from the 2016 remaster as noted above. heavily compressed and Magic Dance is the shorter 4.10 edit, not the correct album version.
Thanks, strange that the album versions are not all there. I have an original U.K vinyl which I oddly bought in Berlin.
Erdal has songwriting credits on a bunch of Bowie songs - like almost half of Outside! Which, as of 1995 (when Bowie dropped "Too Dizzy" from the NLMD reissue, same year Outside was released) was generating as much or more in royalties for Erdal than an 8 year old album that wasn't well-regarded at all.
The Labyrinth material on Re:Call 4 is quiet, and doesn't sound compressed at all? Certainly not brickwalled to my ears, though I haven't looked at in a waveform editor as of yet.
Brickwalled or not, I’m personally happy to have the Labyrinth tracks on Re:call 4 because my vinyl reissue of the Labyrinth soundtrack from 2016 is the most off-center record I’ve ever seen. I feel drunk watching it spin, like I took a bite from Hoggle’s poisoned fruit.
For the record: I love Bowie’s cover of “God Only Knows.” At times, it almost crosses the line into overwrought. And maybe it *does* cross that line, but so be it. I also love “Wild is the Wind,” which is equally melodramatic. Which isn’t a bad thing in my book.
I swapped the short vinyl versions from Re:call 4 for the longer ones from the box set's album remaster, and hey, now it's like I have two new versions of this! It's still no masterpiece in any way, but it certainly helps when every track doesn't try to reach the 5-minute mark. Of course, this means having to live without the forbidden verses, 'Too Dizzy'. But though there are loads of wise words on revisionism and self-censorship here; man I'm still relieved he gave that song the heave-ho. The jaunty sax, the first verse sung with a cheeky grin ... it's the perfect theme song for an eighties Full House- or Blossom-style sitcom with a wacky uncle and an annoying nerdy kid in it. Horsin' Around from Bojack, perhaps. If McNulty were to have worked it over, it might have worked as a sultry ballad though.
it's quiet because the level has been dropped to about -5dB but it's very compressed compared to the original (opening titles less so).
I'd never heard Tonight or NLMD until this box (other than the singles). I'd heard Let's Dance and thought it was terrible. After listening all weekend, I can definitely say Tonight and NLMD aren't near as bad as everyone said they were. I'm enjoying both albums a lot. Let's Dance is still just awful, and I can't understand for the life of me why it ranks so highly amongst fans and the general population!
Yeah it's all just speculation isn't it. Me I think he was scared about what Iman would say when they settled down to give NLMD a spin on a cozy Saturday night in.
Good point. I think Bowie had wild is the Wind in mind when he did God Only Knows but to me the result was a pale imitation.
You are a brave soul indeed. I really like Tonight and NLMD, but I try to keep a low profile.......but man, even I can't deal with God Only Knows.
I love God Only Knows. For me it is just a totally different way of interpreting the song to the original. Love the over the top, dramatic reworking.
Also, too: Previous press release announcements went into excruciating detail about what was and wasn't going to be 'Mastered for iTunes'. Not a peep on the subject on this box. Between no-hi-res, and making the live vinyl titles box-bait, it looks like they really want to move vinyl this time out.... and.. they think that hi-res would cannibalize vinyl sales??
Ok. Had some time over the weekend to dive into the box. Went through from Let's Dance to the "original" Never Let Me Down. Basic impressions: -Was surprised how good LD was. I wasn't expecting bad, but I was expecting an album of singles and then filler. The whole thing hangs together rather well and, considering my "meh" reaction to Lodger as a whole and my uneasy friendship with Scary Monsters, it does seem to get into an area of Bowie that I'm more comfortable in as far as the chronology is concerned. Will need to spend more time with this one to fine tune those reactions, but positive at first blush. Also, while I have no frame of reference since this is the first copy I've owned of this CD, it sounds just fine on my system. -Serious Moonlight surprised me more for its set list than anything else. While the performances are mannered (compared to Stage, things feel much more restrained - almost as if performed to a click or something), the set is comprised mostly of Diamond Dogs and Berlin era stuff along with the then-recent singles. I found that very intriguing, even a little subversive. "Oh, you came to hear the hits. We'll get there, just sit through 'Station to Station' and 'Breaking Glass' first!" The horns were an interesting touch and worked more often than they didn't. They probably didn't need to be applied to all of the songs on offer, but they didn't grate. Less appealing sonically, but hardly a total wash in that regard. -Tonight... Ok, I listened to this one twice in a row and I've gotta admit... I really don't get the hate this album gets. Seriously, it was a pleasing listen with some decent songs. Is it a classic? Hell no! Is it going to break new ground artistically? Not on this planet. At the same time, it's a solid enough pop album of its time and Bowie is singing well on it. I enjoyed it and will definitely reach for it again. Also, funny enough, his version of "God Only Knows" was pretty solid, which I found hilarious given the hate that song in particular got in the lead-up to release. Fair play to anyone who doesn't like it, but I dug what I heard. Oh, will say that I could probably do without the Caribbean vibe on a few tracks, "Tonight" in particular, but it didn't sink the album for me. Again, first time owning/hearing this one, but the CD was pleasing enough sonically through my system. -Never Let Me Down sounds like it was produced by the guy who produced The Miracle and Innuendo for Queen. I like both of those albums, so the complaints about production were kind of lost on me when I realized the connection. It's clearly an attempt to create an album that could "rock," which feels a bit weird after Tonight, but this is another album whose reputation seems far worse than it deserves. Obviously, I'll be going through the rest of the box and my impressions may change or become more nuanced given more time. There's probably a measure of forgiveness that others may lack down to the fact that a.) I don't mind '80s production; and b.) I've never heard these albums before, so there's no preconception other than the chorus of voices insisting how bad this era is/was. Personally, I don't see it. Granted, it's when Bowie tries to be a "rawk star" that I get lost (looking at you, Tin Machine), so maybe I'm an outlier in audience terms. All that said, after the huge disappointment that was ANCIANT (which I still can't bring myself to listen to beyond Low and "Heroes" which I only spin to see if it's as bad as I remembered (spoiler alert: it was), it was nice to get back to something that came out of my system in a pleasing fashion. Definitely happy with this one. Oh, and for reference, I liked the first two boxes as well. It was the third that landed in "one of these things is not like the other" territory, so I have a hard time accepting that it was simply mastered in the same fashion as the previous two. Now, at some point, I need to actually listen to the rest of the discs in ANCIANT and see if it's just my favorite two albums that took a beating or if the whole thing is a wash...
I think Brian Wilson rated it. When Bowie died, I remember reading that he was honoured he had covered God Only Knows. Of course, it could have been respect for Bowie as an artist, rather than the version itself.
Received the box today in excellent condition, neatly packed in a cardboard box. Started with Let's dance, for me an unknown album so far. It is indeed quite commercial, but there were far worse albums in 1983 He had soms extreme lyrics in the 60s as well. These songs were left overs and were sanctioned as bonus tracks.
