Magazine

A few days ago a replacement copy of a much loved Heart album arrived.

The first thing to note is that 'sash' on the top left hand corner as it was announced recently by the President of Audio Fidelity that they would no longer be manufacturing 24Kt gold cds, anymore a carry over from the days of DCC, because of escalating costs and erratic supplies.

To me at least the gold plating was never an issue - it's the actual sound  from the mastering that counted - but I guess the gold plating did suggest 'Gold Standard' for some.
Instead they're using from now on exclusively a disc with a regular cd layer and a high definition super audio cd layer for special players instead.

This album came out in 1978 originally with the consent of Heart who had changed labels but they returned to alter the mix and re-record parts and is a mixture of a few new songs and older unreleased recordings with a few live tracks.

Notwithstanding it's origins, the track Heartless became a  top 30 single and the set does show clearly just how talent they had become covering Without You and I've Got The Music In Me distinctively.

I originally had the lp and bought the U.S. Capitol XDR tape re-issue in the summer of 1986.

It was issued on cd by Capitol who had acquired the rights to Mushroom Records recordings  in the late 1980's in a so-so transfer with next to no album art but this edition by Steve Hoffman for Audio Fidelity sounds very smooth and is to be much preferred today.