TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN
Tea For The Tillerman is arguably Cat Stevens’ finest album and a jewel in the crown of early 1970s singer/songwriters. Acoustic Sounds’ new “Quality Record Pressings” plant has chosen this audiophile favorite as the first title to remaster on 200 gram vinyl and hybrid SACD. George Marino of the original mastering plant, Sterling Sound, used the original analog masters in producing this reissue. Reportedly the cover is an exact replica of the original textured British Island gatefold jacket, rather than the non-gatefold U.S. version. Additionally, the original UK Pink Island label design is used. Both LP and SACD are due to be released in August. Review to follow…
For a fascinating look at all that went into this edition see more:
Acoustic Sounds reports, “We scored the absolute original analog masters, and the tapes were in impeccable condition. It took an unbelievable amount of digging and research – and luck – to get this project done to the standards of Analogue Productions. But, wow, was it ever worth it! The tapes were last used in December 1999 when Ted Jensen at Sterling, along with producer Paul Samwell-Smith, remastered the Cat Stevens catalog for CD.”
“In 1970, Lee Hulko at Sterling Sound cut Tea For The Tillerman for A&M Records in the U.S. and Island Records in the UK using a Telefunken M10 tape machine and a Neumann VMS 66 lathe with a Neumann SX68 cutterhead. Hulko started Sterling in 1968 and was its original mastering engineer. He’s considered among the first engineers to advance mastering from just transferring music from tape to lacquer to an art where attention is paid to all the details that result in better sound. We actually found Hulko’s original mastering notes from more than 40 years ago. It’s incredible, but Sterling still has all of their notes filed away.”
“So, it was originally cut at Sterling – as were all of the early original Cat Stevens albums – and the tapes were last used at Sterling. How appropriate then that we should go back to Sterling for this monumental reissue. Using the original tapes, George Marino handled the mastering this time. He used an Ampex ATR-102 tape machine, another significant point of interest. While Ampex has long been revered for their sound, they had never made a preview version so that a mastering engineer could cut a lacquer from an Ampex machine. Mike Spitz at ATR Services made a unique preview modification for Sterling so that they could cut this record using an Ampex. Marino then used a Neumann VMS 80 lathe with a Neumann SX 74 cutterhead.”
“I think we’ve gotten something quite a bit better than what was originally issued,” Marino says. “I think this version is much more representative of what was on the tape. And that’s not a criticism of what was originally done.” Marino points out that since the original issue, there have been advancements in cutting lathe technology that make the improvements of this reissue possible. “You didn’t have the same number of options that you have in the new Neumann electronics,” Marino says. “With the new one, they give you more variations to work with. Let’s say there’s a nice kind of present sounding acoustic guitar on the left channel and then all of the sudden there’s a drum peak with cymbal crashes and stuff and that stuff happens to be on the left channel. Being the vocal is down the center, you can drive the high frequency limiter from the right channel. So you can set a threshold on the right channel and grab the vocal without wiping out some of the musical peaks on the left channel. This is what I talk about when I say that we have technical advantages that they didn’t have.” Marino also chose to use a wide-track stereo head for this project, which he said allows for better signal-to-noise than the normal stereo head.
Quality Record Pressings is understandably very proud of this reissue, “Finally, we’re ready to unveil the innovations in record pressing that we’ve been working on for more than a year. Among those innovations are the installations of microprocessors on the presses so that all of the presses functions are performed with absolute precision. For example, we’ve developed a dye with an imbedded temperature sensor that we can use to cycle the presses. Rather than having the presses close and open based on time – as it’s been to date – these presses will close and open based on temperature, the far more accurate indicator of when the record is ready.”
Still to come from Analogue Productions pressed at Quality Record Pressings will be other Cat Stevens classics including Teaser and the Firecat and Catch Bull at Four.
(Cover Art: Cat Stevens)