154 wrote:I would combine about half of each record to make one really good album. S/T does get slick in spots (the Andy Kellman AMG review pretty much nails it), but Sweetheart has some snoozers too (Motorist?).I LOVE Motorist.and NOVELTY seems to getting ZERO acknowledgement here. That is the fucking record.

'Motorist' is one of my favourite Jawbox songs. I love all of For Your Own Special Sweetheart.I can't immediately recall which songs are Barbot on that record though. Isn't 'Breathe' one of them? That's another favourite. Great song.

Jawbox was one of those bands like Hum and Jawbreaker that really blew my mind and got me into weirder stuff. I still listen to all of them regularly. The reissue of FYOSS where Mr. Weston added the bass frequencies back in was great. I think it made that record even closer to perfect IMO. The s/t has some great songs but isn't as energetic or interesting as FYOSS. The records before FYOSS were great too, but a little bit more same-y and mechanical. I agree that a metronome was surely to blame for a lot of that.The first Burning Airlines record is a personal favorite of mine. Total desert island record. The second one has a few great songs too but as a whole it doesn't do it for me nearly as much as the first one. It seemed like they turned up the bass noodling and studio tomfoolery a bit too much on the second record. It desperately misses Bill Barbot IMO.

I recall reading this interview back when the reissue came out, and J mentioned that the mix was fine but the mastering was missing low end and it always bothered him as time went on.http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blog ... t-reissue/J Robbins wrote:Originally the idea was just to do a vinyl reissue of Sweetheart. We pressed it to vinyl on Desoto when it first came out ”an eternity ago ”but that was it.When we started talking about that and then the other piece of the puzzle was that I record bands ”that s my work now ”and Bob Weston has mastered a few records I recorded. I really love his work as an engineer, particularly because the stuff I ve sent to him “Wino s record, the new Clutch record ”on both of those there s a real focus on low end. Bob is really good with the low end.In both cases everybody was super happy with the low end. That was pertinent to Sweetheart. Our one misgiving about it ”I mean, that record meant a great deal to all of us in Jawbox ”but you know, when I would listen back to it I would think œWhat s up with the low end on this record? The original version is a really interesting sounding record ”there s this extremely abrasive agitating upper midrange ”but I always thought I d be so psyched if it had a tougher low end, some meat to it. It kind of haunted me. If I could go back and change anything about it would be to give it some oomph. And when we decided to do that, why not just go for it [do it on CD, too]. You know, revisit the record in a way that kind of where we can address this longstanding misgiving. We just listened to the test pressings. We ve just been listening it with headphones and comparing it to old version. Sorry, that s a little esoteric to be fired up about. It s not that the original mastering was anemic sounding ”the original recording, we loved it. But you put the master tapes up, the original just sounds like the mixes. Having this extra heft in the low end feels more like our band felt when we were playing. Mastering has this awesome depth and clarity. It makes me really happy.

tbone wrote:The reissue of FYOSS where Mr. Weston added the bass frequencies back in was great. I think it made that record even closer to perfect IMO.I love this record and already have the original and Savory +3. Is the remaster enough of an improvement to warrant a repurchase?

tbone wrote:Yeah Jawbox is probably on the short list of bands I rip off accidentally.We toyed around with doing a cover of Sweet Deals On Surgery a while back but never quite figured out a few things that would have made it sound right. Also, how the fuck does J play pretty much any of the guitar parts he ever wrote while singing at the same time?Ha, I don't hear a ripoff so much as a filial relation. Which, it should go without saying, is a good thing.I don't know how J does that. Ask 154.

tbone wrote:I recall reading this interview back when the reissue came out, and J mentioned that the mix was fine but the mastering was missing low end and it always bothered him as time went on.http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blog ... t-reissue/J Robbins wrote:Originally the idea was just to do a vinyl reissue of Sweetheart. We pressed it to vinyl on Desoto when it first came out ”an eternity ago ”but that was it.When we started talking about that and then the other piece of the puzzle was that I record bands ”that s my work now ”and Bob Weston has mastered a few records I recorded. I really love his work as an engineer, particularly because the stuff I ve sent to him “Wino s record, the new Clutch record ”on both of those there s a real focus on low end. Bob is really good with the low end.In both cases everybody was super happy with the low end. That was pertinent to Sweetheart. Our one misgiving about it ”I mean, that record meant a great deal to all of us in Jawbox ”but you know, when I would listen back to it I would think œWhat s up with the low end on this record? The original version is a really interesting sounding record ”there s this extremely abrasive agitating upper midrange ”but I always thought I d be so psyched if it had a tougher low end, some meat to it. It kind of haunted me. If I could go back and change anything about it would be to give it some oomph. And when we decided to do that, why not just go for it [do it on CD, too]. You know, revisit the record in a way that kind of where we can address this longstanding misgiving. We just listened to the test pressings. We ve just been listening it with headphones and comparing it to old version. Sorry, that s a little esoteric to be fired up about. It s not that the original mastering was anemic sounding ”the original recording, we loved it. But you put the master tapes up, the original just sounds like the mixes. Having this extra heft in the low end feels more like our band felt when we were playing. Mastering has this awesome depth and clarity. It makes me really happy.I can definitely hear some seeds of MFL in here:

morespaceecho wrote:you should check out his first post-jawbox band, the up on in. some really entertaining drumming. zach is interesting to me because his style is kind of rigid...sort of straight up and down...and yet he plays with more feeling than 95% of all drummers. i've been lucky to record him a few times and we've always had a ball. a good guy to hang out with.Listening to The Up On In now. 5 bucks on bandcamp. This shit is right up my alley, especially while cranking out process maps at work. Added to rotation and to Pandora. Thanks again for the tippage.

Yeah Jawbox is probably on the short list of bands I rip off accidentally.We toyed around with doing a cover of "Sweet Deals On Surgery" a while back but never quite figured out a few things that would have made it sound right. Also, how the fuck does J play pretty much any of the guitar parts he ever wrote while singing at the same time?

cmay wrote:Listening to The Up On In now. 5 bucks on bandcamp. This shit is right up my alley, especially while cranking out process maps at work. Added to rotation and to Pandora. Thanks again for the tippage.you're most welcome. i didn't know it was up on bandcamp, that's great.