John Darko
“An unlikely ambient classic”. That’s how music writer Philip Sherburne describes Cocteau Twins and Harold Budd’s The Moon And The Melodies. “[It ]delved even deeper into that liquid sound world, thanks largely to the aqueous tones of Buddโs piano”, he continues. Originally released in 1986, Sherburne has written the sleeve notes for this year’s reissue which is out this week. The new version features the original 23 Envelope artwork, no bonus tracks and has been remastered by Cocteau Twins’ Robin Guthrie.
Regular readers will recall how Guthrie’s first remaster of Four Calendar Cafรฉ in 2006 was cut too loud but that a second pass in late 2023 restored its dynamic range to best even the 1993 original. How does the 2024 remaster of The Moon And The Melodiesย fare?
It’s a shame that the 1986 original comes with no mastering credit as it typifies the mastering style of the time: wonderfully broad dynamic range but a little skinny in the low end. Running a FLAC rip of the original UK 4AD CD (CAD 611 CD) through MAAT’s DR Offline MKII – software that measures the dynamic range of a recording – nets a very healthy album average of DR11.
I picked up the vinyl and CD of the 2024 remaster this morning and ripped the latter to a hard drive to listen to it via Roon. The murkiness of the album’s original sound remains intact. It’s as if this album was first committed to a C90 cassette tape before making its way to a reel-to-reel. The 2024 remaster gives us more punch, a slightly fuller low-end and – regrettably – lower dynamic range. DR Offline MKII returns an album average of DR8. That’s quite the drop. And yes, you can hear it.
Hi-res won’t save us. The 24bit/44.1kHz download sent to me by a Patron – and soon to be deleted – also measures DR8.
My advice is to proceed with caution on the new remaster. If you’ve got the original CD but crave more wide-eyed pop from its sound and without touching the volume control, this new edition might be for you. If you’re happy turning up the volume on the original The Moon And The Melodies, you’ll be rewarded with more reflexive dynamics. Swings, meet roundabouts — this reissue is yet another reminder that ‘remastered’ doesn’t necessarily equate to better sound quality across the board.
Further information: Cocteau Twins Official | 4AD
