Van Morrison Rhino Remastered/Expanded Astral Weeks and His Band and the Street Choir

I've just given mine another go, and in Test Select Tracks it says '15 mins' for the total estimated time, and around 3.3 X for the average CD speed. The results came out exactly the same as before, though some of those 99.9% Track Quality results were 100% this time - which I was curious about, but it doesn't change the results even slightly.

I don't think I messed with any other settings after installing - I just searched for what might work. I've only ever used it for this, so can't offer much advice. Have you definitely cued or selected the Cd tracks, not some compressed data? Don't sweat it if it's not working obviously, but if you do manage to get it done at some point and the readings are different, it would be interesting to try the test that looks for a uniform volume change as the reason.

 

Thanks for your comments. I'll keep working on it. I may be able to get one of my friends to try EAC on his computer. I'll post my findings if I get a result. I managed to pick up the 7599-27188 CD from HMV for £3.99 last month. At that price so you may want to splash the cash & try one for yourself.

 

Japanese remasters are great so I'd be curious how they compare to these new remasters

 

Last week, I was lucky to find the Japanese remaster of 'His Band and the Street Choir'. Now, I just need to find a copy of 'Moondance' and I'll be all set with the Japanese remasters.

 

Japanese remasters sound excellent to me

 

These Van Morrison remasters are $8.99 from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014K3640M/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014K364JI/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

I started into comparing this ‘15 His Band And The Street Choir to the Warner of it, and I would really like to take the airier top end of the Warner and combine it with the better defined and extended bottom end of the ’15. I like them both pretty equally but for two different reasons. Each disc’s negative trait is not that egregious. In the end I find myself thinking more about what is missing from the Warner when I listen to it by comparison, the Warner Bass guitar is somehow pretty darned limited to its top end range, the drums are often not as defined. At the same time, I do miss the very open and relaxed vocals and high end of the Warner when I listen to the ’15, but I don’t miss it as much as I do the other way around. The differences I cite here are not huge at any one given point, so in that sense either one could win in my book; but I find they stack up pretty noticeably over a longer listen and lead to the following tie breaker.

The ’15 sounds more like vinyl in general, although mind you I never had this album on vinyl; the Warner by comparison always reminds me it is early digital. I am sitting pat with the ’15 for now. A real nice job by today’s standards; and I am starting to think especially after the last Moondance remaster this is how a Van Morrison CD is probably meant to be done.

 

I've been on the fence as to whether to get the new remasters, and between the bonus discs and this write-up (and others hear, but this was particularly helpful), I think I am going to go for it. I'm not quite sure from your post what you think of the last Moondance remaster, as it's not clear whether or not you think they took a similar approach with that one - did you like that one, too, or think it could have been better?

 

Well yes I find the tradeoffs were pretty similar. I think Bellman probably should have been the guy to do Moondance, I would like to have heard him do that one because this feels a little less hot and more analog than Moondance; but I do like the latest Moondance over the Warner and the clincher is I just need that thicker bass of the new remaster (much bigger difference in bass with the new Moondance than here), I pine for the low end much more with the Warner Moondance, and so I don't worry too much about the rest including the drop out I always forget where I am supposed to hear it, fortunately I suppose.

Again I think the Moondance and these two new ones are falling in line of "modernizing" the CD sound for Van, and so the payoffs are working for me more than the slight loss in dynamics and flatness. Also I should say in my opinion His Band And The Street Choir is not as well recorded of an album as Moondance, so factor that in your expectations. I would say if you are not dogmatic about maximum dynamics above all else this one is a definite try.

 

Thanks - I trust your ears based on what I've seen in your other posts, so this is really helpful. I've been pretty happy with the newer Moondance, although I haven't done an a/b test (and held on to the old one for the alternate take of Into the Mystic, I'd never heard an original vinyl pressing so the tambourine on the new CD was certainly an interesting addition).

 

I hope I don't screw the pooch for you on this one then. If you do get it I would love to hear your thoughts and feel free to test my opinions and ream me out if I steered you wrong!

It occurred to me to say to you alone if you like the GD rhino remasters fine over the original CDs then yeah you are probably going to like this one just fine. I tend to like the GD originals a bit more, so when I say that I am saying I like this remaster better by comparison.

 

At worst I will wind up with a couple bonus tracks that will be nice to have. I like the Rhino remasters of the GD catalog but traded in all my old CDs when the Golden road and Beyond Description boxes arrived without doing a shootout. That was before a major stereo system upgrade and before I had become hip to the fact that remasters are often not better. I have since re-bought only the old ones that I learned were different mixes. But I digress - don't mean to hijack the thread with the Dead. Anyway, the new Van remasters sound like a good bet in my case.

 

I think the 2015 "Astral" and "His Band" are very good sounding, and probably beat the original CDs. However, I think the "Moondance" remaster that came out a couple of years ago is superb, much better than the original CD, and probably better sounding than the original LP, although I haven't directly compared. I don't know whether the tapes of "Moondance" are just better to begin with than the tapes of "Astral" and "His Band" but there is a noticeable difference in the quality of the remasters of the three albums. "Moondance" is how remasters should sound.

 

I can agree with that; however I would say the quality differences I think you are citing might be a matter of taste. “Moondance” is a great CD remaster all around no doubt, with clarity and separation as its highlights (I find the original CD of Moondance to be worse than the other two, so easier to be bested); these “Astral” and “His Band” seem to me to have gone a little more in the MFSL direction and are going for a more cohesive, warmer/organic and vinyl feel. I think tastes will dictate much of what one likes when comparing the three; just my opinion of course. I have a sense that “Moondance” was a better recorded album but I have zero information to back that up.

 

I would agree with everything you wrote. The Moondance remaster is superb, the others are solid without being revelatory.

 

Interested in upgrading my old Moondance CD to the remaster referenced above. Which version should I be looking for?

 

3 editions physical editions. http://www.rhino.com/article/out-now-van-morrison-moondance-deluxe

 

I went with this version: http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DZJ82TY

I didn't feel I needed ALL the outtakes, but this was a good middle ground. It sounds wonderful to my ears and there are some real gems on disc 2.

 

Please, could someone tell me if it's the same remaster as the japan WPCR-75420 2008 Remaster Forever Young Series? If not, I will be surprised if there is a sonic upgrade on the new one...

 

It is NOT the same remaster as the 2008 Japanese reissue.

 

I have the 4-disc edition, but to be honest, I made a playlist with this 2-disc version, and this is what I listen most of the times.

 

Still interested in a comparison between these two...

Astral Weeks | HDtracks - The World's Greatest-Sounding Music Downloads »

Astral Weeks (Expanded Edition) | HDtracks - The World's Greatest-Sounding Music Downloads »

Already have the 192/24.

 

CD Japan.

 

$6.99 now

 

I compared both and found it difficult to declare a winner, I think this will come down to personal preference.
To my ears the 2015 remaster is more veiled, whereas the 2013 is more transparent.

Here's an audio sample from the 2015 download:
(I recommend downloading it prior to listening)

Code:

http://www46.zippyshare.com/v/4eWD5Kup/file.html