Kinks 50th Anniversary Box Set approaching with goodies....

Got my set today. Just put it on.

Wondering what's up with the sticker on the box saying it contains 100 remastered
tracks on 5 discs, but page 39 says "All recordings remastered 2014." (There are 140 tracks)

 

Just listening to the Face to Face material - has anyone compared the mastering of these cuts to the recent mono box masterings? So far I don't like what I'm hearing.

 

What is it that you don't like? Too bright, brick walked? Please do tell

 

A little bright but not overly so, just very little dynamics and a bit muddy sounding. I've seen the sound on the mono box praised so I was wondering how this mastering compares. I realize these are not audiophile recordings and I've always been disappointed with the sound of the mono on past releases but I was hoping for something better on this box. Big leap in quality when the stereo mixes (Big Black Smoke, etc) kick in.

 

I love this set (contents and sound), but boy, someone was having a bad day when they typed in the metadata. Most of the discs are titled Anthology 1764-1971, and it includes such great hits as "Where Have All the Goof Times Gone." They botched a few other titles too. Not a big deal, just sort of funny.

 

I don't know - I think the set is pretty representative of the band's work in the 18th and 19th centuries and not too bad on their pre-1960s recordings.

 

The recording quality is just as primitive

 

Just received copies of this set today. I haven't yet unwrapped and examined the contents of the interior material but man, is this outer slipcase and graphic presentation chintzy to the max or what?

 

I must say, the noise reduction on that early material is pretty drastic.

 

Still waiting for my Amazon UK order (which was a replacement for my Amazon DE order that was returned to them for no known reason).....

 

Noise reduction on the new box? You're the first person to make that claim.

Anyone else notice it ?

 

I'm talking about the 18th / 19th century recordings. How soon we forget. . .

 

I think it sounds great. The packaging stinks, but I have never listened to packaging.

 

Oops. Duh!!

 

18th century recordings are unbeatable. No brickwalking

 

I say we demand corrected discs

 

I'm listening again tonight and am just knocked out by this wonderful collection of Kinks greatness. The "Something Else" tracks have never sounded better to me. And the "Waterloo Sunset" session excerpt backing track (take 2) made me cry the first time I heard it. Goose bumps the subsequent times. "The Kinks - The Anthology" is a colossal achievement.

 

Some liner note suprises for me, with some new recording dates different or more specific than on the deluxe editions :

Time Will Tell recorded April 1965, predating the Kink Kontroversy sessions - probably considered for a single before See My Friends was recorded in May? Too bad Ray's voice cracks at the end.

This is Where I Belong - a Face to Face outtake May 66

Village Green and Two Sisters recorded Nov 66 3 months before the Something Else sessions started in earnest

Polly is a Something Else outtake recorded March 67

Rosemary Rose was also a Something Else outtake, June 67!

 

Something Else would have been a far better album had those two tracks been included. Having said that the album has always been an awkward listen for me, probably due to having heard all the tracks separately on the many compilations in the 80's and 90's before hearing the album as a whole. All great tracks but they just don't flow together.

 

Funny. Having first heard the tracks on the Something Else album, they sound out of place to me on the myriad of subsequent Kinks compilations.

 

I agree, "Something Else" is a weak Kinks LP for me. I wish they would have added "Mr. Pleasant", along with "Polly" & "Rosemary Rose" and removed a Dave Davies tune or two.

 

Bright AND muddy? OK.

 

A little bright, I said - perhaps because of the compression more than EQ I suspect? Crank it up and the high frequencies that are there are painful. Just doesn't sound like a master, sounds like a couple of generations removed. Or else that's the way they mixed it?

 

Well, this is an interesting turn of events, and may just be a one-off fluke, but for what it's worth:

In the flurry of excitement over the new box set, I decided it was finally time to bite the bullet and pick up the Picture Book box. I shopped around and found the best price by far was from Deep Discount ($58 - and even less with a 20% discount code). I had to wait for a back order, but now I receive it I'm delighted to discover that it's the Japanese SHM-CD version. Obviously, your mileage may vary, but I'm not going to look an origami gift horse in the mouth.

Edit: Apart from SHM-CD, the other big physical difference is that it contains two books: the original English one and a B&W Japanese one of the same size. The Japanese one includes English (and Japanese) lyrics for every track, which you don't get in the original.