David Bowie - Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) [Box set #5]

For those that have the David Bowie Box Set (2007) and/or the BTWN deluxe edition:

Which set do you like more, the DB Box or BLA?

Which mastering is preferred for the albums?

 

You really do need all three to get everything. I'm only speaking for myself but coverage is my holy grail.

 

BTWN is a polarizing Bowie album. It’s seems that it has more detractors than it does fans. It’s a bit uneven but the highs outnumber the lows. Even though I have BA, I wasn’t about to get rid of my Black Tie SDE.

 

I agree. Unlike the previous 4 box sets where I sold back my ‘99 Remasters. I held onto my DB box set and BTWN special edition. I did replace the titles that appear on both with the BLA versions on my digital music player, and compiled the remaining tracks together as “extras”. Definitely think some quintessential stuff was left off BLA.

I was listening to that mix of tracks from the previous DB box set & BTWN deluxe, that had me curious which masterings were preferred between the 2 sets. I never really did a proper A/B comparison between the proper albums in each set.

 

Aside from a few very minor issues like the glitch in "Outside" the new remasters are pretty definitive. I don't feel any need to seek out the other editions anymore, though of course I still have my original CDs (the lenticular artwork '...hours' is pretty nifty, and you can't beat the original BTWN for dynamics)

 

Half of BTWN is excellent, the other half I don’t care for. I felt a little validated in my viewpoint, when Nigel in the liner notes for the set, politely suggests he didn’t have as much control over some of the stuff that I thought doesn’t work as well, ie the Morrissey cover and the Al B Sure collaboration.

 

For me BTWN is 4/5 album. Have all. Cassette,cd,limited cd/dvd and BA

 

I thought they sounded pretty good on first listen as well. One of the reasons I never really did a comparison.
Actually, I think this set is the best sounding one since Five Years and WCIBN. Wasn’t expecting that to be the case.

 

^ Granted, not a high bar to leap over given how squashed the studio albums in the last two sets were, but yes this one was mastered with a light touch except where they felt things could be improved (in the case of BTWN, specifically, I felt the added compression helped it groove better)

 

I have two copies of Reality: Dualdisc USA and CAN CD/DVD. The CD/DVD features live performances from London Hammersmith Riverside Theatre, September 8th, 2003 and the CD has a bonus track. The dualdisc is really for the surround version of the album and a 30 min film. Have to have both!

 

I think the 2nd CD of the BTWN 10th anniversary set is quite wonderful (and I’m normally NOT all that excited by remixes) — and if I’m being honest, now I listen to that second CD as much or more than disc 1 of that set.

And I also have the 2007 Bowie box (the 10 CD one), and I’m quite happy with it (with no plans to upgrade any of it) — fwiw.

 

It sounds like you passed on the BLA box?

 

I did, much as I might have liked to have had all those bonus tracks all better collected in one spot — but I just couldn’t justify the expense.

 

Me too - Re:Call 5 is the only bit I'm really interested in.

 

I have been on huge Bowie kick.
I wanted to grab this set.
Amazon.ca had it for 107.00 Canadian.
I went to buy it and price doubled to 200.00 !!!
Now down to 156.00
I gotta wait and see if it drops back down to an affordable price.

 

Maybe a typo, but…
BLA = Brilliant LIVE Adventures
(infamously not really a box set, more an opportunity to have a chance of buying an empty box and then at a later date filling it with 6 live albums from 95-99)

….perhaps all too easily confused with the Brilliant Adventures 92-2001 box set.

 

That Definitely was a typo, good catch! Now that one I did sit out.

 

I don’t blame you. I almost didn’t either, as I already had most of the set, aside from Toy and a couple tracks on ReCall. And unlike the previous boxes, I was fairly happy with the versions I already had.
….but when I saw that importcd had it for a reasonable price, I ended up grabbing it as an early Xmas present to myself.

 

For anyone who is looking for either of the 2 recent RSD EPs, Burning Shed (in the UK) now have copies. As i type only the CD version of the Toy EP is sold out. Prices are compare favourably with the what was being charged in shops too.

https://burningshed.com/artists/bowie_artists

 

I just want the music. I'm not a collector. I wish they'd release these digitally.

 

I actually found the BTWN cassette brand new and sealed for $0.99 in the bargain bin in a little music store in Arlington, VA while on a business trip around 2003 or so. It was my first exposure to that album actually.

My Honda minivan at the time had a tape deck too!

 

Cool to see a lot of Outside-era visuals in the new Moonage Daydream trailer:

 

Ziggy on Channel Two boot -just playing it now and how amazingly good is it?!! I wonder who put it together and how come it is so very good?

 

update..the price went down to 122.00 on Amazon.ca so I pulled the trigger.
Arriving tomorrow..

 

Just checked out the detail on discogs. It's mostly just BBC sessions? Are they better quality than officially released stuff then?