nope, he has many worse. the intro is horrendous admittedly and you have to hear through the production, but melodically there's little as strong as Zeroes in the last two decades of his career. IMO, i don't have a brother-in-law to consult.
you can see it in the spectral view... this box set's equivalent to the digital noise on the 1969 album in Five Years.
That is unfortunate, but expected I am afraid. That is why there is no chatter regarding the vinyl quality as anyone with decent pressings are probably staying away from this after getting burnt with 5 years. unless this box gets very cheap, I will wait and buy the single albums of Station to Station as I only have the crappy 1991 digital versions.
Yes and out of all the albums in the box it was Live at Nassau that most needed a new master. Sigh...
there have been a few positive comments besides inevitable gripes about pressing issues (and mine have plenty of those). however, based on what i've listened to so far (about 60%) i have no desire to seek a replacement. i'll probably stick with the CDs from now on. i'd take a listen first.
The source used for the excellent-sounding Nassau Stay and Word on a Wing on the 1991 EMI/Ryko CD might not even exist any more. It's 25 years ago, and EMI is long gone, along with all the people involved in those years of Bowie reissues. Goodness knows what happened to that source between the early 90s and whatever source they used to annihilate the concert for the 2010 release, now cloned in this set for 2016. Of course, it might be the same source used, just rendered unrecognisable by the mastering and mixing out of portions of the performance.
I must admit I'm tempted by this box set. Not only does it have the remastered DD, STS, and YA, it has remastered versions of David Live. No one yet has stated how the remastered 2016 David Live remix compares to the remastered, remixed version released in 2005, however. Holding me back is the same version of Nassau, and the brick walled STS remix. I'm not sure how I feel about the Gouster, whether I will be listening to this very much.
Explains why my replacement box is taking so long. It'll be here Monday apparently, 11 days after release date. Amazon don't mess up much, but when they do, they do it royally.
I agree, comparisons would be nice. I have good originals of all these except STS. This thread has inspired to pull them out and they sound better than I remembered. Unless these are better in some way I may just wait for the individual STS release and wait to see what the next box holds.
Well, it's nice that everybody is enjoying their box sets but comments like "Sounds fantastic! Even though I've got nothing to compare it to." are hardly helpful.
I have the RCA Diamond Dogs and the new one. To my ears the new remaster sounds slightly better as it reveals more details. I do not have other RCA discs of the albums from the new set to compare with.
there won't be a consensus here. some like what the current team are doing, some don't. some think they're collecting the definitive versions, some think they're collecting expensive doorstops. people really need to specify which RCA they're referring to (country of origin and format).
Well, maybe the "current team" has changed their sonic modus operandi for the second box. It would just be nice to know how the three main albums sound compared to original UK and US RCAs. Because I'm kicking myself for deliberately missing out on the "STS" deluxe box just because I already have multiple originals.
I dunno Neon, I mean STS is my favourite Bowie of all, but if you look at a list of the actual music that's in there... it's hard to care. Maybe I'm just getting old, but who needs all that which was in there? Just give me a decent sounding LP and a decent sounding CD at the end of the day, which I already had. I'm being grumpy, but with good intentions to hopefully make you feel better about missing the STS deluxe
I'm starting to wish Universal had got the Bowie rights instead of Parlophone, judging by their antics so far. Not necessarily with sound, but everything else.
I'm still doing comparisons to the vinyl pressings I have in my collection. In the case of DD, that's a first U.K., a first US and a multitude of later pressings. Honestly, I've been pretty underwhelmed with the sound on all of them. They're just too bright for my tastes. They also seem to lack the warmth that most other pressings possess. It seems they went for more of a detailed sound, with some slight compression, and none of these sounds remotely analogue to my ear. Some people will love these I'm sure, saying they're hearing things they've not heard before. I'm not, because I keep thinking something isn't quite right when playing them...so I'll take them off and put on an earlier pressing, and then everything seems right with the world again. Just my opinion...
the overall approach is the same. for me the STS vinyl was the highlight of the bloated deluxe box. the 2016 is notably less dynamic unfortunately. regarding YA and DD... my preferred pressings have not been superseded by the 2016 masters. i'm referring to the vinyl box here, i don't yet have the CDs. however, the vinyl has been cut from what i predict will be the same digital sources as the CDs.
Mine got stuck in an endless delay loop so I asked for a help call yesterday morning and wouldn't hang up until they confirmed it would be Prime delivered today. They have it in stock for delivery tomorrow. Mine is out for delivery and due now. Prior to my call, it also said 'Due to be delivered on Monday'
Because I'm kicking myself for deliberately missing out on the "STS" deluxe box just because I already have multiple originals.[/QUOTE] Same here, I really wish I'd just bought it, but at the time, I thought "cash grab", and passed. I also didn't count on the 'here today, gone tomorrow' approach to box sets and anniversary editions we've seen since about 1999. Say what you will about the Ryko mixes, but at least they seemed to care, and tried for a coherent approach, errors notwithstanding.
I have first pressing US RCAs of the reissued albums in the set. I like the new versions better. More definition and clarity. And pretty much no surface noise. The original US RCA's are getting traded in for credit.
Okay, this took me awhile, and correct me where I am wrong. I think there are 4 CD remasters of Station to Station in addition to the two 1984-1985 RCA CD masters and the Analogue Master. To the best of my knowledge, this last (in either 16/44.2 or 24/96 form) is a flat transfer (no EQ applied) from the 1998 Mew digital transfer of the analogue master. It is not a new master. In 1975, RCA US EQ'd the analogue master separately for cassette (which version, Jeff Rougvie states, was the version transferred to digital and used for the 1985 RCA US-from-Japan CD), 8 track and LP releases. RCA Europe used the same analogue master for their own releases, which is why the 1985 RCA EU-from-Japan CD is different than the US version. (That may be from yet another mastering by RCA Japan, but I have no way of knowing.) RCA Masters 1 & 2 (1985) In 1988, Rykodisc (contracting to supervision Dr. Toby Mountain at Northeast Digital) made a digital transfer from the original analogue master,which they EQ'd for CD and LP. They sent these masters to EMI in the U.K. for them to press under their imprint. Remaster 1 (1991) In 1997, Ryko (Dr. Mountain) used the same digital transfer (I believe) for a remaster for their AU20 release. Remaster 2 (1997) After that, Isolar's contract with Ryko expired. Ryko returned all of the material (including the multitracks, original master tapes, their digital transfers and remasters) back to Bowie. In 1998, Peter Mew at Abbey Road made new digital transfers and remastered of all of Bowie's work through Never Let Me Down. Remaster 3 (1999) In 2009, Harry Maslin created a new StS mix from the original multi-tracks. Maslin mastered "The Singles Versions E.P." from the Mew digital transfer for CD. I don't know if this was a flat transfer or not. The Mew digital transfer was also the source of the "Original Analogue Master" as well as the 24/96 version on the DVD. The existing 1985 RCA EU-from-Japan master was the source of the "1985 RCA CD Master." I believe that in 2014, Ray Staff made new digital transfers of all Bowie material. None of these transfers were used for Nothing Has Changed. In 2016, Brian Andrew mastered the Maslin mix for CD for Who Can I Be Now?. Ray Staff and Harry Maslin remastered Station to Station for Who Can I Be Now?. Remaster 4 (2016)
Isolar has everything, including Ryko's masters for the two bonus tracks. EMI (now engulfed by Sony, except for what the Four Kings made) only licensed the material.
