetic

Again, I agree! What's the point in having liner notes (and crap ones at that) that only deal with the Transformer era from a UK point of view when that has nothing to do with the music on the CD itseld (recorded in New York)...?! Thankfully the photos are good.

mg196 wrote:For anyone who thinks American Poet is amazing, get hold of the Sweet Jane bootleg.

I understand this is one of the most bootlegged Lou Reed shows but for some reason I never got to hear a copy and especially after the official release I didn't even think I needed to. Now that I've been proven wrong, I'll happily join in and recommend it as well.

mg196 wrote:BTW, Homme, is it just me or does Sterl look a helluva lot like Lennon in your avatar?!

Now that you mention it, yeah he does! That's from one of the Angus MacLise line up photos...

mg196 wrote:So Homme, are you gonna put the Poet disc on the shelf and use the Sweet Jane disc from now on?!

Absolutely.

dsulpy · Post by **dsulpy** » 20 Jun 2005 15:24

Isn't "Sweet Jane" simply a retitled copy of "Despite All The Amputations"? As far as I recall, Oil Well never put anything unique - they specialized in low-price knock-offs of other titles.

MJG196 · Post by **MJG196** » 20 Jun 2005 17:40

THere are probably a dozen versions of this show. Some have the intro, some have the interview, some have mixed up tracklists. I do not have "Despite the Amputations" so I can't really compare the sound quality.

Sweet Jane is the FULL show (minus the intro & interview), even though the RnR Animal website has Satellite of Love missing from the tracklist (confirm that for me, would you Homme?).

If "Sweet Jane" is a knockoff, it is a superb one. I can't imagine how any other releases could be much better quality than this.

Homme Fatale · Post by **Homme Fatale** » 21 Jun 2005 13:02

mg196 wrote:the RnR Animal website has Satellite of Love missing from the tracklist (confirm that for me, would you Homme?).

That would seem to be the case at R&R Animal, yes. Olivier's listing mentions "Satellite" though and it's definitely on the disc (I'm listening to it right now).

According to the R&R Animal site there are 11 different CD's of this show (only one LP though!)...

It's funny BTW how Lou introduces "Walk And Talk It" - "this is off our first one" as if The Tots played on the solo albums!