Roland's favorite CD versions of Black Sabbath albums

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by rjstauber, Jun 8, 2007.

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  1. eelkiller

    eelkiller One of the great unwashed

    Location:
    Northern Ontario
    I did not know there was a 23PD of Never Say Die. I have the PHCR version which I guess must be a second pressing?
     
  2. Jeff Carney

    Jeff Carney Fan Of Specifics (No Koolaid)

    Location:
    SF
    Sorry, it was the PHCR that I had. My bad.

    Anyway, the 23PD will probably mirror the US Warner or the WG Vertigo.
     
  3. rjstauber

    rjstauber Senior Member Thread Starter

    I have the 23PD of Technical Ecstasy. The mastering is the same as on the WB US CD. Whether the 23PD still sounds slightly better due to pressing quality, I can't say since I only checked a short digital clip.
     
  4. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    Thanks for the info. All I've currently got for TE & NSD are the Black Box, and prior to that I had the '96 Castle's. Sounds as if the US WB's would be the simplest thing to do.
     
  5. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    Anybody have an opinion on the best version of Eternal Idol? I've only ever heard the 1998 Castle, and I am a fan of the music.
     
  6. Jeff Carney

    Jeff Carney Fan Of Specifics (No Koolaid)

    Location:
    SF
    Simplest and best. These are both very nice sounding discs on WB.
     
  7. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    Does the track "The Writ" included on the 1985 Castle cd release The Sabbath Collection have the same tape problems exhibited on the Castle Sabotage cd?

    Thanks!
     
  8. Jeff Carney

    Jeff Carney Fan Of Specifics (No Koolaid)

    Location:
    SF

    There are no problems with "The Writ" on the Castle Sabotage.

    The problem is limited to Symptom and Megalomania.
     
  9. rnranimal

    rnranimal Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio

    What do you think about the sound? How does it compare with the 1st Japanese?
     
  10. oldschool

    oldschool I love tape hiss

    Location:
    Sofia, Bulgaria
    I haven't done a thorough shootout, but from 1-2 hearings it sounds the same to me, or at least very close.

    I got it because it has the full album.

    By the way, listening more to the 1st JPN pressing of the Paranoid/Black Sabbath twofer, I also start to lean towards it more, as compared to 2nd pressing of Paranoid. The 2nd is harsher on the cymbals indeed and makes the ears hurt at times. On the other hard, the shortcoming of the 1st is the cymbals being dull and sort of lost in the mastering. My opinion.
    Still, I currently listen primarily fo the 1st, as it is more relaxed and smooth.
     
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  11. Jeff Carney

    Jeff Carney Fan Of Specifics (No Koolaid)

    Location:
    SF
  12. rjstauber

    rjstauber Senior Member Thread Starter

  13. Jeff Carney

    Jeff Carney Fan Of Specifics (No Koolaid)

    Location:
    SF
    Cool. Thanks.
     
  14. Jeff Carney

    Jeff Carney Fan Of Specifics (No Koolaid)

    Location:
    SF
    Just got the 32PD version of H&H and so far, I feel it truly beats the 23PD. I will do some further comparisons but it sounds more natural to my ears. Completely different masterings. I suspect the 23PD was EQd but the source may have been different.

    So, for H&H, my current order is:

    1. 32PD
    2. 23PD
    3. WG Vertigo
    4. WB
    5. Castle remaster

    Four and five are basically coasters and should be avoided.
     
  15. rjstauber

    rjstauber Senior Member Thread Starter

    Jeff, very interesting.

    The 32PD is definitely louder than the 23PD. The 32PD also hase some clipping/compression going on, have you checked the wav.forms?

    I thought overall the tonality was very similar, but I was only able to compare some short clips so far. From what I have heard so far, I preferred the 23PD, but I probably need to listen to some more.
     
  16. Jeff Carney

    Jeff Carney Fan Of Specifics (No Koolaid)

    Location:
    SF
    Here is Neon Knights. It looks a little louder than most CDs from the mid 80s, but I see no conclusive evidence of compression. This song is, of course, loud all the way through and doesn't really fluctuate much in volume:
     
  17. Jeff Carney

    Jeff Carney Fan Of Specifics (No Koolaid)

    Location:
    SF
    As long as I am at it, here is Children Of The Sea from 32PD. This looks a little bit weird, for sure, but I am currently using Adobe Audition and find that it tends to reveal things a bit differently than Sound Forge.
     
  18. Jeff Carney

    Jeff Carney Fan Of Specifics (No Koolaid)

    Location:
    SF
    I am really impressed by both the 32PD and the 23PD of Heaven And Hell. I've listened to them both and find the 32PD has a bit more bottom end and a bit less less top. It is probably my favorite but the 23PD is also a fantastic disc.
     
  19. rjstauber

    rjstauber Senior Member Thread Starter

    Here are the wav-forms of these two songs from the 23PD. Especially "Children of the Sea" (second picture) looks much better than the 32PD to me (I would say the 32PD is compressed a little). I've noticed some compression on some very early Japanese CD's before.

    When I compared the overall sound of 32PD vs. 23PD, they sounded very similar to me as far as tonality goes, with the 32PD being noticeably louder.

    What is it exactly that you seem to prefer with the 32PD?
    (I missed your previous post)
     

    Attached Files:

  20. Jeff Carney

    Jeff Carney Fan Of Specifics (No Koolaid)

    Location:
    SF
    The thing I prefer about the 32PD is just that it has slightly less top end and almost sounds like warm vinyl. The bass is also a bit boomier. It does seem to have a bit more phasing on Neon Knights which doesn't sound 100% right to me.

    I'd be very surprised if the 32PD used compression, but I guess it is possible. To me, it appears they just really set it higher than most CDs from that time.

    Do you have other 32PDs with compression, Roland?
     
  21. rjstauber

    rjstauber Senior Member Thread Starter

    IIRC, a P33P CD from around 1987 or so uses compression (Rainbow - Difficult to Cure).
     
  22. Purplerocks

    Purplerocks Forum Resident

    Location:
    IN
    Going back to Vol. 4 for a moment; I just picked up a Castle Essential ESM CD 304 ('96 remasters) and noticed the channels are reversed from my "The Ozzy Osbourne Years" Castle 3-cd set CBC 8030 CZ (dated '91).
    I wonder which is correct...
     
  23. Jeff Carney

    Jeff Carney Fan Of Specifics (No Koolaid)

    Location:
    SF

    The '96 Castle is wrong.
     
  24. Purplerocks

    Purplerocks Forum Resident

    Location:
    IN
    Is there a way to reverse channels after ripping with EAC?
     
  25. Jeff Carney

    Jeff Carney Fan Of Specifics (No Koolaid)

    Location:
    SF
    I'm not sure, but the '96 Castle is crushed by the '86 Castle anyway. That's really the one you want, IMO.

    Hopefully somoneone will chime in on how to reverse channels. I've recently been interested in doing it but neither Nero or Audition seem capable of it, at least that I can figure out...
     
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