Hi Barry, EAC peaks can definitively prove masterings are different, but not absolute proof of a match. For example if all peaks are 100% [or the infamous 97.7] then no way to know if the same or just LOUD. Along the same lines EAC peaks can not be used to determine if tracks are the same. One example is the original Reprise "Axis Bold As Love" the track "Castles Made Of Sand", the SRC version [non SR1] has a tick/pop that is was edited out or not present in the early DADC. I'm sure there are other examples, that said for Gabriel's "So" it is a determiner is the same mastering. Since I will never purposely listen to "Big Time" I'd never notice the clipping. "So" is weird album for me I really like half the tracks and loathe the other half. Actually the whole Gabriel catalog is an enigma to me I think 1,3 and half of 5 [So] are great and 2, 4 [Security] and half of 5 are horrid.
Never felt a tip of fatigue and listened to it through my teenage years intensively. But I was young It is sort of muddy (deliberately, I guess) at times but not compressed. Never heard the remaster but DR database says it's DR9 (original DR=12)
Got the V/C of 2, 3 and 4. SACD for So. A Japanese sample CD pressing for the first album, and the regular issues for the later studio albums. The V/C 2CD of Plays Live is excellent.
Apologies if already covered, not just in the intervening years since this was posted first, but that's also a young Tom Robinson. Think the TRB were at the festival that year.
Heh. Indeed. Not least as the SACDs now command a hefty price while you can get great sounding V/Cs or the like for significantly less. No brainer, unless you're a completist.
Just for the mentioning, I do remember an article in Melody Maker decades ago, about a set of Peter Gabriel + Tom Robinson appearances, billed as "Rob & Gab".
He did a couple of tracks with TR: Bully For You and Atmospherics. Not sure if there were more but they're two great songs.
The SACD are expensive* and pedestrian. I also detected [or at least to my ears sounding like it] clipping at times on I and III . I got the original V/C's of I, II and III for $1.99 at local shop a few years back, then made good coin selling off the I and III SACD's. I'm not a big enough fan to have done extensive PG catalog compares but here are my results for the one I did; the III album. III 1) original Virgin Charisma by a small margin 2) original WB - I have both the Japan for US and early DADC. Same mastering, digitally identical and sound exactly the same natch' 3) SACD - Not bad overall even if I do think there was some clipping, but to my ears a pretty big step down from #1 on this list. For the money these command my feeling is if you don't have them save your currency. *=expensive discs will always have proponents. We are all human.
I've read (maybe in this thread as well, but it's too far to remember) that those remasters were "beefed up" in sound, made more aggressive and bassy but despite the better transfer they resulted with less clarity than the original V/C. Do I remember correctly? It's strange considering that those analog masters are not that old and how perfectionist Gabriel usually is, if nothing else in quality control.
Are you listening to the Redbook or DSD layers? I have found the DSD layers to better the CD part, although they must be from the same master. I also have found that these sound better as your equipment improves. YMMV. I seem to be one of the few here that somewhat like the SACDs. BTW, the III remaster has inverted absolute polarity compared with every other version. It sounds better when reversed back.
The Hi-Res downloads only available with the I-IV vinyl reissues from last year seem to actually be quite impressive, and maybe more in line with what people here wanted. I haven't had the time to listen to them all yet.
That could easily explain why I really did not like the SACD of III. Not enough of a fan to revisit....
Curious to know about 1 and 3. Maybe a revisit of the latter is something I should not have ruled out in my last post.
Yes - thanks for that. It sounds a little like my Japan 2lp version. Kinda smiley faced. But that may be due to the huge hall ambience. The wav isn't as smooth as I'd prefer for a song about water, but that may be due to the sampling of your wav, or, more likely, the remastering or the weather. Either way, I do like it.
I thought I read it here but it must have been another thread. It seems the mastering on the SO Jap for US CD is the same, clippings and all, just with tracks individually level shifted.
What two pressings are you comparing? The So Japan for US Geffen and original UK Nimbus are very different sounding pressings. Also, the Japan for US and US for US are very different sounding. I remember when this first came out. A friend of mine had the Japan for US, and somebody asked him to trade for his US for US. Why this guy wanted my friend's Japan for US is beyond me. The US for US is more balanced. The Japan for US is smooth with great detail, but lacks midrange and bass - and I'm saying this having never looked at waveforms. I guess a preference is system dependent, but I've heard them all. The Japan for US is brighter, and not better. The UK Nimbus has the best sound by far.
For Peter Gabriel Plays Live I have a early 2 cd edition DACD the full show that's on the original vinyl. Sounds great. I hate that Highlights single disc edition.