Best or worst 'fake' CDs

But the REAL target won't be affected by any reissue. Targets are collected as unique items themselves regardless of whatever other editions of a title may exist. The sad thing, though, is that any target collectors who can't tell the fake from the genuine one may still buy it. Unless the demand for that particular one dies down for other reasons, that is.

 

True. There's no guarantee that the new remasters will sound any better than the Targets either! The reissues will give people who never owned these albums on CD a chance to (hopefully) get a state of the art version of these long OOP titles. But the Targets will always be valuable, yes.

 

Yes, but I was rather hoping that the odd target would get lost in a crowd of CDs (many people don't know what's a target CD; some don't appear to have even looked at other items for sale). You know, I'm not even sure about

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DONNA-SUM...?pt=UK_CDsDVDs_CDs_CDs_GL&hash=item2ed7c8c892

 

Just searched on ebay, can't find it at all. Can't imagine this would never be available for MP3 download. I know my family would've bought at least 2-3 copies. Had to resort to download to get the MP3 of the theme song sometime during the early 2000s because it was not on any CD I could find.

 

I know. My (presumed) fakes of The Wanderer and Donna Summer didn't look vastly different from this, though. This seller does seem to 'stumble across' a lot of rare albums... Did you check the Cats Target on Discogs?

 

No such thing as a "good" counterfeit, just well done ones. There are, on the other hand, some truly magnificent boots.

 

Yes, I did. There's another (genuine) one on ebay right now. Low starting bid, no reserve. So we should have a good idea how much it is really worth. In all honesty, that Polygram USA pressing looks very wrong. What did the underside (play side) of the discs that you bought look like?

 

The underside of both discs looks good. Not CD-R-ish at all. They don't look like they're 30 years old, though. The booklets are very 'fresh' looking with lyrics. The Wanderer's lyrics are all out of sync though and the Donna Summer CD has no musician or writers credits anywhere on the package.

 

I should have gone back to your original posts. Yes, the CD are pressed, but not by Polygram. Polygram discs are smooth silver to center. Alsdorf and whatever the name of that plant in Switzerland pressed silver to center discs, but they have ridges (or at least don't look smooth). They are instantly recognizable when you see them. I spotted the center hub in my Swiss press a-ha Hunting High and Low long before I saw Made in Switzerland. Anyone with loads of rare discs is either a collector or a seller with fakes (although there are sellers that specialize in rare discs - probably the only profitable segment of the CD market right now).

 

Thankfully, I found a target pressing of Cats Without Claws. A nice looking thing. I'm looking forward to hearing it this evening.

 

Good luck! Are you tempted by the new version out next month?

 

I haven't heard the target version yet! The set looks nice, but I wonder if the mastering is different. If it is the same mastering as the original albums, then it would be a great way of getting all the albums in one place. I'm also wondering why the set is only being released two years after Summer's death.

 

All the albums that are out next month are remastered. Recent rereleases by the likes of Bananarama and Belinda Carlisle have been very good. However, maybe wait until the reviews are in on the new remasters before making a decision. Your Target could well sound better..

 

Having heard it, I think the remaster would have to go some way to better it.

 

I'm sure you've got a good point there. Unless you want the bonus tracks or the nice packaging, stick with the Target. Anyway, there'll be plenty of reviews of the remaster on here so you can decide then if you want to 'double dip'.

 

Under the Best catagory
Dream Academy-Memories of Flowers, B-sides and Demos, good sound quality and contains "In The Heart" before it was re-structured into "Lowlands"
It is so bootleggy that when I cleaned the cd face for a picture it wiped right off

 

ABBA-I Love ABBA

Depeche Mode-Never Let Me Down Again(US Promo CD)

Bob Dylan-Dylan(A Fool Such As I)

All fakes sold over and over again by the same bunch of sellers. Hands off.

 

Even if they didn't know about the style of Polygram style of matrix numbers, you would have thought the non silver to center would set alarm bells ringing.

 

Well, no doubts about that one then!

 

Having seen one of the fake targets, I was impressed by how they tried to get the CD to look like the real thing. They obviously used a genuine one as a template. Of course, even without the lack of silver to center, the disc was fooling no one (who is a collector).

1) the matrix number was close to the real style, but not quite there (but a lot closer than you might expect).
2) the inner mirror band was totally smooth, not a series of arcs and grids.
3) the paint was semi-transparent, so you could read the matrix number from above.
4) the red paint of the square was too glossy.
5) the printing in the booklet wasn't quite the right font.
6) the paper quality of the booklet wasn't quite right.
7) the booklet cover was too pink, but variations might exist in the real thing.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PRINCE-19...466?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cfd8b86fa

Hmmm.

 

I bought a second copy of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Don Black "musical" "Tell Me on a Sunday", performed by Marti Webb. I have the 1987 Polydor release, I was tempted to buy a 2013 reissue, just to see if the sound had been improved. (There was lots of details in the 1987 version, and I like it well enough, but I would like a version with a bit more bass and a bit more presence.) When I got the CD, I became a bit sceptical. The cover had a grey band adorning the original cover photo, and next to no information about the recording. It even managed to give Marti Webb credit for the whole work of art. I know she´s a great singer, but I hardly think she composed the music and wrote the lyrics.

That´s not the worst of it. The CD... Make that CD-R had hiss on the tracks that was louder than the actual music. I could barely make out that there was some singing and a few instruments playing behind the hiss. I notified Amazon about this release. I don´t mind CD-Rs if they sound good, but this was ridiculous.

 

Too bad, Bobby. I know how much you wanted the original of this CD. (That you for some reason have chosen not to like. ) But if you have a fake, and it sounds good, it´s better than nothing, right?

 

I had this LP back in the day. I actually bought Marti Webb's Take That Look Off Your Face from iTunes. This sounds quite poor too. Very quiet and 'soft'.

 

It's just annoying that I can't get a legit original CD of it. But no, I still don't think it's an especially good album.