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Valued by collectors, Targets are early CD pressings distributed in
the US by WEA before there
were any manufacturing plants in America. Most of these pressings were
made in West Germany
and Japan. They are not considered to be imports, unless actually issued
in another country, and
then later imported into the US. The Ronstadt CD's at the links
below were the original versions
found in stores in the US in the 1980's when the format was just
getting started. One attribute of
Targets that set then apart from other early German and Japanese pressings
is the artwork on the
label side of the disc. There are many variations of the design, but
they all resemble to some
extent, a target or cross-hairs of a gun scope.
There is some misunderstanding among many collectors about the sound
quality of Targets. There is
no doubt that some Targets have exceptional sonics (Fleetwood Mac's
Rumours
for example.) But
that doesn't mean that all Targets are the best pressings. Mastering
engineer, Steve Hoffman (who
remixed the audiophile releases of Ronstadt's Greatest Hits
and
Greatest Hits Vol. Two for DCC),
says this about Targets in general...
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Some sound pretty great, some really stink. ALL OF THEM SEEM TO BE MASTERED COMPLETELY FLAT. In other words, a Target CD will sound EXACTLY like the tape that was pulled to make it. If the correct tape is pulled, it will sound good. If a ninth generation cutting dub was pulled, it will sound lackluster. These are all mastered without any signal processing whatsoever. My Pretenders Target will be buried with me. Fleetwood Mac/Rumours was also mastered with the original Analog master. Many others also. Just as many were mastered with inferior LP cutting dubs.... I only have about 5 in my CD collection.. Dumped the rest. A flip of the coin but the goodies are good. No noise reduction used. Neutral transfers, totally dependent on the
sound of the analog tape pulled. A HIT OR MISS SITUATION. The hits are
good, the misses are pretty OK, not too bad. The stinkers stink. Just like
anything else in life. I think people collect them because they are old
and sort of wacky looking. Nothing to do with sound quality....Steve Hoffman...9
November 2005
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Here are all the currently known versions of Linda Ronstadt "Target" CD's....
Get
Closer - West Germany
Lush
Life (Yellow) - West Germany
Lush
Life (Lavender) - West Germany
What's
New - West Germany
Greatest
Hits - West Germany
Greatest
Hits - USA (PDO)
Greatest
Hits Vol. Two - West Germany
Visit fellow Steve Hoffman Forums member,
Keith
Hirsch's site
for a list of all known Targets and other early
CD pressings.
CLICK
HERE to see WEA's first CD catalogs...back when Linda only had 4 CDs
and all of them were Targets!