As we have no idea what the master tape sounds like, it's hard to judge who took a "hands off" approach. The A&M has less low end than the Castle, but does the Castle have the bass boosted or does the A&M have it cut? The Castles of "My Peopleā¦" and "Prophets" sound really thin as well.. The Cube/Disky of the latter is not much better.
I have all the MOW and all the SMS. The SMS are good, and have correct cover art, but I think its been confirmed that they came from tape copies sent to Japan. I believe the quote about it, from the source, is in a T.Rex thread somewhere here on the forums (maybe this one?). I prefer the MOW. To me, they sound closer to the source. I haven't compared all my MOW to the Teldec discs, yet. I have those, as well. Some prefer the Teldec for some titles. They sound good to me, too, but I haven't made conscious comparisons.
greelywinger apparently had some email communication with John Bramley several years ago who said the Japan SMS series discs were done from the same tapes as the MOW discs, original mix down master tapes.
Wow, I just found John Bramley on Facebook, sent him a message which he immediately responded to. These are exact quotes from personal messenger on Facebook from Mr. Bramley: "Yes all the MOW CD's were taken from original masters" "All the SMS were 1/4 inch mixed down master tapes" " When we mixed down our material for UK rerlease, we made 1/4 inch mix masters for the Japanese as well" My follow up question for Mr. Bramley was this: "Huh, okay. So the original MOW CD's and the 1st Press Japan discs (SMS series CD's) are from the same tapes, yes?" His response is as follows: "Differences in sound quality depended on who did the glass mastering and where the CD's were manufactured" "As far as I can remember yes, they were all certainly master quality, not copied from CD etc"
Glad you found John Bramley on Facebook. I've been fb friends with him for awhile & had been meaning to drop him a line on this subject when when you PM'ed me. All my T. Rex CDs are currently in storage, so I don't have easy access to them. I would like to rip them as FLAC files, but just hadn't gotten around to it. It's been so long since I have done any T. Rex CD comparisons. I Think the MOW vs SMS comparisons were basically a matter of personal preference. I like the sound on both of them, but the MOW issues were far easier to come by. I think the only ones I have for the SMS series are EW, Slider, Futuristic Dragon & Dandy. Darryl
"Mastered by Rob LoVerde at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab on the GAIN 2 System" from the original masters. I'm looking at it right now.
If the SHM-SACD is from the master tapes they must be badly worn. Don't get me wrong, I like the mastering on it but there's better options out there.
So if I'm to understand this, the SMS are a 1/4 inch tape copy of the master that was used to make the MOW releases, is that correct? If so, it would make sense because the SMS have tape hiss and sound rolled off a bit to my ears by comparison to the MOW.
I am not sure. I got to thinking about his response and thought it was not totally clear. I sent him this follow up question but have not heard back yet. I will let you know when I get a response. "Sorry to keep bothering you but folks on my music forum (www.stevehoffman.tv) are convinced that the MOW CD's are from the actual original master tapes but the Japan SMS CD's are from tapes copied from the master. If I understand you responses above, both the MOW and Japan SMS CD's both came from the same actual physical tapes, not one from the original and one copied from the original. Yes? Sorry to be so obsessive about this."
I only have SMS "Slider" but it's bad, they had the audacity to make their own fade outs, not for me, too much futzing going on. MOW all the way. And if you go for the earlier extended versions with the hideous artwork, you're onto a winner.
I have yet to hear any SMS. The MOWs sure are good, but they don't all share the same tonality. Tanx and Dandy sound a lot thinner sounding than the other discs and I prefer the Teldecs for these. Has anyone else compared the masterings of "I love to boogie" on the MOW "Futuristic Dragon" with bonus tracks and "Dandy in the Underworld"? The difference is quite extreme.
Sorry to reply to you post without answering your question but I have a question for you. Have you heard the Teldec for Bolan's Zip Gun? That is the only Teldec that I do not have for the regular T Rex albums. I read somewhere on the forum that the T Rex Teldecs are all fantastic except for that one which was reportedly just awful. I am feeling the itch to complete my Teldec collection but not sure I want to spend much for it if it is not good. Also, you mention being a big fan of the MOW discs. Do you have the early ones with the bonus tracks? If so, do you have the early MOW Slider disc? I have it (bought the only one I have ever personally seen for sale) but I can't rip the darn thing even with burst mode on EAC. It hangs up giving my sync and timing errors. The disc itself plays fine but I typically don't play the actual disc for my more expensive collectible and rare discs. Are you able to rip yours? I rip the collectible discs I have and play the CD-R discs but have not been able to do so with that one. Frustrating.
Sorry, I neither have the Teldec Zip Gun nor the MOW Slider with Bonus tracks. I do have all the other early MOWs and they all ripped fine.
I didn't like the Castles of E.Warrior or T.Slider. I thought they were muddy. I went for the Teichiku's. 1989. I guess they are similar to the Teldecs.
They are thick sounding, but I don't find them muddy. The Teldecs often seem to have a rolled off high end compared with the MOWs. I find the Teldec EW dull sounding.