So I got my Arrival and Adio CD's and Rail T-shirt in the mail
today. I hadn't listened to Rail for over a decade and was looking
forward to it, for sure!

First the good: every drum beat, every guitar lick, every lyric had
been unknowingly been committed to my memory. Now THAT's what makes
good music in my book. Instantly rememberable after 12 years! It was
just like I was at the Players and Spectators club in Spokane where
Rail played several times while I was in high school. Heck, I even
dug through my old boxes and found the drumstick fragment, set list,
guitar pick, and guitar STRING (yes, really!) that I had acquired
throughout seeing Rail numerous times. And now I have a recording
of "The Wizard!" (love that cowbell!)

Now the bad: As soon as the Arrival CD started up, I noticed that the
sound was a little muffled, the volume was not consistent, the mix
was messy. Dissapointing, yes, but no problem, really. Afterall,
some of these these songs were recorded over 22 years ago and
production has come a long way. I started listening a little closer.
Then it happened... What's that annoying clicking and hissing noise
in some of the songs? That doesn't sound good. Is my amplifier giving
up? Is my CD player misaligned? Is my D/A converter becoming
innaccurate? Are my sound system connections corroding? After
fearing the worst, I tried plugging headphones directly into a
different CD player. Same results. This had to be on the CD. A bad
mastering job perhaps? I picked up the booklet to see who did the
mastering for the CD. And there it was: Digital Vinyl Transfer & CD
Mastering: DJ Alverson. Vinyl Transfer?!!!? WTF? (Check out the
turntable going "whump" with every turn in the intro to Seasons of
Change!)

I don't want to sound ungrateful here, but I'm sure that's how it
will come out. It's certainly better than my warped and scratched
Rail records. Does anyone know why vinyl was used instead of the
master tapes? I can only assume that Dynasty records made a really
bad decision, or that some of the master tapes have been damaged or
destroyed, which makes me feel like I've been hit in the gut. This
fantastic music should be preserved. It certainly deserves a better
presentation. Can anyone shed any light on this or know what
happened to the original tapes?

"This clockwork, drives me insane!"

Terry, Andy, Rick, Kelly. Thank you for the music.