Elvis Costello on Rhino--time to reevaluate?

The disc timings for the secret remasters were different, often by a substantial amount (30-45 seconds). Bill Shapiro's book "Rock & Roll Review: A Guide to Good Rock on CD" gave the original and revised timings for each disc, but unfortunately I lost my copy of the book some years ago, so I can't check.

 

I still have my copy. If folks are interested, I can type the differing times when I get home...

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

Yes, please!

Anybody know if there are differences in matrix numbers?

 

To me, "Spike" gained improvement in it's remastering on Rhino, but I couldn't buy "Brutal Youth" or "All This Useless Beauty" over again because being from 94 and 96 respectively, they sound just fine in their original versions!
"Spike", being from 89, really benefitted from it's remastering IMO.

This is all opinion of course. Not everyone will agree.

 

Well, you are more cunning than I am.
Honestly though, I've not been really looking for them. But I just never saw them in a store. I am sure they exist somewhere.

 

The Demons are disappearing from eBay and Amazon so fast since Steve made his comment. There was a batch of 6 Demons CDs on eBay that went over $150!!

 

Would it better to seek out the version that best matches the original vinyl issue? When I listen to the Costello Cd catalog, I listen from a perspective of having most of the original UK vinyl releases. With that in mind, I've always recommended the 1980s Demon cds as being the cds that match these issues closest. (My Spike vinyl is US Warner Brothers, but I still think it is better than any cd issue.)

In terms of preference, the "type of mastering they like", unless someone is going to describe what they like or dislike about a particular cd version (as you did when describing the Rhino cds and most posts here are doing as well), nothing can really be gained by the argument.

 

get happy

I'd be interested in Get Happy! thanks,

 

Glad I got 'em already!

 

For 7 single discs and 1 two-disc set, all of which have been OOP for 20 years and therefore collectible, and all of which are reported to sound quite good, $150 is quite a bargain in my book! I was the 2nd highest bidder in that auction and I'm kicking myself for not bidding just a little more!

The problem is the Demon CDs are so scarce in the U.S. I had nothing against which to gauge my bid, really having no idea how much they'd go for.

The good news is I've picked up almost the whole set over the past couple of days from various sources.

 

The first sets came out on Columbia in the States and Edsel/Demon in the UK (very different masterings). Then Edsel/Demon remastered the albums and added liner notes and bonus tracks. Rykodisc licenced those remasters and issued them Stateside without any alteration.

If Ryko reissued Edsel/Demon without alteration, why would the Demon discs be said to rock the world while the Rykos are regarded poorly?

 

I was under the impression that all the Ryko remasters had been done by Dr. Toby Mountain.

 

The praise for the Demons is for the original mastering, not for the remastering that Ryko licensed.

 

Without this thread they aren't that collectible IMO. Besides, the set contained three fairly common compilations so the buyer was basically paying that money for the 5 standard albums. Some of those same albums have been listed elsewhere for under $10 - all gone now, of course. I'm pretty sure that I saw Trust listed for $25 on eBay and that's gone too.

I have no quibble with the prices people pay of CDs but I find the market reaction to be fascinating. There is a lot of buying power on this forum!

 

Nope. Roger Bechirian, one of the engineers who worked on some of elvis's albums.

The ryko issues were from 2nd gen tapes.

 

The Rhino spike is closest to the american vinyl original issue. Though released at the same time, the original wb vinyl and cd sound very different.

 

The Rhino CD and the original U.S. mastered LP sound nothing like each other...in my opinion...

 

To each his own. To me the vinyl was much brighter than the cd (with both a v15 Vmr or a blue point special), but not unpleasantly so.

 

I have picked up 3 Demons in the past 3 days....

Armed forces for $16 on ebay
This years model $40 (autographed) on ebay
My aim is true $18 on GEMM.

 

Good buys, 926am - but as I was trying to explain to mafru2 above, not particularly cheap either - $74 (plus shipping etc) for 3 CDs.

The ones I've picked up individually over the past few days were also in about this price range - a few much cheaper, a couple more expensive.

This is why I was telling people that $150 for 8 of Elvis' Demon discs (1 of them a double) was not a bad deal at all, even if you consider some were comps!

I have been an ardent CD collector, haunting brick and mortar stores all over Northern California, for 15 years now. I have NEVER seen a Costello original UK Demon CD, ever, not one. They are not very common here for sure, maybe other places, I don't know.

 

Okay, totally putting aside my involvement in these reissues, my personal observation is that people on this forum generally like duller sounding CD pressings with less top end and upper mids. These are often the earlier issues that do not use the original masters, but they sound better to many of the people on this forum because of the sonic credo that too much top end is a bad thing. Becuase they are from an era when NR was too expensive to apply to everything, they generally still have tape hiss (which is good). However, tape hiss is not really an indication of anything other than no NR.

As someone who has heard and seen every Elvis Costello master and multitrack from 1977 - 1997 I actually know what made the original Demon CDs, the Ryko CDs and the Columbia ones. It would be unfair for me to comment further on which ones actually used the original tapes. I think you guys basically enjoy things purely on the merit of sound and mastering, rather than on the actual sources. And I am not making any judgement on that. Shine on you crazy diamonds.

 

Thanks for chiming in Andrew..I personally enjoy the Rhino's best, and find the bonus tracks alone make them (the Rhinos) THE versions to have.

I also think they sound fine!

 

Wow - that has to be one of the fairest, most balanced comments by an industry insider this side of - well of Steve's comments on his work. Incredibly gracious of you to frame it this way. Thanks so much Mr. Sandoval - and speaking personally, I meant no disrespect by any of my comments about which discs I prefer sonically - as you indicate it's simply a matter of all of us having our own listening preferences.

Regardless of all that, I think the Rhino series you helped create was incredible for the bonus discs alone, and as an E.C. fan I greatly appreciate your efforts at getting all that stuff out in a coherent, obtainable form. I was just grooving to the ARMED FORCES bonus disc on the way to work this AM - sonic preferences aside, great music is still great music!

 

Seconded!