David Bowie: Five Years 1969-1973 - 2015 12CD or 13 Vinyl Box Set

The tapes weren't exactly well stored for ages (no carefully controlled temperature and humidity) and it's my understanding that one is the worst of the bunch so drop outs from oxide falling off and the like is to be expected. The HD download of that is good as we're likely to see.

 

Thanks. I'd overlooked this comment. You may be hearing from me about the Hunky Dory WG RCA sometime.

 

Well my iPhone and failing eyes foiled me again.

That should be Japanese and West German versions.

Or maybe I was making a weird joke.

 

It made me smile.

 

I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat myself when...

 

Too late now for apologies. I just spent the last 2 days trying to chase down the Kapanese version on ebay.

 

It's the best! Because it's imaginary just like the country!

 

Wait. This is the Bowie thread right?

Maybe I'm up the hill backwards.

 

one and one, two minutes, schizophrenic tendencies

keep me floating in a most pe pe culiar way

 

Rougvie's blog has been updated again. Folks on this thread should find it of interest as he addresses the tapes used for the Ryko's versus the RCA CDs head on.

http://www.jeffrougvie.com/bowie-blog/

 

Thank you for this.

 

Great article. I can hear many forum members putting their fingers in their ears right now over the RCA's. "Lalala not listening to facts."

 

I've been told that it could've been blue cheese!

 

Chuckles coming from a guy with a first press copy of the Sound + Vision box and 9 out of 13 of the albums on RCA CD.

 

I just picked up Sound & Vision II & III in the bins today. Why, oh why, can't people keep them together!

 

At Tunes I bring loose multi CD sets to the counter and ask the staff to shrink wrap them together. They always say thank you.

FYI my S+V was pressed by PDO USA with silver to the center CDs.

 

I don't think that it works that way. Facts can not describe the way people interpretend music.
I, for one, grew up with the EMI'90 cd versions. Still I like the German RCA cd's more. They sound more real to me. For instance, on Hunky Dory I can hear a real piano on the RCA's. On all other cd's it sounds like a piano. So it is probably true that technical the EMI'90 are better, but my ears are focused on the music and instruments that I hear, like the piano, and the German RCA is the best one out there.

 

I just received a RCA Japan for Europe ALADDIN SANE and it cranks. The louder it is the better it gets.

All I have to compare it to is the bloated '99 that it kills. I avoided the 40th anniversary like the plague after gettin screwed by the ziggy 40th ... Which, like a previous poster correctly stated belongs in the garbage.

 

Yup, the two that I found were PDO silver to center also.

 

Haha I was scouring the web for these super- rare versions!

 

Just got Hunky Dory CD from HMV. All the 2015 remasters are £5.99

Just doing a quick comparison with the 1990 Ryko and my God the 2015's are warm!

I think I prefer the Ryko's

 

Funnily enough I just played Hunky Dory - the CD sounds amazing, imo.

 

Great article and I agree with much of it. Especially the part about memory and medium as well as very few people know what the actual studio masters sound like. We just know what the old cds sound like or vinyl sounds like and thus we like one better than another. I also will go out on a limb here as say that for some folks there is even a level of...I have this rare version and most people don't and IT IS THE BEST! I see this all the time on this forum in the DCC/MOFI/AF snobbery...people actually have their minds made up before an actual new remaster comes out that these masterings can't and won't be beat. I think that there was some of this/is some of this when it comes to the RCA's.

I grew up with a few of the original RCA albums on vinyl, had a few of the RCA cds when originally released...namely ChangesBowie is the one I remember most, I had a Ziggy too. I have no idea what RCA pressings they were as I didn't even know such a thing existed back then. I sold them and rode the entire Ryko campaign as I worked at a CD store when they came out. Foolishly I sold them all many years later to get the EMI discs...and now I have the 5 Years box, and have re-obtained the Ryko AU20's and many of the various RCA's. What I feel after more days of comparisons is that each one has its merits, although in most cases I find the Ryko's superfluous if and when one has an RCA or the new masterings, and yet if they are all you have they are still quite listenable and enjoyable.

My overall opinion is that while the RCA's are warmer, thicker and even more romantically "analog", they also are gritty, murky, fuzzy and occasionally rough around the edges from an accuracy standpoint. I am not saying they are bad or that they can't be a favorite. I am just again trying to be objective. I do think the RCA's sound the most eq'd and worked over...well cuz history has shown us, they pretty much are. Not a good or bad...just an "it is what it is".

As the mastering process has gone on and digital accuracy has improved what we get with each successive mastering like the AU20's is a level of increased clarity, some may like, others may not. I think the new masters are the best balance of the two ends of the spectrum I have heard. Just another opinion.

Carry on! At least we get to listen to lots of Bowie.

 

Man Hunky Dory sounds so boring compared to the Ryko version. No dynamics, everything squashed. Where's the top end? My feet are tapping along to Queen Bitch and Song for Bob Dylan on the Ryko's but i just sit there bored on 2015 remasters. These sound wrong to me, like there is no emotion in the music, but that's just my personal opinion. Sounds like a budget release and the single price of each CD seems to confirm this.

 

It's all about opinions. I can't find a single word in your description of Hunky Dory that I agree with. In fact, I'm right at the other end of the scale. It sounds absolutely fantastic, with tons of detail. Squashed? Seriously? We'll agree to disagree, if anything to my ears it sounds airy. There's a huge, full blast of air in the opening notes that sent a shiver down my spine. Just a fantastic release of a personal favorite. I think we just have to accept that at the end of the day we all hear in different ways.

Moving on - just listened to Man Who Sold the World, and this might be the best I've ever heard of this title. There are a few revelations in there, things I've not heard as well on previous releases (such as the great piano playing pushed way back in the mix during the long guitar solo in Width of a Circle). The over-burdoned bass is there, but it feels tamer, which is an improvement. What a wonderful set thus far.