Back when this campaign was originally set to go, there were 2 or 3 eBay sellers (from Japan) offering pre-orders of a (Disk Union, I assume) GYBR Box that held all 13 of the SHMs. They were fairly pricey as well. Around $460.00 USD(about $130 of that being the cost of the box/housing alone). Perhaps the same offer will happen again.
Now I ordered 8 of these cd-s. Hope it works out better than last time. I really want them so I keep my fingers crossed
There are some beautiful sounding versions on cd of these titles. Discounting for the sake of argument the two greatest hits packages, what would be essential purchases here (considering audio only, not packaging)? Blue Moves immediately comes to mind. Empty Sky. Perhaps Caribou? The AF exists for ROTW...
I would say the 4 MFSL's and AF Westies sound great. Captain Fantastic on original MCA sounds great. Empty Sky on Polydor sounds decent. That leaves Elton John, Don't Shoot Me, Caribou and Blue Moves as really needing a good digital version. Blue Moves in particular sounds really bad on the 2cd late 90's master and the one disc omits songs and doesn't sound that good either. Of course the recent vinyl reissue program (not including GBYR) sounds amazing...full and smooth for the whole catalog released thus far. My preference would be these new Ludwig remasters as hi-res downloads or at least cd's.
Yes, as far as Elton on CD goes, we’re very lucky as I think there are good pressings of practically every album. I was playing the Rocket CD of Breaking Hearts just last week. It sounds great. No need for a remaster at all, really.
I like the japanese SHM cd s not only for the sound. Most of the time the packaging and replicas of the original albums are gorgeous.
Agree, that is a huge reason why I want them, but if I hear reports of the SQ not being a mega improvement I may pass. There may be another Macca big box later in the year, so got to watch the finances.
fwiw a couple of years back i did a (non-scientific, though i tried to level match sources as much as possible before sitting down to compare them) three way (love affair) experiment of the ROTW DJM LP, DJM Nimbus CD & AF CD and was astonished how diminished the bass seemed on the DJM CD compared to the AF CD & DJM LP.. in terms of the most balanced sound the DJM LP did it for me, everything just gelled. the AF sounded absolutely pristine but had almost too much bass and the DJM Nimbus CD came across as a kinda grungier mid/brighter treble/less bass-y version of the DJM LP.
hands down my favourite version of Blue Moves is the original "Thomas The Tank Engine" UK Rocket LPs. none of the various CDs i've tried sound 'right'. when i put my Rocket/Phonogram reissue LPs (with the bullet train logo on the label) up against the earlier vinyl pressings there was no contest, even though the older LPs were cut much closer to the label with very little runout, over each side the 70's Rocket LPs consistently outperformed the 80's Rocket/Phonogram LPs and both the WG Rocket 1CD and Gus' remastered CDs were trounced by the older LPs on my setup as well.
big time! tbh i didn't bother including Gus' remaster in my ROTW shootout, it's appalling, there's tape stretch/speed fluctuations in the middle of Island Girl and the whole thing sounds like an NR'd badly EQ'd mess, it's disgusting!
I'm pretty content with the sound of my entire Elton collection, but am intrigued by these offerings, esp for Don't Shoot Me and Caribou. Question about the shm-cd format: On a good system, is there any difference in sound between ripped files from the cd, vs. playing the disc itself?
from their blurb over the years Universal's selling point with SHM would appear to be things like reduced jitter upon disc playback (whether this is audible i don't know?) but for me its been attention to detail wrt mastering and packaging that's been the main draw of things like the SHM-SACD's and Platinum SHM-CD's, many of which i've greatly enjoyed.
From my experience there is a slight difference on the sound from a SHM compared to a ”normal”disc. I know this is a very debated issue but I trust ny ears in this matter However it s not mainly the sound that make me-on occasion-spend money on SHM. The packaging and replicas of original artwork mostly are the best one can get. I have all of the Beatles albums in stereo on SHM and the packaging is every bit as amazing as the one found on the Mono box It will be fin to see how this will work on the Elton John albums. Think it could be amazing. Have no doubt these albums will sound great as well.
A good example of the difference between SHM and normal CD is Macca’s Egypt Station. More clear and forward bass on the SHM, definitely different and my go to.
At present, ImportCDs has these SHM CDs available for pre-order @$23.99 ea. ( except for Blue Moves @ $32.99 ). However the release date is 8/16/19. They are also offering a 10% discount code - - - " SAVE10" I tallied all 13 of them up and (with shipping included $20.87 + tax of 6% [I live in Florida] $18.58, and with the discount code of $32.09 off, the grand total comes to $328.23 ($30.00 lower than if I ordered from CDJapan). Not bad!
Just checked on eBay and there are two sellers from Japan offering the Box Set of 13 SHM CDs for $505 w/ free Registered Air shipping. The Disk Union box ( of old 'Yellow Brick' design ) is certainly not what I would have expected.
It’s a little early I suppose, but has anyone had their orders shipped yet? You can pre-order them from a few sites on eBay, but I haven’t seen any proper artwork yet.
Which vendor do you think could get me one of these the quickest? Perfect gift for a friend’s birthday but I don’t have much time...
Are you having these, BTW? For some reason I fancy both GHs, Caribou and Don’t Shoot Me.. Even though I have perfectly good copies of all four! Ones I won’t be getting: Rock Of The Westies - Have the AF Honky - Have the SACD, which I know you don’t like. The stereo mix anyway Captain Fantastic - See above Blue Moves - I never play the CD I have! A Single Man - I’d miss the bonus tracks. Victim Of Love - This must be really limited as I can’t find it listed!