Ain't that the truth. Although I will keep all of the various versions that I've acquired for collector/archiving purposes, when I really want to listen, my current "cream of the crop" selections for Bowie in the digital realm is a hodgepodge of RCA (WG/Jpn) and Parlo CDs, as well as a couple of vinyl needledrops. The Rykos, though they were my introduction to Bowie and were clearly the most well-thought out campaign, do not have a representative in this pack.
I am late to the party here, but what parlophone CDs are worth getting? I thought the Ziggy CD was the 2012 analogue LP master. Is that incorrect? I plan to tape my NR (not a spindle mark to be seen, the label hole looks virginal!) UK 1E/2E Ziggy as a 2-track 15ips R2R and then use the tape to transfer to digital to make a CD. I plan to play the record once only.
To avoid the Parlo discussion in the RCA thread you'll find all you want to know here: POLL: Best David Bowie Parlophone Reissue
The actual 2012 LP mastering has never appeared in digital for the album. Just a few songs on a rare promo CD. The digital album releases of the 2012 mastering have added compression and are inferior. Major missed opportunity to not have released that non-compressed 2012 mastering as it's quite nice. Would've been a great treat in the Five Years box rather than just the usual compressed 2012 digital mastering.
Bowie RCA CDs are not the holy grail, RCA are a nice to have but definitely not a must have. I have just two RCA, Hunky Dory (WG) and Pin ups (JP/EU), sound good, but not better than Parlos, just different. Probably vinyl enthusiastic like RCA more, but that does not make them better.
...except when they are clearly better than the Parlophones, that is to say for Space Oddity, Aladdin Sane, Young Americans, STS, Low, Heroes, Lodger and Scary Monsters. All IMO of course. I would agree that TMWSTW, HD, PU and DD are nice on the Parlos, but the rest, fuggetaboutit.
The main issue with the Parlo Hunky Dory is the inherent tape damage now present on the master (I presume). "Changes" for example has noticable tape warble on the Parlo. If you overlook those shortcomings, then the Parlo is just fine. I'm not parting with my WG RCA, as it has no audibly tape issues.
Well I didn't notice this concrete issue on Hunky Dory Parlophone, but in general It has a good EQ and punch, I like it, also Ziggy... and even Low that I hated it at the first listen (owning the LP UK first pressing plus Ryko AU20) but then I realized that actually is good, they have been given more bass, I not gonna say is better than other versions but... is much better than you think...Despite compression.
The big problem with Ziggy is that the mix is pretty bad. The drums sound like cardboard and tin cans, the guitars have no bite. I've yet to hear one single release that has good sound on both "Five Years" and "Suffragette City"; if the former isn't muddy, then the latter is shrill, and vice versa. I only listen to CD/digital so there could well be an LP which has each song mastered properly, but this is the kind of album you need to do on a song-by-song basis.
Sadly, my 6E/4E that I bought from Japan just before I scored that 1E/1E is complete and utter JUNK!!!! Scratched to all hell, jumps multiple times on side 1 and Lady Stardust is unlistenable because it has one of those lovely "arc" scratches through 75% of the song and it just skips through the whole song in less than a minute. It gets incredibly distorted at one point too, so that song suffered major damage over the years. Side 1 is a distorted mess, too. Especially the end of Starman and It Ain't Easy! I was so incredibly disappointed.... :'( Nice waste of $120. Maybe I will frame it, all it's good for! Same seller has a 7E/4E which is supposed to be the same but no way in hell I will give those bastards money again. "Ex/Ex" my ****! They are either blind and deaf, or straight up crooks. I take the crooks option! The Jp 1st Ziggy sounds great though. Some slight distortion so possible a touch of groove wear but oh well, will look for a better one. If one exists that is still cheap! The MWSTW Jp 1st is strangley distorted on side 2 but not side 1. No idea about that one. I have another I got cheap with a ripped obi so will have to see how that one is. Hunky Dory has, sadly, issues on Life On Mars? as I read in a Bowie "best pressings" thread. It is a shame, rest sounds fantastic! Too bad they stuck with ONE mastering of all 5 or 6 pressings!! Shame they stuck with the same for them all really. The 6E/4E cut with Victor vinyl would be amazing!
In a word Yes The west German ones are wonderful I picked up changesone , changestwo, fame & fashion and golden years fairly cheaply so that might be a possible way in for you to see if you want to go further As luck would have it fame and fashion is not only cheap and plentiful but also the best sounding of the lot Between those you have a decent sampling of most of his “hits” but sadly no Life On Mars? Or Boys Keep swinging I was pretty content with those 4 compilation albums but got a chance to pick up scary monsters and pin ups cheaply , too good an offer to pass up no Bb
This ones a sod to find !!! Might have to resort to Discogs to get one. I’ve picked up 5 of these RCAs in a few weeks for good prices and have to say I’m really really pleased with them. I’m listening to the WG Station To Station as I’m typing and it’s great. Haven’t heard it sound this good in years ! I’m also loving the WG Young Americans. That’s one of those albums that I know like the back of my hand and listening to the RCA on headphones is a wonderful experience. Beautiful dynamics. It feels as though the sound has room to breathe, if that makes sense. Nothing is cluttered and all the little details in the mix sound great. Very impressed with that one. Not going to bother with TMWSTW as the Parlophone sounds ok. Not going to get Pinups either as I rarely play it. The jury’s still out on Diamond Dogs. If I see it below £35 I’ll probably get it but it’s not top of my list.
Now I saw this cheap the other day but passed it by because I’d read that “Side 2” was a bit of a cock-up because they’d reversed the channels. Wonder now if I should grab it?
Only consider the WG version. It has the best digital source for "Changes" even though the EQ is rather thin. "Space Oddity" is one of two RCA sources with the full ending (alongside the WG GEMA-pressed ChangesOneBowie, and "DJ", despite swapped channels, is useful if you have the Japan for US Lodger. The CD isn't great on its own, but it does have some recommendable features. The Japan for US edition has a cut-off in the fade of "Space Oddity", a chewed-up tape source for "Changes", and the stereo channels on all tracks are about 30% folded in. I spent $8 on my copy and it was too much. I would also advise against buying the Japan for Japan RPCD-104 as IMO it is inferior to the WG, which is not great but merely useful. But that's up to you. Really, I would only consider the WG for "Changes", which you'd still need to re-EQ. If you can find it for less than £12 or so, it might be worth picking up, but I suspect you won't play it very often.
The Japan for Japan? Or Japan for US? The former would be worth picking up if it's less than $50. I've never seen one for less than $100. Sonically, it isn't great. The Japan for US is one to skip.
There were a lot of years where I searched for and compared various masterings. I listened on fairly sophisticated audio systems. I analyzed dynamic range readings. Back in those days I would have firmly committed to my opinion on things like the Bowie RCA CDs (they are worth it in my opinion). These days I am older, know I have some frequency limitations in my hearing and I now have a much simpler yet enjoyable system I listen with. I'm fortunate in that I mostly have all of the older masterings that I want and with new audiophile issues on labels I trust I buy without hesitation. But if you are still out there comparing and wondering then good luck and enjoy the journey.
I'm currently working on a downloadable folder containing "fixes" for all of the RCA CDs (with one exception). This will cover the glitches, like the hacked-off intro to "Young Americans" on the Japan for US CD, as well as the differences in musical content, like the pre-echo on "Future Legend" from Diamond Dogs or the whispered laugh in between "Aladdin Sane" and "Drive-In Saturday". This way, no matter which RCA CD you have, you can get the best possible experience out of it. I'm even going out of my way to provide fixes for discs I would recommend avoiding, like the Japan for US Lodger or the Japanese R32P Station To Station. Whichever disc you have, I've got you covered. (The only one I'm omitting is the Japan for US Fame And Fashion, which has slightly imbalanced EQ on top of narrowed stereo channels; it doesn't seem worth the effort when every single track is available in better quality elsewhere.) As far as the actual files go, I'm approximately halfway done, but there's still a lot of work to do. I'll also need to do a tutorial to demonstrate how to actually use the files, and I'd also like to do a YouTube video that will act as an audio companion to the @karmaman comparison PDF. And the downloadable folder will have a "fix" for nearly every problem or difference detailed there (with a handful of exceptions). I'm currently awaiting delivery of a few discs I need to complete all this. I can't make any promises on when this will all get done, but considering I've wanted to do this for months and yet had made no progress at all as of just last week...
The marketplace (sound quality, aside) says that they are, particularly ones like a WG Lodger, seem to be going for in the region of £80-100. This would make them holy grail items, the sort that if you found for 50p in a charity shop would get the heart rate up!
