Police "Message in a Box" question...

Interesting. I'll have to revisit that and listen more carefully. Is the song on the orig vinyl ok? I have it, but currently no turntable to play it on

 

My bad - I was thinking of "Masoko Tanga," where it appears that someone kicked in the NR as the tape was rolling about 7 sec. into the song.

 

Wow...I forgot I started this thread.

So, bottom line...Hybrid SACD's are the way to go for good sound, good tape sources, and no problems with "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You" as in previous masterings, correct?

 

Yes. Though the hybrid SACDs are kind of a bitch to track down. They can be had on ebay every so often but they usually go for 60 bucks. I just bought the box set today. Since I hate digipaks, I now have the hybrid SACDs in aforementioned paks, the regular SACDs from the US in SACD jewel cases and the Message in a Box. I think the SACDs sound the best. There are a lot of problems, IMO, with the box. The tape drag, the weird "Can't Stand Losing You" 40 seconds and the mentioned Masoko Tanga NR. I got it for the b-sides. Plus, with the SACDs/'03 remasters, you get to listen to the album on one disc, rather than spread across multiple discs.

 

Are the current digipak CD's (not SACD Hybrids) the same as the CD layer of the hybrids? If so, that'll be good enough for me...

 

Yes

 

Actually, on the box set, none of the albums are interupted at the end of a disc. They did that part right.

 

Check out "Regatta De Blanc." It's spread across disc one and two on the US edition.

 

I stand corrected.

 

BTW,I just purchased the Message In A Box set and,despite the flaws mentioned here(tape drag at the beginning of "Roxanne" and a weird-sounding "Can't Stand Losing You"),its basically sounds better than the 2003 CD/SACD remasters which I thought were a bit bright and fatiguing.

 

Thank you so much for resurrecting this thread. I've really been itching for something that would put my (fairly) new Sennheiser HD600 headphones to the test. After reading this thread, I put down the laptop, grabbed the CD and headed for my system muttering "no way" as I slipped on the 'phones.

The first 60 seconds of "Cant' Stand Losing" You from my original issue Outlandos d'Amour CD was eye-opening indeed.

I picked up used SACD versions of Ghost In The Machine, Zenyatta Mondatta and Synchronicity and now I'm wishing I would have picked up the first two when I saw them 3 years ago.

 

This may have been asked before: but why the early fade on Greatest Hits and Every Breath...The Singles for Can't Stand Losing You?

 

Another "Message in a Box" related question...

My copy has the standard version of "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" on it, but I was once told that there is a version with the 12" remix on it. I doubted the person that told me this, but then he loaned me his copy and sure enough it had the 12" version on it! Is there a way to tell which versions of "MiaB" contain the 12" remix?

 

Not that I'm aware of. My copy has it and it's an early copy so perhaps they ended up replacing it on later pressings (which suggests at least that one disc was remastered).

I'll check the serial # later.

 

OKay, see the trick is to read these threads!

Right here at post #15 was my answer! Sorry, guys!

 

I've always wondered why they didn't put the Spanish/Japanese versions of "De do do do..." on there. Same backing track, radically diff mixes. There was probably room, tho I haven't checked it. Wonder if there were any other non-English language songs?

 

there weren't

 

It hasn't been mentioned in this thread, but Message In A Box: The complete Recordings isn't completely complete.

It's missing:
Truth Hits Everybody (slow version) from promo 2x7" A&M 2SP AM 117 (1983)
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da (Spanish Version) 7" A-side A&M 25000
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da (Japanese Version) 7" B-side A&M 25000
Every Breath You Take (instrumental) Japanese 7" A-Side A&M AMP 782
Roxanne (instrumental) Japanese 7" B-Side A&M AMP 782
Can't Stand Losing You (Live) from 2LP - Strange Fruit: 21 Years Of Alternative Radio
Wrapped Around Your Finger (Live) Promo 12" A&M SP 17264
Don't Stand So Close To Me '86 (12" Mix) 12" A-Side A&M SP 12207
Don't Stand So Close To Me (Live) 12" B-Side A&M SP 12207

Nitpicky, but I don't like "Complete" box sets that aren't complete, and speaking of:
The Complete Adventures Of The Style Council is missing 36 tracks.

 

As well as the 86 remake of De Do Do Do...it's far better than the remake of Don't Stand So Close To Me.

 

thanx. didn't know those backing tracks existed on their own.

rh

 

Yes, but I don't think the '86 remake of 'De Do Do Do' was officially released. That's not to say it wasn't pretty good, and it might have made a cool "previously unreleased" track for the box.

 

From my observations:

Message in a Box does a very good job of mimicking the sound of the original LPs. I gave a listen to my Outlandos LP and found that Roxanne does indeed have the tape drag and Can't Stand Losing You suffers from dropouts, phasing, and has the weird EQ change at :39. And Don't Stand So Close to Me on the Zenyatta LP has the static at :07 and the click at :20 just like the 1993 and 2003 CD masters do.

Now, I suppose that the 1992 Greatest Hits has the same mixes/masters as the 1986 Every Breath You Take: The Singles. Can't Stand Losing You is the much better-sounding shorter version, Roxanne has no tape drag in the intro, and Don't Stand So Close to Me has a slight jump at :20 due to the click being edited out. It also has a slight jump at 3:45 for reasons unknown, not present on the original LP, Message in a Box, or the 2003 CD.

The Police 2CD 2007 collection has what I would consider to be the best version of Don't Stand So Close to Me. It has no static under the guitar at :07, it's been de-clicked at :20 so there is no jump, and there's no jump at 3:45.

 

I'm looking for these as close to the original vinyl as possible, in terms of content. It sounds like I'm looking for the original Compact Discs. From what I've read searching other topics on this forum, those ancient 80's Police CD's are very well respected. The SACD's have positive ink as well but they are on the expensive side now.

Not interested in the box myself because I'm only looking for a couple of the albums. In other threads here they are said to be grating and harsh sounding compared to the older issues. Strangly this thread has no mention of any of that, which makes me wonder what the story is.

 

Indeed. You'll want the old Police cd's. Not the ones from 2003 or the late 1990's. They are not hard to find

 

It's on the Every Breath You Take DTS cd, which I have.