Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

I also have DSotM, and like it a lot. The only other Floyd CD I have is
THE FINAL CUT. I can't compare the sound against the LP, since I don't
have the LP. The sound quality of the CD is nice, but I'm afraid that I
was *very* disappointed with the music itself. I must confess that one
of the reasons I picked it up was because it's one of the elusive CBS
Floyd issues. Otherwise, I might have picked up MEDDLE, or some other
Floyd.

--- jerry

  [re "Wish You Were Here"] 
  
  I originally ordered "Wish You Were Here" some time towards the end of
  last year.  After waiting 2 or 3 weeks, I was told by the record store
  that the it had been "discontinued", "discontinued!?!" I said, "but it
  only just came out!!!"
  
  Sometime later I was inquiring after another order when I was informed
  that 3 copies of the "discontinued" disk had turned up and did I still
  want one.
  
  So the one I have is
  
      "Wish You Were Here"  Harvest CDP 7 46035 2
  
  it has 5 tracks and NO index points.  The noise level did not seem any
  worse than "Dark Side"..  Since my LP is also on the Harvest label I
  am wondering what CBS are up to?!
  
  I prefer PF's earlier work, their later albums have been going down hill,
  I'm looking forward to seeing "Obscured By Clouds" and "Atom Heart Mother"
  on CD..
  
       ..Paul
  

RE:  Wish You Were Here

I have heard a rumor that the Pink Floyd CD released were not authorized
by the band, who have separate contract rights reserved for each individual
medium that songs come out on.  The record companies have to sign individually
for LP, cassette tape, 8-track, etc.  Supposedly this contract was violated
and the CDs were unauthorized.  This may explain why there were Floyd releases
on CBS instead of their usual record company (Harvest), why the CBS "Wish
You Were Here" release seems to be of inferior quality, and why you heard
it was discontinued.

I don't know if this rumor is true or not.  I DO know that both CBS and
Harvest have released Pink Floyd albums on CD.  The Harvest releases seem
to be of superior quality.

--PSW

I have Pink Floyd's "The Wall" - bought at the Coop - imported from England.

I do not believe that the US CD rights have been obtained for this 2-disk
set.  

Anyway, about the music...

The remastering seemed to be top-notch.  The album has some VERY quiet passages,
and they came through with only the barest suggestion of tape hiss.  A very
well done job.  My only complaint is that nobody has seen fit to do either
of the following:

1) Reorder the songs on the disk to match the order presented in the movie
(which I consider the 'canonical' presentation of The Wall).

2) Include the extra verses left out of 'Empty Spaces', and the extra song
that appears in the movie and nowhere else.

re:.4

I assume that you mean the Harvest release. There is also a release of it
from Columbia, which I picked up the other week*, but I haven't had a
chance to listen to it yet. By the way, the Harvard Coop has both Harvest
*and* CBS/Columbia (Capitol, in the case of DARK SIDE...) releases of
various Floyd albums. Pay your money and take your pick...

* I got the CD at Lechmere in Woburn for the unbelievable price of $18.99
(it's a 2-disk set). I'm almost positive that it was a mistake in pricing
(there was only one copy there), but I'm not complaining...

--- jerry

Yes, indeed it is the Harvest release.  After I entered .4, I noticed the
CBS version in several stores.  I sit corrected.

I was in the Washington D.C. area 2 weeks ago and picked up "Animals" at
Waxie Maxies.  It has low hiss levels, if you listen closely you can tell
that they used some hiss reduction techniques, as the volume increases on
some quiet passages, the hiss level will pick up a little.  I don't find
the hiss objectionable, it is on the same par as the EMI "Dark Side of the
Moon".  This recording is on Columbia (CK 34474).  I can't tell if it has
index points as I have the old Sony CDP-101 player.  It has 5 tracks
corresponding to the 5 cuts on the original album.  Note that the original
album (I have the pre-recorded cassette from 1977) came out on Columbia, so
it probably came from as close to the original master as possible.

I consider "Animals" to be "classic Floyd", and is my favorite next to
"Dark Side of the Moon" (DSotM).

						-Dave

    Speaking of classic Floyd, has anyone seen their first two albums
    on CD? "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" and "Saucerful of Secrets"?
    
    I have the "Saucerful" album and the "Piper" album. The "Piper"
    album has "Astronomy Domine", the studio version. 

    Unfortunately, those two are not available on CD yet. They're
    not even available separately on LP these days, but only as a
    double-album called A PERFECT PAIR. To add to the confusion,
    it seems to me that I've seen a different double-album (ie.
    comprised of two *other* Floyd albums) with the same title.
    
    --- jerry

    RE: Note 122.9
    
    I think the album you have in mind is called "A Nice Pair." It was
    compiled in 1974 by Harvest records following the tremendous success
    of "Dark Side of the Moon." 
    
    "A Nice Pair" is supposed to be the first two Floyd albums, but
    Harvest used the Ummagumma version of "Astronomy Domine" (live),
    whilst the British pressing has the studio version. I like the studio
    version of this song much better; if Harvest had used the studio
    version it would have been a more consistent tribute to Syd Barrett
    (the early Floyd founder and principal songwriter), whose influence
    pervaded the first two Floyd albums. 
    
    After the years go by...
    
    I STILL find myself liking "Saucerful of Secrets" more than any
    other Floyd album. It's not recorded the best of course, but it's
    in the true spirit of Floyd (no backup orchestra, as on "Atom Heart
    Mother" [I like the second side of that one though, especially "Summer
    '68" and "Fat Old Sun"]); no movie soundtrack nonsense, and especially
    no Roger Waters' epics on "how f***in' painful it is to be living
    in the eighties..." Bleahhh! God, their later stuff is painful to
    listen to!

    Let's hear it for Lucifer Sam!
    
    Jeff
    
    

    re:.10
    
    Thanks for the correction. Yes, indeed, it should be "Nice",
    not "Perfect".
    
    --- jerry

	What Pink Floyd CD's are available now?  Down here in New Zealand
    have only seen The Wall, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and
    Animals.  Are there any others yet?
	btw, CD's cost about $30 here, and are still a new thing down here.

	Robert.

    Aside from the ones you mention, I've seen only MEDDLE and
    THE FINAL CUT, as well as something called (approximate title)
    A SELECTION OF GREAT DANCE MUSIC.
    
    --- jerry

    All Pink Floyd recordings after and including MEDDLE are available here
    (I have them all).  I'm still waiting for the older ones. 

    GAS

    There seem to be some new discs out.
    
    Three days ago I bought
    	Piper at the Gates of Dawn
    	Saucerful of Secrets  and
    	Obscured by Clouds.
    
    The first two discs were `imports' so there was an extra 3$ or so.
    The third was a US release, and also happened to be ADD.  I don't
    remember exactly what the original vinyl releases sounded like as
    I was 5 at the time; so don't ask for my review.
    
    The record store that had them was Boston CD (really Cambridge).

    I just picked these up yesterday (the first two at least) and
    they sound pretty good. Note that I listened to these while
    reading netnews and notes and wasn't listening critically to
    see of the sound was flawless.
    
    Now, if only we don't have to wait long for UMMAGUMMA and
    ATOM HEART MOTHER...
    
    --- jerry

    You didn't have to wait for long.  I got Atom Heart Mother at BCD
    this past weekend.
    
    They were having a sale; all PF CDs were 13.95.
    
    But no Ummugumma.

    I just picked up UMMAGUMMA at BCD today! It's a double-disc
    (not surprisingly, since it's just a hair under 90 minutes)
    and since it's only a British import at this point, it's
    relatively expensive --- $38.00 (not unreasonable if you
    think of it as two times an import price of $18.99).
    
    Sounds great (almost worth it for "Several Species of Small
    Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with
    a Pict"), but those who aren't diehard fans should probably
    wait till its released domesticly for a lesser price.
    
    --- jerry

    
    I had read in some review that the Harvest release of DARK SIDE
    was audibly superior than the CBS release. Unfortunately, I was
    not able to locate a copy of the Harvest release here
    (Vancouver,B.C,Canada.) and had to settle for buying the CBS release.
    I am not too impressed with the quality. Has anyone out there ABed
    the two versions and can honestly say that the Harvest version is
    audibly better? (WISH YOU WERE HERE is another case of the same).
    
    If Harvest is better, then in what way? How significant? I'd buy
    them both again if the Harvest releases are without doubt audibly
    better and I could find any.

    I had the Harvest and CBS "Wish You Were Here", but never did
    an A-B comparision.  I eventually gave my CBS version to my
    sister for a Christmas present.  The CBS version of "Wish..."
    had two tracks on it (side 1 & 2), while the Harvest version
    had the sides broken down.  The Harvest releases of "Dark Side..."
    "Wish..." and "Meddle" are very good.
    
    I generally try to avoid CBS after they butchered the remix on
    Jethro Tull's "Aqualung".  CBS has a couple of good discs, but
    they lack consistancy.
    

    There is no CBS release of DSOTM. There are three versions of
    DSotM, that I know of: British (Harvest), American (Capitol),
    and Japanese (EMI). I have the Japanese, but have not heard
    either of the others so I can't compare them.
    
    --- jerry

    Both Kenney Chan and I had the Capitol version and prefer the
    Harvest version.  I did an A-B comparison of the two, and the
    Harvest version had less noise and in some places a better
    mix.
    
    Glenn

I picked up UMMAGUMMA today at Lechmere in the Mall of New Hampshire.  It's
a two-CD set, priced $15.98!  The price was a pleasant surprise.

--PSW

    re:.24
    
    I'd be willing to bet anything that it was mispriced. I recall
    that I paid only $17.99 or something of that nature when I
    bought THE WALL, when everyone else was selling it for $30.
    
    I also recall buying the videotape of the STAR TREK episode
    "The Menagerie" for the same price as all of the other ST
    episodes, when it should have been twice the price (it being
    a double-length episode). This was also at Lechmere.
    
    --- jerry

RE: .25

Hard to see how that could happen, since it comes in a double-sized jewel box
(not as two individual jewel boxes).  There is no way it could be mistaken for
a package containing a single CD.  It could have been priced wrong on their
price lists, in which case Floyd fans ought to see if there are any copies left
at the Lechmere's in the Mall of New Hampshire.  I took one of 3 copies in
the rack at the time.

--PSW

    
    There has been a price drop in at least some of the Capitol/EMI
    CDs.  I've seen Meddle, Atom Heart Mother, More and Obscured by
    Clouds at budget ($11 instead of $15) at a few stores.  I would
    bet that DSOTM is still full price, though....