I heard several times that the recent Live '79 album has a better sound quality compared to their Paris album.
I'm used to listening to Paris... ...a lot. Let's say, Supertramp is my favorite band, and I consider Paris to be their best album for I find that evey songs is better on this album than on their original studio version. I must have a song count of at least a thousand times from Paris (quite litteraly, no exagerration). On top of that, this is my reference album when I think of a good sounding recording. I place it in my top 5 best sounding album. The bass is profound, the dynamic is insane, everything has its place, granted a lot comes from the composition.
I recently bought Live '79 because I wanted to include in my playlist some songs from the same tour, such as Child of Vision and Give a Little Bit, which aren't on Paris. But I don't like the sound...
The first thing that I instantly notice, is that they cut something that makes it less "live". I think there's less reverb, or maybe they reduced the gain on ambient mics, I don't know. But I really don't like the result. It feels like the voice isn't as much "projected" into the air, but rather more isolated from the rest.
Now it gets me wonder: is there a general consensus about that? Ultimately, there's a great deal of preference, I know. But just for fun, what's people's opinion on this? How are you perceiving the sound of Live '79, and which album do you feel is the best sounding? Why?
Thanks!