Mine was pretty good. Sleeve was split at the seam, but not returning over that. It's a weird album, they changed the running order from the actual shows and compared to the full DVD it feels sparse. But again, it captures Elton at what I consider the end of him still sounding vocally decent in concert. Once you hit 2002/2003 his vocals started getting rough and shouty. And this band rocked - you had John Jorgenson back and it was a LARGE band - the sound was really full. I recommend a few cleanings with these albums, then a few playings. My copy of Tumbleweed had some pops on Side 1 that a few cleanings and playings resolved.
And a savant about music knowledge. Like, encyclopedic. It's pretty remarkable the obscure stuff he knows.
finally grabbed a copy of Madman and let me say that this is a really nice package and pressing. let me also say that the sound pales in comparison to my DJM copies. the drums are somehow...lifeless.
Well if you have a pristine UK then you can probably skip but the Madman reissue sounds amazing. It's beautiful. You really should listen to it yourself. Never understand when one person's comment stops another from checking something out for themselves. Most of this posts here praise the series with a couple of exceptions and a couple of pressing glitches (not many), so you should read all the comments and then make a decision. My really you should listen.
I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the S/T and Madman earlier today. Now I have a mixture of original US and reissues for everything up through and including Blue Moooves (which looks clean, but is a little noisy -so from what I read here, apparently they replicated the original pretty well). With my nice original copies of GH 1 & 2, this concludes my Elton John collection.
I’m sure someone said it and I just overlooked it, but are they going to release another GYBR as part of this or just sticking with the 2014 reissue?
exactly why i gave it a spin myself. hey at least it doesn't sound as awful as some of the old UNI/MCA reissues.
I think "pales in comparison" is pretty harsh. Sounded pretty close to my DJM on my system. I have DJMs of most of the '70s albums, but based off my experience with Elton John and Madman, I wound up buying all of them. They sound pretty great to me.
Does the new reissue of the Elton John album sound like the original UK with the big bass? My UK is a later pressing which is less hefty than the original. I’d be interested in maybe picking one up if it’s similar.
Madman has been the one I've played the most often since originally getting these, so I'd have to go back to Elton John, but as I remember, it was pretty similar to the my DJM.
I've heard this about the bass before. I must say, I don't understand why this stuff changes or is deliberately made to change with subsequent pressings that supposedly use the same mix and master.
If you're looking for a great sounding, bass heavy version of Elton's S/T album, you should look out for the Classic Reissues release from 2011. It's a great pressing.
Thanks. I would never have got that. I’ve only just started getting into his albums in the last few months. I picked up a nice copy of the original Blue Moves a couple of days ago for a bargain price of £2.00. Well it seemed like a bargain but I haven't listened to it yet, so I might be disappointed or surprised. Not sure what the consensus is on this forum. Regarding reissues, I can never work out if it is worth going down this route - are they better than the originals? And the few originals Ive picked up, they are nice and clean and I haven’t spent more than £10 which was for GYBR.
