I'd written earlier about the outstanding quality of the "Beggars Banquet" remaster, and the next installment of the classic period is also excellent.

A buddy of mine gave me this as a birthday present, and I was very pleased. I only had it on LP.

This was actually one of the first Stones albums I bought back in the early 70s, and I was struck by their willingness to offer alternative versions of their material. Case in point -- "Country Honk".

Another complete package --nothing out of place, no filler. Just 42 minutes of brilliance, and capturing the atmosphere of their world at the time.

Quick note: on "You Got the Silver", I notice a similarity in the vocal range and sound of George Harrison in the Keith of 1969. Styles are different (George ALWAYS stayed laid-back), but yeah, on this particular track I can hear it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-06-16 00:50 by bassplayer617.

Well this CD has a couple of things going for it

1. There are two layers, SACD and CD. SACD, developed jointly by Sony and Philips, is based on the Direct Stream Digital (DSD) system, a one-bit recording process that uses a sampling rate of 2.8224 megahertz, or 2,822,400 samples per second. The result is the capture and playback of audio characterized by exquisite detail and realism. Both the standard CD and SACD layer of ABKCO's Rolling Stones Remastered discs benefit from DSD encoding.

2. It's the greatest album ever made.

Still, the old vinyl blows any kind of CD away in the sound department.

Mathijs

Mathijs -

Have you done A/B comparisons with the SACD layer on the Stones albums? I find it a pretty tough call.

Mathijs wrote:

>Still, the old vinyl blows any kind of CD away in the sound department.

Gotta agree with Mathijs on this....The UK mono of that LP is untouchable for sound. To my ear, its the BEST ever Stones recording....a real killer.

JR

I certainly agree with Mathijs on this.

I left the HiFI industry because with CD as the mass market medium...there was simply no point anymore.
Conventional CD is shite !
Early digital master recordings from the 80s nd early 90s are shite too !
The information lost by those primitive digital recorders can never be restored either. It's really sad.

Digital recording technology has come on in leaps and bounds, and SACD is a good medium.
The problem is that, partially due to the conflict with DVD-Audio, it never happened in the mass market. I don't think we'll see another high quality domestic stereo music playback medium ever again. The lowest common denominator effect has lead the industry down the road of hideously compressed MP3 files and their like. It's a huge shame.

I'm just thankful that the last couple of years have seen a trend towards more releases being routinely available on vinyl...even if you do have to special order it after spending half an hour getting the assistant to admit that it exists !



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-06-16 21:28 by Spud.

Mathijs Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Still, the old vinyl blows any kind of CD away in
> the sound department.
>
> Mathijs


Yes. I agree tottally. But that's the case with most stuff. LPs are always better in sound (Best case I can think of is ABB on CD compared to LP). The best remaster from 2002 is Beggar's Banquet for sure. I'd like to hear that remaster on LP (I don't have it). That would be something.

JumpingKentFlash

Is the 2002 Beggers' remaster available on vinyl ?

The earlier "Digital Remaster" of BB was horrible...even on LP.

I think around 12 of the remasters were on vinyl. Not sure if BB was onje of them. Weird that they only released a selection of LPs.

JumpingKentFlash

Yes, Beggars was releases on Vinyl with the SA CD remasters. Quite good, and they got the speed corrected, FINALLY!

JR

Thanks guys. I'll try and find that one then.

I think I've got more different vinyl pressings of Beggars' than of any other album. They all sound noticeably different...with the worn original pressing still being the best... and the only one with any real detail and immediacy as opposed to a forced unpleasent brightness.