Roland's favorite CD versions of Black Sabbath albums

CLACD 19x or CLACD 20x = without live bonus tracks
NELCD 60xx = with live bonus tracks

Otherwise (for the main album) the same mastering.

No, same mastering on UK, France and Japan Castle CD's. There could be some minor differences due to pressing quality.

The US WB CD doesn't have the tape problem.

 

I finally received my Heaven and Hell 1st Japanese pressing. Unfortunately, it is very scratched :/ I was able to extract only the first 4 tracks with EAC in about 1h of constant reading and with tons of error correcting.
I haven't done a comparisons to my 2nd pressing. I guess I will need to give this CD for rebuffing... If somebody wants, I can post samples of any 1-4 track of both the 1st (32PD) and the 2nd (23PD) JPN pressings of Heaven and Hell.

I also received today Paranoid + Black Sabbath 1st pressing Japanese twofer. On first listen, I joint progmog's (IIRC) opinion, that the 2nd pressing of Paranoid is better. If I had to describe both the 1st and 2nd JPN pressings of this album, I'd say the 1st one is more relaxed, muffled and bassy. The 2nd one is more treble-heavy, more detailed and sounds more exciting to me. Just my opinion..

 

IIRC Owais did say there is a slight difference between the Heaven & Hell first and second pressings. I would love to get my hands on the first pressing to do a personal "shoot-out" with the 23PD.

 

One thing I can tell for sure is that the 32PD (1st pressing) is louder. I am too lazy to go through switching CDs or comparing files right now..

 

I would love to hear some short samples from both versions. Children of the Sea would work well with the acoustic intro and then the drums/guitar.

No rush.

 

Children Of The Sea (23PD) - first 30 seconds (.WAV)

Children Of The Sea (32PD) - first 30 seconds (.WAV)

Only first 30 seconds, so no drums. Otherwise the files were getting too big. I can also provide compressed .m4a

 

Thanks for the samples. I downloaded them, but they are a little too short to avaluate (for me). All I can say is that neither of those is the same as the WG Vertigo I have. I would appreciate if you could upload some .m4a samples which include the drums.

Thanks.

Roland

 

The 23PD beats the WG Vertigo, Roland. Sounds less EQd and more natural. I will listen to these samples later and see how the 32PD compares.

 

Guys, the 2nd pressing of Paranoid is the same as the Warner disc. You guys must have amazingly forgiving systems. The top end boost on that thing makes Ward's cymbals fry my ears.

The 32PD and the original Castle work for me. Have you guys really given the 23PD some volume? Oh, and careful of that sudden and massive volume increase in War Pigs (same as the WB disc).

 

Maybe I gotta try it on different equipment.

Meanwhile, here's some more samples of Heaven and Hell in 400kbps:

http://rapidshare.com/files/41247264/Children_Of_The_Sea__23PD_.m4a.html

http://rapidshare.com/files/41247266/Children_Of_The_Sea__32PD_.m4a.html

http://rapidshare.com/files/41247268/Neon_Knights__23PD_.m4a.html

http://rapidshare.com/files/41247269/Neon_Knights__32PD_.m4a.html

 

Any thoughts?

 

Well, I downloaded the samples you posted. Thanks a lot.

The 32PD and the 23PD have a similar tonality overall. The 32PD is louder and maybe also very slightly compressed/clipped. Not sure why they did that back in the days.

Either one sounds pretty good and better than any other versions I have heard. For a final assessment, I would have to listen to the actual CD's.

 

Just curious, has anyone had problems with CD rot on any of the early Castle CDs?

I just came across two early Castles: Vol.4 & MoR. They both sound excellent, but the bad news is that Vol.4 (Japan) does not play without getting stuck on errors beyond the third track. EAC wont even look at this disc, and yet it has barely any signs of use.

When I saw that the MoR UK disc was a little scratched I got nervous, but it plays and copies perfectly, and sounds great. It's a shame though, because Vol.4 is probably the best I've ever heard it, and I can't listen to the rest of it.

 

So far, I haven't had a problem with the early Castles, knock on wood....

Are you sure there is nothing you can see under a 60 W bulb light at close inspection? Sometimes the plastic is not 100% smooth and that can cause problems.

Maybe you just need to get another copy.

 

After reading this again, and having just heard the 33PD twofer, I was wondering if the 33PD (excluding "Evil Woman" and the whole of Paranoid) would sound closer to the earlier Castle or the Creative Sounds disc if it had PE flags? The S/T section is noticably brighter and edgier than Paranoid or EW, to my ears.

Anyway, this is curious speculation on my part...just wondering what you thought about it.

Thank you for the recommendations, BTW.

 

The S/T albums sounds brighter than Paranoid (and Evil Woman). That's how it's supposed to be (how it was recorded), and that is also the case on the Castle CD's. There is not that much difference between the 33PD and the early Castle for the S/T album, as far as brightness goes.

The 33PD does not have any PE and it does not need PE flags set to compensate for anything.

 

Does your copy of Master of Reality CLACD 198 have the indexing wrong? Embryo is 5:00 and Children of the Grave is 0:43! That's the way it's also printed on the tray

 

Yes, that is the case. Also on the NELCD copy. And also on the Creative Sounds CD (the one which is missing the PE flag and thus sounds too bright). That was actually one of the leading keys for me to find out that the Creative Sounds CD was actually the same as the Castle CD, once you burn it again to CD-R with the PE flag set manually.

Since I usually play the album all the way through, it doesn't bother me too much.

 

There seem to be 2 different pressings of the CLACD albums. Today I got a 'Mastered by Mayking' Master of Reality. The CD face is almost identical to my other pressing - 'CLACD 198 MPO 01 @', which says 'Made in France'.
The 'Mayking' CD gives no clue on its origin.

Are these identical?

 

Well, can you tell us if they sound the same? Do they have the same total time? Do both have PE? Do both have the indexing of Children of the Grave/Embryo messed up?

How about EAC levels?

 

Both CLACD are the same - PE, same indexing on Children of the Grave/Embryo, almost the same playing time and the same waveform. Can't realy do any sound comparisons right now as I am not at home.

By the way, I also got a Vol.4 CLC 5038, made in Germany in 1991. Can't comment on the sound, as it is the only early version I've heard. No PE, time in EAC is 00:42:47:08. I only tested Supernaut - peak level is 84%.

 

I got a Black Sabbath CLACD 196 today, but it does not have the Made in France by PMO text. Also, the PMO letters in the matrix are crossed out with four X-es. Otherwise the case and inserts look authentic.

The CD has PE and EAC found it in its AccurateRip database. I ripped Evil Woman, being the shortest track, and the CRC is B2EAC013 (2 matches found in database), using a properly configured with offset latest version of EAC (0.99 prebeta). Total length of the CD is 0:38:14:25.

Is it the real thing? Why is PMO crossed out?

 

Ok, some digging on http://www.sabbath.se revealed this was actually the UK CD, so no worries

 

If I wanted to buy a 23PD of Technical Ecstasy, anyone know what a fair price to offer would be? Didn't find any listed with a quick check of Ebay and Gemm.

 

Probably 40-50 bucks is a possibility, would be my guess. But I suspect it's the same mastering as the US WB CD, since that is the case with the 23PD or Never Say Die. Unless you want it for the purpose of collecting, it doesn't make any sense to fork over that kind of cash.