Been fortunate to have collected all of the Ryko non gold Cds and all of the vinyl...kind of an amazing story on the vinyl front
About a month before Bowie's death a SH forum member posted a question asking what folks thought a sealed set of all the non box set vinyl was worth...I private messaged him enquiring if he was interested in selling at the right price...turns out he bought 2 sets in 1990...one to play one to hold onto..we agreed on the price the night before David's death...He was true to his word and we completed the transaction a few days later
The only Bowie (of a lot of Bowie) I own on Ryko is a CD of Changesbowie and an LP box of Sound and Vision. Both are pretty good sounding. The crystal clear vinyl is especially quiet and flat.
Especially if you get it as a gift the Aladdin Sane CSR Japan-for-US is a stunning substitute for the Rykodisc AS, especially since that one doesn’t have any bonus tracks. But in general the Rykodisc cd’s are the ones to go for.
Did the Ryko DIAMOND DOGS vinyl have gatefold? I had beefs w/packaging of those reissues: no gatefold artwork for DD, no lyrics for YA ,and that egregious outright wrong "Holy Holy" on TMWSTW [not an artwork issue]. But I am glad I own them.
The Ryko's have ugly EQ. The RCA's are available as two different masterings from different tapes (something rarely mentioned, including on that Ryko guy's vanity blog) that have occasional tape problems but generally sound excellent at their best. And the EMI remasters are all-around awful Abbey Road noise reduction jobs. The latest remasters are most similar to the RCA's but again have problems in spots. It's a huge mixed bag, but if one is inclined to make their own composite versions, the RCA's and recent remasters are the best source material for that and audiophile quality can be achieved.
I generally am happy with the recent remasters. In the case of Ziggy, I am partial to the SACD surround version. Mixed up channels notwithstanding! I do play the RCA versions from time to time. The RYKO discs have EQ that I don't care for but they do have great extras.
Yes, the Ryko Diamond Dogs LP came in a gatefold. I bought it the week of release in 1990. I also love that Side Two starts with “We Are The Dead” to accommodate the two fantastic bonus tracks.
I bought all the Ryko Bowie LP’s at the time, except for Pin-Ups. They were pretty cool releases with great visuals, bonus tracks and clean heavy vinyl.
In concept but sometimes not in execution. Inferior mono/lo-fi/incomplete sources and incorrect/period inaccurate versions abound, for whatever reason. The recent remasters and deluxe sets have righted most of these wrongs.
Yes, plus introduced some that didn't hurt previous releases. And of course roughly starting with the ANCIANT era box set the added feature of brickwalling to the max plus generous compression on several albums.
This is true. Which brings me to my previous point that Bowie reissues are a mixed bag that one must pick and choose from to be truly satisfied, and blanket preferences cannot be made in any case.
Over 30 years later I don’t think a CD reissue campaign has ever excited me more than the Ryko Bowie releases. I was in college and late to adopt the CD. I think I got my first player Christmas ‘89. Working in a record store I received a modest employee discount and I took full advantage of it for the Ryko reissues. Now I realize they were flawed releases but the packaging, promotion and bonus tracks had me hooked.
Grosso modo I'm perfectly happy with my complete set of WG/JPN 4 EUR RCA CDs. Glad I started collecting them as soon as folks replaced them with brand new Ryko CDs, which I'll also keep for the artwork and bonus tracks of course. Working on completing a second set of RCA's so I'll have a better quality set of discs and artwork to form a better complete set. Wherever I see opportunities I still buy them; just yesterday ordered a WG Young Americans in VG condition for under € 20 including shipping.
I've considered collecting them as well but it's too daunting a task for me. I've settled for filesets. But one day I plan on pulling out that wonderful RCA comparisons document (anybody know the URL?) and making hybrid versions that compile all the best sources.
I love the Ryko vinyl issues, especially the earlier ones with the bonus tracks given their own separate disc. I will say that some of the photo collages could've been more artfully done. The cover art for the Ryko Changesbowie is an abomination, IMHO.
Only one "clear winner" - Station to Station (WG), and just 3 "preferreds" among the studio sets. The rest is a toin coss.
They're a coin toss if you buy them blindly. That doesn't mean only 4 of the RCAs are any good. And that's exactly why that document is helpful.
