My fave band produces a sneakily good album. The CD is horribly compressed (Dynamic Range of 7), and the LP sounds much better (Dynamic Range of 13). The LP was mastered by Bob Ludwig for those who keep track of such things.
And yes, that IS an autographed cover!
The review is on the money.
Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
"With the heavy lifting of the Crowded House reunion out of the way, Neil Finn is able to settle into comfortable craft on Intriguer, the band’s sixth album. Intriguer isn’t as self-consciously weighty as Time on Earth -- Finn is not tackling mortality in the wake of the death of his longtime friend and bandmate Paul Hester -- but it’s also not as hazy as Finn’s pair of solo LPs. In tone and timbre, it’s closest to the second Finn Brothers album, the ruminative Everyone Is Here, but it lacks the reflective undertow of that 2004 album; it may be subdued, but it’s not reveling in its melancholy, it’s riding a gentle wave, swaying from song to song. Sometimes the tempo gets slightly heated -- “Inside Out” works a nicely grinding guitar riff, “Saturday Sun” pulsates to an electronic rhythm -- but the album doesn’t command attention so much as it teases it. This light touch suits Finn’s songs; he’s favoring subtle craftsmanship over immediate hooks, so it only fits that the mood of Intriguer is soothing, something that pays off great dividends upon close listens. It may not be flashy but it’s sturdy and expertly honed, reflecting Finn’s craftsmanship on a song-by-song basis but holding together better as an album than any Finn project in recent memory."
Bought at their in-store appearance at Amoeba Records, signed, taken out of the sleeve, played twice each side, then ripped. No record cleaning machine, minimal pop removal, minimal ClickRepair. This is what you would hear if you bought the record and played it. That being said, this is not "audiophile" vinyl. "Falling Dove" has some slightly annoying bits especially. You have been warned. You will hear some "LP stuff" here and there. Further warned. Enjoy it, or choke on it. Your choice.
[hide="Vinyl Ripping Log"]
This is what I do in general. Not every step is done for all rips:
LP > Rega P1 with Ortofon Super 30 > TC-750LC > E-Mu 0202 > Adobe Audition 3 (AA) @ 96kHz 32bit float > Manual click removal in AA > Click Repair set @ 20 > AA used to balance L/R > (for MONO: Equalizer (from the ClickRepair guy) used to combine L+R >) AA to split tracks, fade in/out, and for manual click removal >
for 24bit: use AA to truncate the 32bit file >
for 16bit: Izoptope RX Advanced to resample the 32bit file to 44.1kHz > and then to dither to`16bit using MBIT+ >
All > Trader's Little Helper to FLAC and (for 16bit: sector align if necessary, pad) > MP3 Tagger to edit tags.
"16bit" = 16bit at 44.1kHz
"24bit" = 24bit at 96kHz[/hide]