Linda's favorite digital versions of all Black Sabbath albums

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by blacksabbathrainbow, Dec 1, 2019.

  1. Gus Tomato

    Gus Tomato Stop dreamin’ and start drivin’ Stevie!

    Location:
    Cork
    [​IMG]

    This finally arrived this morning. I like these one-offs with the whole mag dedicated to a band (I’ve given up buying just cos for a front cover and interview with a band I like). Heavily favours the Ozzy era (The Martin albums getting particular short shrift) but some nice features on vinyl rarities and interviews with ‘Super-Fans’. Every album up to ‘Born Again’ and also ‘13’ get a full page review. A nice collectible :agree:
     
  2. Hymie the Robot

    Hymie the Robot Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Which incarnation of Savatage are you digging?
     
  3. Just in case anyone has missed it: the incredible @rnranimal has determined that the 1975 Asbury Park live discs on the new Sabotage "Super Deluxe" (yeah, right!) 4xCD are sourced from a lossy-sourced bootleg. See this and some of the following posts. If you purchased this box set, I suggest you return it and let Rhino know what you think about being ripped of like this.

    My favorite period is Hall of the Mountain King through Dead Winter Dead, though there are quite a few goodies on earlier and later albums too of course. I slightly prefer Jon to Zak on vocals, but only before Jon's voice was shot. My favorite Savatage album is Ghost in the Ruins aka Final Bell (live).
     
  4. Gus Tomato

    Gus Tomato Stop dreamin’ and start drivin’ Stevie!

    Location:
    Cork
    I just scored the original WB ‘Live Evil’ off eBay - €16 incl/postage. I suspect it was one of those charity/second hand shops based in Germany (Medimops) who had no idea of the value of the item.
    Fingers crossed it’s in good condition (and contains both CDs!).
     
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  5. Medimops, that's funny. I don't think they are a charity, just a rather large second hand shop. I've sold a few used books to them. Also purchased several books and some DVD from them. Looks like they don't give a lot of information with their CDs - you might be right to suggest they have no idea what the Live Evil WB is worth. The stuff I bought from them was usually as described. Maybe a tad worse than described one or two times. Did they give any condition information for the WB you purchased? Fingers crossed!
     
    hutchguv likes this.
  6. Claus

    Claus Senior Member

    Location:
    Germany
    OT: Savatage have some good songs in their catalog, except the horrible ballads. By the way the mix of Hall of the Mountain King is a pain! The singer is too much in the foreground IMO. I rather listen to Metal Church.
     
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2021
  7. Gus Tomato

    Gus Tomato Stop dreamin’ and start drivin’ Stevie!

    Location:
    Cork
    Condition described as ‘Very Good’. Once it has two discs and a booklet I’ll be happy, else I’ll be using my Google Translate to complain :laugh:.

    I am a bit worried though - first US pressings came in separate jewel cases (like the version I originally owned :oops:) and repressings came in a double case, so I’m assuming that’s a fatboy. So they could well be selling (unbeknownst to themselves) a split up first issue.
    Here’s hoping!
     
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  8. Gus Tomato

    Gus Tomato Stop dreamin’ and start drivin’ Stevie!

    Location:
    Cork
    Also got a sealed WB Sabotage €18 Discogs.
    I know I could get a used copy a little cheaper but for that price for a sealed copy - and it is the greatest album ever released IMO - so I reckon ‘twas worth it :righton:
     
    blacksabbathrainbow and hutchguv like this.
  9. A sealed copy??? of a CD from the 1980ies??? for that price??? Isn't that a bit suspicious?
     
  10. Claus

    Claus Senior Member

    Location:
    Germany
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  11. Gus Tomato

    Gus Tomato Stop dreamin’ and start drivin’ Stevie!

    Location:
    Cork
    Oh I’m assuming it’s a re-issue. Plenty of 80’s CDs are still being printed up to this day.
     
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  12. hutchguv

    hutchguv Rock/Metal/Prog/Pop

    Location:
    England

    I finally remembered to go in WH Smith and picked this up yesterday morning too, a great read
     
  13. hutchguv

    hutchguv Rock/Metal/Prog/Pop

    Location:
    England
    My review on Amazon UK is finally up warning about this
     
  14. BDC

    BDC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tacoma
    I decided to do the same for US Amazon....
     
  15. Greenalishi

    Greenalishi Birds Aren’t Real

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I still read reviews when I purchase things. Amazon, All Music, Hoff and Wickepedia all help me when I’m tryin something unfamiliar
     
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  16. BDC

    BDC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tacoma
    Hard to expect many less than glowing reviews for any beloved classic album re-release from Amazon or the millions of websites linked to them....runaway electronic nightmare seeking with deadly efficiency to extract our money. That said, some useful reviews do slip through on Amazon. I'll check out All Music reviews off Wiki links, and often the best part of that are the fan reviews added. For sound quality, this is the place, right here. I think Black Sabbath in particular is a band important to hear on a good system with good mastering's. I just can't believe anybody's getting a large part of the point hearing Black Sabbath in MP3 through a bluetooth speaker.
     
  17. Greenalishi

    Greenalishi Birds Aren’t Real

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Yeah, I take all of that into account. But I never know until I dive in. You Tube helps too.
     
  18. FYI: After discussing Creative Sounds CD releases of the debut album with a fellow member, I just compared the ones I have to my favorite releases of this album. I have multiple CS releases, but most of them share the same mastering, so altogether I have only 2 different CS masterings for this album (and those two sound fairly similar). Result: I like the SACD, 2009 Sanctuary CD, 1986 Castle CD and 2016 Rhino CD (plus the 2014 HDtracks which uses the same mastering as the 2016 CD except for Wicked World) all better than the CS CDs. The latter both sound quite a bit bright and also rather thin and noisy to me in comparison. I know there are still members who like at least one of the CS releases for this album, but for me they don't stand a chance against any of the others releases I've mentioned.
     
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  19. Gus Tomato

    Gus Tomato Stop dreamin’ and start drivin’ Stevie!

    Location:
    Cork
    I got the original WB Master Of Reality cd. What can I say?…. it just sounds so right!!
     
  20. Here's my thoughts after doing a little listening.

    Killing Yourself to Live:
    I prefer the 2009 Sanctuary CD (after correcting for the swapped stereo channels) and the SACD. Both are full, warm and relatively dark sounding and seem a bit cleaner than earlier CDs.
    2016 Rhino is also good but a tad bright for my taste. I think my 3rd favorite is the 1986 Castle (properly de-emphasized, of course). Both the 1989 Japan 23PD and the 1991 Japan TECP sound a bit bright and noisy compared to the 1986 Castle, though at some spots they are close. (The 23PD has a bad drop-out on the title track though.) The 1986 Intercord sounds pretty good to me, but a bit weird and sometimes bright for my taste.

    St. Vitus Dance:
    2021 Rhino sounds just crazy, wild EQ, guitar overdriven. 2016 Rhino sounds so bright I immediately tumble for the volume control to turn it down. SACD sounds a bit bright too, but not nearly as badly so as the 2016 CD. 2009 Sanctuary sounds significantly darker then the aforementioned releases. Pretty good. 1991 Japan TECP somehow sounds a bit thin and veiled at the same time. 1989 Japan 23PD is similar to the 1991 TECP. Both sound like maybe the tape used wasn't the freshest. 1987 WG Vertigo sounds not far from the aforementioned two but with a little weirdness added. 1986 Castle (properly de-emphasized) is the darkest-sounding one of this bunch.
    Altogether, my top 3, ordered from brighter to darker sounding, are the SACD, 2009 Sanctuary and 1986 Castle. I believe the 2009 and the SACD are from better tapes, but the 1986 sounds dark and warm and maybe most natural. Definitely darker, warmer and more natural than the 23PD and the TECP.

    Tomorrow's Dream:
    1986 Castle (properly de-emphasized) sounds warm and dark. 1987 WG Vertigo sounds bright and noisy in comparison. 1989 Japan 23PD is closer to the 1986 Castle than to the 1987 WG Vertigo but significantly thinner than the 1986 and a bit tinny. 1991 Japan TECP sounds similar to the 23PD. 2009 Sanctuary sounds kind of in between the 1986 Castle and the 1989 and 1991 Japan CDs - a bit cleaner than all of those 3, not quite as dark as the 1986 Castle, not as thin as the Japan CDs, and not tinny either. SACD sounds relatively close to the 2009 Sanctuary and the 1986 Castle but a bit brighter. 2016 Rhino brighter still. 2021 Rhino sounds like something's broken.
    Again, for me it's down to either the SACD, 2009 Sanctuary or 1986 Castle. I am slightly leaning towards the SACD, but all 3 sound just fine to me. I don't really like any of the others.

    Anyway, as I've said before: it doesn't matter what sounds best to me on my equipment. What matters is what sounds best to you on your equipment.
     
  21. Gus Tomato

    Gus Tomato Stop dreamin’ and start drivin’ Stevie!

    Location:
    Cork
    Linda, you’re a champ! Cheers for that :righton:
     
  22. Greenalishi

    Greenalishi Birds Aren’t Real

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Do a really cool one for Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Some cool photos from live shows. That era and tour I’ve seen some great shots. Good sound. Cool live show. The Zep jam. Any good outtakes. Do it up right
     
    wrat likes this.
  23. hutchguv

    hutchguv Rock/Metal/Prog/Pop

    Location:
    England
    Not a comment on masterings

    but have you guys seen this?



    I love these chaps, they comment on all sorts of music
     
  24. Tim1954

    Tim1954 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    Those guys are fantastic. It’s pretty much the only “reaction” channel I watch because they bring so much to the process. They have tons of passion and make very interesting comments about the music and how it is arranged. They are very humble about how much they know but I think they understand music much better than they let on.

    They have done lots of Sabbath. All great!
     
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  25. hutchguv

    hutchguv Rock/Metal/Prog/Pop

    Location:
    England

    Yes, I totally agree with you

    The reaction channel thing is not usually a thing I enjoy as it doesn’t seem so much a reaction as more of a performance, look at me, type thing….

    Which as a 51 year old man I clearly don’t get… and perhaps shouldn’t, as it’s probably just not designed for my “demographic”

    These chaps are different, I love their whole attitude, they clearly just love music, are great friends and seem to have refreshingly honest options…. Which these days is a real treat
     
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