David Bowie on CD: Ahhhggggg!

Nah, we never used a quarter. Threepenny piece

Tim

 

The Ryko sound and vision box does'nt have a lot of fans, too patchy. I have no complaints about mine, I won it from DC 101 when it came out, I would'nt have bought it. Play it once in awhile. They should do a good box set. For Bowie's albums, I like to have them on Lp. Some of his things seem to be a little dry to begin with, cd does'nt help that, throw some compression and other tinkering into the mix and you have the Op's "Ahhhgggg".

 

the Ryko Ziggy is my least favourite digital version, regardless of tape source. the RCAs (to be honest i find it hard to distinguish between the three options) are at the top for me, with the 40th anniversary - superior tape, but a little too much compression - the best of the post-RCA issues. as we often seem to say around here, a number of vinyl options better the digital choices.

 

Just lucked into an RCA Hunky Dory (Germany). Playing it really loud right now and it's phenomenal. Pure sonic bliss.

 

I lucked out on that one a few months ago....seemed like it went under the radar

pure sonic bliss is right!

 

I wish I would luck into some RCAs. My luck consists of having to pay big bucks for them on eBay.

 

This was actually my first. I have always really liked Bowie but not enough to go on ebay for RCAs. Now it's going to be much harder to keep away, because I really like the sound of this disc. But anyway, this was in a small CD store here in Chicago, I was going through the jewel case spines and saw this unusual one for Bowie. It was kind of an exciting moment and makes up for me walking away from a $15 Mastersound WYWH in the used bins some years ago when I didn't know why the hell a used WYWH CD should cost $15 when I could get it for $5 in the same store.

 

I love the RCA's we've got (STS, C1B), but don't really understand the dislike towards the Ryko-cd's.
We've got the S&V-box set from Ryko and other cd's on EMI'90-'92 (the Ryko counterparts) for quality bonus tracks and I cannot complain about that sound quality either. It's a different approach, but really well done imo.

 

Yeah, no kidding. The RCA's just don't show up at the used cd stores anymore. They're the best aside from the vinyl, and it's hard to find clean original Bowie vinyl too.

 

Either that, or on Discogs or the various Amazon-sites.

With the Ryko's/early EMI's the prices vary on Amazon.co.uk, but you can get em all fairly cheap on Discogs, which is a terrific site for die-hard music lovers.

 

A few days ago I found a Hunky Dory CD. It said Au20 on the package and on the disc itself, but it wasn't a Gold CD, just a standard silver disc. Are these real or counterfeits?

 

My Hunky Dory AU20 is a gold disc. Catalog number is RCD 80133 (as opposed to the RCD 10133 of the standard release). The AU20's also had the additional single leaf sheet in it with the mastering process and the number of the disc. The disc itself is a gold disc simply printed matte black with the title, Ryko & AU20 logo and catalogue number in gold (no printing on the disc for these). All of the other AU20s that I have (Ziggy, Low and ChangesBowie) have the same gold disc with the black printing. Ziggy, being the first AU20 released omits the catalogue number on the disc artwork for some reason. Doesn't really answer your question but hope it helps.

 

I Hate the rykos so much i'm content to live without the bonus tracks, was it ever determined if the rykos were phase reversed or just screwed up?
I didn't fancy doing the test with the speaker wires, and now i've given my last ryko away.. to someone i hate obviously!
most of the bonus tracks are available on some vinyl somewhere , i only really miss the berlin era outtakes.

my budget semi-audiophile suggestion: pick up RCA LPs for home, then get a fame and fashion cd off ebay for the car


so far it looks like theres no easy answer to what i really want to know:
1.why do RCA CDs (mostly) sound better than most thin 80's cds?, or why don;'t more 80's cds sound as rich and full as my WG F&F?
2. why do Fame & Fashion/Golden Years & Iggys Choice cuts sound so amazing?

Jack Adelman mastered Choice Cuts, did he also do Fame & Fashion, golden years?

 

re: JPN for US Lodger:

Posts found... I think there were even earlier posts about this by the same member which I still haven't re-discovered, but these will do. Turns out my memory was essentially correct. For once.



http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...a-japan-for-us-cds.258376/page-2#post-6803905

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...a-japan-for-us-cds.258376/page-2#post-6806247

 

questiion: I got 2 AU20 Golds, Station (have certificated numbered in a semi translucent paper, like rice paper) and Hunky (certificate glossy paper NOT numbered) why??? exist differences in that golds?
both have green tinted jewel cases! only difference is the certificate, any help? thanks

 

sorry another question:
HOW!! you all guys here knows that RCA are not taken form best tapes and Golds are taken from best tapes?
I always have that question of many discs... how people know that comes from the master tapes or not etc.. if anything in the sleeve's says that.

 

The couple of Au20 I got have the numbered certificate on rice paper. If yours doesn't have a number and is on glossy paper, could it be a fake? (certificate, not necessarily CD)

The Au20 all have the same mastering.

 

To my ears, the best RCAs could have been taken from the masters or a 1:1 copy of the masters. They sound that good.

Ryko made a point of searching for the masters for their reissue program. Surprisingly, the masters for Hunky Dory went missing or became unusuable a few years later for the EMI '99 remasters, because for that album they used the 20bit transfer created for the Au20 (they synch up, even if the sound is much different).

Sometimes you can hear that a particular CD wasn't made from the masters when they contain tape anomalies or edits only found on the LPs. Sometimes it's because of rolled down bass and treble or centered bass, indicative of typical LP mastering.

 

Here in the UK, RCA CDs are super rare - which is a shame, as I'd like to hear them.

I Have a 1990 UK EMI Hunky Dory and a handful of the 1999 EMI remasters which I bought a while back, when the HMV store were selling them off cheap.

I don't bother with any of them, as I was wholly unimpressed with them all, I have them all on vinyl - both Orange RCA originals and most of the Green RCA International re-issues, along with the stunning Centenary Analog cut of Hunky which is superb - in fact, I only listen to Bowie on vinyl now, but would be interested to hear the RCAs if I could get hold of them.

Of course Bowie would probably say no to it, but this a classic example of where his entire back catalogue could be properly done once and for all without compression from the master tapes (or best available tapes if any masters are trashed) - if Scott Walker can do it (The 1967-70 collection that came out last year were flat transfers, complete;y un-futzed with) then why can't we have the same for Bowie?

 

I forgot to add, what they did with the Ziggy 40th was amazing - can we have that repeated for all the other albums? I'd happily part with cash again if they did a similar job with the rest...

 

Digital - RCA
Vinyl- UK up to Aladin Sane ( there could be a U.S. Hot stamper it's his best sounding album that and Low.

 

I've probably said this elsewhere in this thread, but I never see the RCAs and I've looked for years every single time I'm in a store, which is at least a couple of times a week.

 

fake certificate and all others parts real, mmm very strange, for what reason somebody just want fake a certificate... strange, it looks a real print glossy, but I take pictures and show you here soon!

oh!! so the way to know if are taken from masters etc... is comparing with original LP?

 

I have seen Au20 go for more money if they have the certificate.

At least that's one way to know if they are taken from LP production masters!

 

Your unnumbered Hunky Dory is a promo copy, I have a couple of the AU Golds just like yours. It's not a bootleg.