Pet shop boys reissues

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by fozl1986, Feb 7, 2015.

  1. Marc 74

    Marc 74 Senior Member

    Location:
    West Germany,NRW
    Thanks. I remember we had a discussion about this box before but for some reason i got rid of it again. Will try to find that thread.
     
  2. Scottb

    Scottb Senior Member

    Location:
    Nanuet, NY, USA
    There were no mastering credits for this box but if I had to guess I would say Peter Mew at Abbey Road did it. The EQing sounds like his typical remasters.
     
  3. Marc 74

    Marc 74 Senior Member

    Location:
    West Germany,NRW
    Found the thread were we talked about it. Looks like they used the old masterings for that box. Please seems to match the original US CD (with de-emphasis). And i sold it... :doh:
     
  4. Porkpie

    Porkpie Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    How does the vinyl remaster of Actually compare to the original? The flac files when downloaded state “2001 version” for each song.
     
  5. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Yes, that one uses the old mastering with the EQ applied, nice sounding disc Marc :cheers:
     
    Marc 74 likes this.
  6. Scottb

    Scottb Senior Member

    Location:
    Nanuet, NY, USA
    Wow so that De-emphasized version Album details - Dynamic Range Database makes 'West End Girls' have a DR17. That must be very low in volume.
     
  7. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Not bad at all actually Scott. Excellent sounding disc. Since the tag is located in the TOC most players should add the proper EQ via analog out. Once done it drops down to 16, maybe he was using a different method than mine.
     
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  8. JamesRR

    JamesRR Trashcan Dream

    Location:
    NYC
    Just got the vinyl of Please today - looking forward to giving it a spin. I only have the original CD release.

    And how great those pics of the new releases at HMV in the UK. Would've thought it was a vintage pic if not for the 'trending' signage.
     
    ChrisInKansas likes this.
  9. Marc 74

    Marc 74 Senior Member

    Location:
    West Germany,NRW
    Thanks,Cory. Need to get one of those.

    Ordered the 2018 Please and Actually sets yesterday. Looks like they are at least better than the 2001 CDs. Glad that i still have the old Maxi CDs for the 80s singles (guess they are still the best sounding options for the extended versions). Unfortunately lots of the further listening stuff wasn't available on CD back then.
     
    c-eling likes this.
  10. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    I tell ya Marc, I was hoping to high heaven when the Mode 1991 boxes were being done they would of followed suit.
     
    Marc 74 likes this.
  11. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    I'm thinking they may transfer well to the format. PSB being all digital anyways...
    I'm happy with my old US Please and Actually for vinyl. I don't have Introspective on the format so i'm going to give it a whirl over my old compact disc, should be fun :)
     
  12. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I just got a copy of the Please reissue, and I think it's fantastic. The booklet is sort of wonky, but I thought the sound was pretty good. Disc 2 was what really stood out to me; I knew many of these tracks/mixes from other CDs, but before I heard this reissue, Was That What It Was? was the only one I liked (as a side note, I was gutted to hear how much Neil and Chris apparently hate the song...to me, it's one of their greatest moments!). In this sequencing, though (and this sound...divorced from the dreadful mastering on Alternative), I enjoyed almost every song.

    Behaviour is my favourite PSB album, so I hope that its eventual reissue is as good as this one!
     
    jamesc likes this.
  13. jsayers

    jsayers Just Drifting....

    Location:
    Horse Shoe, NC
    What was the problem with the mastering on Alternative? News to me..
     
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  14. krafty

    krafty Forum Resident

    My feelings is that for a beginner, Actually is the start off. It's their pinnacle. Please would be my second pick.
    For further stuff, if you are more of a lounge sound like person, you will place Behaviour as a fourth choice and Elysium as a fifth choice, Fundamental as a sixth.
    If you are more of a dance person, you will perhaps place Introspective as a fourth, and Very as fifth and Yes + Super as sixth, sharing this position.
    If you are more of a industrial or techno guy, you will like Electric before the dancing/pop records.
    Last but not least, there are some non-album gems in Relentless, Disco 1, and in compilations Discography, Alternative and Format.

    I can't comment Nightlife, Release and Bilingual. That's the period the band went bogus to me.
     
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  15. krafty

    krafty Forum Resident

    I spent the night comparing Please Further Listening Version 2018.
    These tracks have been remastered again.
    They are a bit quieter by 1.5 dB or 2dB and have more peaks.
    Listening, they have a tiny little boost in treble, very tiny, and a booming boost in bass.
    Definitely it's the bass party in these reissues from 86 to 88.
     
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  16. krafty

    krafty Forum Resident

    I think Actually, Instrospective and Behaviour are in their maximum state of art concerning their original mastering both on CD and LP.
    Please LP is very nice, but the original CD you will need to de-emphasize since it's among the preemphasis black list CDs of all time.
    I don't think for a minute that the remasters are superior at all.
     
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  17. krafty

    krafty Forum Resident

    Are you sure?
    I haven't found one single copy of Please, prior to 2001, which got rid of the preemphasis.
    Are you really sure? Because I know a guy selling one CD from this box. Is the CD from this box, de-emphasized?
    Make sure we're not talking about the missing FLAGS PRE in TOC or subcode here.
     
  18. shaboo

    shaboo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bonn, Germany
    I never saw a reason to complain about the mastering on Alternative. What's so dreadful about it?
     
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  19. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Thanks for the breakdown, appreciated. I've decided since I have these already it would be a moot point to purchase them again for disc 2 :cheers:
     
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  20. Limopard

    Limopard National Dex #143

    Location:
    Leipzig, Germany
    Did some ABXing today and came to the conclusion, that the original albums sound different to their 2001 counterparts while the „Further Listening“ discs do not. I couldn‘t spot any difference on „In The Night“, „That‘s My Impression“, „A New Life“ and „Losing My Mind“.
     
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  21. anorak2

    anorak2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    Sorry, I don't get this. What's wrong with preemphasis on CDs, and what's the purpose of a preemphasis blacklist?
     
  22. fumi

    fumi Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    I'm think about picking these up. Does anyone know where I might find detailed pictures of the packaging?

    Kind Regards
     
  23. krafty

    krafty Forum Resident

    Preemphasis was a thing CD manufacturers and audio engineers did for the reasons that I do not remember of right now but that should be found in Wikipedia.
    It boosts the treble very high and the final product will sound thin and ultra bright, thus not as intended in the mixing stage.
    It's like if you are sensitive to cymbals and stuff you will get annoyed. Unless you hear little treble you will be annoyed for sure.
     
  24. anorak2

    anorak2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    The reason is noise reduction, sort of comparable to Dolby B. Arguably it's pointless on CDs given their already high dynamic range.

    Ah. I think you have a misunderstanding there. A CD recorded with pre-emphasis must be played back with a reverse EQ, so you get a neutral frequency range back. It should be sonically neutral, if it isn't there's something not working right. All CD players following the red book standard must apply de-emphasis on CDs marked accordingly. A CD player that doesn't do this is basically broken.

    Likewhise, CD playback software on computers have to apply de-emphasis. Maybe not all of them do it, the ones that don't should also be considered broken. It gets difficult with CD ripping software. Ideally they should recompute all the samples before saving, or save a "pre-emphasis" flag in the ripped audio file. Since not all file formats support such a flag, problems arise. Maybe that is where the misunderstanding originates?
     
  25. Scottb

    Scottb Senior Member

    Location:
    Nanuet, NY, USA
    I don't have the set anymore and I also don't have the Denon CD player anymore which would display 'Emphasis' on any CD's that had pre-emphasis. So I'm going from memory which may not be 100% accurate but I seem to remember that it didn't have pre-emphasis and assumed it was remastered in some way. I see your post above describing preemphasis. When I had that Denon player and some CD's it would display emphasis I called Denon and spoke with a tech there that explained it to me but forgot exactly what it said. I believe he said that the CD player would use some kind of filter so you wouldn't hear the very high treble. I only have a few CD's with pre-emphasis and none of them sound like your description-very high treble and thin and ultra bright.

    Sorry as I wish I knew 100% and don't want you to waste your money on it if my memory is not right. Why are you looking for a version without pre-emphasis? I believe all players will use the emphasis filter so you don't hear all that very high treble?
     

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