Thanks, Mish, Jen and Barry.
And, yes, Barry, I process in nothing bar DPP. DPP is the /only/ Canon CR2 format RAW converter. Everything else is a hack. Load up your images in Adobe Bridge or Adobe Camera RAW, and, at first you'll see they look spectacular. Then, give it a second, and then ACR/LR/AB apes the data and makes it look like crud.
What's happening is that the embedded JPG thumbnail in the RAW is being displayed, moments before the decoder/converter goes to town on the actual RAW data and tries to show you what it thinks you captured, rather than what you captured.
DPP is king; king in its simplicity and king in the results it produces.
H