The EQ on the 2013 Aladdin Sane is somewhat similar to that of the CSR, you can use that as a basis if you want to judge. Personally, I prefer the Denon, more agressive and raucous than the CSR, though I have only heard Watch that Man for comparison and they're both great.
Both are excellent but I prefer the Denon Aladdin Sane (which is the same as the European version if I remember correctly). It’s a smoother listen. The CSR is a little brittle and ‘hot’ in comparison.
Well you could look through the many blind listening test threads that have been conducted and see that in every case the RCAs where the preferred option.
Those are great, especially because they show how much some of these albums with a very defined character (especially TMWSTW) may be preferred by people in "unfaithful" reproductions/masterings that change that character.
I thought for sure a few of those Bonus Songs were on the S + V Box Set(either the Original with 3 CDs plus the Video or the 4 CD Reissued Box Set). I will recheck out of curiousity by just looking it up on Discogs. If I was wrong than, my bad.
I don't have the RCA Stage either. I have nearly all the other RCA cds both Japan for USA (I think that is the correct term they have a red/pink spine) and the WG ones. I never got Stage and in fact I have never seen one either! One day I will stump up the cash and buy one. I think I am right in saying RCA did not do a cd of David Live. Re Stage I have the DVD-Audio from 2005 I think. Be interested in what others think of it. Re David Live and Stage I get a bit confused because of the remixing and different track lists. Time to needledrop my old 70s albums and remember what was originally released!
I'm pretty sure the RCA WG Stage is the rarest out of all the RCAs. Though the one I'd personally kill for right now would be a WG TMWSTW, which is also one of the toughest to find.
Oh dear! Was there a Japan for USA Stage? I guess not many were purchased at the time and a few will have been destroyed/lost over the years. A decent Bowie Berlin years box would of course followed the pattern of the Station to Station box and put in clones of the RCA cds of Low, Heroes, Stage and Lodger. Unfortunately that will not happen and the dreadful backwards lets go back to an old windup phonograph Mr Vinyl is now the king again. I have informed Mrs Torch that should I be kidnapped by aliens the Bowie RCA cds are not to go into the trash. I have a friend who runs a stall at record fairs so hopefully he will sort them out. Failing that they could be posted to Mr Hoffman who can issue them as prizes at some point!
There's a RCA TMWSTW going on ebay at the moment for about £90 or best offer, I can't quite stretch to that - so far my top limit for RCA Bowie CDs has been about £45-50 which is still a silly amount of money for a CD! I was lucky to pick up both ChangesOne and ChangesTwo for less than £20, and Fame & Fashion for less than £10, and most of the rest were in the £20-40 range. As I say it's just Low, Lodger, TMWSTW and Stage left to track down...
Somehow I snatched (on Discogs of all places) a WG Lodger for only 45€ + shipping, great thanks to the seller, because of some minor marks on the disc, but it works flawlessly and I wasn't planning on selling it anyways. My monetary limit for the RCAs is 65€ shipping included and yeah that's pretty insane I agree, but i would pay that much only for some of the more popular ones (such as Low, Heroes and TMWSTW). As for Stage, I would love to have it mostly for purposes of collecting than anything else, and also cause I love bulky 80s fatboy CDs, but since I'm not a huge fan of the live album itself, I'll probably buy it last or wait to luck out at some flea market.
Over the past two years I've managed to get all of the European RCA Bowie Studio Album CD's (and Stage) except for Aladdin Sane. I have purchased it twice now from discogs and received discs graded as VG+ by reputable sellers that did not rip perfectly in EAC. I suppose it's just bad luck.
It's odd, both my Scary Monsters and Lodger aren't perfect with evident scratches, yet they ripped perfectly. What makes these CDs so "sturdy"?
It's called Deutsche Gründlichkeit, which is the opposite of a Monday morning production or doing things with a French twist. Absolute quality you can rely on.
Certain computer drives are better at recovering the data from scratched CDs. Also, more attention was paid to the production of early CDs (regardless of where they were produced -it was a relatively new technology at the time) than today.
I've bought the Ryko Aladdin Sane today. Sadly, the disc is badly scratched despite the seller rating it "Very Good". The first spin was with skipping in my favorite track (Panic in Detroit), but subsequent spins were fine, so I guess it's still usable. I find the sound great, especially the piano in the title track. The RCA sounded worse (muddier) to me and the 1999 and 2013 remasters are just compressed garbage.
It didn't skip on subsequent spins, so it's not total garbage, but rating it as "Very Good" is a scam since it's acceptable at best. Online sellers these days...
On the plus side, it’s also probably the best of the 2015 remasters - the WG RCA isn’t a huge leap from that, so I’d recommend picking up the 2015 for chump change (I got it for £2 at a Car Boot Sale), then biding your time for a really good offer on the WG RCA. That Lodger was a good find - I paid about that 4-5 years ago, and prices have gone up a lot since then. Enjoy the bass on African Night Flight!
I guess the question is regarding Stage - just the original track list which is the best cd version? As the RCA cd seems to be rare and expensive I shall make do for now with my old vinyl and all the others cds and vinyl of this album I have. Know is not the time to be buying collectable Bowie!
If anyone has a spare WG RCA Low or Lodger for a sensible price let me know - not worried about finding a WG RCA Stage, those are the only two left I don't have now.
I’m relatively new to the Bowie world and have all the recent remasters, I’m guessing by flicking over this thread that the RCA CDs are superior? In what way? Are there any old RCA CDs that are must haves? Any info would be great
