I still kick myself that I sold my RCA discs when I "upgraded" to Ryko. In retrospect I feel the Rykos do feel "thin". I mainly play the HiRes versions of the catalog that were most recently issued. Other than that, I am in the camp that until the recent remasters the best versions were generally RCA (though there is variability in those). My favorite Ziggy remains the SACD. I like the multichannel mix in particular.
They've never been much of a sonic upgrade but some still sound pretty good and are still fairly cheap. Worth keeping for bonus tracks mainly, some of which still haven't be re-released.
So, I ran into a problem. I recently upgraded my living room system for Surround Sound. I don't have high-end stuff, not by any means. Still sounds pretty damn great though. That said, I'm having a hell of a time getting the GE working correctly with the AV Amp. Instead of enhancing things, it turns everything into mud. The cheap speakers are a pair of Q-Acoustics 3030i's for the front two, 3020i's for the rears, and a 3090ci for the center. Sounds good - that is until I try to use the GE...... So I can't revisit this exercise until I setup the old stereo again. I think I had concluded that if you pump the Bass up via a GE, the Ryko's sound great. Since you can buy a GE for less than a set of RCA discs cost, I think the answer is clear for people like myself. The bonus tracks are the icing on the cake. As others have found, I'd say it's okay to have one artist where you simply collect what you can get, even if it means duplicates. SO owning the RCA's, the Ryko's, the EMI's - for Bowie it's okay in my book. I don't do this for may other artists (Tull being another I choose to collect).
Regarding the Low bonus tracks, wasn’t one of them released as the Phillip Glass version on the All Saints compilation? * Some Are - reissued on All Saints * All Saints - reissued on All Saints
On both editions of All Saints, “Some Are” is the Philip Glass version from the Low Symphony. The track “All Saints” is the Bowie version, again on both versions of the All Saints compilation. Glass did not release a reworked version of this track.
A metal case that came with a few CDs (Low-Lodger?) and designed to hold all of the Ryko reissued studio albums. I bought the metal case cheap when they broke it up and sold it individually.
Yes it contained Low, "Heroes", Stage and Lodger + some explanatory printed cardboard to fill the empty space the other CDs would fill when inserted. The list of CDs on the cardboard does include David Live and Ziggy Motion Picture as well as the studio albums. I'm assuming they fitted as well.
They did, but I never used mine for its intended purpose. The metal made an awful scratching noise whenever you removed a CD case. Bad design.
A black metal display case sold with (I think) five Bowie Ryko titles and designed to hold the entire series although the deluxe edition of "Ziggy'" was a tight fit.
Yeah, that's it. It wasn't either particularly innovative, nor was it particularly aesthetically pleasing. so, predictably, they didn't sell very many of these.
Thank you for the reply. I DID manage to get one myself on eBay for cheap (empty) I also put round felt feet on the bottom.. It's a nice piece!
The Ryko Man Who Sold the World is my preferred version for the solid bonus tracks and the reduced bass (reduced to an acceptable level).
I agree. The frustrating thing was the EQ curve that shaved off the bass cloud and pushed things a little too much on top, but otherwise the transfers were fine and they almost got all of the right tapes. Except for the alternate mixes on Young Americans (which at least don't include the title track or "Fame"), a few marginal bonus tracks that Bowie may have tinkered with and the unfortunate decision to use the "Fame '90" remix on ChangesBowie (at least it wasn't used on the Au20 gold CD reissue), it looks like they used the best and correct masters on everything else.
The AU20 (I don’t have the standard Ryko) gives Ziggy a beefier sound. Sometimes I want to hear that version, and sometimes I want to hear the Japan RCA ziggy. For comparison, I picked up a cheap AU20 Changes Bowie, and that thing is horrid. I hate the sound, but I kept it as a collectible. FYI. Ziggy AU20 isn’t bad. Standard Ryko is probably similar.
I've noticed that the mix of “Abdulmajid” is different on the Ryko Au20 CD of “Heroes” than to the regular Ryko CD. At least on the downloaded file I have labeled as such. Anyone else notice that? I haven’t heard mention of it before. Nor have I heard any other releases of the track, if any, so I can’t compare.