Pink Floyd The Wall, my shoot-out

Laurie, it could be something as simple as someone forgot to stamp the 1st CD during the run. These occasional issues do pop up.

 

Does anyone have pics of the C2K discs? What are the distinguishing label features?

 

Here's the original pressing and the reissue of the same.

 

There is also an earlier made in Japan pressing.

 

Thanks I knew this, but was going for the USA pressings thinking that's what Lee was asking about in conjunction with Laurie's. There's also 2 Canadian C2K pressings on Columbia as well.

 

Thanks Dave. I have the 1994 remaster (not so good) and the MoFi.

 

Ok what do I have here. I just found a Made in Japan for Columbia set catalog # is C2K36183 matrix is 2A3 6Z 71 / 1A5 6Z 71 is this the same as the pre-remastered C2K set or a different mastering?

 

It's probably digitally identical, though some will claim that it sounds different.

 

Jamie, I was just wondering if you ever got to hear the C2K disc played back "de-emphasized"? I'd be curious to hear your opinion--if I'm not mistaken, I don't think you mentioned hearing it that way yet.

I'm playing the C2K back via an RME DIGI96/8 PAD with the emphasis filter set and I think it kicks some major booty.

I also have the UK EMI Swindon disc, which I think is excellent, but I think the C2K is clearer and more "open", with a slightly more balanced soundstage.

This is mostly nit-picking though...both the Harvest and the C2K discs are excellent CDs that are meant to be played loudly, and IMO you can't go wrong with either one...as long as pre-emphasis or the physical properties among the Harvest discs aren't getting in the way.

 

This is the original C2K mastering ie: the better one.

 

Another C2K 36183 puzzle:

Disc 1 has "CMU P 33" stamped on the inner ring.
There is no matrix info.
Printed label reads:
CK 36184
C2K 36183

Disc 2 has "CMU P 23" stamped on the inner ring.
Matrix info is "DIDP-20205 15 *** ***** and a barcode.
Printed label reads:
CK 36185
C2K 36183
DIDP 20205

 

it also looks better than the japanese-I think its the Sonopress CD which has that additional mirrored inner band, which glows with the colours of the rainbow in light.

 

I have a question about the anniversary editions. Most of this thread talks about early pressings that don't interest me so I stopped reading after a few pages - I like things that sound digital and crispy and I think my CDP 2243 The Wall which I picked up at Best Buy blows away the MoFi version, which I also own. I've captured some stuff with EAC and looked at them with Nero Waveditor. Waveditor doesn't calculate statistics for you but there is certainly no compression on the remastered verison I have - in fact, I am stunned at how much better recorded Pink Floyd's music is than any other rock band - the waveform looks the way music should look. The CDP 2243 looks like a volume normalized version of the MoFi in the amplitude view; in the frequency view the MoFi looks like a weak, nth generation copy of the CDP 2243.

Anyway, the CDP 2243 that I picked up was remastered by Doug Sax in 1994. It has top notch packaging and artwork on the CD's themselves; on the whole I am very hapy with it. However, I have read that the 20th anniversary edition was remastered in 1997 by the same guy. Being an anal retentive collector I want to get the anniversary edition. I see there is a Columbia c2k 68519 edition. But early on someone mentions a Sony 20th anniversary edition. Is that the same mastering as the Columbia anniversary? Just a Japanese pressing of the same? What's the catalog number?

 

The Columbia/Sony 'Anniversary' pressing of 'The Wall', was simply a remastering. It was nothing special packaging wise, other than maybe a little bit better artwork included, and the actual CD's were painted like a brick wall. It wasn't on the shelves for that long before the licensing switched over to Capitol.

BTW, the CD I'm talking about was for the U.S..

 

Did the CD's have a track list written on them in script handwriting?

 

Yep, that's the version I have.

 

And you found your way here?

 

I've learned plenty here all the same. I just have to filter the noise from the system.

 

That's cool. There must be a lot of "noise to filter," but hey... if this place helps, then that's great!

 

Gee, David, I was just wondering while making my way through this thread if the problem is with your equipment and not the disks. I've just done a little comparison of my own, and this is how things flesh out for me.

First, I went back to my ORIGINAL British pressing of the LP (Harvest SHDW 411). I knew that I wanted to concentrate on a particular set of tracks that appear on side one of the LP. These are tracks 4 & 5 on the various CDs, and contain the helicopter sounds, drums, and bass guitars that lead into the tune, "Another Brick In The Wall."

While I do not have some of the earliest releases of this album on CD, I DO have the 2 Columbia versions discussed here, a Japanese pressing from the middle 90s, and the Doug Sax version you denigrated in your post.

While I'll be the first to admit that personal choice determines much of how we react to the sound of a particular recording, it would be difficult for me to understand how anyone could dismiss the Sax reissue for Capitol/EMI since it is, by far, more like the sound of my original British LP. If we can assume that the original release approaches the ideal sound better than any of those that followed, then, clearly, the Sax remaster of 1994 (?) is the perfect version of this album.

Specifically, there is more life (read that as dynamics, transparency and clarity) than any of the versions I had available to me. This version is so good, in fact, that if I did have some of those rarer versions, I'd be offering them for sale to the unsuspecting Hoffman forum member who might be incapable of hearing the rather BLATANT improvements that Sax has brought to this recording.

 

So, this thread is nearing 10 pages, and I really don't have time to read through the whole thing. Simple qustion: what is the best reasonably priced and reasonably available version of The Wall on CD?

 

The "C2K" version.

 

I think the UK/WG Harvest has also been in favor of late. Either one should be fine

 

Hi sgb, I don't think it's the fault of my equipment, as I regularly reference my equipment to other systems - some of whom are owned by reviewers. I am also not alone in having this opinion.

Generally speaking, the earliest released CD's from 1982 to 1985 sound best on my system. Most CD's from 1990 onwards don't sound anywhere near as good, and generally, the later the disc the worse it sounds.

It's actually the lack of dynamics that I do not like in the Sax version. By comparison, the BF Japanese Harvest version is far more dynamic.

Best Regards

David

 

I suppose that depends on whose ears you trust, evanft. On most moderately priced systems, the distinctions in clarity/transparency might be nearly impossible to detect; the dynamics issue would be even more difficult for me to explain. That "apalling" sounding Doug Sax remaster (specifically the USA version which is far more dynamic than even its higher-priced Japanese counterpart) produces more bass slam & bandwidth specificity than the other 3 versions I had tested -- on tracks 4 & 5 as I have previously described.

Remember, too, that my goal was to determine which CD version was most like the original UK LP. That version has set the standard for me for the past 27 years. It had been compared to both USA & Japanese LPs years ago, and was then the clear winner.