David Bowie: Five Years 1969-1973 - 2015, 13 Vinyl Box Set

It just arrived.

It is beautiful.

 

Listened to the 2003 mix last night on headphones—which I don't think I've ever done for Ziggy before, and... I really, really like the 2003 mix. I ended up switching back to the original mix immediately afterwards to hear how different it was, and I might think the 2003 mix is a more enjoyable headphone listen... I was getting chills during the "give me your hands" shout...

Also, having listened to all but two LPs now, and having listened to at least a side of four or five different ones on headphones, the noisy vinyl seems to be a problem across the whole set, unfortunately. It's only really audible over headphones and doesn't overpower the music, luckily, even in the very quiet parts, but it's annoying to hear "whoooooshwhooooooosh" between tracks...

 

Halfway thru Hunky Dory, very impressed so far. Hearing lots of little things I'd not noticed before, in 40+ years of listening to these albums.

A couple of minor niggles, apart from the aforementioned whooooshes: the lyric insert for HD is waaaaay too dark brown; and re MWSTW, it's a little disappointing that they couldn't find space in the book for the lyrics, which admittedly didn't appear until the RCA reissue, but still...

 

The 2003 Remix is cool to (finally) here...I've always gone w/ original. They both have their merits, but you could make a strong argument in favor of 2003 over original (particularly the original-remastered)

 

That's odd, I can only vouch for Beatles For Sale, but the 2014 mono easily beat my Japanese red mono - the latter sounded a bit bloated in the mid-range and less detailed, and I haven't listened to it since.

 

Hi all

Well...i wasnt expecting any response about the Ziggy Mastering, but Ray Staff responded today and confirmed that the box set Ziggy is indeed the same vinyl cut as the 40th Anniversary edition...

Interestingly, if the Bowie site were to announce it, youd think they wouldve done it sooner , as them doing so would only make the box more desirable..?

Cheers

Rich

 

Interesting opinion on the Rykos. I have copies of the Ryko SO and TMWSTW albums that I've never opened because of bad reviews of sound quality. Not sure what to do now . . .

 

Open and enjoy them. I do.

In not getting the new CDs but I did get the new vinyl set.

 

The EQ on the Rykos is terrible. Absolutely brittle. So much so, that Steve posted an EQ fix for them a long time ago. The only thing they have going for them is the bonus tracks IMO.

 

Did you try washing them?

 

I bought a few RYKO David Bowie LPs when they first came out. The Man Who Sold the World was one of the titles I bought. I don't remember the other titles.

I remember thinking that they sounded almost like the corresponding RYKO CDs. The slight "almost" was probably the sound of my phono cartridge.

If you think that you might like the sound of the RYKO CDs cut to LP, you might like them. I don't myself.

 

Well. I've spun all 6 original studio albums so far, and I'm relieved to say that (a) there's not a single blemish or repeat pop, and (b) they all sound fairly magnificent, to these ears. I don't have the slightest problem with AS; not sure what others have carped about & can't be bothered to check, but just for the hell of it, I will A/B/C it to my 1st press Dynaflex and my son's UK 1st press.

The only minor issue for me was that parts of HD had slightly excessive sibilance - mostly on side two, for some reason - so I'll check that to our two UK early presses (one first, one second, I think - both non-Mainman, anyway).

Biggest revelation? Pinups! This has always been the clear runt of the Ronno litter for me, but OMG, it sounds AWESOME here!!

Looking forward immensely to the rest of 'em, and already totally gaggin' fer Box 2. Another quibble though, if I may: although the set is fairly good value, is it really asking too much to have expected downloads at this price? Ok, I'm ripping them as I go, and probably would've done anyway in preference to DLs...but not everyone is tooled up to do this, and at this price, I think the absence of DLs is rather rude, quite frankly!

 

Agree with everything a YES to Pinups

 

Thank you for asking for us. This really makes those people look old who claimed upthread that they could HEAR that the new Ziggy is a digital master. Oh boy...

 

Musically speaking only, I now prefer Space Oddity over Man Who Sold the World.

 

One thing I like from the Five Years threads is seeing all of the interest in The Man Who Sold the World. It usually seemed to get overlooked or not particularly liked prior to these two threads. I always thought it was a top notch David Bowie album myself.

I listened to Space Oddity a lot back in my teens. That was a result of having it on one side of a quality C-90 cassette with The Man Who Sold the World on the other. I was crazy about The Man Who Sold the World and Space Oddity was just okay - at first. Since it was on the same tape, I played Space Oddity a lot more than I would have otherwise. I found plenty to love about Space Oddity after repeated listenings. I'm glad that cassette tape situation occurred.

(Glad to see Pinups getting attention too.)

 

Looking forward to hearing these albums for the first time!

 

There's nothing new under the sun.

 

I don't have noisy vinyl across my set, anything that I have heard, like a subtle wooshing or bkgd/surface noise at the end or beginning of a couple of discs, seems to parallel other comments (ZS and HD)and some of those people did wash and nothing changed. I also read this is an issue with some newer 180g discs (someone's comment on one of the 2 2015 CB threads).
I hear some tics towards the latter half of Changes on HD and some of that noise at the end of that side. My set seems blessed with most of it being perfect, also a bit of bad seeming feelable marks on trk 3 of the first Re:Call 1 disc that thankfully don't make a peep. Right now I am without a RCM and am looking to get one ASAP.
Definitely a solid scrubbing will tell the tale, typically I rarely come across the urgent need for it.
I suppose since I have nice copies of the 40th ZS - a US1st, UK1st and Millennium of AS - and the EMI 100 of HD, kind of makes it less of a 3 alarm event anyway.
I have to do some shootouts for sure...

 

I haven't, but I would be thoroughly surprised if this were something that could be removed by a wash—it sounds more like an off-center pressing, with a once-per-round whoooOOOOSHhhhhhhh...whoooOOOOOOSHhhhhhh....—but the records certainly don't appear to be off-center. I've got a huge back log of things to clean, so I'll probably pull out the Spin Clean soon and give everything a rinse before spot-cleaning some records, including one or two from this set as tests, on the vacuum machine. And again, it's only really noticeable on headphones and between tracks, so while I'm not happy about it, I don't think it's really going to bother me—these aren't exactly headphone albums anyway. We'll see if it gets on my nerves more, though...

 

I'm surprised by everyone being surprised by Pin Ups. The original US orange label Dynaflex is a monster. Just an amazing-sounding record. Some of Ronno's guitar lines sound so 3D that they seem like they're coming from a foot in front of the speakers.

But then I have to remind myself that a lot of people have never heard a first pressing.....

 

they're on the first issue of the LP, the US Mercury cowboy cover. reproduced in the current CD edition.
generally speaking the plan looks to have been to replicate first UK editions, hence the dress cover, the laminated Hunky Dory with border etc. agreed the HD insert is all wrong, and i'd have preferred the original Ziggy Motion Picture sleeve if we had to have it at all. the 30th anniversary remix/remaster does not really belong in a set subtitled "1969-1973" (ditto Ken Scott's ZS remix).

 

the US dynaflex sounds nothing like the new pressing, and nothing like any other pressing i've heard. it's the brightest by a very long way. if people want a genuine "night and day" comparison they need to put a UK first issue up against a US. the new pressing is much closer to the UK.

 

True. The US is very bright, but not to the point of being a fizzy treble-fest. The point is that there's a lot of life in that tape. It's not surprising that the reissue would be a stunner.

 

i respectfully disagree on the US, it's excessively bright IMO. it's the recording that makes PinUps sound great (probably the closest thing to an audiophile recording in the Bowie canon), not the mastering per se. i'd imagine a hands-off approach is the best way to master this album.