Simon & Garfunkel "The Complete Columbia Albums Collection" coming from Music On Vinyl (07/27/2015)

Do as I do & take out the download cards, keep them safe somewhere.

& Yes it certainly is a Billy Bargin at 73 quid

 

I just trash download cards

 

So you know they pressed more than a thousand box sets? I don't know either way. Just what I read

 

My understanding has been that there are 1,000 of the MOV sets and the Sony version wasn't limited.

 

I've finally had a chance to do a shoot out between the Sundazed BOTW and the new MOV - I agree that the Sundazed is fuller sounding - it's also cut hotter, but the new MOV betters the Sundazed for having more air and detail. Both are excellent though and it's a similar situation as with the Sundazed Bookends versus the new MOV - both excellent but each with a different sound. Once again, I'm really impressed with the MOV set - they really took care with it.

 

I got my MOV box from amazon.de today. This one is numbered at 000249. I still don't believe this could be a 1,000 only pressing, but we'll see. Seems there has been a little too much weight on the box and it's a bit flattened. Records seem ok though.

So far I've played only the B side of BOTW. In general this is a clear improvement to my early 2000's CD remaster. Bass is very nice. Overall much warmer and more intimate. I can't compare to any other vinyl versions.

What I didn't like was how the orchestration comes up front in "Song for the Asking". To me the power of that song has always been in calming down a fully orchestrated record with all its simplicity. I hadn't even noticed before that the song had so damn many strings, and I've played that song over and over since childhood. The "hmm.. hmm... hmmmmm" at the very end is much more important to me than the orchestra, but now it goes to the background. Can anyone say if this is different in Sundazed?

 

On Bookends, how would you describe the differences in sound between the MOV and the Kevin Gray Sundazed?

 

I prefer The Sundazed one.
More "organic" sound, more "analogue" sound, thogh the new one is very clear and open.
You need both

 

They're surprisingly close, The Sundazed is more 'rounded' whereas the MOV is a little more open and more detailed, it may trade a little warmth for that extra detail, but there really is very little between them, it's a great sounding album and both releases do it justice.

 

I just realised that "The Boxer" in my BOTW is missing 2-3 seconds from the beginning. Bummer.

Greatest Hits - I'm happy with everything there. Also has a full version of "the boxer".

Hearing Bookends from the box set was amazing, I've never heard it like this before. I'd only ever heard my non-remastered CD from the 90's, so no comparison.

 

Any prominent clicks at the start of BOTW side A, and slight crackle/scraping sound at the start of side B? I am still chasing MOV to send me another copy, but having tried two, I am not holding out too much hope.

Aside from that BOTW is the least impressive to me in sound quality compared to the others. Bookends being the most supreme, an incredible sound quality and pressing....fantastic.

 

BOTW - There's a minor click on side A before the music starts. No big deal since it doesn't interfere with the music.
On side B there's a click where the music's supposed to start, missing half of the guitar intro.

Overall I'm happy with BOTW sound. Even "Song for the Asking" now sounds better to me, I realise now that it was my familiarity with a different sound that made me dislike it at first. So please don't skip buying just because of my earlier comment. The record has always been an engineering masterpiece, so I don't think we can expect any drastic improvements anyhow.

I wonder if amazon.de could send me another copy of BOTW, or should I try MOV themselves? I can't be bothered to send the whole box back to Germany.

 

In my case there are a 4 quite loud clicks on Side A in the first 60 seconds of the music unfortunately. And on side B there is what sounds like minor non-fill where you hear a fairly light scraping/crackling sound, but it is very minor. I am puzzled by the fact that you are missing half of the guitar intro. I didn't spot that with my copy and will now have to go and check it more carefully! I can't see how a pressing fault would result in "missing music"....that makes no sense to me...they would all be like that.

 

I think that's the first lp in my collection that actually misses a piece of music. You're right I wonder how that came to be.

 

That's really odd - are you sure? I checked my pressing and the whole intro is there - unless they cut it twice (which I doubt) I can't see how you could be missing a couple of seconds at the start. A possible explanation could be, does your pressing have a small warp? I had an LP that had a warp in such a way, it would jump just at the beginning of one side, hence cutting off the intro and your 2-3 seconds would roughly equate to one revolution of the LP, hence a potential warp could mean it's skipping the first groove?

 

You are exactly right. On close inspection there's a slight sideways move on the "click" which causes it to miss one groove. Thanks.

 

I've finally began using the download cards today - tried two and neither work - emailed but have not heard back - anyone else had trouble?

 

Someone else mentioned earlier that they had a problem, as well. I haven't tried mine yet. Figured I'd wait until I got word it was working ok. I'm surprised it hasn't been fixed yet.

 

The 1981 Collected Works vinyl box just showed up at a local shop. I did a search on it and found a thread that's a couple years old. Reviews on the sound were mixed but it appeared you liked it at the time. How does this new box compare to the 1981 set?

 

The new box sounds better. I have a Bookends shoot out back on these pages somewhere and the Collected Works version is included

 

Ah, I remember that shootout but forgot it included the Collected Works Bookends. Anyway, thanks for the input. The Collected Works box is in beautiful condition but they want $50 for it. I guess I'll pass as that would half way pay for the new box.

 

Me too. I hung it over the cat box...

 

Wanted to point out that pop market has this for $75 for a few more hours. I kept trying to order it when they had it for $100, but it was always sold out. Great deal!

 

Any thoughts yet on the downloads? I know they're just MP3s, but wonder if they're worth bothering with for any particular reason!

 

I just picked up Sony's domestic RTI-pressed edition of this box set earlier today for under $100 at my local record store, having had it special-ordered earlier in the week. All I can say is, despite some borderline skepticism (given the general decline in quality of many of RTI's pressings in recent years), I ended up being VERY impressed with everything about the box. Barring some VERY light crackling in the deadwax on a couple of the records and side two of "Sounds Of Silence" being just a TAD off-center (not a big deal to me), the pressings in my box are otherwise perfectly flat and dead-quiet for the most part. Quite frankly, I'm not going to be a snob and start criticizing this set because it was digitally sourced. I've owned MANY a first and/or 2nd pressing (and later 70's represses) of each and every album in this set, in varying degrees of condition from fair to very good. And while they sounded quite good, it's MY opinion (and maybe mine alone) that the reissues in this box set TRUMP them, REGARDLESS of whether they were or were NOT given an AAA remaster! And THAT is my final word on the matter! As an afterthought, I can only hope that they'll reissue the hard-to-find Mono editions of the first 4 studio albums at some point in the future (I'm especially anxious to hear the Mono version of "Bookends" in particular)! THAT would be a must-own. PS. The only minor disappointment I felt with the new box was that there was no reproduction of the original 4-page fold-out poster that came with 'Bookends'. Otherwise, again, I DO NOT regret getting this box set!