Is there any "good" sounding Devo cd at all?

I just ordered the first three US remasters primarily for the bonus tracts, AWNM, DNFTF and FOC, all from 2009/2010.
Any idea if there were more US remastered - 'deluxe' versions besides these?

 

No. That's it with the exception of the Q&A/Freedom of Choice deluxe available from their website only to US citizens.

 

I have the first 4 albums on Cd remastered with bonus tracks. Sound pretty good.

 

Thank you. Looks like I need pick up New Traditionalists w/ bonus tracks too. I Missed that one somehow.

 

Love that one.

 

Just ordered from Amazon Prime. Now all four 'remastered/expanded' titles will be here this week.

 

Yeah, I'm with you. For some reason I put those on today, and I have really an above-average HP rig, and the music shown through very well. I listen through Sennheiser HD800s, which will pick up spikes in treble and/or sibilance if it's in the original recordings, and I heard none of that.

Unfortunately, however, for the rest of DEVO's discography I don't have CDs that I'm happy with. I know the versions I want (largely due to this thread), but I just haven't found them yet.

 

Currently trying to build out a Devo discography, and I'm keen to buy once, even if it means paying to import the '91 JP albums.

I appreciate this thread is a few years old, but a few questions on these two.

1. I've read that the '91 JP Q/A fixes some of the dropouts (which you don't mention here), but otherwise sounds the same as the '88 US mastering. I'm assuming this would make it the best option for Q/A if you want dynamic range preserved?

2. Earlier you dismissed the US 80s pressing of FOC as "terrible" and recommended the '09 remaster. Do the louder mastering level and uncropped intros on the '91 JP address the root cause of the terribleness, or is it a question of fidelity/EQ, and the '09 is still preferred?

 

I believe SpudOz was the one who brought up the dropouts dilema, and as far as I'm concerned, the US and Japan discs are identical. I remember two years ago finding some of the same dropouts on both discs when I looked.

Japan FOC uses the same actual master IIRC with the adjustments, but the original master just had a bad EQ, I still much prefer the '09 remaster. The '08 Japanese remaster is a bit more defined, but it's clipped more, so they're about equal really.

 

I see elsewhere that you don't rate the original 80s vinyl either. Are the EQ shortcomings of the '91 JP consistent with the original vinyl, or is it bad in different ways?

 

Picked up a '91 JP Q/A for a good price, and I'm very happy with the sound. It needs cranking, but that's what I'd expect from a high-DR CD. Listening on headphones, there were no overt, brief-total-loss-of-sound dropouts (of the kind found in Suffragette City on the RCA Ziggy Stardust CD), but there were a few moments I detected perhaps a super-brief flicker of something (such as in the intro to Come Back Jonee) - it felt almost like it was a dropout of one channel or one track on the master, rather than the whole sound, but I haven't gone back to analyse.

As I'm in the UK, and US postage is so ridiculously expensive while Japanese postage is ridiculously cheap, it was actually cheaper to get a '91 JP Q/A than an '88 US Warner pressing. Seems to be mint with Obi and lyric sheet too, although those are just things I'll worry about losing. Solved the Japanese spine problem by simply turning the rear inlay upside-down, putting the English spine on the outside.

'91 DNFTF also on its way thanks to a surprisingly decent price from a Discogs seller in France.

 

Wait until you get the 91 Japanese Oh, No! It's Devo. You're in for a treat if you can grab that one. Still a bit of tape hiss but huge dynamics. Sounds just like the original vinyl.

 

I went searching for an original CD of Q? A! and found what seemed to be the in-print unremastered version, but I am curious if it is the same as the '88 CD. Can anyone help with some numbers of their '88 CD of this one. I am getting via XLD on mac (so likely rounding differently):

 

Just got one of these in the post today (~£12 delivered from Japan, bargain!), and I endorse this message. The hiss is noticable for about the first five seconds, then those bouncy synths kick in and there's no room for quibbling. Huge amount of energy on this album.

There was a copy of Shout from the same seller which went for even less. I let it pass, but now I'm thinking I should have jumped, even if it is a curate's egg. Listening again to the Shout tracks on Pioneers, there's some good songwriting lurking in places, under the Fairlight.