Kraftwerk 2004 The Catalogue Sound quality compared to original Cd's

why not listen to the sound? ;-)

 

Original CDP CDs sound great and very close to the original vinyl albums. I don't like the remasters.

 

Was the 2004 box set German or English language versions of the songs?

 

Not sure, but I think there are two different boxes available - one in german and one in english. Correct me if I'm wrong...

 

Can you explain the part I bolded in more detail? Thanks in advance.

 

That's true for the 2009 Katalog, but as far as I know, the 2004 promo Box came only in English.

 

Oh really? So if I want the best sounding German language versions do I look for the original CD releases rather than the 2009 remasters that seem to get negative reviews?

 

I only have the German 2009 remasters, so I can't compare them. Maybe I'm not as much of an audiophile as others here, since I'm contend with them, despite compression and noise reduction. They sound pretty good to me.

 

Sound quality aside, it's worth noting that the 2009 versions, both German and English, tweak the "Electric Cafe" album and rename it "Techno Pop," switching out the song "The Telephone Call" (8:09) and replacing it with a radio edit (3:50) and a b-side "House Phone" (4:57).

 

I think you might be right, the 2004 box lists the english titles...
http://www.discogs.com/Kraftwerk-The-Catalogue-12345678/release/989658

 

... and both the German and English versions of "The Man Machine" contains different bass sounds in "The Robots" & the title track.

In the promo box from 2004, "Electric Cafe" is renamed "Techno Pop", but has the original album version of "The Telephone Call".

The 2004 box was English only!

 

Really? I never noticed that.

 

On those two tracks the bass is much thicker and sounds more modern in a way.

 

I always assumed that was because of the mastering.

Oh well, I guess I will leave the recommendations of which versions to get to the more knowledgeable members here.

 

While I've resurrected this thread could somebody tell me which albums were recorded in both english and german languages. Thanks

 

I doubt it's much help but the 2009 remasters on vinyl on Kling Klang/Parlaphone (from memory) are highly thought of for sound quality. I've got Man Machine, TEE, and Computer World, which I'm pleased with. In a vaguely similar vein, Random Access Memories by Daft Punk is very good too.

 

TEE, MM, Computerwelt/World, EC, The Mix and Minimum Maximum.
Radioaktivitat and Radioactivity are the same; half German, half English.
Furthermore, the French TEE has Showroom Dummies in French (Les Mannequins) and CW has Pocket Calculator as Mini Calculateur; the Japanese version has Dentaku.
And there is a rare (vinyl-only) Spanish EC with two tracks in Spanish!

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Thus much improving the album, in my opinion

 

I also tended to focus on the flaws of the 2009 remasters, after reading about and hearing some of the noise reduction applied in places. I heard the original CDs and even had on loan absolute first German pressings on vinyl. To be honest, having listened to all of those versions, I really came to appreciate and even love the 2009 remasters! They have a thick sound that really benefits the analogue synths — and most of them, except Mensch Maschine, are less bright than the original vinyl. People moan about these too much, in my opinion. The remasters are great and they were right to recall the initial 2004 remasters and re-do them.

 

Just to follow up on this...
Radioaktivitat / Radioactivity are the same album and have a mix of english and german language, right? Or are there differences?

 

Yes, there's only one Version of "Radioaktivität" and it uses both languages.

 

Let me add that there's also a German-language version of the original 1983 Tour de France single. Sadly, this has never been released on cd.

 

Is it not included on that CD ???

https://www.discogs.com/Kraftwerk-Tour-De-France-Soundtracks/release/169839

 

Not the German-language version, no. French-language only. And besides, the version on this cd is a re-recording.