Some more relatively cheap RCA goodies I've found for the interested: David Bowie CHANGESONEBOWIE RCA cd PCD1-1732 » Golden Years By David Bowie (CD,1983,RCA Records) Made in Japan PCD1-4792 »
Relatively cheap at least if one resides in the USA. Considering the ever increasing costs for international shipping(nearly 20,00$ for the Golden Years to Europe)it won't be that cheap for those outside the US.
I've just got a few more to go before I have the whole RCA CD set but I just noticed that out of the 4 compilation albums ChangesOne, Changestwo,Fame And Fashion, & Golden Years the song Fashion is on 3 out of the 4 comps missing only on Changesone ! also the song Golden Years is on 3 of the 4 comps is missing only from Changestwo ! What was the reasoning of issuing the 4 comps at roughly the same time with such track overlap ? could they not find any other songs instead of milking those sacred cows? anyway they sound great long live the RCAs and hopefully Stage and The Man Who Sold The World come my way some time soon.
Believe primarily RCA's contract expiring and compilations (ChangesOne didn't include Mars & Starman) are a great fast cash opportunity, especially when the artist is touring. Golden Years is most obvious with the Serious Moonlight album cover shot; they didn't even wait for some more or less decided SM tour setlist (Joe The Lion was included that got played on rehearsals and the Brussels shows only). P.S. still looking for ChangesOne and "Heroes" (have other spares).
I've got quite a few Bowie RCAs, purchased surreptitiously in the 80s. I'm glad I hung onto them. However, a while back I purchased the Japan Black Triangle version of Lets Dance on ebay for $15. This is a very fine mastering of that album.
I recall Bowie was directly involved in compiling Changesonebowie, and Changestwobowie came out while he was still nominally an active RCA artist. While I don't know if he was involved in its tracklisting, there's nothing on the record to say he was unhappy with it, which there is for Rare, Fame & Fashion and Golden Years, the latter two of which were released after he'd signed to EMI. Starting the album with Aladdin Sane seems like a sufficiently uncommercial move that I think Bowie must have been involved. I can only presume he didn't sign off that awful cover photo, though - he looks like Zaphod Beeblebrox. Regardless, I'm only bothering with the Changes compilations, not the later ones. Not bothering with Stage, either. What are your spares? I've now got the lot apart from TMWSTW, a WG copy of which I'd give a kidney for. The 2015 remaster makes a pretty able substitute, mind. (I've since IPAed that sticker mark off the spine of Low) This photo does a fine job of capturing the shoddiness of the inlay design/production too - no two alike!
Funny, looks like you have all WG discs, except for Diamond Dogs. You must be saving your other kidney for that one.
I'm sitting here right now listening to TMWSTW 2015 CD and it is very good indeed. I remember at some point in 2015 slightly preferring the WG RCA after comparing, but really there's hardly anything, or maybe even nothing, in it, the 2015 is coolio.
What's the best digital version of Hunky Dory? I have the 1999 and the 2015 releases. Both sound quite rough in spots. Like the tapes were worn or something. Is this how the album was recorded and how all the editions sound?
Karmaman has written comprehensively about the 2015 problems. There's some pretty bad dropout on Life On Mars amongst other momentary problems. The sound and EQ is good, but the tapes were knackered in places, more noticeable on headphones. I wouldn't bother with the RCA unless you can afford it. The 1999 is a bloated, harsh thing, I'd guess you can hear that by comparing to the 2015 even if you don't have the WG RCA?
Thanks. I thought it must be tape problems on HD. By comparison, the other 70s albums all sound very good.
Get the Japan for US. It's wonderful. Shouldn't cost as much as the German. Mine was $48.00 here and worth every penny. I think there's a tiny dropout on Changes but don't let that deter you.
Well, the current Ziggy is the 2012 remaster which many don't like, same for Aladdin which is the 2013 remaster. David Bowie aka Space Oddity 2015 has nice sound and EQ like Hunky but has tape dropouts and fragments of an intro missing. Station to Station 2016 is very inferior to the WG RCA CD, bloated and messy sounding on at least the musically "busy" parts. Pinups 2015 and The Man Who Sold the World 2015 are cool IMO. I haven't heard the 2016 Dogs or Americans. I'll get them when they hit bargain bucket land.
Because of the tape issues with the 2015 remaster the WG RCA is still my go to. Real shame as sound-wise it was good, but as a mostly headphone listener the tape dropouts on the 2015 annoy the life out of me. They could've been repaired with either plugins or had momentary sections spliced in from other sources! On the other hand TMWSTW sounded great in the 2015 set!
I thought the B side of the Japan for US was crazily cranked? I've seen the waveforms for Andy Warhol and it looks like murder. Fair enough if you like it, though. The WG RCA sounds great to my ears, and as I'm in the UK, the WGs are easier to get over here. I think I paid about £23 for mine, possibly less thanks to an eBay promo voucher. That's no accident - I've heard the WG Diamond Dogs, and it's incredibly muddy, quite unlike any other mastering, so I specifically sought out the JP for US, which are hard to find here in the UK (and uneconomical to import thanks to USPS gouge-charges). The JP for US is pretty good, although it's never going to be a high-fidelity recording. Not a live album guy. Certainly not a £100+ live album guy. If anyone's curious, all sourced from eBay, although in a few cases I searched for country-specific auctions on eBay France or eBay Germany and persuaded the seller to ship to me (this netted Young Americans for £15 and Low for a bargainous £23!). A few of them (Pin-Ups, both the Changes albums) were bought for <£10 from bulk CD shifters like Music Magpie who had no idea what they were. Lodger (which just seems genuinely rare) and the US Diamond Dogs were the two I paid the most for (north of £40). I'd say I've paid a mean average of ~£25 per album, and had quite a lot of fun chasing them down. Japanese Devo albums next...
Yeah, I'm happy with the 2015 TMWSTW and Pinups. I don't have the 'good' Aladdin Sane's, but at least the ones I have don't sound like the tape's about to snap. Like Hunky Dory! I have the SACD of Ziggy. Which I like. Station To Station is a bad one. I only have the 1999, which is atrocious. Disappointed the recent remaster isn't up to snuff...
If the release date / week pricing of these 2016s was the same as the 2015 separates at £5 I would say get Station anyway as it's better than your 1999. But instore the 2016s are £10 each which is pretty absurd for bare bones reissues. Pure greed from the company.
I've heard the German Hunky Dory, and aside from it sounding brighter in some good ways, thought it inferior to the Japan. The famous Bechstein piano sounds better on the Japan to my ears on my system.
The Stage RCA double CD is certainly worth getting. It has appeared here in the classifieds on occasion from the UK guys. I availed of that route a few years ago. Glad I did now. I have not seen it on eBay for ages.
The Japan, to my ears, sounded as though it was a sourced from a tape a generation or two further away from the West German. Been a while since I've done a side by side comparison.
