DCC Archive Other company's Gold efforts

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Doug Hess Jr., Dec 31, 2001.

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  1. Doug Hess Jr.

    Doug Hess Jr. Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Belpre, Ohio
    We all know about the DCC standard of excellence and the hit and miss of MFSL, but what about the others? Not including the new gold imports of things like Journey's Greatest Hits.
    Based on John Harp's research listed here: http://pages.prodigy.net/amicus1/peach.htm

    MCA, RCA and others did some limited gold releases. I'm currently interested in the MCA ones since I own the Steely Dan, Jimmy Buffett and Prounced Lynyrd Skynyrd (and just missed "Street Survivors" on Ebay for $25). Did Glenn Meadows make them too bright, too dull? Anyone else have these?
     
  2. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialistâ„¢

    Location:
    B.C.
    Dough,
    Street Survivors is much better than the commercial release but not quite as good as Pronounced.

    Some, but definately not all of the Sony Mastersounds are very impressive.ie. Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here is excellent but Bruce Springsteen: Born To Run sucks hugely.

    The RCA's are nothing more than the same recording (exactly) as the commercial cd's only on a gold cd.

    Almost all of the smaller gold attemts by other independant labels are quite good, but alas only two albums rank up there with the DCC & MFSL recordings and they are Patricia Barber: Cafe' Blue HDCD Premonition Records and Janice Ian: Breaking Silence Analogue Productions.

    A very Happy New Year to everyone on the board. :D

    [ December 31, 2001: Message edited by: Dave ]

    [ January 01, 2002: Message edited by: Dave ]
     
  3. Highway Star

    Highway Star New Member

    Location:
    eastern us
    I bought an interesting gold CD box set of Neil Young a few years back which has a special cover and contains his '72 Harvest and '92 Harvest Moon on gold discs. It's called, "Gold" Anniversary Edition, released by Warner Music Australasia in 1994. I can't say how these stack up against the regular CD versions but sound very good to me. Of course these could just be the regular versions on gold discs like Dave mentioned above regarding the gold RCA's. ???

    [ December 31, 2001: Message edited by: Telefunken ]
     
  4. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Yeah, I think Glen Meadows made them too bright, or *something*.

    One curious gold disc I have is "War's Greatest Hits". It was released by Avenue Records and manufactured by Navarre. Almost all of the original War titles were offered as gold discs as they appeared onLP.

    Avenue Records is normally distributed by Rhino Records and the regular War titles were remastered by Bill Inglot.

    I guess someone else out there also doesn't like Mr Inglot's treble-boosting ways, or the way Rhino put together the greatest hits.
     
  5. John Buchanan

    John Buchanan I'm just a headphone kind of fellow. Stax Sigma

    Unless the regular version of "Transformer" by Lou Reed has been revamped, the RCA gold CD is a huge improvement over the standard US.
     
  6. Mal

    Mal Phorum Physicist

    Can I assume that the gold RCA 'Elvis Presley' is no different to its contemporary standard issue? It was on my wish list but I will happily remove it if someone can confirm this.

    As I've mentioned before, I love the MCA gold Steely Dan and Patsy Cline releases (these are the only two I have). I always thought that the MCA boxes for SD and Patsy were the best sounding CD releases until I heard these. Some people complain about them being too bright - maybe my system is a little on the dull side because they sound great to me :). I've not heard the MoFi Steely Dan either by the way. I'm tempted to get them since getting Todd's Something/Anything on MoFi - great sounding CDs (and now I can play 'sounds of the studio' properly :D).

    Ryko AU20 Bowie sounds better than the standard 16-bit 1990 releases but suffer from dodgy EQ (no warmth). I've not heard any other AU20s but they could be good if the EQ problem is not present.


    (Don't forget that all that glitters is not gold - take the DCC Ray Charles aluminium greatest hits 2CD set for example :cool: )

    [ December 31, 2001: Message edited by: Malc S ]
     
  7. Vivaldinization

    Vivaldinization Active Member

    As have been stated, the Zappa Au20s are excellent, but occasionally unnecessary (due to the master-switching).

    Ryko's earlier Zappa gold disc (Hot Rats) is nothing special nor different, though.

    -D
     
  8. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialistâ„¢

    Location:
    B.C.
    As far as Elvis is concerned stick with the DCC recordings as I've heard the RCA isn't that great but still better than the standard commercial releases.

    I've heard that the Bowie Au20's are too bright in their mastering as Gary on the forum own 1 or 2.

    Actually Transformer was apparently the exception to the rule on the RCA gold series but I haven't heard the Roy Orbison album but I think for my money I'd definately stick with the DCC Orbison.

    Malc S. I agree totally with you on the MCA Ultimate Masterdiscs that most of them 99% aren't too bright at all ie. Patsy Cline, BB King, Steely Dan, Neil Diamond, Joe Walsh, Lynyrd Skynyrd: Pronounced are all good but Lynyrd Skynyrd: Street Survivors isn't quite as good as it's predecessor.

    Another company that no one seems to talk about is Zounds Music both gold and aluminum series. They aren't as spectacular as DCC or some MFSL but are totally warm, sometimes a little too much but they have albums that the other companies haven't been able to lay their hands on yet.

    Hope all this helps ya. :D
     
  9. Highway Star

    Highway Star New Member

    Location:
    eastern us
    Well, I forgot I had the Columbia gold Super Session, but after doing a search here at the DCC forum maybe I should have just kept my original silver disc. Any opinions on the differences between the gold vs. silver on this one? According to Steve the SS masters weren't all that great to begin with. Will I need to offer this gold SS plus a handful of cash to get my silver disc back from my brother?
     
  10. pauljones

    pauljones Forum Chef

    Location:
    columbia, sc
    The Jefferson Airplane "Surrealistic Pillow" RCA gold cd is very interesting and sounds very good. This cd includes both the mono and stereo versions of the album. Each version is transferred by a different person. However, poor packaging and no historical information beyond basic credits. I own several versions of Iron Butterfly's "In A Gadda Da Vida"--a bootleg import on "Duchesse", the MFSL gold disc, the Atlantic issue from the late 1980's, and the Rhino "deluxe" version. I cannot tell any difference whatsoever between the MFSL and Rhino versions--the MFSL in fact credits Rhino in its booklet, and the bonus tracks are the same. The Duchesse actually sounds the brightest and crispest--interestingly, it plays side two first then the songs from side one. Not the best recording to begin with; perhaps I was expecting too much from the MFSL. I thought the MFSL "Who Are You" dull and lifeless sounding, compared to my vinyl version. I do recommend the MFSL Beach Boys' twofer, "Surfin' USA / Surfer Girl" which came out in the mid-1980's. From what I can recall reading when it came out, it was made from non-EQ'd safety master tapes.
     
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