I cant argue with that because all the songs on this cd sound great. They are all from different times in Blacks career and are the original recordings. There are only 4 new songs on this cd. Between the old and the new, there is a great chance to compare the quality of each, however, I find that the older songs sound just as well as the new songs.
Perhaps thats because the cd was compiled then re-mastered to sound balanced and not time-warped. The vocals here are sharp and clear though are a bit overbearing and uncomfortable to listen to at times (thats not because I dislike country music!). I usually can tolerate a persons vocals except in this case it was really difficult. I would have cut away some of the high-end and added a bunch of low-end. I would hate to see how the sound techs would fair during this tour! The rest of the instruments are balanced quite well and panned nicely.
Except the guitars are kind of twangy with a lot of distortion and are very hard to listen to. There is a part of the 8th song that gives successive solos to a piano, a country guitar, and a fiddle. This part is clean and refreshing and lends to the overall upbeat feel of the song, though I would add more reverb to the sounds to get it out of the live, raw, in-a-small-room sound, and to thwart the overly-twangy sound. I think that everything needs to be brought down a bit and have a ton of bass added for support.
Overall, I am mildly happy with the production of this cd. It could use a few tweaks and adjustments in most places. I have a hard time listening to this cd because it is just not a very good mix and is very rough on the ears. I think this cd could have been better produced by far.
