Thank you for asking. It's the Italian pressed CD on Warner Music. Bought it from SAE right after it came out but set it aside for when I had time to give it my full attention. I gave it two listens a week apart just to be certain. Then I played another recent Morricone score to compare and it was night and day.
I have this release as well, fine score. I haven't noticed anything untoward with it myself, it sounds fine to me. Doesn't sound much different to any other recent releases I've bought. Certainly not unlistenable. Is it possible you have a defective disc?
I don't listen to music on a laptop either, so that's certainly not the case here. I just haven't really noticed much wrong with the sound, but maybe your equipment is more top of the range than mine.
For what it's worth, the worst sounding Morricone release I have is 'Hundra' on the Laserlight label (I missed the Prometheus release). Absolutely terrible.
I agree that the basses sound exaggerated, especially on the first track, from what you might expect, but I hear no defect. (I use Klipsch speakers with a small sub-woofer). I presume that it sounds like Morricone wanted it to sound, which is probably not warm and cozy, since the story is about obsession and repression. Edda's voice is more distant and cooler than usual too.
For what it's worth, the worst sounding Morricone release I have is 'Hundra' on the Laserlight label (I missed the Prometheus release). Absolutely terrible.
Off-topic: Don't worry ... both releases sound the same to me! At least the Prometheus release has a better sleeve/booklet.
And far worse, sound-wise, is the release of Danger: Diabolik on the Sycodelic label.
And if you had the ViviMusica release of Il Mercenario (coupled with Faccia a Faccia) you wouldn't complain about any other legitimate release! And, of course, many of the Legend label releases leave you wondering just what have they done ... ?
I've yet to hear/get a copy of La Migliore Offerta ...
Back in the early days of CDs (mid-80s), some CDs would play back poorly on some players. I was always skeptical of this claim, until I got one that sounded unlistenably shrill on my first player, and perfectly normal on my new one. Have you tried playing your CD on another player?
The recording of La Migliore Offereta sounds very "digital" to me, that is, cold and clinical, lacking in warmth (as music fans used to complain), but there is no hint of any kind of defect. I have no idea if it is possible that you could have gotten some poorly counterfeited copy of the album.
The mastering was done at Rome's Revolver Studio which is certainly legit. I simply cannot accept that this CD passed QC or that this is what the Maestro and Mr. Venturi wanted. Not only did I play the CD repeatedly but I checked it against various other soundtracks on Varese, Milan, Intrada and numerous other recent Morricone scores such as Cefalonia (beautifully mastered) and Gino Bartali - l'Intramontabile (again, just great-sounding) and The Unknown Woman. The only other Morricone CD I've had any real issue with recently was Baarìa which I thought was mastered too loudly for my taste. But they're all light years ahead of La Migliore Offerta. I just don't know what to say. When I play it for others they just cringe, too.
-Ned
Hi! I haven´t got the same problem as you seem to have, but I think I can understand what you mean. I know that you don´t want to call the bass strings loud, but my I´m afraid that my English is to poor and I can´t find another word to describe it. You mention Baaria(great score) and it´s a score where I also can hear the loud sound. Another score where I certainly don´t like the sound is the Exorcist II- The Heretic(Warner) I love Regan´s theme but the sound on that theme kind of hurt my ears. There is to much echo or surround sound or what you may call it. I have a lp-transfer cd of that score and while the sound on that definitely is poor compared to the Warner cd it is also definitely nicer to your ears. I haven´t got the Perseverance cd so I don´t know if the sound is the same on that edition.
