Submit a factoid on early CDs: Let's compile some good information here.

A lot of information on early CDs gets repeated over and over again. That's just the nature of having a large membership with new members joining daily and the breadth of information out there on early CDs. I would like to compile factoids on early CDs here to serve as a reference tool.

Let me say that by "early CDs", I am mainly considering West German and Japanese pressings issued up to 1986. However, if you have interesting information on unique masterings, rarities, etc. on U.K., French, German, U.S. pressings, etc., please include it.

Also, let's try to be as brief as possible so that information is easy to find.

Importantly, this is not a place to bash early pressings in case anyone is so inclined to do that. This is a place to post useful information for those interested in early pressings.

P.S. If this thread gets very long, it may be moved to L&WT. Let's leave it in Music for now.



Here are a couple sample factoids to get things started:

* The unique two-track mastering of Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here is only available on the original Japanese CBS/Sony issue with catalog number 35DP 4 and the Japanese CBS/Sony pressing for the U.S. market with catalog number CK 33453. This Japan-for-U.S. pressing is identified by "35DP-4" in the matrix code.

* Steve Hoffman's mastering of The Who Who's Next is available on discs with catalog number MCAD-37217 that have a total time of 43:25. If a disc with catalog number MCAD-37217 clocks in at 43:15, it does not have Steve's mastering. Steve's mastering is available on the original Japanese Denon pressing, certainly early U.S. pressings, and a current budget Canadian pressing.

 

Great info. Thanks, guys!

 

You thanked yourself!

 

Geoff, it's called sarcasm. It was a sarcastic bump. I was surprised to see no replies after nearly four hours.

Anyway, back on topic, please.

 

How about the early Canadian pressings of Help! and Rubber Soul that accidentally contained the original mixes? Slightly outside of your timeline (1987), but still a significant early variation, to say the least. I don't have all the matrix and timing information handy for the two different pressings of each title, but I'm sure they can be easily found on here...

 

I have long thought that the info on this site, supplemented by whatever people have from elsewhere, should be gathered into some kind of wiki. There is lots of good information but it is not that easy to find.

Tim

 

Some early CDs had "pin holes" in them. That didn't effect the ability of the music to play. The original "max" time was around 69 minutes.

 

I am always amazed that my discs with pinholes play flawlessly. A couple of them look like swiss cheese.

Along the same lines, early U.K. PDO discs turned a bronze color due to a flaw in the manufacturing process that led to oxidation of the aluminum. Every "bronze" U.K. PDO disc I've found has played find. If anyone has dates for which these U.K. PDO discs were issued and the record labels that used them, that would be good to know.

 

There's actually a (seemingly) good Wikipedia entry on this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_bronzing

I have a couple of PDO CDs with advanced bronzing. They do play OK for the moment, although EAC won't rip the last five or six tracks on my Style Council Here's Some That Got Away disc.

Geoff

 

Could someone post details on these CD's, and where they can be obtained, without turning this into one of those endless Beatles threads...

 

There's a Japanese EMI/Toshiba 44 song double Frank Sinatra CD (which I thankfully have) of singles, many of which weren't released until Bob Norberg's Complete Capitol Singles Collection. The ones on this earlier set are not noise-reduced and sound very much like the tracks on Sinatra's Capitol Collector's Series. It's nice to hear Mr. Success and others without all that 'pumping'.

 

More info please...don't think I have seen this one.

 

**The original Japanese release of Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska" has an extended version of "My Fathers House". By "extended" I mean theres a synthesizer coda tacked onto the end of it which really doesn't make it much more interesting. But the mastering of the CD itself is different than the US release and it sounds significantly better than the US release. The original Japanese release is 32DP 357 - the second Japanese release is also this same variation (25DP 5246). Interestingly it turns out that all releases until the most recent Japanese release (from 2-3 years ago) used a master tape which runs slightly too slow. I'm unsure if this has been speed-corrected on anything but the Japanese release.

 

It's called All The Way - Frank Sinatra Hit Collection and was released in 1989. There's no picture on the cover, just text. Royal blue with gold lettering. It came with all the lyrics to the songs in Japanese and a cloth that I think is supposed to be for keeping the discs clean. I'm such a fussbudget about CDs that I'll never, ever have to use one.

 

Sean, what is the catalog number? Thanks!

 

Make yourself a LARGE pot of tea then settle down to some reading:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=77582

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?p=2529657

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=87380

 

The Beatles discs in question are early Canadian issues, and they are long out of print. The catalog number for Help! is C2 46439 and the catalog number for Rubber Soul is C2 46440. The discs with the original mixes were pressed in Canada by Disque Americ and Cinram.

 

1. some early West German made PDO 2xCD sets in the old-style "fat" jewel cases came with foam pieces in them (presumably to protect the disc and/or booklet). I know I have ECM titles like this, and possibly others.

2. some early Japanese CDs had their OBI strips glued to their jewel cases. Not sure when this habit stopped, but fully expect Keith to know the day and time that that change occurred!

 

I am pretty sure that the early Japanese issues, original Japan-for-U.S., and original Japan-for-Europe discs have the same mastering. They all have the stereo mixes and the extended version of "My Father's House". It's just that this version of the album was available in Japan much longer than in the U.S. and Europe. I am surprised that this version stayed in print for so long in Japan, as I thought Springsteen was adamant about it being pulled.

On a side note, in my early days of collecting early pressings, I found a first U.S. DADC pressing of Nebraska. It came in a smooth-edge jewel case, and the back insert did not have "Now Made In The U.S.A." stamped next to the back insert. Despite it being a U.S. pressing, I thought that maybe it had been pressed early enough to have the original mixes. Nope. It had the common mixes found on later U.S. pressings. So, for the U.S. market, the original mixes are only found on the Japanese CBS/Sony pressings.

 

You started it Roland

to compress what I have read/know:

Help
made by / fabrique par DISQUE AMERIC CANADA EA31 <011> C246439

Rubber Soul
made by / fabrique par DISQUE AMERIC CANADA EA41 <011> C246440
running time of 36:00 (EMI is 35:48)

Good luck, they turn up very rarely. The company that pressed these is located in Drummondville, Quebec.

They were sold regularly in Ontario and Quebec (1989+) and later apparently could be found in the used CD bins for a while there. Rumours were that Disque Americ may have gotten the wrong tapes (the correct ones, really) when they asked EMI/Capitol for them to do a Canadian pressing run.

They 'might' be identified from the back insert by the 'Capitol' Trademark notice, no Parlophone Trademark notice and lack of the Apple Logo, however, the only real way to check is by the Matrix and Disque Americ stamping on the disc.

Search for DISQUE AMERIC on eBay et al. I've seen one Rubber Sould there in the last year and it went very high from what I remember.

There are a few threads on these I believe which have been posted above by Black Elk.

I've heard the Rubber Soul and it is wonderful

 

It was 12:08 a.m. on January 5, 1987. That is when the first non-sticky-OBIs came off the line. Where you were you when that happened? I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a beautiful night.

Seriously, WEA, MCA, Polydor, RSO, and London used sticky OBI strips early on. For WEA, the sticky OBI strips were used for 38XP, 38XD, 32XP, and 32XD discs. For MCA, sticky OBI strips were used for some 32XD titles. Sticky OBI strips were used for P33P and P58P Polydor titles, P33W and P58W RSO titles, and P33L London titles.

For Polydor and RSO, do the later P20P and P20W discs have sticky OBI strips? I believe they do.

I am pretty sure that the later P25L Rolling Stones London discs do not have sticky OBI strips.

For 32XD titles, WEA and MCA moved away from sticky OBI strips at some point. I want to say that the change happened in either 1986 or 1987. As a matter of fact, I just received the 32XD-538 copy of Boston Third Stage, and it does not have a sticky OBI strip.

 

Speaking of OBI strips, when did CBS/Sony move away from the box-type OBI strip? The 35DP and early 32DP discs have them. Later 32DP discs such as the Miles Davis 32DP discs do not have box-type OBI strips. I'm pretty sure that 25DP titles do not have box-type OBI strips either. I guess the switch happened in 1986 or '87.

 

Hi, Keith. I would have posted the actual cover but it's one of those fat double CD cases where the cover has spines and I didn't want to flatten it. This rather poor scan (couldn't close the scanner lid because it's from a book) is part of a page from the 1992 Marino/Furfero Sinatra price guide, which someone gave me as a birthday present many years ago. It was listed then as being worth $75.00, the most expensive collectible CD (except for a rare promo set that had only 1 Frank selection), but that may just be because most of the tracks on it weren't available on compact disc at the time.

 

Aaaaahhhhh, I was washing my hair that night!

What exactly do you mean by a box-type OBI?

 

I've got the older Japanese CBS/Sony for U.S. (I think?). Number is indeed CK 33453 but what exactly is the matrix code? Is this the number printed in the inner ring of the disc? Alas, 35DP-4 is nowhere to be found on it. Oh well, it is a Doug Sax isn't it?? (no mastering credit)