I reckon we should start returning this kind of stuff as faulty. Maybe if enough did this, someone out there would take note? Tim
They seem to be hell bent on making the box sets marginally essential as opposed to actually essential - just give me the best sounding David Live or Station To Station fer feck sake.
If I didn't have this stuff already I would just get the 2005 David Live, the Nassau set (if it will be released seperately), the 1991 EMI(Ryko) of DD and, yes, save up for the RCA (WG) of YA since the EMI/Ryko of that one uses faulty mixes. The Gouster and Re:Call 2 I will just download. It still would be a lot cheaper.
My proposed name for the next Berlin era installment, given the nature of the treatment of his back catalogue in general: Always Crashing In The Same Car (1977-1980)
Sure looks faulty. I mean, no one with any working ears would ever have approved of this sort of crap... would they?
Re:call 2 sample via Uncut ... David Bowie: hear a version of "Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me" unavailable since 1974 - Uncut »
CF won't be included as all compilations are banned from these boxes, with the obvious exception of the Re:calls
This really needs to be sent to the powers that be. Utterly unacceptable and frankly an insult to Mr Bowie's musical legacy.
Tim, could I ask you which track from which edition of which album this horror comes from? Thanks for posting it, btw. It's a sight to behold.
All the songs on Gouster were on the 1990 Ryko reissue (though allegedly Gouster has some earlier mixes of the YA stuff). I got out my Ryko YA and programed the songs in Gouster order. Damned if it doesn't hold together as a solid album.
Bonustrack-wise "YA" is still my favourite Ryko/ Sound & Vision release. And the only vinyl edition where I don't mind the extra tracks being simply added at the end.
The track name is above the waveform - it's Station to Station. I'm thinking the ONLY way to not stand for crap like this (if it is this mastering we'll be getting, we don't know for sure yet) is to vote with one's wallet. Unfortunately those in the record companies know that completists and collectors will buy ANYthing, regardless. Doing so sends an 'this is OK' message to those at the top :/
there can be few "single edits" less imaginative or interesting than a regular version that fades out early as is the case with this one.
one alternate take, two alternate mixes. presumably the same versions that have been available on bootlegs for decades, albeit in average quality.
I agree Karmaman, sadly this second box has not taken me in at all so far. I did listen to the Gouster config and I must admit I quite like it but not enough to want this box.
Have a look at the waveforms for "Heathen" or "Reality". They make this look dynamic! Emily Lazar was the mastering engineer, and I remember at the time of "Reality" that Visconti touted her as having, "the best-ears-in-the-business". Sadly, any complaints of being faulty will (quite literally) fall on deaf ears.
i'll buy both CD and vinyl editions out of misguided loyalty and fandom, but rarely will i have felt so short-changed. sadly pretty much every Bowie album since Outside has looked like this.
I appreciate your point (and I have appreciated your earlier posts). But voting with one's wallet (like other kinds of voting) makes sense only as collective action and musical fanship isn't really organized for that (because it's hardly organized at all). In other words, if 3 dozen fewer SHMF members don't buy this set, what will the suits conclude? If they notice at all, most likely they'll conclude that the market for Bowie is a tiny bit smaller than anticipated. Almost certainly, they will never re-issue an unbrickwalled version of the whole set. (Well, it's Bowie, so maybe I shouldn't say "never" about a possible reissue!) Here's another idea for collective action: buy the set or don't, as you wish, but then, once you've either made your own judgment about the SQ or have decided that the informed reviews here on SHMF are simply too frightening to support the purchase, then hustle over to amazon and write a review. 3 Dozen unhappy amazon reviews complaining about SQ will get noticed, since you are not just expressing displeasure (which the suits don't take so seriously), you are discouraging (educating?) other buyers. So: don't vote with your wallets, since we don't have enough wallets here to send a clear message; instead, militate with your words and judgments and hit them where it might actually hurt: interfering with potential sales they might yet make, if not for your (our?) discouraging reviews.
For me the biggest difference is the *smoothing out* of the (formerly) hideous background vocals. Geoff and Gui may have been David's friends but their voices were awful. And a pox on whoever added them to the Ziggy Stardust film soundtrack ("hey maaaaaan..") in lieu of Mick and Trevor. A real travesty, that!
Excuse me as I haven't read all this thread...but the information on SDE would seem to indicate the Gouster album has previously unreleased versions of some of the songs. So they are ignoring the idea now that these boxes will only feature previously released material?
But.... Why? I just do not understand this mindset at all. Throughout your own posts on here you've been very scathing of the Five Years set, and it appears this will be more of the same. Why buy something you aren't going to thoroughly enjoy & listen to? It's such a large waste of money. Surely buy something you actually want & will get years of enjoyment from? None of my business of course, but it's just a product made by committee, tarted up by advertising as something special for The Fan.
correct. but when has consistency ever been a factor in any bowie reissue program? they move the goalposts to suit their needs. in this case they knew they didn't have enough to entice, so they broke their own rule.
i don't have a good reason, but then i don't have a good reason for owning a dozen copies of Peter & The Wolf... logic goes out the window after a lifetime of buying Bowie.
