More Elton John Madness!!! (DJM vs. MCA vs. Polydor)

Paging all Elton CD variation freaks...(ie: David Modny) :


In this thread: http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=119162&postcount=3

Steve states this...

"As to sound:

A few of the early MCA Elton's were sourced from the MCA copy tapes, but most came from Digital clones of the DJM digital remasterings.

The "Your Songs" compilation I did on Elton came from the existing MCA copy tapes, transferred "flat"...."


So...I just got a MCA CD copy of Elton John's self titled album and compared it to my Polydor copy. Just for fun.

I know many people have criticized the Polydors for use of "no-noise" but I do not hear that at all. In fact I hear a NORMAL amount of hiss.

The MCA version of the self-titled album has an insane amount of hiss on it...which leads me to believe that...

The MCA version is one of the CD that are sourced from a US copy tape. The only question now is...what would the Polydor be sourced from, because the DJM CD has an alt. mix of "Sixty Years On". Is it same to assume it's from a UK tape?

 

bump

 

Come on guys...someone has to have something to contribute to this...

 

The US Polydor is indeed a clone of the *UK* DJM CD (*not* the W. German DJM - which has the alt. mix). There should be a few threads in the archives (ok...maybe a bazillion threads) covering this.

Furthermore, the original Japanese DJM and the W. German are the same.

 

I can't answer your question i.e. the source of the Polydor - but your findings with regards to the MCA / Polydor are the same as mine. I once had the US MCA CD and this is the only EJ / MCA I really didn't like. I have the Polydor and think its great.

Now if I could just get a clean copy of the DJM vinyl.

 

Yes, the US MCA of "Elton John" does have an INSANE amount of hiss. I already had the UK DJM at the time, which I thought sounded realy good, but when the MCA came out I bought it just to see if it was better.

I remember back at that time, a CD magazine (can't recall the title) allowed you to send in a card with capsule reviews for three CDs. They had previously given the "Elton John" from MCA a very good review, I think an 8 out of 10 for sound. I sent my card in with a capsule review stating, "It sounds like it was mastered from the cassette." They didn't publish it.

 

For what it's worth, the relevant tracks on the West German S/T sound almost exactly like Steve's "Greatest Hits" mastering, suggesting that they transferred the original master tape flat and inserted the remix of "Sixty Years On" in there. I've heard that the UK DJM mastering is different, but how is it different?

 

Okay, I just wanted to be clear on the differences between the different DJMs. So many minute differences. I wasn't even aware there a UK, Japan AND West German DJM!

 

Jason - what is the catalog number of your CD? I have a CRC version (just noticed this) without the bonus tracks and it sure sounds like it has NR.

 

I don't know. I'm not in LA right now. But I think all the Polydors had the same catalog number regardless of where they came from.

Have you compared it to other versions of the CD? I know many people here have stated that they think the Polydors have NR on them but have any of these people actually compared them to other issues?

I mean the easy thing to do would be to compare the DJMs to the Polydors and see, since the Polydors are supposed to be clones of the DJMs. But I seriously doubt that any of the Polydors have NR on them, not from what I've heard at least.

 

I don't have anything to compare it to but Your Songs which has a lot more hiss on "Your Song." The other Polydors in my collection do not seem to have NR but none of the others are CRC versions either.

The reason I ask about catalog # is that every other one I own has a # that reads like 825 487-2 while my copy of Elton John is P2-27689. I'm just looking for some clue as to if my EJ is different than the standard edition. I'll probably just buy another copy to check it out. I'd love to get a DJM copy but they aren't easy to find.

 

I'm sure your Polydor is the same as all the others. Don't worry.

A-ha! So this is where the confusion sets in...check this out:

Steve's "Your Songs" comp was made from US TAPES. The DJMs, Polydors and SOME of the MCAs were made from the UK TAPES (or digital clones of...) You feel me?

You must be hearing the extra hiss on Steve's "Your Songs" comp and be thinking "well my Polydor doesn't have this hiss, it must be NR!", but this is not the case.

If you really wanna compare, use Steve's DCC GH.

 

Thanks Jason. I understand what you are saying. Assuming that most or all of the Polydors are clones of the DJM CDs it seems to me that classic period EJ recordings are very quiet.

 

Nobody here noted the wonky, extreme eq that's only on half this cd, and was on one side only of the UNI and MCA vinyl. My problem with this cd is the crappy eq apparently trapped in the work copy of this tape.

Note: I have never heard DJM vinyl of this record and therefore cannot tell you if this problem existed "across the pond"

 

Hmm, that's interesting. If you have heard the Polydor or DJM CDs you can at least see if they're sans EQ. I'm pretty sure they are.

 

The MCAD P2- catalog indexes sound like they have been digitally transferred along the way at some point and do not represent the smooth analog sound of the originals. These were done post the MCAD-XXXX, MCAD 37XXXX and MCAD 31XXXX releases.

 

What do you mean? Every CD is digitally transferred in some way.

 

You want to have some real fun??? Let's add the SACD's into the fray.......

 

Hi folks,

Another wrinkle in this issue! The original Polydor CD issues were badly NR'ed. There was so much complaints about their sound that Polydor pulled them and replaced these versions with UK DJM/MCA US clones and the later albums reverted back to the Rocket original mastering. These were second pressings on until the Rocket remasters came into being.

 

Really?

Can you tell the difference between the NR Polydors and NR-free Polydors by looking at them?

 

Didn't Bill Levenson say this wasn't the case?

 

Hi lukpac,

It may well be the case. Those CD releases have a softer sound hisswise but the music isn't lacking.

 

Do you have both versions to compare?

 

Hi lukpac,

Yes, Ingrid and I have UK DJM, West German DJM, DJM Japan, US MCA, US Polydor, and US Rocket CD and SACD versions for comparison!

 

And you're saying the US Polydors DO NOT sound like clones of the UK DJMs?

If not, if this why you assume the Polydors were no-noised? Because to me, the Polydors have hiss on them, just not an insane amount.

Does anyone have two different sounding versions of a Polydor pressing to compare?