He spent the past 25 years of his life buying up music/photo rights. Then spent his final 10 years curating his archive...mostly for posthumous releases. This included stuff he purposely wanted only released after he died.
I seem to remember there was a cd of this Cracked Actor release many years ago under the title of Strange Fascination. I never saw it in the UK, but did see it in Switzerland of all places. I'm not sure how legit this release was, but it was in a shop on the high street.
They'll HAVE to. This thing will get pirated to death on CD (from an needle drop obviously) if they don't.
That was a bootleg for sure. If this new one comes from the master tapes, this release will be epic (IMO). Edit: Just read this on davidbowie.com: All of the multi-track tapes were finally reunited in one place in November of last year and mixed officially for the first time by long time Bowie collaborator Tony Visconti. The packaging features newly commissioned artwork with rare and unseen photographs from the 1974 Universal Amphitheatre show by Terry O’Neill and Jamie Andrews in a gatefold sleeve. The album differs greatly from Bowie’s David Live album (also from 1974), as it features a new band line up including soul legend Luther Vandross on vocals. It also has a different set list including two tracks that had just been recorded for the album The Gouster, which was finally released for the first time last year as part of the critically acclaimed ‘Who Can I Be Now?’ box set. Now I can't wait!!!! I just hope they leave it nice and dynamic instead of crushing it to death with digital trickery.
I wasn't sure if it was a Europe only release or not. It was sold in the Swiss equivalent of HMV, which is why I thought it was an official release at the time.
Actually, looking at the sleeve of Strange Fascination, it's not the one I saw for sale. It was A Portrait In Flesh.
The 10 minute animal intro is special, to say the least (or spatial as they say back in Indiana). Who could refuse having that as the first half of vinyl disc one, non brickwalled in full glory ? Can you visualise Visconti sitting thru that ...
Which plastic cd holders are you referring to, the "elephant condoms"? What's the difference the "real" ones and the fakes?
The fake ones look very cheap and they get crinkled very easily - they are more like plastic bags, also too big and stick out the ends of the covers. The proper ones (although I've not got my hands on a genuine one from this set, but based on other sets with them in) don't get crinkled up so easily and also fit far better in the cd covers. I knew it was fake straight away because when I pulled the albums out of the box I could see the plastic holders all sticking out of the end and scrunched up, because they don't fit in the covers. That was the case in my fake set - although the fact that I got gold cds, rather than the silver ones, means there are obviously variations from set to set (I suppose depending on who made them), so perhaps other fake sets will have better quality plastic protectors.
I should also note that I compared this new Station to Station LP against an original US tan label RCA, and the new LP did not hold up as well. The original RCA sounds much more open in the higher frequencies, and has a more detailed and slightly more natural sound to it overall. It's more pleasing and rich, tonally. The new LP, by contrast, sounds a bit closed in, compressed and less dynamic, and noticeably bassier. It doesn't sound terrible by any means, but when you hear it next to an original, it definitely sounds a bit off.
So what is the verdict of the CD box set? Is it worth it for the Gouster and different mixes, or would I be fine with just the individual releases?
I'd say that'll depend on your history with this era. Personally, I was in need of an upgrade over my EMI version of Young Americans and I'd stupidly gotten rid of my Ryko version years ago, so The Gouster filled in the bonus cut blanks. When compared with the EMI versions, this box comes out clearly ahead. If you're sitting on original CDs, it may be a harder sell. Personally, I've really enjoyed it, even if the extra mixes and Re: Call discs are a bit superfluous.
Bought the beautiful Who Can I Be Now vinyl box set over the weekend. Finally got around to playing it tonight but was heartbroken to discover that Side 2 of Diamond Dogs doesn't work. The turntable doesn't play the LP, it just stutters and makes a horrible grinding noise when I hover the needle above the record. Has anyone else had this experience? Both sides of the Gouster play perfectly. I've never come across an issue like this before. Can anyone offer any suggestions as to what might be the cause of this please?
I think it's so hard for modern reproductions to sound as good as the originals - even with all the technology they have at hand. No matter what they say the original analogue records are just better. More air, dynamics and less manufacturing faults. Your ears can detect if something has been messed with digitally imo - it's quite amazing. The same with the sleeves - they are always just a little bit fake looking. I don't think I ever had as many dodgy vinyl copies in the 70s and 80s even if they were on thinner vinyl. It has got to the point where when I play a rereleased record I'm almost expecting it to jump at some point.
So true, sadly. Worst of all is the cover of the current Low cd in stores no less. His head is so flippin' blown out without details, it'll be a skull design if they use that one for the next round. No respect or proof of craftsmanship across the production chain.
This has probably been answered already but is the new mastering of the 2005 mix of "David Live" different/better/worse than the 2005 mastering? It is a new mastering, isn't it?
I've been vocal on here about my thoughts on these sets. I've waited like a trooper for the price to get to a point where I could feel good about the investment; the proliferation of pirate copies on Ebay made it a bit of a nightmare. Having said all that, I finally got the set for £60 - gold discs and all. At that price, it was worth it. I have a couple observations. Firstly, the MP3 samples on Amazon don't do these editions any credit at all. As an example, I was really worried about Diamond Dogs, thinking it sounded really off. But sitting here listening to the CD on a Linn Majik and Sennheiser 650's, I need not have been concerned. Night and day. Yes, I have to use the cliche, I'm hearing things I've never heard before - such as the piano on Rebel Rebel, the incredible Hammond (?) organ on the chorus of Rock N Roll with Me, amng others. Hell, I had FLAC files of this, and even those didn't sound as good as the real thing. As for the sleeves - they're sold on being like Japanese Mini-LP's. That's, sadly, wrong. There are so many things they don't get right you can't compare. The sleeves in this box aren't color saturated enough, they're not used the right paper for the lyric insert of Young Americans, they made the lyric sheet of Aladdin Sane an inner sleeve instead of a single sheet of glossy paper. I could go on. If you want Mini LP quality, then buy from Japan - simple as. Anyway, I'm going back to some Bowie now. Wow.
My Aladdin Sane lyric sheet is a blue inner bag with the red flash if I recall - early to mid 70s UK gatefold Orange RCA. I think Diamond Dogs varies quite a lot over the years. I bought a really early UK copy (OLY) which sounds like a remaster compared to my black label UK RCA. £60 is a very good deal!
Strange, my Aladdin Sane was definitely a single sheet. the Japanese Mini LP has it right. To be fair, the box set just followe what we got in the single CD release from a few years back. All my Vinyl is from the UK. I didn't buy Aladdin Sane on release though. Just played Diamond Dogs again - it sounds really nice on this set.
