MORE (movie) Pink Floyd (1969) ...audible?

Music
#1

I have owned, but have not heard in decades, the vinyl version of Pink’s Floyd’s “More” (1969 album soundtrack).

On the track 12: “A Spanish Piece”

There is the spoken:
Pass the tequila, Manuel
(glug, snort)
Listen, gringo, laugh at my lisp and I kill you
I think
*This Spanish music *
It sets my soul on fire

I received the CD for Christmas, and it is not clearly audible. There are barely audible, faint background verbalizations but unlike the vinyl version.

If anyone has this CD, could s/he clarify that the spoken sentences made it to the CD? Thank you.

#2

I have a CD version and there is spoken text from :10 to :042 matching your text above.

#4

Thank you for the feedback.

On the (vinyl) album, it was at a spoken word level…conversational speech.

On this 2011 version, it is barely audible at all.

#5

Just played the MQA version and it’s all there… I could follow the text easily enough. The guitar is louder though (on the left) and takes your focus away from the speech (centre right), you have to listen, but maybe that’s the point. I have not heard the CD version or Vinyl

#6

I have the original CD, and I can here the speech fine.

The guitar is heard primarily through the left side of the soundstage, the speech on the right side. Perhaps if some versions don’t have this separation, it might make the speech a lot harder to discern

#7

The verbiage is barely audible on this 2011 Remaster. I put the CD in my computer and listened very closely. Again, barely audible. Later today, I’ll listen to a Qobuz version. I am wondering if part of the remastering was to bring the music forward and the spoken word to almost non-existence. There is a side story to the inquiry which is not terribly interesting, but I was surprised/disappointed that the wording was all but absent.

#8

What you listed and more is there in both the Tidal & Qobuz versions, also it appears music is primarily on the left channel and the voice on the right.

And if you want to cheat you can view the lyrics, then all of a sudden you can hear and make out each word.

Great album by the way so thanks for steering me to it :grinning:

#9

You are very welcome.

OK, the back story:

When my wife and I met, and we are from different generations, I would play and/or sing songs that I liked, which she had never heard, and over time, she was convinced that she had heard them since they became so familiar. (For example: Every Breath I Take by Gene Pitney)

In either case, the verbiage on MORE was a background dialogue I would emulate, make her giggle.

So I stuffed the CD version (2011 Remaster) into her Christmas stocking, and after the kids went back to their homes, we played the CD. There is barely audible whispering but not the pronounced words that were on my LP.

So I wrote to the Community, wondering if my simple system was simply not resolving enough information, but then when I played it on the computer, it was the same. I suspect it was remastered with a deliberate movement of the voice into the background.

It is somewhat more audible on Qobuz.

(Even more off topic a bit, I have always fascinated over small nuances in songs. Things I assume the engineer heard, but others largely ignore since they may not offer much. For example, on The Darkside of the Moon (at the end of side one) one of the boys leans against the tape reel causing a sagging noise) or Paul giggling on Maxwell Silver Hammer…OR…Mule Skinner Blues by The Fendermen. ). I could go on and on, buy do not encourage me…

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#10

Just tried. I have the CD from Discovery Box Set, 2011, and the dialog is very up front in the recording (not subtle at all).
edit: then again, I’ve never listened to that CD before, so maybe it was even MORE up-front on the vinyl.

#11

I think there is a problem on my end because it is very distant and indistinct. Thank you for the input.

#12

It is worth checking that your system is playing both channels at correct volume (or some related problem). I always use the James Gang song “Funk 49” from James Gang Rides Again for this. I also have some freebie channel checker tracks (boring stuff saying, this is left channel, this is right channel, etc.).

#13

Point well taken, thank you. The largest culprit in the “system” is, unquestionably, our room. And while that can/does cause a harshness, it would not mask the content per se. (I am also of the mind that I do not want to decorate this particular room around a stereo system with panels etc). The other (remote) consideration is the speaker cables. They are made by a company called “Audiokwest” which sounds suspicious (that was a joke). I do not believe that the cables are the culprit. I shall keep fiddling.

#14

I can hear that as clear as day on the Tidal MQA version.
It’s not subtle at all.

Never listened to this before so thanks for raising it.

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#15

I hear the talking clear as can be…the quality of the room, cables etc. would not have enough impact to change this at all, no matter how bad. It’s not marginal. So yes, it does seem something is off, or you really do have a very different mix of the CD from the one I’m playing. Good luck tracking this down.

#16

I have played the 2011 Re-mastered CD via Jay’s Audio CD transport over i2s to the Terminator Plus.

I have played the Qobuz file via USB to Terminator Plus.

I have played the SONOS file via SONOS amp to Elac Debut + Elac Sub.

While the words can be understood if I (or my wife) read them while it is playing, we are hard pressed to understand what is being said without the benefit of written “lyrics”.

So it is an interesting mystery to explore and definitely a first world problem.

I appreciated all the input. I do not have Tidal so that I cannot do, and this is all from my memory of the original album.

#17

Streaming from Qobuz - 2011 remaster - text is clearly understandable on my rig.
Dirk

#18

I did not know that the Qobuz version is the 2011 remaster.

#19

We all love a good mystery, always plenty of things to try out / eliminate!

@7NoteScale have you considered listening to the track via headphones plugged into your amp? If ok, then it probably rules out your source as the culprit

#20

Yes, my wife brought that up yesterday. The other thing we are going to do is play in the home theater to see if a different setting will reveal the cause of the problem. Shall report back.

#21

Bit late!

My CD is definitely old certainly pre 1990s when I bought CD copies of some vinyl LPs the dialogue is very clear