David Bowie 2017 Remasters - individual CD Releases

Don’t have the EMIs . I have the Rykos

 

Sadly it's been this way since the 1990's. Bowie Bonds could be to blame, but whatever the reason, Bowie releases have simply not moved forward, no matter the iteration.

 

Speaking of screwups of epic proportions, the journey to correct digital-download boxes presented problems for me 3 times out of 3.

The 192/24 box of WCIBN from $VendorA ultimately ended in failure/refund. They never (AFAIK, I gave up) fixed the fact that the wrong "Young Americans" was on "The Gouster", but as I've been reviewing my abandoned box downloads (originally abandoned for wrongness) to reorganize my archiving of them, I've found 3 (all wrong) attempts by the vendor to get the correct download offered up on the YA and Gouster albums.

Initial buy: after "Diamond Dogs", every album in the 192/24 box had wrong tags. So, pick a song whose file title was something from "Station to Station"? And you got... I don't even remember. I had to listen to a little bit of each track to right the error, and laboriously retag and rename the remaining 37 files. Easy enough, if boring busywork. Until I realized that I'd have to be able to tell "Gouster" songs from their "Young Americans" counterparts on a few seconds listen. Er, no. (My only solace was that the 192/24 box only had one "David Live" on it.)

But still. No.

Download #2, 192/24: $VenorA fixed the tagging, but what's wrong with this picture?

Code:

29-John, I'm Only Dancing (Again) (2016 Remastered Version).flac
30-Somebody Up There Likes Me (Alternative Gouster Mix).flac
31-It's Gonna Be Me (Without Strings) (2016 Remastered Version).flac
32-Who Can I Be Now_ (2016 Remastered Version).flac
33-Can You Hear Me (Alternative Gouster Version).flac
34-Young Americans (2016 Remastered Version).flac
35-Right (Alternative Gouster Mix).flac
36-Win (2016 Remastered Version).flac
37-Fascination (2016 Remastered Version).flac
38-Right (2016 Remastered Version).flac
39-Somebody Up There Likes Me (2016 Remastered Version).flac
40-Across The Universe (2016 Remastered Version).flac
41-Can You Hear Me (2016 Remastered Version).flac
42-Fame (2016 Remastered Version).flac

Well, I'll tell you. Only 1 "Young Americans". Which would be fine if the correct configuration of the box set had the same version of the song "Young Americans" in two different places. It would be a simple enough solution to copy the dang file. But that was not the case. There were two distinct versions of the song which were immediately discernible from the opening three drumbeats.

Download #3:

The 96-24 version from $VendorA had no numeric screwup - but it simply duplicated the YA version of "Young Americans" and put it on both albums:

Code:

50-John, I'm Only Dancing (Again) (2016 Remastered Version).flac
51-Somebody Up There Likes Me (Alternative Gouster Mix).flac
52-It's Gonna Be Me (Without Strings) (2016 Remastered Version).flac
53-Who Can I Be Now_ (2016 Remastered Version).flac
54-Can You Hear Me (Alternative Gouster Version).flac
55-Young Americans (2016 Remastered Version).flac
56-Right (Alternative Gouster Mix).flac
57-Young Americans (2016 Remastered Version).flac
58-Win (2016 Remastered Version).flac
59-Fascination (2016 Remastered Version).flac
60-Right (2016 Remastered Version).flac
61-Somebody Up There Likes Me (2016 Remastered Version).flac
62-Across The Universe (2016 Remastered Version).flac
63-Can You Hear Me (2016 Remastered Version).flac
64-Fame (2016 Remastered Version).flac

There was much hemming and hawing with retailer support, but at the end of the day, they refunded my money which I spent at $VendorB, with trepidation, because my attempt to buy the standalone "Aladdin Sane" (remember, featured on box 1) from $VendorB had me eventually eating the retail price because none of their suggested remedies (download songs individually; here's a coupon credit for 1 album in our store; try again in a week) worked. What was the original problem? A completely corrupt version. Only one complete song on the whole album. One song was as short as ten seconds. This was whether I downloaded songs individually, or the entire album as a ZIP.

Box 3's "Heroes", at least, was "fixed" and re-upped for download customers as soon as it was available, and with absolutely no effort on my part. But that happened in every store - digital or physical.

Common denominator: Parlophone.

I realize that getting these huge boxes out the door involves hundreds of moving parts, from packaging to vinyl production to "fake-editing" single edits to whatnot, all of which I'm able to put aside. But on a straightforward consumer perspective, I'm 0 for 3 on "smooth and done". Although I don't currently care what "Heroes (Low Energy mix)" sounds like, I might someday. The real problem with Box 3 to me is the across-the-set sonic failures. That's baked in. It can't be replaced like packaging or downloaded like an erroneous song. What the label put down as the final mix on the wax/disc/download can't (won't) be corrected. )

So, while we all have our different reasons, I'm happy to point a finger at Parlophone.

 

Out of curiosity – on Lodger, is 'Red Sails' still missing its first half second or so, as it does in the box set?

 

It is. That's rather sad, but not really surprising.

 

Any Bowie collectors out there pick up the individual cd’s and compare the masterings to the box set?

I received my Heroes replacement CD a few days ago, and along with the “loss of energy” being corrected, the overall mastering sounds much better to me. This CD sound less harsh and is even crankable when compared with the one from the box set. Maybe Ray Staff was staffed alone to re-remaster the 2017 Heroes? Anyways, I’m still disappointed with the 2017 Low from the box and wondering if it’s possible that the other individual releases may have also been tweaked.

 

Are you sure they didn't send you an old RCA disc by a mistake?

The replacement disc is identical to the older one, even the track Heroes is identical up until the "loss of energy". I think someone posted a wave file in another thread showing the two versions.
The stand alone discs are going to be exactly the same as the box set with the same errors and same mastering, both with the vinyl and the cd. They haven't got time to remaster this unimportant stuff twice; they're busy prepping the much anticipated changestwobowie release - the fans have been desperately crying out for years for that to be reissued!

 

I wish it was an RCA CD! and you’re definitely right, I must have been overly excited about the “loss of energy” being corrected.

I still shake my head that Parlophone threw out that term “loss of energy” before they planned on correcting it, and expected us all to be ok with it...so incredibly condescending, that was.

 

...and changestwo is such an odd reissue choice. Such a weird non-flowing tracklist. I can see why Changesone was reissued, as it was such an iconic album, and at the time of release it allowed those who wanted to sample the 2016 remasters to do so prior to the release of the WCIBN box set.

 

I now have the 2017 stand alone editions (which sound great), but I wonder if the box will ever be issued with the corrected "Heroes" instead of every purchaser having to get on the waiting list for a corrected disc. But then we would be missing out on the thrill of spending our money and hoping against hope for a proper product with no goof ups.

 

I'd imagine the replacement program has a shelf life. In future people will know what they're buying with the box, and will able to replace their Heroes - if necessary - with the cheap standalone version.

 

Ah, but it won't have that nifty gold color of the CDs in the box.

 

You, sir, spoke with prescience..
“The offer for replacement discs of “Heroes” from the David Bowie box set “A New Career In A New Town (1977-1982)” has now come to an end. We apologise for the inconvenience, and understand it must be disappointing. However, the version of the album with the updated “Heroes” is available from all streaming and download services, as well as on individual CD and LP via all good physical outlets.”
What a bunch of goomers these music companies be....

 

Wow. If that’s their attitude order the individual release from them, swap the records and return it to them for a refund.

 

I skipped box three, but i got "Stage 2017" on CD in the mailbox yesterday. Looking forward to compare it to the 2005 version.

 

1990/1 were the Sound and Vision releases by EMI (in the UK) prefixed CDP-7nnnn usually. The 1999 remaster series also EMI, no idea who did those in the States.

I picked up the 2017 Stage yesterday. Like it much.

 

Anyone compare the 2017 vinyl to the CD equivalents? I know Mazzy was complaining about the 2017 Low CD being mastered loud and congested so was wondering if the newly mastered vinyl is any better? Sometimes the vinyl mastering isn't quite as loud as the CD counterpart.

 

I've yet to see a thread on here that ever claims the Vinyl isn't better than the CD. Are there such things?

 

I wish I’d done my research on here! I was in Bull Moose on Sunday, and they had new copies of both the 1999 and 2017 Scary Monsters. I bought the 2017, and my friend was asking me if I love the art work in the booklet. There isn’t much to speak of. The 1999 has a ton of amazing photos.

Oh well, it’s the music that matters.

 

I'm a bit lost here. Can someone tell me please – has the stand-alone Parlophone CD of Heroes got the fixed track or not?

 

I believe it has, on the basis that the error was flagged after the box sets were released, but before the stand alones were.

 

What’s the 2017 Low CD remaster like? I thought the ones of Pinups and Diamond Dogs were pretty good. Is Low more of the same?

 

No, it's more compressed

 

2017 'Low' is very bassy. Ok if you're in the mood for that, otherwise a bit annoying.

 

My go-to on that title is a vinyl rip. Even the EMI SACD is iffy - no bass to speak of at all (IMHO), and the 2017 gives me a headache, and I saw a review here call the bass "smeared", which was a good call. Pixtures is why I pursue buying the box set books standalone.