Best Chronic Town CD To Get?

Wow,that sounds great!

 

the obvious choice is a 2 CD reissue along with all the B sides that were dropped from the super deluxe reissues from the first 5 CDs. Make it ULTIMATE D L O !!!

 

Holy cow, that is awesome! Thanks for the link, I'd never heard that before.

 

I see that Chronic Town is available @ Acoustic Sounds in DSD...anyone pull the trigger yet? http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/97250/REM-Chronic_Town-DSD

 

Now it seems Fables of the Reconstruction is on DSD? Anyone know whats up with REM and these releases? Are there more coming? Can't say Fables is my fav...but there are a few choice tracks on this one.

 

Is this different than the version on DLO?

 

Yepp. The DLO one is a Reckoning outtake. It's got a little more meat on its bones but it's not as punchy as the Chronic Town outtake in the vid.

 

The Pixies "Come On Pilgrim" used to be tagged on the end of the UK "Surfer Rosa" CD. Another superb EP/mini-LP that was annoyingly given secondary listing to another album... If I'm right they eventually re-released "Come On Pilgrim" separately with restored artwork.

It would be great to see a standalone release of "Chronic Town", it's probably one of my very favourite R.E.M. releases!

 

I called Acoustic Sounds, they haven't listened to these yet...Not sure I liked Fables enough to buy but Chronic town is for sure a solid five songs. They also didn't know if more titles will follow.

 

I might suggest adding the songs on the Chronic Murmurings boot (which is wonderful, if you can find it..!)


Wuxtry Demos, 1980
A1 Dangerous Times
A2 I Don't Want You Anymore
A3 Different Girl
A4 Narrator
A5 Just A Touch
A6 Baby I
A7 Mystery To Me
A8 Permanent Vacation

I.R.S. Demos, October 1981
B1 1,000,000
B2 Ages Of You
B3 Gardening At Night
B4 Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars)
B5S tumble

Chronic Town Rough Mixes
C1Catapult
C2Wolves, Lover
C3Laughing
C4Easy Come, Easy Go
C5Shaking Through

D1Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars)
D2Stumble
D3Wolves, Lower
D41,000,000

Reckoning Outtakes
D5Wind Out
D6Just A Touch

 

I don't really understand why everyone objects to tacking an ep onto the end of another CD. You buy an album and get a bonus ep, why complain?

 

Listening to the DSD on my iPhone via jRiver on a Logitech speaker deck and have to say this new release will perk up your ears....can already tell its going to be wonderful on my full rig later tonight. Sounds fresher than any new release that I've heard in many years...this was quality work and stands the test of time.

 

Because in this case, tacking Chronic Town at the end of the DLO CD diminishes (and misrepresents) the importance of Chronic Town in R.E.M.'s history. It should be seen and understood by fans as the first of their IRS long releases -- the prologue to Murmur, if you will -- but instead it's lumped in with a bunch of b-sides and throwaways.

You could also argue that the Chronic Town tracks kind of disrupt the flow of DLO, which is kind of perfect in its own way on LP. There are any number of other tracks that could be used as bonuses on an expanded Dead Letter Office (which is a fine release in its own right), but Chronic Town deserves to stand on its own.

 

At this point the go to version will be the new DSD release for this album...just compared to the DLO version of the release and its night and day.

 

When I ripped "Dead Letter Office" to my PC I took the "Chronic Town" tracks and retagged them so they were their own entity as such.
"Dead Letter Office" benefits from this as well it seems to close well with "King of the Road".

Is there a DSD release of "Dead Letter Office"?

 

No! Only Chronic town and Fables at this point http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/97250/REM-Chronic_Town-DSD

Didn't pull the trigger on Fables but may after hearing this

 

24/96 for under $10, that would suit me if the transfer is good! Bet I can't purchase it in the UK though...

 

After a more serious listen to the DSD, I can say this is an improvement to any digital version of Chronic Town that I have heard. The stand out tracks are a Million and Stumble but you hear this thing warts and all...Mikes's voice was still underdeveloped and is forward in the recording more than I recall from previous vinyl listening. Instruments and separated in a way that is magical...can't say that the 24/96 isn't worth getting for $10 since the level of fidelity on the early REM wasn't all that great. So if I had to make this purchase again, I would have probably opted for the FLAC download and bought a six pack of beer to enjoy. Going to toss on the vinyl later and see how it compares.

 

I just didn't want to start a new thread on this subject just for vinyl folks...if digital is your game, then this DSD is the end of the line....I can't imagine this recording could sound any better.

 

This is what I was going to say before I got caught up searing/baking pork chops when my woman came home, hence my abandoned post above:

The vinyl folks may have a point insofar as the only CD version of Chronic Town you can get is on Dead Letter Office, which, to my knowledge, has never been remastered. So, if you want to compare sound quality between versions, you'd only have the cassette and vinyl of the originally released Chronic Town to compare to the CD version included on DLO.

I just hopped on to eBay and saw an Australian release of DLO that includes one additional track after the Chronic Town tracks entitled "All The Right Friends." But, I have no reason to believe the Australian issue is a different mastering. Maybe someone on here knows if it is a different mastering, or if different CD masterings of Dead Letter Office exist anywhere. Right now, I think the original DLO is it.

Or is there a SHM out there somewhere?

Edit: And, I'm already wrong, I just saw someone mentioned DSD above. But is that a different mastering? I bet it isn't. I'm not inclined to believe that a DSD or hi-rez of Chronic Town is going to sound better based on the format alone, but that's me.

 

I have the Japanese pressing with catalog number TOCP-7270 and it has two bonus tracks tacked on the end:

Gardening At Night (Acoustic)
All The Right Friends

Here are the EAC peak levels:

Track 01 - Crazy - Peak level 70.0 %
Track 02 - There She Goes Again - Peak level 100.0 %
Track 03 - Burning Down -Peak level 68.4 %
Track 04 - Voice Of Harold - Peak level 88.4 %
Track 05 - Burning Hell - Peak level 81.5 %
Track 06 - White Tornado - Peak level 84.2 %
Track 07 - Toys In The Attic - Peak level 69.3 %
Track 08 - Windout - Peak level 69.2 %
Track 09 - Ages Of You - Peak level 84.8 %
Track 10 - Pale Blue Eyes - Peak level 82.5 %
Track 11 - Rotary Ten - Peak level 96.0 %
Track 12 - Bandwagon - Peak level 83.3 %
Track 13 - Femme Fatale - Peak level 67.5 %
Track 14 - Walters Theme - Peak level 81.6 %
Track 15 - King Of The Road - Peak level 72.7 %
Track 16 - Wolves, Lower - Peak level 86.9 %
Track 17 - Gardening At Night - Peak level 84.9 %
Track 18 - Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars) - Peak level 81.3 %
Track 19 - 1,000,000 - Peak level 85.4 %
Track 20 - Stumble - Peak level 94.6 %
Track 21 - Gardening At Night (Acoustic) - Peak level 90.3 %
Track 22 - All The Right Friends - Peak level 93.7 %

-s1m0n-

 

Ah, yes! "Ages Of You" is one of my absolute faves.