Is it me or the CS 6006 CD of Black Sabbath is the best version ever ?

Sorry, I misread. Yeah, rnranimal's a good friend of mine and his recommendations are always worth checking out. No, Wicked World on the 2016/2017 "The Ultimate Collection" is totally different from Black Box, and I am sure the TUC version is better. I just need some time to compare.

 

Cool, thanks.

 

Can I know the matrix number on your CD?. there area a few variations of this Creative Sounds 6006 CD

 

Indeed, here's an unfinished list:
The Ultimate Black Sabbath Creative Sounds Compact Disc Thread

 

Of course.
INTER SERVICE PRESSE DIGIP 6006

 

Yeah, the '09 Deluxe WW is the cruddy source (sounds like a poorly NR'd needledrop from the 45rpm). But just so anyone reading this doesn't confuse them, the '16 Deluxe has a nice sounding source & mastering for WW. Which is nearly the same as on The Ultimate Collection, but The Ultimate Collection has it a tad less bright and loud which is a plus.

 

Yeah, thanks for clarifying, sometimes I still forget that the 2016 Deluxe Editions contain a Pearce remaster too. I was indeed referring to the 2009.

 

Interesting... I bought the WB Black Sabbath s/t cd in the fall of 1988 (my first cd ever!) and was impressed by the sound overall, though not blown away. When you say it’s a step down from the Creative sounds disc, is that solely based on the hint of compression, or some other reason? While I haven’t listed to the WB cd in some time... I do recall that over the years I’ve come to regard it as being a bit bright when compared to other versions.

 

Thanks for the info! I was wondering about the difference between the black and red label of the CS 6006 until I read your post.

 

It has long been established that the much better source for WW is located in the US, but how do you know the CS is/are unique? Have you compared it to any WB release (e.g. 1987 CD, 2016 CD)?

 

For the first time ever, I finally applied my best/favorite pre-emphasis digital filter (Sox) on the INTER SERVICE PRESSE DIGIP 6006.
This sounds less brutal but still very good, sometimes surprising. This lacks punch/aggression at first, however I have to listen more...
I will feedback.

 

Without PE filter :

Without PE filter : Pure heavy rock aggression at his best.
With PE filter : Great musical experience. Audiophile version.

So, two fantastic versions for the price of one !
Thank to all of you. And Roland, for his idea.

 

Well I can't answer for the first S/T, but I have Paranoid, Master, and a 2CD set of We Sold Our... and they all sound fantastic. VERY crankable and very analog in spite of the obvious "limitations of the source tape". If the S/T sounds like these then I am sure it may be the best CD

 

Which pressing of Paranoid do you have? The 2CD We Sold Our Soul I had years ago which riddled with obvious vinyl surface noise. Do you hear that on yours?

 

Haha...Ritchie probably threw it back.

 

For all the folks out there who prefer the de-emphasized '86 Castle for BS 1:
On the tip provided by rnranimal, I picked up a copy the The Ultimate Collection, a 2 disc set from I believe 2016.

The version of Wicked World on this has a DR 11. It is not compressed. However, the RMS and peak values are much higher than the Castle '86.

So I pulled it into Goldwave and DEcreased the volume by 30 percent, to sync up with the other track peak and RMS values, verified by Foobar.

Then I burned a CDR of the entire album,
Including the new version of WW.

I can say this is the best sounding version of this track I have yet to hear. It blows away my de-emphed version of the SC 6006-2. I can't speak to the 6006, but TUC version is from the master and sounds super clean, without the vocal distortion when Ozzy starts singing I've heard on every other version. I'm sold, WW is one of my favorite tracks on this record, and now I can finally enjoy it.
I hope this becomes the new standard for the '86 Castle.
Kudos to rnranimal!

 

Creative Sounds CDs were licensed from Patrick Meehan (Dorchester Holding) not Warner Brothers.

When the acrimonious split occurred in ‘75 and the court battles were finally over, Meehan was given rights to release the first six albums, some compilations and a live album (which is why the band could not stop Live At Last). What source tapes Meehan had we do not know, but they would not have been US tapes, which were under the control of WB.

 

I did notice some compression and brightness on the 1988 Self titled that doesn't ruin the album for me it's still listenable to my ears and a great alternative to the 6006 or original WB CD pressing

 

The original CS 6006 sounds totally different, even better than the US vinyls and all other US masters CDs, imho.
Or maybe this is a good/flat transfert with/without EQ work.

 

The 1988 WB is the original WB CD pressing, no?

 

Thanks Tim! If the Wicked World tapes that Meehan had were indeed UK tapes, then it seems likely that he took the best WB tape they had; because, IIRC, WW has always sounded very bad on any European release ever since, while CS releases of WW were of significantly higher quality (which in itself is a big surprise) and much closer to WB releases. Anyway, it's been a long time since I compared a CS and a WB copy of WW, so I may be wrong.

 

The 3CDs/5LPs "The Ozzy Osbourne Years" 1991 boxset by CASTLE contains all the songs from the first UK CD.
And without pre-emphasis. So, it sounds identical to their original (pre-emphasis filter applied) CD.
But there is the same cut before the bluesy guitar part on Warning jam (end of the 10'45 sleeping village wrong song length of course).
Fans, with their earphones, full volume, know there is no cut ever in the Warning jam.

 

What was Meehan's beef?

 

The Writ from Sabotage.
Patrick "The Writ" Meehan.