The “Portrait of a Star” box set, 1st France pressing has a great version of Heroes in my opinion. I sold my US sterling after getting this, which sounded quite thin and bright in comparison. The song Heroes also has the French lyric section
Has anyone got the US Sterling version? I bought a copy, which sounds great. The only issue is there is a really nasty crackle that hits on each low piano note on "Sense of Doubt" Side 2. It's weird because it's just when the piano note plays. I've had it cleaned with a VPI RCM, which has made no difference. I'm wondering of it's a pressing fault, or just my copy? Many thanks
Prob groove wear. I can send it back. There is some on the low tom hit of V2 Schneider on the last mins of the track too. Shame cos the rest is a really great sounding press.
The low and verb filled frequencies or intense high frequencies are the ones to wear most on worse gear.
I have the UK green label (1980) which sounds pretty good to me, but nothing to compare it with. Should I be looking for an orange label then?
If you like Heroes, then yes. The original U.K. (3E/5E Dave’s RCA or 3E/6E Dave’s RCA) is the best (see shoot-out above).
Thanks @Solace! I just bagged a 3E/5E. Can't wait! I've always the Italian first press (in UK cover) but what I've read on this thread...high hopes for the 3E! Hated the 2017 or whenever remaster. Sounded awful in my Audeze.
My Italian pressing has the Sterling stamp, so this will indeed be interesting! Apart from the recent effort, the It. is the only pressing I've ever known...
I have a tan Italian Sterling too. What's with all the Italian pressings of this album? Just compared Joe the Lion (I like Joe better than following track about dolphins...) on my Italian and US Promo. A murky, dark sounding record to begin with, but thought that the US promo was a little better with improved separation and a little brighter.
RCA used their Italian plant at the time due to the demand for Elvis records following his death that August. I like the Italian pressing, which uses the Sterling mastering which, as you say, is indeed clearer than the U.K.. However, Heroes is a muscular record with swagger (Beauty and The Beast, Secret Life of Arabia) and drunken stagger (Joe The Lion, Blackout), which is where the U.K., I think, excels. Instrumental Side 2’sounds glorious too. For the title song I actually prefer the Sterling mastering for the top end clarity.
If you’ve been following this thread, then you’ll know the two ‘must haves’ for this album are the 1977 UK 3E/5E ‘Dave’s RCA’ 1st and the US ‘Sterling’ pressings. However, I’m delighted to say that there’s a new kid in town, every bit as muscular as the 1st UK with all the clarity of the Sterling: the 1981 Italy ‘Piero’ pressing: David Bowie - "Heroes" Fans of Hunky Dory on vinyl will know that his 1981 mastering of that album is seriously good and this one of Heroes really is excellent as well. It’s almost as if he took a listen to the BILBO remastering sent from London and said, “Naah, I can do better than that.” And he certainly did. It’s got all the qualities that Heroes needs: oodles of thump, lots of muscle and plenty of clarity. Perfect. It’s great to discover these under the radar treasures.
I agree completely. I got my “Portrait of a Star” box in 1985 (the original French pressing from 1982). I was a poor student and it was the much cheaper way to get the three "Berlin" albums than to buy them separately. But, in retrospective, this was a good decision from the sound quality perspective. I just have compared the french box set Heroes to the minty US 1st press "Sterling" version that I bought couple of days ago, ...and I find the french 1982 pressing much better. It is fuller sounding and in the same time more detailed, with better separation of individual instruments. I seems that we are not alone in our opinion: "Some argue that the mixes on these three albums sound better than the originals (others disagree)" From The Stacks: David Bowie, ‘Portrait Of A Star’ These are the versions that I have compared: David Bowie - Portrait Of A Star David Bowie - "Heroes" At the time, the “Portrait of a Star” box set was the cheaper way to get the Berlin trilogy, but now some people are asking crazy prices for it. $365.99 ?!? Really! ?!? https://www.amazon.com/David-Bowie-Portrait-Victor-37700/dp/B00ILW5ILA
Nice to see this old thread (especially the first couple of pages) When this place use to explore things in depth and turn over every stone for the sake of finding the best sound quality
I also recently compared one of those green international label copies of Low (I think with Bilbo matrix etching?), to the copy of Low in this Portrait set. The green label did not compare well at all. And it wasn’t just a loudness factor either, the French box version was present, detailed and accurate sounding and played super clean.
Also before anyone goes paying a crazy price, regarding Heroes on the French "Portrait" box, I do have a few nitpicks. On "Secret Life" I noticed a strange sound occurrence which I could only guess is some kind of tape glitch / damage? The sound suddenly gets murky for a bit in the middle of the song, Ive never heard anything like that, maybe it was something fixed in the second French pressing of this box? Also, the new French vocals on Heroes when they come in , the mix sounds like it was hastily done or something. The instrumental part sounds fine but the new vocals have a strange sound to them, phasey and gritty or something. I'd curious to know if other owners of this version notice the same things. I wanted to mention these because while overall I do think this pressing is fantastic but these couple issues would prevent me from ever being able to call it a "definitive" version. Low and Lodger I remember being defect/anomaly-free.
Interesting comments here. I’d always assumed that the ‘Portrait of a Star’ pressings were just the standard ones of the time. From what you’re saying they may well be different masterings. I’ve just ordered a set to find out....
Awesome let us know what you think! Honestly for me this box was worth it for Low alone, as it’s my favorite of the 3 and I had at one point years ago had both UK and US (sterling) 2nd pressings which didn’t sound all that great to me and had some noise as well. I felt like my search was over for that album after getting the box, which a got a few years ago in the US for $80 and it looked unplayed.
I agree, I just said that SOME people are ASKING crazy prices. On the same Discogs link you'll see that someone is asking $220 for the box. Is he going to get that amount of money, that's the different story. Did you order the first French press? The later pressings of the box are German. Since I always wanted to have all of the Bowie albums with the original covers, I finally got them. Besides US 1st press "Heroes", I also bought UK 1st press "Lodger" and the German "Low" RCA International pressing from 1984. I will compare them to their French "Portrait of a Star" counterparts in the next few days.
Yes, it’s the French 1982 version I’ve ordered. As I say, I always assumed that they were standard pressings of the time, meaning 1981 RCA International, which I’ve never been too impressed with for these titles (apart from Low which is excellent). The 1981 “Heroes”, especially, is very disappointing IMO.
It seems that there is something in it. I just have checked on Discogs, it seems that all of the LPs in the 1982 French "Portrait of a Star" box have 100% unique matrix codes in the runout groove space, that I couldn't find anywhere else, not even in the French pressings of the individual albums: David Bowie - Portrait Of A Star On the other side, the LPs in the later German pressing of the same box set, have the regular matrix codes of the 1984 German RCA international pressings of the individual versions of the Berlin trilogy albums. You can compare the matrix numbers from the 1984 German box: David Bowie - Portrait Of A Star ...with some of the German pressings of individual albums from 1984: David Bowie - "Heroes" / Takeoff - Heroes David Bowie - Low David Bowie - Lodger Some are very similar and some are identical. It is good that you are getting the box pressed in France.
