What is the best sounding Cliff Richard compilation 1958-1982

I never see the Epic stereo US version of the "Summer Holiday" LP mentioned. but when I bought it back in the sixties when it was released, it was one of the best mastered stereo albums in my collection. It still is to this day.
Everything is true stereo, centered vocals, and super clean separation. While some of the mixes used on it have been released over the years on CD, many have not.
"All I Do Is Dream Of You" doesn't have the annoying (to me) quiet guitar
opening but starts with the uptempo part right away. And I never found the
version of "Carnival" used here anywhere else until it appeared on an EP collection CD at some point.
My needledrop of this is my go to source for the best sounding versions of
all of the tracks on the album.

 

If it's not an official EMI or a release licensed by EMI they must have taken it from already existing CDs (provided they didn't use needle drops) and since many EMI CD reissues have been tampered with (noise reduction, funny EQ and/or shortened tracks) I'm having a hard time believing the set sounds great.

 

It's not a needle drop ...........and it really does sound great and I do realise that the material has been taken from other CD sources but to my ears not all of the material has been taken from UK sources, and it's been well researched and some of the singles do not sound like the UK compilation tracks, I think the tracks have been sourced from many overseas issues which have not been tampered with

 

I agree this is a great sounding album and this is the album that contains the new stereo re-mix of 'Bachelor Boy' without the edited ending which was used on the UK single, also it's nice to have one of the 'Dream' tracks without the guitar intro which I never liked.

 

My new commendations are (Itunes corrupted my artwork for previous posts, I ve now found the cds)
'Cliff,' Cliff Richard and the Drifters ,live 1959 at Abbey Rd 2 with an audience, in mono and stereo versions.
'Me and my Shadows' ,mono and stereo, 1960
'25 of the best of '1997 mixed m and s

All these we released for Cliffs 40th with EMI.
Sound is excellent, sometime sublime.

What I want is a proper copy of the Shadows first album ,The Shadows, any ideas?
Its got to be sublime quality.

 

I agree with your list ......EMI did release mono digi-packs of Cliff's first five albums about ten years ago but were quickly deleted and some of them were mono and stereo and all in great sound without the annoying digital reverb that was added to the singles collections.

I too wish I could find a decent sounding copy of the first Shadows album, I've yet to hear a CD that matches my vinyl copy even the vinyl re-issue on EMI Fame sounds better than the current CD's

 

Many, if not most post-1988 EMI CD reissues suffered from noise reduction, no matter where they were released; I had many of those and noticed this artefact. What about that? The set must have been taken from CD sources and thus very likely "imported" the noise reduction. I haven't seen any comment from you on that.

 

Are you sure that the EMI-Virgin-Ariola double CD compilations released in 1989 by EMI BOVEMA BV have noise reduction?

They were mastered in Belgium - and, incidentally, include the undubbed stereo version of The Young Ones - and I do not think that there is anything wrong with the sound thereon.

They are some of the earliest CD releases of Cliff Richard & The Shadows.

 

Have you got those very first release twofers of The Shadows/Out Of The Shadows etcetera?

I think there was a bit of a problem with typos and grammar in the liner notes, but IMHO the sound isn't lacking.

 

Furthermore there were some early double CD releases of the Cliff Richard albums - each set comprising two albums on 2 CDs.

Although they were EMI UK releases they were pressed in Austria by Sony. AFIK they are the only CD source for the wide stereo Walking The Blues.

 

You are correct in your assumption and I'm sure there is some kind of noise reduction as the sleeve does state... re-mastered in 24 bit sound.. I have listened using headphones and A/B'd with the EMI versions and I do prefer the sound on this pirate CD .....I suppose to be honest they have taken all the material from other CD sources and gone back into analogue and then re-mastered again in 24 bit........not strictly correct I know but I like the sound better than my EMI CD .......whoever mastered this CD clearly knows what they are doing.

 

I've heard these early releases and they are definitely untreated, they change hands for top money now.

 

I don't have these twofers but I do have the six CD box set issued around the same time which may be the same re-masterings .....I will have to dig them out and listen again.

 

"Remastered in 24-bit sound" doesn't say anything about the application of noise reduction. And how do you go back from digital (CDs) to analogue and then remaster in 24-bit (= digital)? Sorry to be so critical, but this just doesn't sound right to me.

 

No, I haven't heard those, so I don't know if they have noise reduction. Can you provide a link to these compilations?

I am also still looking for an untampered-with Shadows compilation.

 

I have some of these CD's which I bought in the early 90's but they suffer from excessive noise reduction which is very apparent when listening on headphones and you can actually hear the software grabbing the high frequencies.

'Walking The Blues' was re-mixed to mono for the 40th anniversary release.

 

I totally agree with you Hans and it's wrong, but forgetting the technical side the sound is good to my ears and yes I know the system of events is wrong .....I know the original noise reduction will be still there but the horrible digital reverb is missing and that was always the worry for me and not noise reduction which was not very extreme for me but the digital reverb and harsh EQ was and thats why I like this pirate CD because it's been fixed.

 

Back in the late 80's EMI reissued the majority of CLiff's 60's & 70's albums on CD and although these had quite a bit of flack at time about the quality, these are probably the best sounding version of MOST of the LPs as they weren't tampered with by adding a 'Stereo Effect'

That effect was the work and invention of one engineer, who worked on all of Cliffs releases from the early 90's through to very recently - He even added his 'Enhancement' to Stereo recordings!!!

Steve - You may well find that the EMI Gold edition is identical to the MFP version. MFP became EMI Gold in the early 90's and some albums were re-issued with the new label but were essentailly the same - If it doesn't have the 'enhancement' then it probably is the same!

Cliff's early output is unlikely to be covered by EMI again now as it's all PD which basically makes any work undertaken on it worthless as it will be stolen by PD labels straight away! Why would EMI want to pay for new transfers and re-mastering for another label! The current drop in CD sales, the demise of the high street record store and PD material everywhere (often nicked from other CD's or awful needle drops) make it not just unprofitable but a loss making excercise.

 

Well said Ray .....and as we now have to live with the 'enhanced' CD's I guess we should all grab the pre-enhancement CD's before they all go.

 

Which means that for example we should snatch the 40 Golden Greats 2 CD set as that is a pre-enhancement CD set of many of his early hits, the MFP CDs, etc.

 

BTW, these albums are in the European public domain:
Cliff
Cliff Sings
Me and My Shadows
21 Today
Listen To Cliff

Next year, these albums will be EU PD property:
Live At the ABC Kingston
32 Minutes and 17 Seconds With...
The Young Ones soundtrack

 

And all the singles and EP's relating to these dates as well.

 

Live at the ABC Kingston was rejected by Abbey Rd cos of audience distortion on the screams
That why 'Cliff' was staged in Abbey Rd 2 .

Still looking for a good copy of' The Shadows' first LP
Any needledroppers out there PM me for chat please.

 

You are right, you can't overlook the singles and the EPs relating to these dates but I only mentioned the albums as a brief way of stating what kinds of material will soon be in the EU PD.

 

Yup...The move to public domain means you most likely will never see any serious attention paid to this material by the label again. Just endless recycling of what has already been released in very low grade packages.