I was told the second UM pressing of this remastered CD has the unedited "Star, Star". How can anyone tell the difference between the pressings?

I mistakenly loaned the drummer my copy of the Virgin GHS. I got it back totally f-ucked up and unplayable. Typical drummer - idiot. I've been searching for one ever since. Don't know how to tell on amazon.com if it's a Virgin or some other shit one.

Good question, I'd like to know the answer too.

They surely did replace the censored version from the first 2009 pressings, with the uncensored version on later editions. How to tell? Well, the cd box set of the 1971-2005 records do have it.

Of all the reissues by Universal I find GHS awful. I think the Virgin disc sounds much better. The Universal disc to me sounds loud and distorted.

distorted indeed.

I listened to it yesterday and confirm the distortion in sound

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Bashlets
Of all the reissues by Universal I find GHS awful. I think the Virgin disc sounds much better. The Universal disc to me sounds loud and distorted.

I completely agree with you. GHS and Sticky Fingers are wretched remasters - too loud, distorted, clipped - like they were done by a hyperactive twelve year old with Nero. And I've got a very good system.

The CDs of choice - for me - are the Japanese Toshiba EMI mini lp edition which came out in 2006. In fact, the entire range has different mastering to the Virgin CDs. They all sound terrific.

That said, all the UM remasters from Black & Blue through to Voodoo Lounge are terrific, and highly recommended.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-12-14 15:05 by Nikolai.

Japanese Toshiba-EMI CD's are actually the same as Virgin 1994 remasters. They seem to have been eqaulized a bit to sound more bright.
CBS releases were not that bad either.

The CBS CD releases were the vinyl master just put on CD. That's why they are so dull sounding. There's nothing good about them except for the fact that they are on CD and listenable if you need to have those - like I was able to find since I haven't found a used Virgin anywhere. It wasn't until Ludwig did the remastering FOR CD to sound as close as possible to the original releases for Virgin that the entire thing was figured out.

As I recall the vinyl edition of GHS that I had, which was one of the reissues (I got it in 1983 I believe) had the censored version on it. I think. I do remember hearing it and thinking that something was really screwed up, Jagger must've had mashed potatoes in his mouth while singing that song. The CBS/Sony CD issue is not the censored version. So I dunno.

The Stones switched record labels after? or before? Rewind came out. Which was Atlantic to CBS right? And CBS issued the first CDs.

I remember getting Dirty Work on vinyl and CD thinking something has seriously gone bad with The Rolling Stones. Was I ever right. What a huge disappointment to go from Undercover to Dirty Work - song wise, sound wise, production wise and LP cover and packaging wise! It was embarrassing. I wasn't caught alive with Dirty Work sitting out in case a friend came over and wanted to listen to something. I hid that album for a long time.

forget about all this and let's start a UNIVERSAL (><) intergalactical massive petition for 24/92 master files to be available.

"we know it's a bit late but we hope you don't mind if we stay"

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kowalski
Japanese Toshiba-EMI CD's are actually the same as Virgin 1994 remasters. They seem to have been eqaulized a bit to sound more bright.
CBS releases were not that bad either.

I don't think they sound bright at all. They sound clearer, but not at the expense of the bottom end.

As for the CBS CDs - a few people actually prefer them to the Virgin and UM ones. Not me. The 70s ones sound tinny, bright and hissy. And there are drop-outs on SF, GSH and Exile. The rest sound flat and dull. That said, I'd take the CBS SF and GSH over the UM remasters any day.

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The CBS CD releases were the vinyl master just put on CD

I don't think it happened this way. They made new digital masters for these CD releases from original master tapes. Just like Bob Ludwig did for Virgin remasters. Some of them may sound tinny (Sticky Fingers in particular) but others just sound great - like Exile or Goats Head Soup. In particular because dynamics are respected.

This an interview were Greg Calbi explains well how he digitally mastered these early CDs : http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=1655047&postcount=35


About the Toshiba releases, English not being my main language I may have used the wrong word. I agree on clearer though.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-12-14 20:59 by kowalski.

I said that about the CBS CDs based on that thing Mick said, which was just that - they took the vinyl masters and made them digital - nothing was actually "done" to them other than to make them work on CD. What Calbi says in that obviously does not add up to what Mick said.

Regardless, it sounds like shit either way.

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skipstone
Regardless, it sounds like shit either way.

??
No they do not, as Kowaski pointed out, Exile and Goats Head Soup sound real great, and a lot better than UMG.......nothing beats the vinyl of course

The CBS CDs sound like shit. Flat, dull and very low volume. Just compare Doo Doo Doo Doo from the CBS GHS to the Virgin GHS (or Made In The Shade - same master) - the Virgin sounds a billion times better. For someone to think the CBS CDs actually sound good is very strange to me. They are better than nothing but that's it.

When the Virgins came out it was literally a night and day difference. The biggest difference between what Ludwig did and Calbi did is that by the time Ludwig was brought in the digital realm was much more understood.

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very low volume

That's the main point between first digital masters and remasters made in the 90's and after. Most of the 90's remasters sound louder and therefore can give the feeling that they sound much better.
I bought the Virgin remasters as soon as they got out. However I was not so impressed by the sound on albums like Exile or Goats Head Soup. Sound was louder but at the same time this "big sound" made the listening quite boring at the end.
On the contrary even if they are less impressive CBS digital masters have more dynamics and more clarity. Exile really rocks with the CBS master.

I guess it's up to everyone own taste afterwards

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kowalski

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very low volume

That's the main point between first digital masters and remasters made in the 90's and after. Most of the 90's remasters sound louder and therefore can give the feeling that they sound much better.
I bought the Virgin remasters as soon as they got out. However I was not so impressed by the sound on albums like Exile or Goats Head Soup. Sound was louder but at the same time this "big sound" made the listening quite boring at the end.
On the contrary even if they are less impressive CBS digital masters have more dynamics and more clarity. Exile really rocks with the CBS master.

I guess it's up to everyone own taste afterwards

Kowalski, my man, your defence of the CBS Exile CD actually prompted me to play it again. And, you know what? You're right about that one. It IS actually better than the Virgin. So, one point to you. I don't agree with you about the others. Some Girls - their best recorded album of the 70s - sounds unforgivably tinny. Black & Blue has no punch whatsoever. And don't get me started on the 80s CDs. That said, Rewind sounds terrific - way better than any CD compilation of the post-Abcko stuff.

CBS got a few things absolutely right. The 80s mid-price US pressings of everything from Sticky Fingers - Undercover sound exceptional. The albums don't look as good, obviously, because they were budget releases, but they sound terrific.

I agree on Rewind. I was shocked when recently I listened to it. By the way the songs from Sticky Fingers sound much better on Rewind than on the SF album itself.
Sticky Fingers and Some Girls are not so good. They just don't sound right.
Another nice one is Emotional Rescue though. The bass sound is perfect.

I had "Sticky Fingers" the CBS one,it sounded Shite compared to the Virgin release.

CBS release of Sticky Fingers doesn't sound right. It looks they tried to do "something" about the sound but failed somewhere.

That said CBS "Some Girls" sounds quite good actually. I'd say that the sound is wider or more open. And clearer too. Plus it has the original cover that was censored...

I don't hear what you hear with the CBS Exile. The difference between the two is huge. Of course the volume is higher. But there is way more clarity with the Virgin. I was able to hear things I'd never heard before.

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kowalski
I agree on Rewind. I was shocked when recently I listened to it. By the way the songs from Sticky Fingers sound much better on Rewind than on the SF album itself.
Sticky Fingers and Some Girls are not so good. They just don't sound right.
Another nice one is Emotional Rescue though. The bass sound is perfect.

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kowalski
CBS release of Sticky Fingers doesn't sound right. It looks they tried to do "something" about the sound but failed somewhere.

That said CBS "Some Girls" sounds quite good actually. I'd say that the sound is wider or more open. And clearer too. Plus it has the original cover that was censored...

kowalski, are you talking about different formats in these different posts?

I'm talking about the CBS releases on CD. While some of them have a rather thin sound I found most of them quite good and a couple better than the Virgin remasters.

I always knew/thought that the CBS Goats Head Soup and Exile was better sounding (when increasing the volume) than Virgin and UMG - but didn't know about Rewind.....which I only have on vinyl. Thanks for the heads-up, Kowalski and Nikolai....I'll have to find that one then

the cbs sticky fingers is the only one that has poor sound it's like they used a 4th generation copy or worse as a master

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Nikolai
Rewind sounds terrific - way better than any CD compilation of the post-Abcko stuff.

Are you talking about the original CBS CD? I haven't listened to Rewind in years but one thing
i do remember is that the very ends of the songs are chopped off. The gradual fade of each song ends abruptly.

Always figured the engineer was careless or they were trying to fit too many songs on the disk. ??


IORR............but I like it!

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sweet neo con

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Nikolai
Rewind sounds terrific - way better than any CD compilation of the post-Abcko stuff.

Are you talking about the original CBS CD? I haven't listened to Rewind in years but one thing
i do remember is that the very ends of the songs are chopped off. The gradual fade of each song ends abruptly.

Always figured the engineer was careless or they were trying to fit too many songs on the disk. ??

Depends which version you have. The US one lopped off the endings. The UK/European/Japanese ones had the full versions, but a slightly different tracklisting.

So to get the best version of Rewind, one needs to look for the version with She's So Cold and Respectable instead of Emotional Rescue and Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo?
Other than the mutilitated endings, do the two versions sound the same?

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Nikolai

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sweet neo con

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Nikolai
Rewind sounds terrific - way better than any CD compilation of the post-Abcko stuff.

Are you talking about the original CBS CD? I haven't listened to Rewind in years but one thing
i do remember is that the very ends of the songs are chopped off. The gradual fade of each song ends abruptly.

Always figured the engineer was careless or they were trying to fit too many songs on the disk. ??

Depends which version you have. The US one lopped off the endings. The UK/European/Japanese ones had the full versions, but a slightly different tracklisting.

ok..i knew the UK version (vinyl record) had a different track listing...didn't know about the UK cd.

there was a reissue of rewind recently..right? did they correct the "lop offs"?


IORR............but I like it!

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sweet neo con
there was a reissue of rewind recently..right? did they correct the "lop offs"?

No it's been a long time since any CD releases of Rewind, maybe 20 years or so. I think you must be thinking of the re-release of Made In The Shade.