The original A&M+ issues, I owned one. That sucker also had a ferocious right channel drop out on "Can't Stand Losing You" where the entire channel went dead for a entire verse. I returned the disc as defective, but it was on all the others as well.
No, lol, it has a nice analog sound to itself but no, it would not go chasing for it or a cassette deck anytime soon!! Goes to prove you can slap a audiophile label to anything but it wont necessarily make it so. And those large square representations leaning on the wall are Lp's or Records, or Vinyls ..whatever you want to call it versions, those I would go out on a secret journey to acquire along with a good turntable......... and yes, those will sound better in most respects than those CD's.
If only I could afford one...I'm in the U.S. Navy, so I can't exactly bring a turntable on base haha...I mean, I guess I could, people get car parts here all the time, but I'm the guy that listens to old music.
Listening to old (ehm..thanks for reminding me), older music can make you a better drummer. My son, 13, plays in the JR High Jazz band. I owe Mr. Copeland a lot for helping me and my son become better drummers. Its so amazing there are so many masterings on CD. I find the ones that sound the best to me sound closer to the Vinyl versions and its such a treat to listen to them without the ticks and pops. There was a moment in time I did not have a turntable and had only the records, cassettes and the Message in a Box set. I wondered why I slowly lost interest in listening to the Police. When I acquired a turntable again I found my interest in them again and started looking for the CD's. The MIAB set literally was so bad I had lost the desire to listen to them.
I guess the fact that I believe I have spent almost $480 on all of the albums and drumsticks and that they're all not from the same album (MIAB is a compilation album), it makes it worth more of a listen. I took the albums you see here, along with the B-Sides and One-Offs from MIAB and put the correct years and album covers of what albums they represented. It just makes it all the more valuable to me, knowing which eras the songs where.
Tape drag also on the bad sounding Message In A Box as well are various other issues. Every Breath You Take: The Classics from 1986 as well as the horrendous sounding 2003 SACD does not have the drag. The Can't Stand Losing You issues have been well documented in this thread by nobby. Which is why in a rarity for me the hard to find disc, D32Y, is my recommended on Outlandos.
I agree about The Police on vinyl - you need to plan for this in the future young William! Ricks, have you done any similar comparisons for the early Sting cds? I think Nothing Like The Sun... sounds great and I bought it on release day in 1987, but I've never been happy with the cd sound of The Dream of the Blue Turtles. I suspect that is another album that needs to be heard in analog form.
Hi, Actually yes I have done almost the same for early Sting. I started thread a few years ago that has not been used a lot lately: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/sting-early-on-cd-continued-from-police-on-cd-thread.163514/ Not a lot of choices as the original masterings are same worldwide except the WG which were level shifts. On Turtles and Sun it's pretty much the MFSL and original sand I like them both for different reasons. Please note as referenced in the thread I linked to the MFSL of Nothing Like the Sun is pretty much a different mix. As for Turtles I thought it was a digital recording so not sure how analog it will sound? In 1998/1999 many Sting albums were remastered for Australia [possibly other markets] I did not like the sound of those releases.
I've seen it referenced both ways same as for Nothing Like the Sun. Anyhow we can use the early Sting on CD thread and keep this thread "clean" for Police only fans ... http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/sting-early-on-cd-continued-from-police-on-cd-thread.163514/
Good idea - I will read that next. I've been chuckling about this all afternoon. Glad to see some new young fans of The Police, and reminds me of discovering the old Beatles when I was your age.
Hi folks, on Youtube is the Message In A Bottle performance from Hatfield in 1979. First time it was ever performed live: Apologies as this post is OT for this thread....
Man, just when the page hit the 30th page, it stopped posting...We should keep this going somehow fellas! I miss having something to look forward to seeing everyday
Hi, Updating my digital Synchronicity option/review to include the Platinum SHM-CD. While a new mastering, I am also updating the EAC peak chart to include it for comparison. Hard to believe from 1989 until this month all the remasterings of this album to my ears were pure sonic manure. Well this new Platinum {herein known as Plat} SHM-CD changes that, it is easily the best mastering of Synchronicity in the last 25 years, since at least the 1988 effort by MFSL. I read that the new Plat SHM-CD and the new standard SHM-CD are the exact same mastering. Since I am a collector of the catalog I went with the Plat, so I can only speak for that one. The Plat SHM-CD is Dynamic, clear, had good mid range, decent low end given the typical early 80's bass shy mixes. The vocals may sound the best on digital that I've ever heard them. I think this new mastering exceeds the MFSL and the original "stock" disc, [black column in chart]. It totally crushed all previous "remasters" of this album including the awful sounding 2003 SACD and 2010 SHM-SACD. The Plat-SHM disc at minimum compares very favorably to the 38XB 10 Track, the 38XB-11 track and the D32Y. The 38XB 10 track in my opinion has a slight warmer sound, but lacks the clarity of the new Plat SHM-CD. Pretty much the same for the 38XB 11 track and D32Y. I found on my Denon reference transport that the Plat SHM-CD was much more warm than on my OPPO BDP95. On my Oppo I thought the Plat SHM-CD sounded just a tad cold in direct compare to the 38XB's and D32Y, but on my Denon which I use 99% of the time for CD's the Plat SHM-CD came out a bit ahead and as a result this is now my preferred digital version of the album. Is this new Plat SHM-CD worth the money? Well for those of you who know my views on modern transfers this may surprise you, the answer is a resounding yes. I give the sound an A rating, and an A+ for the overall package. If you are a fan of this album grab one before it goes out of print. I wish all modern remasters were done even half this well. Disclosure time: I paid $15 less for the Plat SHM-CD than I did for my 38XB 10 track, $5 less than my 38XB 11 track, just about the same price as my D32Y, $20 more than my D33Y [I got a great price], if one accounts for inflation $7 less than I paid for the MFSL 20+ years ago, and finally $20-30 more than I paid for the "stock" discs. I mention this to show I have no financial agenda. I only care about the sound when I give my opinions and do not try to justify an expense or look to boost the price of a rare Japan 1st press. My Digital Synchronicity Review/Opinion: 1) Platinum SHM-CD by a nose [see full review above] over 2 and 2a. While readily available it still runs around $35US so it is not an inexpensive disc. For those that are not big fans of the band or the album then 2, 2a, and 4 on this list will probably serve you more than fine. Please note that depending on gear you may not get results than I did. 2) 38XB 10 track [blue column] - Although I think it's a slight bit better it is not worth the money [sonically speaking] over the 11 track mastering. Especially since "Murder By Numbers" is missing. Please note: the 38XB 10 track contains pre-emphasis. Although most CD transports adhere to the Redbook standard some recent players do not. Computer based playback also is generally unable to decode the pre-emphasis. You will not get great sound from the 10-track if the pre-emph is not decoded, so if you have gear that is unable to do that go with the 38XB 11 track instead. Finally if you are an early CD collector or an Huge Police CD collector [like me], regardless of whether you can decode the pre-emph or not, this rare disc is still a "must have" and ranks as the #1 Synchronicity CD collectible 2a) 38XB 11 track [yellow column] based mastering. The Japan for US Sony 3x CSR version sounds exactly the same [because it is] as the Japan for Japan 38XB. The Japan for US 3x CSR with luck can be found for under $10US as most never know it's different from the normal Japan for US "stock CD's" in the black column. In addition if you can not decode pre-emphasis, sonically speaking, this CD becomes 2 instead of 2a. 3) "Original" or "stock CD" [black Column] - great sounding discs many of the pressings of this mastering listed can be found for under $10US, all sound the same [since they are] to me - easily the best value of any Digital Synchronicity 4) D32Y/D33Y Japan CD's [red column] - Nice sounding discs that are possibly better than the stock disc to some listeners 5) MFSL - a really nice disc, but totally not worth the money compared to the black column discs. 6) 2003 SACD and 2010 SHM-SACD [AVOID]- same bad mastering and sound, exactly the same level of sonic putrid to me. For Police and SACD collector's only is my feeling, as the sound is bested by at at least 5 other masterings and just not worth $50US or more. In addition I thought the Synchronicity tracks included on the 2003 Greatest Hits SACD also sounded like garbage. 7) 1993 Box Set remaster /1995 remaster [AVOID]- horrid mastering. 8) 2003/2004 CD remaster [AVOID] - also appears on the hybrid SACD's redbook layer a truly vile sounding disc, even worse than the MIAB / 1995 remaster. Coming soon my full review of the new Reggatta SHM-SACD.
It's an analog recording. I recall an interview in which Sting talked about the conversion to digital technology while he recorded "Nothing like the Sun".
Woao! All depends on your taste in sound. I think that the 2003 remasters are incredible. If you have The Message In A Box well, is an excellent collection and with very good sound. Would not be bad but supplement with these remasters. It was my choice at a time and not regret it.
Respectfully, Really? I've compared digital Police to death and the ones you mentioned rank at the very bottom of the heap. There are so many inexpensive and great sounding original Police CD's that folks simply do not have to settle for the remasters. BTW, you answered a post that is 8 years old and was on the first page, have you read any of the last 1-3 years of posts in this excellent thread? If you are a Police fan you may find them somewhat illuminating. Here is a quick primer/recap since you are new here [apologies for the ego as it's my post]: http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=7517955&postcount=620
Cool. This thread is a fun read. If you are a Police fan, start in mid 2008 and spend an hour or so viewing up to present day. My main interest in this thread is to get folks the best sounding digital Police possible based on my way too extensive research and time spent. Which is odd as they aren't even one of my top 5 bands - but they are what really got me into audio as child in the late 80's so maybe that's it?
