What are these bonus tracks? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=140200600056&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=004
BTW, when you people are talking about the remasters, you mean, those from '96 or some others? I ask because it seems to me I've heard on this forum there were 2 batches of remasters, in '96 for Europe, and an other batch (maybe later?) for the US.
Several people have said how great the remaster of Love over gold is. I have the Vertigo made in France version of this cd which sounds excellent to my ears. Has anyone a-b'd the Vertigo Lover over gold version with the remaster? Any opinions? Mike
Just picked up a Vertigo "blue swirl" copy of DIRE STRAITS (S/T) today and it sounds good to me. I have a NM copy of the original WB album and this disc sounds real close to it. No comparison I can make with the remaster though, as I don't have it.
My guess is that it could be the BBC Album paired with Alchemy as a set. Again, I have the import remaster of Alchemy and the list of tracks is identical to the domestic and european original. I would e-mail the seller and ask what the full bonus track list is. Please post it when you find out.
I actually think that the sound on the original is pretty good. I have the West German Vertigo (which was originally sold in Japan with a Japanese wrap-around obi), and the sound of the drums on Romeo and Juliet is very real and warm.
I also have had the WG version of MAKING MOVIES for some time (red swirl) and agree it's also very, very nice.
That release appears to be from a Russian label CD Maximum ( I did a search on Google using that catalogue number). That label seems to have a lot of Dire Straits discs with bonus material. I better order 'em up.
Aren't those Russian CD's sourced from mp3 files? I would stay a million miles away from any CD out of Russia, China, etc. I once owned one of those Russian CD's, and it sounded bad.
In my opinion, you have the best sounding version. If it's too dynamic and not loud enough, you might want to reach for the remastered version.
CD-Maximum,Agat and other Russian "pseudo-licensed" cd's can be sourced from Internet mp3 masters .Stay away from this releases.
I just ABX-ed the Communique US un-remastered WB mastering with the WG Vertigo mastering using Foobar, and the Vertigo is much better. I usually test the quieter tracks first as any EQ differences are more apparent on them. So I started with Where Do You Think You're Going? The Vertigo sounded slightly more natural. After 3 successful tests, I had a hard time telling a difference and I gave up. I then went to Portobello Belle. This was slightly easier. The US had a clear bass boost, and a little more hiss. I preferred the Vertigo and successfully identified them correctly 4 times after which I decided to stop. On the title track, I couldn't tell a difference - to be honest, I didn't try that hard. The track that showed the most difference was News. The hiss on the WB was distractingly high, and once again the Vertigo had a more natural sound. There is a very weird-sounding bass and treble boost on the US WB CD. The differences were so obvious that I didn't even bother identifying which was which. FWIW, the CDs have completely different waveforms. All files were level matched using Foobar's Replaygain prior to ABX testing. I did these tests using my laptop (ripped WAV files were played back from the hard disk) and a pair of cheap Sony headphones which I probably got with a Walkman a really long time ago. I'm sticking with the Vertigo, and I'd urge everyone to get the Vertigo - they aren't that expensive. I got one in M- condition for ~$12 sometime ago. I'd be interested in hearing if someone has done similar comparisons of the WG/France Vertigo CDs with the original un-remastered US WB CDs. I'm starting to think that the Vertigos may be better. I had previously believed that the Vertigos and the WBs were identical, but I guess not. Go figure.
The '96 UK remasters are identical to the US ones released in 2000. For some reason, Warner didn't licsense the Alchemy remaster for the US. All D.S. compilations are unique masterings AFAIK, though Sultans of Swing sounds fairly similar to the remasters. There was some further discussion of Alchemy here
Well, I wrote my comment "tongue in cheek". Apprently, many people can't deal with the great dynamics, and having to adjust volume all the time (if they don't want to really PLAY IT LOUD), that they seem to prefer the less dynamic (i.e. digitally compressed) versions. Although, I have to say that the Dire Straits remasters aren't brick-walled or such, but they are still less dynamic than the original versions - going by my personal definition (dynamic range = peak level minus average RMS level).
about making Movies, Vertigo pressing (WG/France): There's no better way to describe the sound of this pressing. Even Love over Gold (WG/French Vertigo) which has very clear sound, isn't that warm.
I'm resurrecting an old thread! HooOO! I've been picking up the Dire Straits Vertigo red swirls over the past few weeks, and remembered this thread discussing how Making Movies was the best-sounding of the bunch. I hadn't remembered the dissenting views until I just re-read the thread. I'm glad to re-read them, though, because I just listened to this CD several times over the last couple days and the thing that stood out to me was how much less robust it sounds than the red swirls of S/T and Communique (don't have Love Over Gold yet, although it's on the way). To my ears, and on my not-by-any-means-great equipment, the drums on Making Movies sound less full, the bass is tighter, but not as present in the mix, and the highs aren't as transparent and "liquid". I'm not sure if my terminology is on par with the golden eared forum gurus here, but I'd like to know if I'm on the right track. The material, of course, is excellent on this CD, and the sound quality is by no means fatiguing or poor quality. It's just missing the extra layer of warmth that the other two possess, at least in my opinion. I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts since this hasn't really been talked about in the past couple months - at least in this thread.
Is it the case that the Japan Target is the same mastering as the original US WB Cd's for the whole Dire Straits catalog, or only on the s/t? For Love Over Gold, I've got a W. German orange swirl Vertigo and a Made In Japan target. Different masterings, but I'm wondering if that target matches the regular US WB un-remastered cd.
