I have three. The Koch which is bad, muffled bass heavy. I saw a Transluxe two weeks ago which I was had never heard of, bought it and it's the same as the Koch. And the third is a Snapper SMMCD 562. This was from what I'd read was the best. It is certainly much better but it is quite a bit louder than the original Columbia issues of the other JP titles. I think it's too loud. It is a 1998 release and I'm sure I saw "remastered" somewhere about it. Does this mean there is an earlier Snapper or are they referring to a different label? I'd like to know.
Forgive the intrusion, because I don't have this on CD in any format, but I remember others saying that the Snapper version is the best. The Koch is universally regarded as poor, and if the Transluxe is anything like my Transluxe copy of "Hero Hero" (which includes many SWOD tracks) then it's pretty unremarkable. I have the RCA reissue LP, dated 1983. It's excellent. "The Ripper" especially is just startling, sounds loud (in a good way) at any volume. If the RCA CD is anything like it, it's a great CD.
Sad Wings is also combined with Rocka Rolla, their 1974 1st release, as a 2 on 1 (omitting Caviar & Meths from Rocka Rolla) on Castle Communications' The Collection from 1989. A great release from Priest.
And I have a strange LineRecords (LICD 9.001120) white face version. Made in West Germany by P + O Pallas. Says 1984 and has no barcode. Very quiet, here's Victim of Changes
Check this info here: RCA Corporation USA 1988 4747-2-R The copyright shows 1983, Gull Records. This is when RCA licensed the release, but the CD was produced by RCA in 1988
I have the 2 cd 'Genocide' (contains sad wings and rocka rolla) which is sounds good, I am sure their is better out their because it was released by snapper in 1998!
Just check out what I had to say recently concerning LINE Records and their quality: http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=2319476&postcount=1 - Eroc
In fact not - I joined REP in 1998, all CDs before that year are definitely not remastered by me... - Eroc
Well, some of their releases are sounding really weird. Others are plain 1:1 tape-transfers in great authentic quality like e.g. their Gentle Giant CDs. Last week I listened to a (white) vinyl Line-album from Peter Hammill and that one did sound absolutely fantastic. So it's a matter of luck somehow with Line, except the ones I remastered for them during the last couple of years... - Eroc
I have a made-in-Canada Attic Records version, ACD 1157. It sounds really nice; Lots of bass and not bright at all. Here's my "Victim Of Changes"
If you ever get hold of this Line-CD from "Jade Warrior" (Last Autumn's Dream) just put it into your player and switch your equipment to MONO - on most tracks then the music will DISSAPPEAR completely... - Eroc
I tested The Ripper sample I posted on the 1st page. I'm not sure if the MONO button on my amp really works, so I use foobar2000 with a plugin downmixing to mono. Don't know if this is a correct method. Sound doesn't disappear. Most of the music is still there, however I don't clearly hear "shocK" when they sing it and some other sounds, like the bass is less prominent. Could be because of the mono, can't really judge..
I wasn't somehow able to download your sample for checking, but if it occurs from a vinyl LP I must admit that it's nearly impossible to be completely phase-reverse, because you can't cut a 180° phased out signal into a vinyl groove. Some contents of a mix like e.g. single vocals or instruments can always be slightly out of phase, due to the recording-process or special sound effects, causing slight to major loss in mono. Also some of the brilliance might get lost in mono, due to wrong azimuth adjustment of the tape-machine heads, which is a rather "common" thing on many vinyl-LPs and still CDs. But what I'm talking about concerning the Line-CD from "Jade Warrior" is that the whole music (!) dissappears completely in mono, and this was a plain technical mistake during the mastering of this CD. All that crap like delivering heavy wrong azimuths and phase-reverse signals and DC currency contents to the public was made possible only by the CD. Vinyl is very sensitive and it can blow the cutting stylus if you try to cut a phase-revers signal into the groove, at least at lower frequencies. But the CD takes it all... That Line-CD I'm talking about in the above mentioned thread fairly is an exception, but a very evil one. It also suffers from more lacks like "de-noising" by use of some kind of noise-gate. - Eroc P.S.: Must sign off for now, have to leave for the Netherlands early tomorrow morning. Have a pleasant night...
No. I have Line releases of Glass Harp's three albums from the early 70's, and they sound quite good.