David Bowie A New Career In A New Town 1977 1982 Boxset 3

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Zach Johnson, Dec 28, 2016.

  1. oldturkey

    oldturkey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gone away.
    That article is so wrong it just upsets me.

    He says Lodger "has generally been considered the underachiever of this lot...Although esteem for Lodger has grown over the years, it rarely gets mentioned as among Bowie’s finest work." and he calls the original LP "dreary".

    I have a review by Tim Lott, Record Mirror, from 5 May 1979 which disagrees

    THE ARTFUL LODGER: TIM LOTT exclusively reviews the new David Bowie album, Lodger (5 out of 5 stars).
    "For all those mugs who stuck the knife in and pulled out the 'Bowie Backlash' well, IT STOPS HERE.
    It stops here because there's an immense tidebreaker in the wash of Bowie's imaginary decline; the sheer invention, gall and genius that is 'Lodger'"


    This new article just dismisses what many fans (who, I expect, have invested much more of their time listening to Bowie's music than himself) have said almost universally (cheerleaders for the box do exist on this thread as we well know, but the overwhelming view is critical).

    "A quick glance at fan reactions and discussions about the box reveals that some of the self-appointed experts and audiophiles continue to bitch quite authoritatively about this or that bit of minutia, consigning the whole project to the trash-heap of disgraceful ineptitude over a (non)issue that most other Bowie fans (just as devoted if perhaps less strident and certain in their denunciations) would simply shrug off as insignificant, if they noticed at all....it seems hard to fathom how this was missed by the production team. To be fair, many listeners insist that the complaint is overblown and they can barely hear it. Flaws both real and imagined aside, there can be no doubt that A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) represents an improvement in sound quality for these landmark recordings—they are bolder, crisper and more vividly alive than ever."

    What a joke.



     
  2. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    It's a small thing, but in a wider context, I noticed a little thing today while in a record store. The Parlophone jewel case reissue of the EMI jewel case 1999 Low remaster has added, for no reason that I can think of, the Parlophone logo on the front photo of Bowie. It's very small, but no others of their 1969-1980 jewel reissues have it. A tiny sign of things to come perhaps, that someone put it there, in the middle of a truly "iconic" album cover, for no reason apparent to me, and presumably nobody questioned it before production or asked "why has the Parlophone logo been put only onto the front of Low and not the others?"

    Maybe karmaman, who works in that sort of realm, has a thought about it. Or more likely he has better things to think about :laugh:
     
    footprintsinthesand likes this.
  3. karmaman

    karmaman Forum Resident

    just found an eBay listing with it... it's right in the middle of his jacket! it also seems to line up with the logo on the back. two scenarios come to mind... one is that it's an accidental copy and paste moment that slipped by quality control (who am i kidding, parlophone has no such dept) or it's another example of the label's lack of integrity.
     
  4. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Punk

    Location:
    England
    Imagine the worldwide uproar if a company logo was on Lennon crossing the road on the Abbey Road remaster, or on the zebra crossing itself :)
     
    Steve Carroll likes this.
  5. DLant

    DLant The Upstate Gort Staff

    Location:
    Albany, NY
    The constant bickering in this thread has completely derailed it numerous times. Time to shut it down.
     
  6. TinyDancer

    TinyDancer Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    When the CD box set was released due to complaints on the mastering of the track 'Heroes' a replacement CD was issued.

    My question is this. Is the high res versions available on HD Tracks the new version or the original version?
     
  7. healter skealter

    healter skealter Human animal

    Here is another question related to the track Heroes. Hope I have more luck in eliciting a reply than TinyDancer, LOL

    I was aware of the issue with the volume swells & subsequent drop; I was also aware that replacement 'corrected' versions (both CD & vinyl) were created in October 2017, and were made available to disgruntled purchasers. So, I finally bought the vinyl box a couple of weeks ago, and was surprised & disappointed to find that it contained the original defective version, even after all these years!

    Here's the question: how recently has anyone here requested a replacement vinyl, and were you successful? I've already contacted WMG as this is obviously not an issue for Amazon...just interested in getting a heads-up in advance of a possible negative response from WMG. Thanks in advance!
     
  8. RTW

    RTW Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    My question about this boxset: I bought it on CD a year or two ago. It was shrink wrapped but inside the polys were often crumpled and in general it just seemed shoddily boxed, even though the quality of the product itself appears high (i.e. no obvious telltale signs of counterfeit). I've always thought the packaging was suspect enough, but if it's counterfeit it's really convincing. How can I know for sure? The CDs don't appear to be either gold or silver but the matrix info is the same as on Discogs.

    Now in August 2020 I found a trusted seller on eBay selling the vinyl version of this new for relatively cheap: $200ish. Again, it's in shrink and the contents inside seem extremely high quality; nice packaging and heavy vinyls, etc. (I don't care about the mastering hiccup on "Heroes.") That said, I've read today that the *vinyl* version is also widely bootlegged, and now I'm concerned that maybe for $200 in 2020 this isn't the real thing? I have no reason to think that other than the price and availability.

    David Bowie - New Career In A New Town (1977-1982) [Used Vinyl LP] Ove | eBay

    Help?!
     
  9. Popmartijn

    Popmartijn Senior Member

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    I believe the replacement program ended sometime in 2018. But I don't know if someone was able to get a replacement after that.

    If the CDs don't have a goldish hue (they're not gold CDs like MoFi or DCCs, but have a bit of a hue on the playing side) then that is a big giveaway that it's likely a counterfeit. And what do you mean with "the matrix info is the same as on Discogs"? What does the matrix info on your CD say then?
     
  10. RTW

    RTW Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    [​IMG][​IMG] [​IMG]

    I don't know that I'd call these "goldish," which is responsible for some of my confusion. They aren't quite clear, though, they are a bit hazy, as you can see in the 2nd picture above. The matrix info (in picture 3) matches the listing on Discogs.
     
  11. Popmartijn

    Popmartijn Senior Member

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Pictures on a computer screen might not show accurate colours, so I can't comment on that part. But here are some pictures I took.[​IMG]This first picture compares the David Bowie goldish CD with a random silver CD I grabbed (Taylor Swift - Folklore if you want to know). I hope it shows how clear the difference is between the two surfaces. Also, the David Bowie CD (and also the Taylor Swift one) has an aluminium inner ring, apart from the very centre. I can't see it that clearly in your pictures, but it seems a bit as if the inner ring is plastic and you can see the orange label.[​IMG] Here's a picture of the matrix code on my CD. Based on your matrix code you took a picture of Low, so that's also the CD I took a picture of. You also see a bit of the other matrix code, though I forgot to also take a picture of the IFPI code that's on it.
     
    RTW likes this.
  12. RTW

    RTW Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    I mean, based on the above, mine is counterfeit. It's obviously not gold like yours and the inner ring is different. But I do not understand how this is possible?!? It is *so* convincing. The artwork and materials are high quality. The discs have the fan club inserts. The book is gorgeous. The matrices are correct. I mean, a disc can be replicated so thoroughly as to duplicate a matrix? How do we ever know if anything is authentic? I'm really aghast.
     
    Last edited: Sep 1, 2020
  13. pocketcalculator

    pocketcalculator Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    Well , this is an interesting philosophical question that will continue to plague us as reproduction of analog things becomes so accurate that you can't tell the difference between the original and the fake. And if you can't tell the difference, what does it matter? (I know many books have been written about this -- thank you, PKD!)
     
  14. pocketcalculator

    pocketcalculator Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    FWIW, I bought the vinyl box of A New Career in a New Town about a year after it was initially released, and it had the same mixing glitch in "Heroes" as was originally reported. I'd guess they printed up a certain number of boxes when it came out, and couldn't be bothered to have them sent back (or to go through the warehouse) to have the boxes opened and a corrected disk placed inside. They also refused to send me a replacement disk, so I sent the box back to the retailer.
     
  15. rpd

    rpd Senior Member

    Location:
    Nashville
    Does anyone know if I buy this new today from the Bowie site or from Amazon if it’s going to include the corrected Heroes CD?
     
  16. jimod99

    jimod99 Daddy or chips?

    Location:
    Ottawa, ON
    As far as I know there was only one pressing of the box, so although Parlophone did send out replacement discs, both lp and cd, sealed unsold stock will almost certainly have the original discs in them.
     
    rpd and Library Eye like this.
  17. rpd

    rpd Senior Member

    Location:
    Nashville
    Is the corrected Heroes CD available as a free standing CD…meaning can I buy it currently?
     
  18. jimod99

    jimod99 Daddy or chips?

    Location:
    Ottawa, ON
    Yes both the stand alone cd and lp of Heroes was the corrected version, they were both released about 6 months after the box set, as what normally happens.

    The replacement cds were gold, like the rest of the discs in the box, but the stand alone release is a silver disc.

    I did keep both the original cd and lp when I received the replacements as they both fitted in the box, the replacements both came in plain white sleeves.
     
    jfeldt and imarcq like this.

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