Not really, I picked up the single and thought maybe with the two mixes it would click. I thought 'Super' was a much stronger album
Interesting - I do like it and Axis, Flourescent and perhaps one other. I thought both Elysium and Super were better but all three are flawed.
A bit of News from this years Annually book. DVD/Blu Ray of Royal Opera House show confirmed for release ‘in the future’ (not sure if they mean the previous shows in 2016 or the new ones this July. My guess is the new ones as one of the shows is listed as to be filmed on the ROH website)> Also says they will be working on an expanded version of The Man From the Future this year for hopefully a new staging and recording!
That's great news! Man, that 2016 show would be amazing to see but it sounds like there weren't any cameras spotted for those. I'd buy any blu-ray of a recent performance though.
question regarding the vinyl reissues. Are these new mixes or just new remasters from the original mixes?
thanks. I have UK original pressings of all their albums, except the first album. I may replace my Aussie pressing with the new reissue.
I broke down and picked up Please and Actually since the recent Deep Discount sale had them for a good price. I compared a track or two of each with the 2001 remasters and some earlier Japanese CDs I have. I couldn't detect any difference between the various releases of Actually or its Further Listening disc. I also couldn't pick out any differences between the Please Further Listening discs. For Please, both the remasters have somewhat tamed high end compared to the Japanese (black triangle) and that's after Sox de-emphasis was applied. The 2018 remaster has a bump in low end compared to the other two. DR numbers are the same or a point or two lower on the 2018s compared to the 2001s. I can post logs if anyone is interested.
Hmm, maybe I should bite the bullet and get them once again from Deep Discount as the Amazon price never fell. James, can I ask whats their packaging like, hopefully not a paper thin jiffy bag?
I really like that one! It’s not my favourite album but there’s still quite a bit to like on Electric and ‘Last To Die’ is a really odd but good choice, in my opinion.
With the 15% sale, the price ended up being about $1 more per disc than the Pledge deal so I was happy about that. I probably wouldn't have bought them if I was able to hear them first though. Not much of a difference. I can post samples if anyone would like to hear them before buying. Hopefully, the Behaviour set is a more noticeable improvement. DD has been using those vacuum sealed corrugated cardboard mailers that always make me cringe but somehow they manage to get the CDs to me a great shape almost every time. No broken hubs or dented sleeves with the PSB order. I do recommend you do not mix CD and LP orders though because they pack them together and I've had LPs with impressions made from the CDs.
- Have they officially announced these yet? I’ve been clamoring for Behaviour for what seems like forever!
Classic Pop magazine has a Pet Shop Boys special and there is a one page ad on the reissue Albums and it say Very and Behavior Coming soon but no date
Sitting here listening to Release. Sometimes I feel like Pet Shop Boys are the worst judge of their material when I hear the bonus material on their Further Listening series. I almost always enjoy the bonus stuff so much more than the albums proper.
Release is their version of Dylan's Infidels - I can see why those songs were left off (they don't fit with what they were trying to do) - but that doesn't mean I don't prefer the outtakes...
They seemed to like to reward their fans with quality b-sides as well. Other bands would keep those gems around for their next album and throw a live track on the b-side but not the PSBs.
I was making a meticulous comparison between tracks of Please: Further Listening (2018) and some tracks out of Disco (1986), to check the over tamed level of treble. I have been complaining that the deemphasis process of Please after 2001 was done in a very awkward way. And I also have been saying that the Please LP version is the mostly close source to what the original CD should have sounded without preemphasis. We all know that Disco (1986) wasn't preemphasized, so we have a good source. The original mastering is also quite done well, no complaints about it. So I compared Paninaro (Italian Remix) from the Disco (1986) USA CD and the same song from the Please Further Listening (2018); the last track from the bonus CD. I came to the conclusion that the treble has been removed much more than it should have been removed, because the Disco version has more treble, but not an over bright treble listenable in preemphasized discs. I also compared a perfect vinyl rip from UK LP of Disco versus this USA CD. They actually sound the same in terms of equalization. So I take that Disco was perfectly mastered as intended. The Further Listening Series 2018, as it happens with 2001 versions, suffers from a lack of procedure in analyzing the old sources and how they should have sounded back in the day, that they engineers ended up removing much more treble than it should have been removed. Being that said, Please, Actually, Introspective, in the 2018 reissues and in 2001 reissues, suffer from the same disease. However, this is an statement that is subjective. Very sensible ears that don't like treble because they hear so much, will find the new remasters more enjoyable.
Agreed on Please. For compact disc I still prefer my old US PE disc with the proper EQ added either via my player or the foobar plugin over the Japan TOCP which the EQ is added<--- I still find it a tad on the treble side for my tastes
This weekend I happened to make an extremely blind test on, Actually & Introspective 2018 remasters. I have applied ReplayGain to the files on the originals & remasters. The truth is now that I am undecided to which version to stick with. I am very keen of bass and the remaster has a tiny bit more of it. The treble is quite okay on the remasters. Very high to sensitive ears Suddenly my ears today started to hear if a needle drops on the ground. From the new remasters, I have 2 copies of Actually for resale, and 1 copy of Introspective and Please. But I am considering keeping them. From this graph, you can see that "One More Chance" 1987 retains more dynamic range when it is compared to the new remaster (which gets squashed in regular volume levels, 89dB) When these tracks are leveled properly, it is HARD to distinguish what is what. I am puzzled. Now, keep the more bassy tracks? Or stick with the thinner originals? Original's waveforms look great though! Now I would like to hear FROM YOU. Do you feel the new remaster is more PUNCHY than the peaks of the ORIGINAL? Or do you think the ORIGINAL still can't be beaten in the peaks? Or are these visual peaks virtually indistinguishable at all?
Hey guys Just noticed something really weird... "I Want to Wake up" - 2018 version - 4:20 Neil sings "with youuu... oooooo!" "I Want to Wake up" - Original UK CD - 4:20 Neil sings "with you... wohhhh" Now these remasters are frigging full of errors, huh? Or changes... must I say. I find it hard to accept the new "hoooo".. instead of the traditional "wohhhh, ohh". Does anyone confirm this is present in 2001 Further Listening?
I am sorry. The experience you describe is of a new mix. How come do you say that the vocals are standing out more? What about the stereo separation? For one thing I noticed that the stereo is tighter in this remaster. The things you describe could only come from a new mix of the song. The remastering process only adjust EQ levels, and minor tape adjustments. It's not a remix in the sense that the vocals will definitely be more understandable. Raising the vocals on a remaster is only by adjusting the frequencies of the vocals, but this adjustment will also bring out a lot of things together, close to this frequency - this is why "It couldn't happen here" sounds a little louder in the most part of it, compared to the original. The engineer wanted to pull the vocals more, but the entire orchestra also came through. The process where you would just bring out ONLY the vocal, to make it stand out alone, would be a new mix. So, yes, it's kind of tricky. You can do minor adjustments and release new masters every 7 years to keep the people buying the records that have been done well done once for all at the very first time. Unless we are talking about lousy stuff that were put on vinyls in the pre-CD era... before 1980. Actually, a lot of of the early 80's stuff that has been remastered, is an improvement. After 1985/1986, I doubt. Now, if it's a new mix, it's a total different thing. If you want to check it out, do check Tears for fears' Songs of the Big Chair 2014 Mix that comes in the DVD, it is a new stereo mix and you can tell that from the old mix, easily. But is it an improvement over what was put out back in 1985? I don't think so. As neither of the Nirvana's new 2013 mixes of In Utero and Nevermind were good enough. Just a matter of taste. I would still prefer the very zero originals. To me, these remasters are louder, less dynamic range, but not bad. If it's hard to find "Out of print" CDs and you don't care about having the original UK CDs, or didn't even own the original vinyls, and specially, if you know nothing about PSB, then the remasters are the new prints to get. However, I wouldn't take this for granted if you are an experienced PSB listener.
