David Bowie: Five Years 1969-1973 - 2015 12CD or 13 Vinyl Box Set

For those who own it, what would you pay on the secondary market for the lp box if you had missed getting a copy?

 

Same price I paid first time round £159. I wouldn't pay any more, but I would certainly take the £700 it seems to go for on discogs Mint.

 

I’d pay $350 for a mint copy.

 

I just paid $280 US for the last x2 Box sets as spares.I would not pay big money for the first one unless I wear out the one I have.Thats the best part of people buying and keeping sealed....

 

The best thing about it is the nice book and a couple of the discs are good remasters. I wouldn't say there's anything particularly desirable about the box which can't be bought really cheaply as separate items apart from the book.
£700 is just stupid. Think of what real treasures you could buy for that.
The whole Parlophone thing has repeatedly been proven to be probably the worst thing that ever happened to the Bowie catalogue (2nd only to EMI).
I'll give them credit for Cracked Actor and WTTB but that's it.
In fact, I withdraw that credit because those should have been included in the boxes instead of the repeated live album mixes. That and all this regular gold/silver/random clear nonsense shows how little they respect the consumer.

 

Any release that does something as unforgivable as cutting of the S in God's Land leaving it as God Land can't really be counted as anything in my book. A badly mastered album that sounds like dish water can still represent the album in full but that Space Odyssey vinyl teaches new fans wrong lyrics.

 

They shouldn't. Because then long time Bowie connaisseurs would have been forced to buy those boxes in order to get these live releases. The boxes already contain exclusives, to release additional exclusive live discs for RSD is actually a fantastic idea.

 

Yeah - good point, but they could have put them in the boxes in advance and then just generally released them for poor people - maybe in sparkly stardust vinyl on RSD. Parlophone would be good at that. As for the exclusives in the boxes, none are as worthwhile as those two live recordings. The Gouster alt takes and the non album singles are it really.
By the way - the next bricks and mortar coloured vinyl release after Christiane F. should be Diamond Dogs.
What colour should Parlophone make it? Gold and silver is getting boring. I was thinking dog poo brown, but in the 1970s a lot of dog poo was white.



Why don’t dogs poo white stuff anymore?

(Oh! I forgot about Pin Ups.)

 

In the poster's defence, he bought two recent presses at a low price to try them out, and he got two snidey comments from a Bowie expert:

'a bad start! seriously, if you're satisified with those duds then just buy the current issues and save yourself the search for superior, earlier options.'

'wouldn't give you $1 for it. as i say, if that album works for you then you needn't spend big to get what you want.'

Basically saying - 'you're an idiot'. I think he had a right to go on the defensive. I know it's intended in the best spirit, but Bowie pressings and masterings discussion tends to drift towards quasi-religious fanaticism bordering on intolerance at times.

Just my ten-pence worth. No offence intended, but first time I look at a Bowie thread in months and it's business as usual.

 

really resent the industry at this point in terms of how they treat these catalogs...including the masters in some cases such as this.

seems like most houses couldn't handle a flat transfer if their lives depended on it.

but what is their motivation in creating a definitive edition of any given title if that means less sales in the future?

 

I missed out on the Lp set and there’s no way I’m paying the prices now. I’d love to find a copy but it looks like it’s just in the cards.

 

It works both ways. The smiley-faced “be happy” brigade with their excuses and dismissals of problematic or even blatantly faulty remasters are also at times drifting towards what you describe as “quasi-religious fanaticism bordering on intolerance”. And are no better, no worse!

As a musician friend of mine said in the early 90s as Britpop was bubbling around us, with its often “all together now, everything’s alright” etc vibe:

“No it isn’t. F=£k off.”

 

What in the world is going on with this thread? It's getting to a point where any discussion on Bowie is impossible on this site due to a clique of people who want to crap in every thread (yeah, go on, if it makes your day, write 'kettle-black', sooo original).

The hyperbolic, over-the-top, criticism of the recent releases is laughable, and anything but useful. The way they're being described you'd expect to put the needle in the groove and to simply hear white noise. There is no range of opinions allowed, it seems.

In the end, it's gotten to a point where there's an active campaign against the Parlophone releases, which does the site no credit. Not to mention, anyone who says, "hold on, they're not that bad", are cast as the bad guys.

The only light on the horizon is that those filled with hate ought not buy the next box (if they have any sense), and it can be left to those with more a more measured approach to critique them. Hell, some opinions given, yah or nay, might actually be useful to others. As it is, they're certainly not, they just create confusion. Worse - they've created grudges that manifest on the board. You couldn't make it up on a board of fellow music lovers, and Bowie fans - it's not like these albums will never see another release, or that the RCA crowd - holding on to them like grim death - can't spin their favored version.............

The new versions, for the most part, are okay. some are even great. There are definitely some issues along the way. It's probably not surprising, given the amount of material being reissued. You can certainly enjoy listening to Bowie with the latest versions, and the boxes have brought together different versions which have been fun to hear (Stage, David Live, Lodger, etc.) If you start out with the mindset that they ought to sound like the RCA's, then I'm not sure why you're bothering, just get the RCA's and have done with it. For the rest of us - well, I can't say I'm exactly looking forward to the next box given the period it covers - bring on the next one and we'll see. At the moment these new releases are the ones I spin, and I'm happy. I'm pretty sure others could be happy to. The Five Years box in particular, was excellent.

And no, I'm not going to bother coming back into the thread to read the usual put downs.

In the mean time.

 

It's the difference between the people who know how his catalogue sounds, and the people who know how his catalogue sounds.

The former (like me) are familiar with the songs, and the albums, but perhaps don't have a strong opinion on whether the RCAs are better than the Rykos or the 70s vinyl beats out the 00s reissues (are those things right? I literally am just parrotting what I've seen before), but the latter do, and that makes it a highly personal preference. And when it gets personal, it gets heated.

 

I can't even claim a typo there I have had 2001: A Space Odyssey on the brain after seeing the new Nolan print.

 

People who would not buy, let alone listen to, Suburbia, Outside and Reality in 2015 now act like David's name should be Saint Genius.

 

Outside (no pun intended) of this forum I found some of the sudden love for him quite crazy. Not that I mean I would wish him not to grow into new homes and collections but as a fan I found it weird. I especially hated the profiting from things like the white Blackstar which I ordered 4 minutes after the announcement to only be told "we ran out". It all left me wanting to look away for some time.

 

Personally I'm just checking these Bowie threads for news on the next box set (if there is one-all the RCA releases are now cared for). We should be getting an announcement some time soon I'd think.

 

zip

wouldn't buy the box under any circumstances
now an expensive relict - laughable
now if they pulled a Beatles mono quality release - another story

the box versus
inexpensive open sounding analog masters from the 70s can be had for a lot less
they have a warmth and natural eq

Paying $$ for a pristine first UK pressings on a few essentials is much better spent if you have a very good audio system

I'm not a particularly fond Ziggy lover in the realm of David's catalog but it is a WHOLE different vibrant album on a UK first press

$350 should easily buy you - Hunky Dory, Ziggy, Aladdin

sometimes a bit less

a little digging, but they can be found

 

I have ALL Bowie catalog in 10-15 different version, lp’s,CD,Sacd AND etc.

I bought ALL 3 box, AND I’ll buy another box, and box after,!

I HAVE RCA CD’s.

AND this box sets, especially lp’s box set is must have. I bought Lp box and cd box all 3 box

And it’s much better buy this box sets,instead buy old original. All box are 4/5, and for people who hadn’t all Bowie catalog in 10 different ways ,this box sets are 5/5!!!!!!

 

I agree with you - but it reminds me of the sudden popularity he received in 1983. He became popular in the establishment, then he had to deliberately force a drop back out out of the establishment. Unfortunately, post-mortem he can't now do anything to drop out - he has become a John Lennon, Frank Sinatra or Elvis figure. Parlophone are aware of this - so they maximise the "artificial limited edition" factor. The same thing happened to Elvis, but in the 21st Century it is to the max.

Everyone should be free to express their thoughts - even if they are critical of the recent Parlophones. Don't stifle opinion by labelling views that are not your own as 'crap' or a clique.
If everyone had the same views there would be no point in discussion!

 

the cd boxes are nice although real ryko + rarities would have been a minimum requirement
RCA are better - have some

LPS - judging from ChangesBowie - not a chance


some of us are not being ultra negative
just stressing if you have the ears/system/desire and willing to hunt them down
you would be better served with originals

rather see you get the best stuff
fill in with the new on the edges

a few first edition UK pressings sound worlds above the latest offering

so why pay $350 for that when you can have better sound

I guess the three versions of the same studio or live album is a dealer maker
or the fancy book

You can nicely get that with the cd box and a pair of reading glasses

 

The last grab at milking the 1999 remasters actually happened as late as 2014, when the whole lot were reissued (again) in Japan (IIRC on SHM CD). In some boardroom, somewhere, it was believed to be a good idea to keep flogging that vintage line of product, just on shinier, purer discs. Whatever you think of the 1999's sonically, it's pretty easy to see this umpteenth reissue devaluing that product line and those years even further. And that's not what labels are supposed to do for the money they get from the privilege.

So the boxes, the vinyl re-releases, the hi-res versions, the Re:Calls, etc. added value to a catalogue headed (at the time... 2015) to the bargain bins.

One hopes that what Parlophone did covered expenses and emerged in the black.

No paying customer had a gun to his or her head forcing them to play along.

As for "He's hot, he's sexy, he's dead..."

It seems that David Bowie Inc was down to a mom and pop operation at the end. So, small world. They certainly all knew they were sending "David Bowie Is..." around the world. They certainly knew "nostalgic" RCA-years boxes were coming out. They certainly knew there was a jukebox musical being put on in NYC. The man had brushes with death already. He certainly had to be thinking about getting the estate and the publishing and the masters to pay dividends once he came off the road for good.

 

But then.. this is how DB operated for years on all the ISO/Columbia releases. Special editions, EPs, mini-box for "Next Day"; vinyl "Sue" (actually, IIRC, vinyl "Sue" was Parlophone. Wonder how THAT happened...?)

It's how EMI (presumably with DB's blessing) "limited" several special editions of 70s titles - the 70s live albums on DVD, "Young Americans", "Black Tie"; the BBC set with the bonus disc from 2000; the StS box; the anniversary editions of Ziggy, Aladdin Sane, and Diamond Dogs, etc. More compilations than one can count.

This was, like it or not, how he ran his business in his lifetime.

 

He sold his rights in 90is and he did nothing