sorry Vaughan, your memory has let you down on this. UK should be an inner bag on quite heavy stock card, opening at the side. the first line of Cracked Actor is missing (i.e. it fell off the artwork and nobody noticed before printing). single sheet editions came later, in non-gatefold editions (orange, black and green label variations). US originals also have an inner bag, on thinner gloss stock with the opening at the top and with the first line of Cracked Actor intact. the Japan mini-lp does have an inner bag, replicating the UK edition (side opening, missing lyric).
Interesting. I have the gatefold for sure. Sadly everything is in storage, including my Mini LP's, so can't go directly to them. Still, the cost of aging is that some memories might become mangled.
For me it came down to price. At full retail, no, not worth it. I got mine used, but you really have to work at it to find a non-counterfeit one. I've only had it a couple days. Initial thoughts having played Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, Station to Station (2016) and one CD of David Live is.... well they all sound fantastic to be honest. As noted earlier, samples and even FLAC's I'd gotten don't do these justice (I play my PC through the same amp, with the same headphones). However, I must say, there is a general feeling that is much lesser of a box to Five Years. The music is really stretched out with the duplicates. As nice as the alternates are to have, there's no getting away from the fact that this set only covers four albums. Gouster is an excuse to include tracks that wouldn't fit onto the Recall discs. Yes you get Gouster, but you only get one Recall disc, as opposed to the two in Five Years - so it's a strange thing to have done, imo. The lack of breadth is signaled in the enclosed book, which is noticeably less interesting than the Five Years one. I'm also struck that the book in no way compensates for the loss of booklet from the original 2005 release of David Live. I think the cover repro's are of lesser quality here too, although it's nice to see the original artwork for Station to Station return. I've been a vocal critic of these sets, and it was price that drew me in. This set, overall, really illustrates why the whole idea was flawed. There's just not enough in this set - and that's setting aside the fact that I really think Diamond Dogs fits better with the first box, which admittedly was already well stacked. Bowie made quite the jump from Diamond Dogs to Young Americans. I'm glad to have this, and as I say, the sound is great. But if money is tight, I'd probably get the single releases. You'll find people selling individual discs on Ebay, so you can get Gouster there (just make sure it's a gold disc). Does anyone know what the booklets are like with the single releases?
The other option was to have it include part or all of the Berlin Trilogy. Include part, and it becomes troublesome with respect to continuity. Include it all, and the price goes way WAY up, hurting sales. Or, optimally, it should have just added Cracked Actor.
What an amazing box it would have been if they'd ditched one of the David Live mixes and Harry Maslin mix and added Cracked Actor and maybe Bowie's TMWFTE ost instead as a finale. It would have meant a bit of a format rethink, but Bowie's team are reknowned for that (think Anniversary editions). It would also have saved all this RSD craziness and would have sold a lot more copies, being an essential purchase not just a luxury shelf adornment.
Have the CDs been released individually yet? I've seen individual 2017 vinyl listed at a few places but all the CDs have earlier dates. Or did they reissue earlier masters for those? Thanks! Mark
BUMP 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?
Now that the individual CDs have been released I have been re-reading this thread, but there is not a lot about how the new mastering sounds. I am particularly interested in the 2016 masterings of the CDs of Diamond Dogs, Station To Station, and Young Americans. Now that you've had time to digest and return to these CDs, what is your opinion of the mastering of the 3 aforementioned CDs? Also, can anyone provide a link to the 2016 remastered Young Americans on Amazon US? I cannot find it. Thank you.
I think the remasters are great, warm and crankeable. The only Young Americans I see on Amazon US is an import one at $25.
Diamond Dogs sounds very quiet and muffled compared to 2004 edition. But upon cranking it up and getting used to it, the older edition sounds like a total mess. Album itself has the dirtier sound than Aladdin Sane so it will never sound quite as sparkling. I don't like the sound on 2010 edition of Station to Station. 2016 edition is actually a bit louder but also punchier. People seems to really hate Harry Maslin mix, I think it's fine except for TVC15. I don't know what's the deal with 2007 YA. It sounds really bright and cleaned up, but also good. A remix perhaps? 2016 sounds like a 70 record. Which it should be, but personally I prefer 2007 edition.
IMHO, since there are finally vinyl and hi-res versions made available for many of these titles for the first time, the effort was not a "shelf adornment" to people - like myself - who would think thrice about buying another 16-bit redbook CD of the same old same old, no matter how it's been cooked. As for including "Cracked Actor" on WCIBN, that would have been a far more morally dubious piece of boxbait than "The Gouster", given previous availability of the tracks on that. The rule about "officially released stuff only" on these boxes means that if there's something you HAVE to HAVE, you've had 30-40 years to get your hands on it. No one dangled a "Cracked Actor" in my face to make me buy several kilograms of old stuff (including two "David Live"s) at 16-bit for $129 to get it. And "Cracked Actor" went fairly quickly (as these things go) from RSD to CD/download for the general public. There may be plenty to complain about re: these Parlophone/Bowie boxes, but keeping previously unreleased material off them was a decent, casual-collector friendly move (if not exactly XTREME collector-friendly).
It's really a shame they didn't just do an RCA studio albums box, and then follow it up with a box of his post-'70s studio work, because you get the same 13 LP package that way: The Studio Albums (1969-1980) Space Oddity The Man Who Sold the World Hunk Dory Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars Aladdin Sane Pin-Ups Diamond Dogs Young Americans Stations to Station Low "Heroes" Lodger Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) The Studio Albums (1983-2016) Let's Dance Tonight Never Let Me Down Black Tie White Noise The Buddha of Suburbia 1. Outside (2 LP) Earthling 'hours....' Heathen Reality The Next Day Blackstar They could have followed those up with a Complete Tin Machine box set containing the two studio albums and the live album, along with all stray tracks, then a singles, b-sides, and rarities box set, and they could have reissued all the live albums in the same manner as the recent Bowie at the Beeb box.
I can just imagine how that meeting would have gone: "Hey guys! I've just figured out a way we can release all of Bowie's albums, just like we planned, but cutting it down to two releases instead of six and having nothing on there to incentivize dedicated Bowie fans to actually purchase it! I figure that this way we can make about a tenth of what we're scheduled to make and guarantee that all the fans will complain about the reissues for the next ten years! Basically, all we need to do is treat David Bowie like, I don't know, Status Quo, because we know that's how he'd want to be remembered."
There's the rub. Because the way it looks now - IMO - is that the releases appear rather cynical. We know, with Bowie's passing, the "Super Deluxe Editions" of many of these titles will be released in the future. Even if he hadn't passed - the door has been left wide open for them. As much as I've written criticizing these boxes, they do have one saving grace which is significant: They sound terrific. The remastering has been spot on (imo). And yes, I'm talking the CD version. For me, they're definitive masters.
Sorry to offend. I prefer these over the RCA's that would cost a whole lot more to buy. I don't doubt others disagree. These sets also allowed people to get a taste of Mini-LP's.
It seems to be a fold-down of the 5.1 mix. Mind you I'm not 100% sure about that... but the audience level seems boosted between songs compared to the previous stereo remix. It certainly is more dynamic than the 2005 CD.
Some are certainly better than others and there are many here that can't afford the RCAs (I prefer --mostly the Japan for Europe releases). It's a solid alternative (for most of the albums anyway)if hardly definitive. My big issue with these sets is not putting a disc of the previously released Rykp tracks on a disc here. I hate having three or four of the same title myself. My other gripe is that the stuff that was brickwalled (like the Nassau show) wasn't remastered. That's just sheer laziness and a rip off for fans. I have mixed feelings about how they have curated these sets.
price and packaging over sound? yikes, again. IMO some of the current remasters are acceptable, none are definitive, and several are of no value whatsoever and will not be played again.
Hey, having a different opinion is permissible. The packaging is a nice bonus, but wouldn't make up for poor sound - thankfully that's a choice I personally didn't need to make - I think they're great. And for what it's worth, I already own all the official Japanese Mini LP's, so they're nothing new for me.
