Saturday, 1 July 2017

Various Artists - Throbbin '84

AUS Polystar Stereo LP, 818 976-4 
First released April 1984

01 - Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want To Have Fun
02 - Mi-Sex - Blue Day
03 - The Romantics - Talking In Your Sleep
04 - Quiet Riot - Cum On Feel The Noize
05 - The SOS Band - Just Be Good To Me
06 - Matthew Wilder - Break My Stride
07 - Marilyn - Calling Your Name
08 - Elton John - Kiss The Bride
09 - Sandii & The Sunsetz - Sticky Music
10 - Van Halen - Jump
11 - Bette Midler - Beast Of Burden
12 - Lionel Richie - All Night Long
13 - Big Country - In A Big Country
14 - The Cure - The Love Cats
15 - INXS - Original Sin
16 - Paul Young - Love Of The Common People
17 - Mondo Rock - Come Said The Boy
18 - Michael Jackson - Thriller

==About the album==

"Throbbin '84" was a contemporary various artists compilation released in Australia by PolyGram in April 1984. It was a joint project between PolyGram, CBS Records and WEA Records. The album spent five weeks at the top of the Australian album charts from mid-May 1984.

This was the second album of contemporary artists that I ever acquired (after "1986.... Just For Kicks"). I say acquired because I didn't actually purchase it at the time, a friend of the family made a cassette copy from her LP for me. 

==About this transfer==

Yes, like "1986.... Just For Kicks" this transfer has been made from a CASSETTE. And yes, it sounds good too. Not quite as good as "1986... Just For Kicks", but still on par, or better than, the vinyl release (36+ minutes of music per side of vinyl doesn't equate to great sound to begin with).

The thing I love most about this album is the "innocence" in the track mastering. Yes, it's a bit thin (even on the cassette), but it's very dynamic with no brickwalling. Listening to it took me right back to 1984.

While I have applied no Noise Reduction, I have applied some EQ to better balance the sound. Not much, mind you, but just enough to give it a bit of bottom end.

Track gaps are as per cassette. There are no audible dropouts or wow/flutter to distract from listening.

==Cassette transfer and 24bit restoration by Q==

Hardware
- Yamaha KX-580 Tape Deck
- Denon PMA-1520AE Integrated Amplifier
- Cakewalk FA-66 Audio Interface (set to 24bit/96kHz)

Software
- Audition 3.0.1 (audio capture and editing)
- iZotope RX 5 Advanced (resampling and dithering to Red Book audio specifications)

Artwork included

3 comments:

  1. I'm a sucker for cassette rips. Lots of nostalgia.
    Thank you very much for Throbbin '84 and Just For Kicks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks very much. I'm a sucker for these K-Tel type comps.
    I especially like the 70s ones where they edited the songs like crazy!

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  3. Sounds like good, cheesy fun. Thank you, Jaenes.

    ReplyDelete