The Layla Sessions: 20th Anniversary Edition

Derek & Dominos - The Layla Sessions: 20th Anniversary Edition

The Layla Sessions: 20th Anniversary Edition
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CD Details

Artist: Derek & Dominos
Edition: Music CD
Format: Box set, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1990-08-31
Music Label: Polydor / Umgd
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. I Looked Away
  2. Bell Bottom Blues
  3. Keep On Growing
  4. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
  5. I Am Yours
  6. Anyday
  7. Key To The Highway
  8. Tell The Truth
  9. Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad
  10. Have You Ever Loved A Woman
  11. Little Wing
  12. It's Too Late
  13. Layla
  14. Thorn Tree In The Garden
Music CD 2
  1. Jam I
  2. Jam II
  3. Jam III
  4. Jam IV
  5. Jam V
Music CD 3
  1. Have You Ever Loved A Woman (Alternate Master #1)
  2. Have You Ever Loved A Woman (Alternate Master #2)
  3. Tell The Truth (Jam #1)
  4. Tell The Truth (Jam #2)
  5. Mean Old World (Rehearsal)
  6. Mean Old World (Band Version, Master Take)
  7. Mean Old World (Duet Version, Master Take)
  8. (When Things Go Wrong) It Hurts Me Too (Jam)
  9. Tender Love (Incomplete Master)
  10. It's Too Late (Alternate Master)

Music reviews of The Layla Sessions: 20th Anniversary Edition

Music Review: Technical review of the remix...
Rating: 4 Stars

Originally, I purchased the single Anniversary Mix disc that had been separated from the rest of it's set at a used CD store. Hey, I was in college at the time and was trying to broaden my palette. So, this newer mix was what I got to know over the years and really was none the wiser to the original.

Now, being 10 years after first having purchased the CD, I am comparing the two mixes side by side, switching between the two, and have come to a personal conclusion that is at odds with most of the other reviewers.

It's pretty clear to anyone who does a comparison between the two where you can rapidly swap between the two mixes, that the original mix is more dynamic; it just jumps out at you more. It also contains more high frequency content. There are a couple of possible reasons for this.

Someone probably surely more about the actual equipment history of this album. But from what I can gather, Criteria Studios at that time should have been outfitted with MCI consoles and tape machines built by Jeep Harned with "philosophical direction" provided by Tom Dowd. While the MCI consoles that became marketed later across the world (which later evolved into Sony's consoles) are solid state designs, it is possible that these early MCI consoles that Layla would have been recorded and mixed through were tube designs. Again, I might be wrong here and it is strictly open for conjecture from someone who absolutely knows for sure. For recording engineers like myself, older (more simple) console designs of that period and before are revered for their unique sonic character.

Now that brings us to the studio where the Anniversary CD was mixed: The Power Station. Today, The Power Station is now Avatar Studios in New York and Studio A (housing a very good sounding Neve 8068 console) has been mostly left the way it was in the days of the Power Station, with the exception for whatever the flavor of the month is when it comes to recorders. However, the time period of the late 80's and early 90's was a time when digital mixing was rampant (it's back unfortunately) and this is most certainly the case with the Anniversary Mix with it's ADD designation (the second D denoting that it was mixed to a digital format). The original mix was definitely an analog reel to reel (either 1/4 or 1/2 inch master) tape.

This is significant for when you mix to analog tape, an interesting phenomenon called "crosstalk" alters the mix ever so slightly. What happens is that the left and right channels of magnetic information stored on the tape interacts with one another as higher bursts of energy on each track often co-mingle in the space between them (and sometimes even bleed over to the other track ever so slightly). The result is, believe it or not, a much more strong center image which, when done properly, creates an even sound field. A technical engineer would say that this is a negative and undesirable side-effect of analog mixing since it is not what the engineer was hearing at the console outputs. However, a musical engineer would recognize that crosstalk is a beneficial thing to the music and the listener and would listen to the mix through the repro heads on the machine as it is being recorded so as to know exactly what is being committed to tape.

Digital mixes of the time of the remix are often sterile and severely lack the dynamic range and character present on that old "inferior" analog tape. What I have noticed in the Anniversary mix is a more cautious mix that fears sounds that jump run and play. The original tracks and comps were so good and whole (as well as limited; the drums were premixed to L and R tracks only) that only balancing, some compression here and there, and some time based effects were needed to complete the remix. However, the compression is perhaps a tad overdone, thusly preventing the mix to "live" as much as the original.

The original mix's reverb (really noticeable on the guitars) take more risks (and wins) and is either an EMT plate reverb or a live chamber (if Criteria had one). The predelay on the reverb might have been provided via a spare mix deck's repro head before the signal went to the reverb. While digital reverb was the rage at the time of the Anniversary Mix, I feel that it is likely that a plate reverb was used, but that the highs were rolled out more than on the original mix.

Give them both a comparison side-by-side and decide for yourself. Be sure to use a good copy of each (I would use at least a recent printing [Re-Master] of the original mix since the Analog to Digital converters and digital clocking are MUCH better now than at the dawn of the CD age - perhaps yet another strike against the Anniversary Mix).
More The Layla Sessions: 20th Anniversary Edition free music reviews:
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