An update? Sure. I actually obtained all the archive CDs and am enjoying them very much. Especially Venus And Mars and Wings At The Speed If Sound. Ram Vinyl is awesome. Thanks.
Stick with UK originals all the way for both LP's and CD's. The DCC's are not worth the extra money over a 1st UK CD. In fact I prefer the 1st UK CD for BOTR. I find the DCC a bit too "full on", great though it is. The archive releases are not bad at all but in no way SQ wise can they be considered to equal the 1st presses.
The Archive stuff isn't so bad. I prefer them for the bonus tracks alone. Only Macca CDs that really need to be avoided, IMHO, are the 1993 remaster. They are NRd to death.
I am going to teach you a trick that will make you smile. Example: Give my Regards to Broad Street. Original UK LP - sounds about right, CD is superior, however, the original CD will be too much bright. Original 1986-1991 CDs - very bright, little bass. Remaster 1993 - bass pushed to about +3.5dB and treble reduced to around -3dB. This version the bass is exaggerated. Do not get anything else than the Original Capitol or UK CD. Just extract the entire CD to WAV and use sox application: Code: sox -V cdimage.wav cdimage-tweaked.wav treble -3 bass +3 This process will include dithering. Which is not a problem. Since source is 16-bit, do it. Listen to your tweak. It is now VERY SIMILAR to the 1993 remaster. Now why pay a thousand dollars for the 1993 issue? You will find yourself amazed that "remastering" an album can be a pocket cash that can be perpetrated for a century. Not only your tweak got the closer to the vinyl but the original remastering where the mids are concerned, are just better than 1993. If you definitely want something even closer to the vinyl, just adjust bass to +1 and keep the treble -3. And you can send me money through PayPal for saving you from being ripped and getting the BEST version of this. Probably the same thing can be done with all 1980 CDs of Paul McCartney!!!
The CD original. The one that is bright. You can get that one - because it is cheaper. Get it and make the tweaks with sox. All the McCartney's 1993 series are very expensive wherever you find it - that's my observation. A thousand dollars was an hyperbole - I meant that they are much much over-rated in price than any other CD. This was aligned with the sense that "remastering", you can do it yourself, if you're not that satisfied with original because all they do is just a tweak and repress the thing so people can spend millions of cash and keep rebuying records over and over.
Not here. The original 80's CD's are much more sought after. Most know the 1993 versions have NR applied.
I see. Well, maybe because the originals made in the 80 just few are in good conditions or Near Mint. But their mastering is very crap compared to vinyl and the 1993 versions. It is almost like having the pre-emphasis on these CDs.
I think most members here would prefer the 80's CD's over the 1993 collection issues. It's not that close.
What? The 1993 remasters are reviled here mostly, and this one in particular is ~$13 on Discogs. The Columbia CD from 84 is 15. The Capitol reissue of it is 7. Strangely I was unable to find that $1000 version. Buy the one that sounds best. Leave mastering to professionals.
I don't know if it is the same mastering as others mentioned in this thread, but I have the Japan Black Triangle CDs of Ram, Band on the Run and Red Rose Speedway, Tug of War and Wings Greatest and they all sound sound great. In fact I prefer them to the DCC releases of specific titles and only a marginally prefer the unlimited HD Tracks version of Band on the Run. Wings Greatest is perhaps the weakest one of this lot with noticeable hiss on some tracks, but still a great all rounder, sonic wise.
For most people it's just not possible to obtain the no expense spared best version of every single album by every single artist they're interested in. We have to pick and choose on where to spend the big money and where to accept 'decent' recordings. Sure we need to avoid brickwalling at all costs but noise reduction has to be accepted sometimes. I would much rather have a perfect condition 1993 remaster than an earlier, scratched disc where the booklet stinks of damp due to being stored in someone's loft. I'm going right off buying used OOP discs because they cost a ton, are usually scratched and the booklet is often worn/stinky. Plus hunting down minter OOP discs is a PITA. I've got McCartney, RAM, Venus, Speed Of Sound and McCartney 2 on the 2-disc Archive Collection discs, the 1987 EMI/Fame Red Rose Speedway and the 'dreaded' 1993 remaster of London Town. My BOTR is the 25th Anniv. edition. I still need to get Wild Life and Egg but I'm in no rush because I'm not a huge fan of them anyway. As for more modern McCartney I have Tug, Memory, Flaming Pie and Chaos all on the original discs. Wingspan and All The Best too. People say that the '93 remasters are pants but until/unless Capitol release an Archive edition I'm pretty much stuck with it...
At HDtracks I bought "Days of Future Past - Delux 2017". My first HD tune purchase. I have always thought original tracks were better than re-issues or remastered versions. On the collection, I got to compare 1967, 2006 & 2017 versions. I've spent some time listening. Whatever they did in the 2006 remastering, made it the best in my opinion. So much for me thinking an original track is always best.
??? on the contrary , the CDs of th 80 are sounding wonderful comparing to the 93's version , which have noise reduction. are you sure to own a high fidelity system ?
I recommand The DCC albums But You are not buying Them. I like The new remasters ! R.A.M. Is Very good new remaster Tug of war new remaster Flowers in The dirt new remaster Most of The time I am not in favour of remasters But The Mccartney ones are good
(I'm talking CD here): Doesn't "Wingspan" has some (as in too much) NR on it? I thought the U.S. "All the Best" supposedly has significantly better sound (though obviously less tracks covering a shorter period of time). There's also a UK "All the Best" LP (UK PARLOPHONE / EMI # PMTV 1) released November 1987 that, despite asking about it in the past, I've never gotten a response as to opinions of its SQ, in addition to if anyone knows if it was mastered from Analog or Digital
Just found out that the first UK pressings have pre-emphasis flag. I knew it! EMI Swindon Matrix has FLAGS PRE upon EAC detection (CDP 7 460 43 2). The Japanese counterpart (same catalog number) and also produced for UK, has a different master but the brightness of pre-emphasis was kept. The "FLAGS PRE" was removed from the CD/TOC information.
I've heard good things about "Wings Greatest" (Capitol CDP 7 46056 2). I picked up a "Made in USA" pressing of this compilation today - does anyone know if the Japan for US mastering is different that the US for US? Hopefully it's all the same mastering. The Japan pressing is highly praised, from what I gather.
Is it true the 1993 release of Ram has better dynamic range and is a quieter mastering than the original Emi/Capitol cd's? So what are the best overall pressings for Wings/McCartney cd's up to Back to the Egg?
For Ram the DCC is definitely the best mastering. The original CD doesn’t sound too great and the 1993 has too much NR.
