THE MAN·MACHINE (Canada RE, 1982)
Capitol 4XW-11728

The Man·Machine hasn't featured in a while, so here's a Canadian reissue, which claims to have improved sound quality to the original.

It's actually a fascinating story (which I found on Wikipedia, look it up!): Capitol Records in Los Angeles, USA, had worked on improving the duplication process for cassettes, and had come up with the XDR, "Expanded Dynamic Range" system. The Canadian branch Capitol, hearing about this, started doing their own research, I assume based on what they knew from the LA branch, and came up with a simpler system, which they called "Super Dynamic Range", or SDR. And because Capitol was Capitol, in both countries, I suppose they couldn't sue themselves over sneaking their own idea? 

The idea was sold pretty heavily on the front cover, with "Super Dynamic Range" in big letters across the bottom of the front cover against a yellow stripe. Still, to the average listener I suppose this was not a big deal - cassettes were played in cars, or on small, portable machines, and I don't think sound quality was something the everyday cassette user would ponder much upon. I was just a kid at the time, but I do remember a lot of different cassette companies had various logos and emblems to make you think they'd sound fantastic, but you weren't going to buy two different editions of the same music, were you, and so you couldn't really compare the "Super Dynamic Range" to the old, supposedly regular dynamic range, for instance. In fact, I'd like to know if the dynamic range of the music here isn't actually more narrow than for other pop music of the era? The remasters from 2009 had a lot of bass, but I think this was taken from the original multitrack tapes, and theoretically, more of a remix than a mere remastering. -But I digress!

A simple 1-panel J-card here, albeit in Canadian lavish stiff card, and while it does have print on both sides, the inside just rants on about how superbly the cassette reproduces the sound it is intended to. I tried reading it, but was bored to tears mere seconds in, so I will just point out that the text is repeated in French and English, which feels rather Canadian to me. Cassettes are grey with black on-body print. So in fact, the big selling point to this release, for me, is a yellow stripe that I find close to pointless. But still, eh! Still!







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