Let's be clear, there's good and excellent sound, bad sound, terrible sound and horrible sound. The recording quality on Dido's Safe Trip Home is just horrible. On an A to F scale, I'd give it no better than a D and quite possibly a D-. This is sad, as there appear to be some great songs, some beautiful songwriting, and a great deal of creativity and emotion expressed in this release. But it's just close to impossible to hear it.
Most recordings, of course, have high, mid-range and low-range sounds. After one listening, it is sadly clear that the sound on this release is virtually all in the lower mid-range to low-range (bass sounds). I was not one of those troubled - as some were - by the high compression levels on 2003's life for rent. But this is something else again, trying to listen to this new release is like attempting to hear while one's ears are plugged with wax.
Perhaps the sound can be improved, just a small bit, by dubbing Safe Trip Home onto a brighter blank CD, such as one made by Sony or Memorex. But right now I'm doubtful and close to raising the white flag.
It's a shame as, from the small bits I can hear, this album might have been brilliant; even maybe a near-masterpiece like Sting's The Soul Cages. Perhaps that's what it would have been in the hands of a finely talented producer like Pierre Marchand, who serves as Sarah McLachlan's George Martin.
On a much better day I might give this another listen, another try. Today is not that day.
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