Bowie Ryko Gold Discs, Etc.

While CD browsing this weekend, I saw one my haunts had the following Bowie items of possible interest:

1) Limited Edition box set of the 8 Ryko 24K Gold Bowie discs. It's #47 in the individually numbered series. The discs are sealed, except for Ziggy Stardust and Hunky Dory, both of which have their J-cards intact.

2) Original wooden box set of Bowie's Sound + Vision box set. It's #124/350 and includes a certificate of authenticity signed by Mr. Bowie himself.

I have no idea what the guy would sell them for, but I thought someone here might be interested. I'm definitely not in that market these days!

 

Hi, I'm interested at least in the 8 CD box set!

Joachim

 

That makes 2 of us.

Please let us know.

 

Count me in for the 24K box too, if you're doing a drawing or something! Thanks

 

Please let us know the damage of the Bowie gold disc set first.

Thanks

 

Woo hoo. I'd love to buy it too, put my name in the hat

 

Guys,

I'll let you know as soon as I hear back from him with a price. I have no clue what he'll ask for it.

Jay

 

Same here (although, if worst comes to worst, I'm only *really* interested in Ziggy and Dory, and I'll settle for the latter)

-D

 

Thanks, David. My understanding is that he doesn't want to break up the matched set, but who knows?

 

I also added some information he sent me regarding the Sound + Vision box set. Still no prices though! Sorry for the suspense everyone.

 

Just for my 2 cents - if y'all are looking to split up the 24K box, I'm only looking for Low, Station to Station & Heroes (in that order). I have all the others I want. By the way, I like the 24k Rykos a lot. Ziggy on Ryko 24K sounds very much the same on MFSL vinyl (haven't A/B them), but I do recall one nasty dropout on the MFSL that isn't on the Ryko. Either they somehow digitally repaired it or (gasp) used a higher generation tape?? Don't know, but it sure sounds great.

 

I have every one of the Ryko Bowie's (except for Space Oddity) on aluminum
and the one Ryko gold cd Ziggy Stardust and were it not for the bonus tracks,
I would trade every bloody one of them for the Virgin versions.
Less obtrusive eq if nothing else.

My 80's picture lp's sound better than these disks.

Everything Toby Mountain did for Ryko, despite his best intentions,
sounded like the percussion tracks had been exchanged for
plastic pickle buckets.

Ryko singlehandedly as a label swore me off cd's for 5 years.

 

I've got to say that I agree with Thom. I never liked the Ryko Bowie CDs much. The packaging of Ziggy when it came with the slip case and the booklet (Rykodisc RCD 90134) is excellent, but the sound..... grainy, tinny etc. Although Peter Mew pushes the equalisation and NoNoise way too much, I like the Virgin versions more than the Ryko. Although I have long got rid of the MoFi vinyl version, it never sounded much like the Ryko, I remember. However, MoFis Aqualung vinyl doesn't sound like any other version either.
Each to his own - we're not playing for sheep stations here....
As an addendum to NoNoise, the Rhino "Made in Japan" by Deep Purple even loses string rattles on the bass during Child in Time that are quite obvious in the DCC. Guess who remastered the Rhino.....

 

Didn't someone post a bit of news awhile back, reporting that Bowie had ended his association with Virgin?

If that's the case, maybe someone else can license out his catalog and remaster it yet again.

 

Yes, stay away from those Ryko Bowie Toby Mountain CD's. They're a sonic disaster. The current Virgin re-issues sound much better.

 

I have similar experience with Ryko Bowie clear vinyl LPs. They suck! The EMI Millennium Honky Dory sounds much much better. They must have used different generations of master tapes.

 

That's just sad, man. The RCA's don't use the original tapes, but the Rykos and Virgins do, and they BOTH aren't so great. Different sounds that are good in different ways. I'm not a big fan of the Virgins, with the NoNoise and big smiling EQ; the Ryko's are a bit easier on my ears, but have a grainy, digital quality to them (and no bass warmth on many of his early, glam-rock recordings).

 

Wow! I guess there's a lot of bad blood for those Rykos here. My problem is that I have nothing to compare them to, and I heard about the abyssmal Virgin releases. On their own, I can't say they sound that bad, but you can tell there have been some serious liberties taken with EQ . I must reiterate my comment above though - the MFSL Ziggy is no prize, and I still think it sounds a lot like the Ryko. But then again, I'm remembering back to when I played them 2 years ago within a week of eachother (not reliable, methinks??!).

Are the RCAs worth picking up, or is there hope yet for a better transfer?

 

My personal feelings...the Ryko/EMIs are a bit bright, but fine. The Au20's sound good, but I don't have any Au20s *with* Rykos to compare changes in quality.

The current Virgin crop sound *odd*, but not bad...they're kinda squashed, in a very Prism-shaping-after-NR way. Fascinating sound, and I don't mind it, but...

(OOPS is screwed up with that process, though)

-D

 

Now, just to clarify.... some of you are talking about Ryko Bowie CDs mastered by Toby Mountain - are these the standard silver Ryko CDs?. Weren't the Ryko gold AU20 editions done by someone else?

I don't know the story with the Ryko Bowies, because I don't own any of them. But I've got the two Zappa gold CDs, and they state they were mastered by Spencer Chrislu. They are noticeably different in sound from the regular silver CDs (and not just because of different mixes used). I don't recall seeing any credit given to remastering engineer on any of the standard silver CD reissues of the Zappa Catalog.

While we're at it - the Zappa catalog could do with a fresh remastering. The current crop are a bit lacklustre, I think.

 

Both the Au20 Bowie discs I have (Hunky Dory & ...Ziggy...) were mastered by "Dr. Toby Mountain". He also mastered the aluminium Ryko discs. I assume he was responsible for mastering all the Ryko Bowie CDs, aluminium and gold.


For anyone who's interested, here's what it says inside an Au20 Bowie disc (in this case Hunky Dory):

"Au20 is a select series of "sonic bests" from the Rykodisc and Hannibal catalogues.

The Au20 trademark ditinguishes audiophile editions of 20-bit digital masters, "noise shaped" from 20-bit to 16-bit, and replicated on 24k gold CDs. To insure the most accurate reproduction of the music, all analog to 20-bit digital conversion in the Au20 series is from the original analog master tapes.


Technical Notes
Mastering

This 24k Gold CD was mastered from the original 15ips stereo master tapes. A specially calibrated Sony APR-3000 analog 2-track machine was used for the transfer. Equalization was done in the analog domain using a Troisi Series 200 Equalizer. All equalization was patterned after the original EQ used for the earlier 16-bit Rykodisc release. No limiting or compression whatsoever was used in the audio chain.

The analog to digital conversion was done by a Troisi Digital Companion TM 20 bit A/D Converter. The 20 bit digital audio was then stored on a Macintosh computer hard disk and subsequently edited using the Sonic System TM.

Once the program was completed and in final form, the 20 bit audio was transferred through a Sony Super Bit Mapping TM filter which "noise shaped" the program to 16 bits, while maintaining the optimum signal to noise ratio of the 20 bit audio. This 16 bit "noise shaped" PCM master was then used at the compact disc facility for replication of the 24k gold discs.

Dr. Toby Mountain/Northeastern Digital Recording, Inc. ".



It's a real shame that Ryko used the same EQ profile on the Au20 releases as they had on their earlier 16-bit releases. This is one of my main problems with the Ryko's - their lack of warmth.

Also, what do they mean by "edited using the Sonic System TM"? Sounds like it is probably a bad move....

My overall impression of the Au20 discs is that, while they are a vast improvement over the standard 16 bit Ryko discs, they still have their drawbacks.

As for the Virgin CDs - I heard "Hunky Dory" and could not believe how much Digital NR had been used. The Mewtilator really f****d this one up .

I still say go with the RCA original CDs. Warm, rich sound and thoroughly enjoyable despite their foibles.

 

Thanks Malc. - that clarifies it for me. I did own the Ryko version of "Scary Monsters" some years ago, and remember finding it a pain to listen to - Some of Bowie's music is "noisy" anyway, in terms of tone and instrumentation, and a harsh CD transfer can make it pretty tough going.

I guess it would be next to impossible to find those early RCA CDs now....