Here's a chart, as promised: Interesting that Johnny 99 and Highway Patrolman are dry on the Japanese CD, and appear to be identical to the US release (both flat by the same amount), while Reason to Believe is also dry on the Japanese CD, but with its speed corrected, causing me to wonder why A.) the former were not adjusted to play at correct pitch; and B.) why all three were not treated to reverb on the Japanese CD. My theory -- nothing more -- on the second question is that the seven songs marked "reverb added" on the Japanese CD were professionally remixed from the 4-track Tascam cassette recordings, while the other three were not. I find it interesting, too, that the pitch discrepancies vary as they do on the USA CD. The title song is farther off than any other tracks, while My Father's House is nearly at pitch. Seems to me that the five tracks that are 2.9% off speed must have all been recorded/mixed while that pitch control knob on the Tascam went untouched for a time -- or some such technical cause for the uniformity on those tracks. Hard to say for sure. For the record, the chart compares two CD editions: •USA edition #CK 38538 (DIDP 020040 17 in matrix) •Japan edition #25DP 5246 (DPA 186 4 in matrix) When comparing speeds, I did not merely look at CD times and do the math. Rather, I would find a spot very near the beginning, locate it in both versions, then find a similar spot near the end of the track, locate it in both versions, and compare the timings "apples to apples," and have ProTools tell me by how much I would have to speed-correct the USA version to match the Japan CD. For the two tracks that were clearly off-pitch on both releases, I used an online tuner to figure out how many cents (1/100th of a semitone) away from proper tuning a pitch was, then adjust accordingly. (For My Father's House, the keyboard coda that appears only on the Japanese edition was not factored in to the calculations. Again: apples for apples.) As far as which version I prefer: Both have definite problems. On the whole, if push comes to shove, I'd choose the Japanese version, which has an added bit of polish to it, but I'd do so with some definite reservations: •It has reverb added on seven of the tracks. Normally, I would be against this, but the reverb is very tastefully added (not a hack job, IMO), and it does lend the recordings a bit of "professional gloss" that, I think, is (arguably) needed here. YMMV, of course. •It has reverb added ONLY on seven tracks, meaning that three are dry. That inconsistency irks me a bit. I mean, if you're going to add reverb to an album while remixing it, why not add reverb to all the tracks uniformly? •One song in particular seems to arguably not benefit from the added reverb: Open All Night. On the dry version, it comes across (to me) as kind of a "hyperactive Johnny Cash Sun Records" recording, and some of that appealing roughness is lost (subtly) when the reverb is added in. •I'm generally a pro-wider-dynamics guy, but in the case of State Trooper, I think the manipulated (lessened) dynamics on the USA version serve the song better. The bulk of the song is very, very quiet (low levels) on the Japanese release. •Two songs still run at a slow speed, which distracts me. Seems odd that 8 tracks are "fixed," but two are not. So, there you go. Great album, and cool to have two quite-different versions, both of which are interesting in their own ways.
I found a CDCBS 25100 today -- and am now perusing this thread and others to see what I have. I think the edition I already had is a DADC. It's a great time to be shopping for early CDs, and I thank all of my friends here for the great information we share.
If your CDCBS disc was pressed in Japan, then it has stereo mix found on the Japan-for-U.S. and Japanese 32DP CDs.
Thanks, Keith! Been reading your posts and need to do a similar shootout between the Japan disc and the US pressing. CDs rule!
Being the OP, I would be remiss if I didn't thank you for this wonderful, detailed analysis. I totally agree about 'tasteful' reverb, but I don't agree about Open All Night.
This may be a dumb question, but has anyone ever cloned the Japanese version on the "import" market? I have a disc with "My Father's House," but after reading this fantastic topic today, I would love to hear the entire thing. This is a wonderful post, thank you -->
No. The synth coda has appeared by itself on a couple/very few releases, but not the rest of the Japanese CD mixes, nor My Father's House with coda to my knowledge. No pirates of the CD have surfaced, which is sort of odd, actually.
Thanks for the confirmation. It is odd no one has done this. It appears the entire "My Father's House" with coda is included on these two discs: Brucebase - Songs For An Electric Mule » Brucebase - How Nebraska Was Born - The Definitive Remastered Nebraska Outtakes »
It shouldn't be an incredibly difficult disc to track down. It turns up here in the forums for sale section from time to time.
The JPN mix is miles better, just comparing it with the 2010 CD (which is the same mastering as the high res download i think), there's noticeable vocal distortion on the mono CD that's absent from the JPN. Seems to me that the JPN mix is "right" and the mono mix is like a quick mixdown. Peculiar!
The JPN mix always seems slightly too fast to me -- especially on "Atlantic City" and "Open Night". When I'm singing along it's as if I can't keep up, but I'm sure that's because I'm so used to the standard US version. It's nice to have both...
Hello all, I just picked up Nebraska, Japanese 1987 pressing on vinyl. Could someone please let me know if this press is the famous Japan mix? Or is that only available on CD? Thanks! Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
Thanks for the quick reply Larry. Too bad that all Japanese pressings aren't the one to find... The search continues!
The full Japanese version of My Father's House also appears on this CD: That disc also has very clean vinyl rips of Held Up Without A Gun (better than the Ties That Bind box rip IMHO) and the 45 version of Johnny Bye Bye, which differs from the version on the Tracks box.
I had read somewhere actually that there was a speed control on the 4 track recorder and that it was inadvertently set at a lower speed. I guess it was never corrected except for the Japanese CD.
Whew. Springsteen definitely wanted a homemade approach to making this record, didn't he. Matt, have ever you considering comparing Columbia's Half-Speed Mastered vinyl of Dylan's Blood On the Tracks to the standard edition? The standard edition is speeded up. I'd be interested in your findings.
From another forum member...I saved it off to keep: Song Pct Change Tangled Up in Blue 2.30% Simple Twist of Fate 2.30% You're a Big Girl Now 2.28% Idiot Wind 2.25% You're Gonna Make... 2.21% Meet Me in the Morning 2.35% Lily, Rosemary... 1.74% If You See Her Say Hello 0.68% Shelter From the Storm 0.68% Buckets of Rain 0.61% Total 1.77%
As this was one of the first 5 or 6 CDs that I ever bought in 1986/87. Thanks for this thread! It answers questions I've had for all these years.
