Amy Grant's Myrrh and A&M CDs of her catalog from 1977-1994. Gordon Lightfoot's CD catalog sounds great overall Neil Diamond - His 12 Greatest Hits (MCA) The Best of Jennifer Warnes (Arista) Melissa Manchester-Greatest Hits (Arista) The EMI Capitol Collectors Series/Legendary Masters Series/Legends of Rock and Roll Series compilations The Sony 16 Most Requested Songs comps of the Columbia/Epic MOR and big band artists Patti Page - Golden Hits (1994 CD) or The Mercury Years Vol. 1 & 2. Hank Williams - 40 Greatest Hits
The green cover on CD is the remaster, the 12 Greatest Hits CD with the cartoony cover is the older CD.
https://www.amazon.com/Mason-Williams-Phonograph-Record/dp/B000002KAK https://www.amazon.com/Best-Capitol-Masters-Selections-Legend/dp/B00000DRE4/
I should check again, including discogs, been awhile. I was able to grab 5 albums, two being 'Warner Archives' issues a few years ago. I don't remember them as being cheap
Of course those I have already! I think it may have been some of his earlier titles I had a tough time tracking down, thanks!
Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session Buggles - The Age of Plastic
For I Robot the Japan Arista disc is fine, the WG was not, there were glitches on it that made the disc worthy of return. It goes to show that there were complete duds with some original pressings. I assume you got the good version.
I used to have the complete Soul and Super Hits Of The 70's sets, but traded them in when I went through a downsizing phase. Major music collection misstep!
I agree that a narrower "budget CD" conversation might be a more unique topic on this forum, but I think I started things moving off course when I included the double CD Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions Anthology - haha. I don't think that was ever a mid-line.
Demo discs, for sure! I’ve got many, many first-gen cd’s. Too many to mention, but here’s some that spring to mind: I recently got Thin Lizzy’s main discography from my lovely wife for Father’s Day. Not a dud in there, all sound fine to these ears. Supertramp Pink Floyd David Bowie Boston Sting (uhuh) Elton John Etc. etc. etc....
Barry, Yep. Regardless of the era in which it was produced the slipshod WG Arista of I Robot is an example of what NOT to do in a transfer and mastering. The Japan and US Arista mastering is excellent, even if in my opinion it has since been surpassed by 2 MOFI's, an HDAD and a DSD [.dff files] download. As for 80's discs I've yet to hear an ECM from those years that was anything less than nice sounding. Example; the Pat Metheny's
Yeah, now that I think about it many early CDs were primo. I particularly regret "upgrading" my Bowie CDs on RCA to Rykodisc. Generally a much thinner sound on the Rykodisc. The recent Bowie releases (well up through Lodger) are pretty good; but it sure took a while. It amazes me how good some early Zeppelins were (Barry D. at the helm) and how silly I was to "upgrade" those. With regard to the Dead, though the original releases were amazing for their time; the re-masters are terrific and are worth hearing.
For jazz, I like the Verve label cd`s made in W. Germany. Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, etc.
It's pointless to waste the time and cost to remaster a CD that already sounds great. Why do we need countless remasters of the same albums over and over again, yet there are so many albums that have not been on CD ONCE?? Lets get the priorities straight before the master tapes fall apart!