Never listened to the 1st disc. Thought (and still do) that the book and the 2nd disc was a nice little thing to have.
Moot point. Most special eds/deluxes went out of print after a short shelf life span, anyway, so you'd have to pay a premium for them today. On the upside, they still do have a 4th iteration of the 4CD "Sound & Vision" box set available: 4CD set, $30 from Amazon. Mostly 1999 remasters, which most people dislike - it's nobody's favorite - but a lot of the same bonus non-album tracks that were put out in the original 1990 box set by Ryko.
Just noticed from the Amazon track listing for this box that all the stuff that EMI eventually put out in some flavor of hi-res ("Young Americans", "David Live", "Stage", "Black Tie") or anniversary editions ("Ziggy", "Aladdin Sane", "Diamond Dogs") got all or some of the S+V material remastered 2002-2003. ("Station to Station"'s 2010 hi-res was of an analog master, so there really wasn't a hi-res digital remaster out there unless you count Maslin.) So, a big ambitious refresh/push in 2002-2003 which eventually ran out of steam? So as a cheap introduction to the EMI experience - if you're into that sort of thing - this box gives one plenty of the flavor of The Sound of 1999 with tracks of that vintage from "Lodger", "Scary Monsters", "Heroes", "Low", "StS", "Pinups", etc. (EMI did DSDs of "Scary Monsters" and "Let's Dance", so it's a little weird that the 1999 versions of album tracks from those two titles are used here....)
Those two live bonus tracks on side 2 are unique (and some say better) mixes than were later released on the Live Nassau Coliseum '76 album. Plus, it has the colour cover albeit in poor quality.
We've had those Bowie blind listening threads lately and the 1999 remasters ARE that bad. They never score well when people have all the versions to compare to without knowing what's what. Severe no-noising and absurd EQ make them awful and I wish I didn't have to admit this because I can't afford the RCAs. The recent remasters are a very mixed bag. Those by Ray Staff are OK, I guess, but those with Visconti on the job are mostly ****. In fact, his remaster of Heroes is so bad that I'd rather listen to the 1999 one.
This is what I found. Luckily I skipped the '99 releases at the time, based only on lack of bonus content.
I don't know what to say, I play them since 1999 and I never thought they sounded bad. I have some 70s vinyl LP of those titles as well. The cds sound louder but not bad, at least to my ears. Am I deaf, stupid or something?
No, neither deaf or stupid. The 1999 remasters aren't that loud, actually. They weren't badly compressed for loudness, as some people claimed. The problem with those remasters is that they are no-noised and EQed for excessive brightness and "pop". Bowie sounds just wrong on them, especially if have the earlier CDs to compare. I won't get into Bowie LPs because that's a can of worms. They sound all over the place because of a million vastly varying pressings. I'm comparing the 1999 remasters to the RCA and Ryko CDs. Yes, the Rykos are better that the 1999 remaster, even though they are bright and EQed strangely themselves.
You could read Tsomi's blind listening tests of several Bowie albums, maybe even participate and try the different versions yourself Search Results for Query: Bowie blind listening | Steve Hoffman Music Forums
If they sound good (enough) to your ears on your system, they are perfect for you. If you have children to feed and other hobbies and if they are the only version you have heard so far, don't start comparing.
I used to have only the 1999 remasters for some titles, and didn't like them at all. If you enjoy their sound it's not because they're the only ones you have, but because you don't find them too brittle as I do. Personally, I like some Rykos and some Parlophones that other people here hate, so, again, it's just a matter of taste.
I did listen a while back to the 1999 Low and Heroes remasters and found them to feel rather thinny and hissy, they somewhat lack warmth. They're not terrifying or brickwalled by any stretch of the imagination, and you can get them for extremely low prices (i found some at a flea market near my place for like 9€ each and some even less) and they have some nice artwork and spines, but you can certainly do better. Probably even a reissued cheap vinyl would be better than them, but i'm probably wrong. In general though, Bowie on CD is rather "meh" no matter what you pick; There's some nice standouts (the latest Station to Station CD sounds really nice, clean and warm to me) but overall i found that no matter what you pick 70s Bowie stuff will always sound better on vinyl to most people including me, and i'm not even that huge vinyl fan to be honest.
I dislike Bowie on vinyl. Weedy as hell, especially some pressings. In fact, the RCA CDs are pretty much like the vinyl counterparts, except there's no scratches and pops, which is why I prefer them in the end. Some Bowie Rykos are great and some of the Ray Staff remasters are good, though. Just avoid the 1999 remasters and anything done by Visconti.
Some will disagree, but that's one Ryko that I like, and it has a couple of bonus tracks. In my opinion, the West Germany RCA is the best sounding CD version, though.
That article about the 1999 remasters is killing me. "...to keep to the original LPs sound as much as possible" - the 1999 remasters sound nothing like the original LPs. That reviewer had no idea what he's talking about.
No, that's actually what the reviewer says in the second paragraph. Read it carefully. He claims that sound quality of the remasters is OK, but the packaging is bad, which is the opposite of what people say about those remasters.
Nah, you don't have a hearing problem. Sadly, when it comes to finding "the best" - and this is especially true of Bowie titles - there's a contingent who seem to think there is one, and only one answer that must apply to everyone, and everything else is simply bad, crap, or worse. Personally I don't find the Parlophone's to be bad at all. I have the 1999's, but have not spun one in some time. I think you can reach a point where you're listening with too critical of an ear, forgetting to simply enjoy the damn music. As I say, it seems particularly bad when discussing Bowie for some reason. Of course, some of the CD releases are bad. But they're rarely as bad as you'll read on here.
I notice that in an article nitpicking the faults with these CDs, 'Big Broken' is one of the highlights of Diamond Dogs!