David Bowie CD's Ryko vs. Virgin....

True enough. I do love F.U.E.L. though, and Bob's subsequent solo albums have their moments, though he seems to be getting self-consciously weirder.

Ryan

 

In terms of bass warmth, how do the Rykos compare with the RCA discs? I know the Ryko Ziggy shaves it off, but a lot of the Ryko Bowies seem to have a synth-like bass sound, with little to no bass cloud. The Virgin remasters boost this area, so it's tough to know what the tape really sounds like based on them.

 

To my ears, the RCAs are the only ones that sound close to the vinyl, in terms of tonal balance.

The Ryko AU20s have a little more bass warmth than the standard Rykos, but still don't come close to the RCAs. Like you say, the Rykos have lost the "cloud".

 

I may just play with the Ryko's and burn a new EQ'd edition. Not sure if the grainy quality is the result of treble or from the transfer, but I'm hoping to get rid of that and hopefully bring back the bass cloud. Since these CD's came from better tapes and weren't processed through NoNoise, maybe, just MAYBE some home-mastering can get them to sound better than anything else on CD.

 

I've got a real cool promo-only Ziggy package put out by Ryko when the remaster was to be released. It is a 12" LP size package with the remastered Ziggy CD inside and an LP mastered from a scratchy RCA lp source.
They even made the Ryko label look like the old RCA label!
It was supposed to be so you can compare the "old" way of listening to Ziggy and the new, improved way.
Well, here is the sad part.
On my system, if you can listen past the intentional ticks and pops on the "old" LP it sounds warmer and more like real music. The Cd sounds bright and sterile in comparison.
Go Figure!

 

question about Ryko's (not golds) normals, all comes with GREEN jewel case? exist multiple pressings? first pressings have MATTE picture disc? please differences on rykos????? thanks

 

I can answer the case colour question as I bought all of the Ryko's as they were released. For the "normal" (non-AU20) versions, all of the jewel cases were clear up to and including Lodger. Only Scary Monsters and Ziggy Stardust Motion Picture Soundtrack had their initial Ryko release in green jewel cases. And they all have a matte picture printed on the disc.

 

Wow.

Wow.

Wow.