Public Image Ltd. SHM-CD reissues in Japan

Anyone heard these yet? I'm curious if they're worth the money. I like the PiL 'Metal Box' reissue from a couple years ago, but I'm interested in what these are like...

Public Image Ltd. reissues entire catalog in Japan on high-quality SHM-CD format

 

Just ordered the whole lot. I'll let you know as soon as I get them. Only Metal Box has been remastered to date.

 

Cool thanks, can't wait for your review. I thought about ordering them but it's about $40USD per album and I wasn't sure if the new 'digital remastering' was worth the price. Anyone know if the album tracks on Plastic Box (1999 or 2009 version) were remastered?

 

I got today the First album and the Metal Box. Metal box uses a 2009 remaster and the fisrt album is a 2011 remaster. I do not have other cds to compare but i think the First album remaster is good compared to the Metal Box remaster becuase the bass are more like my lps.
Check the CD wav.
BTW these releases does not have the Virgin Records credits and they are licenced by Pil Twin Ltd
http://www.trademarkia.com/public-image-limited-85032160.html

 

The 1999 edition of Plastic Box was definitely remastered. Terrific, punchy sound too.

 

Psycho Path Japan is a different version / mix from the UK one, I hope it's still that way in the set.

 

No, it's the standard UK/Euro mix. Apparently the Japanese record company was sent the wrong master for the 1996 release.

 

I've had a chance to listen to the first six PiL remasters, from First Edition to Album.

My overall opinion is that they're a massive improvement on the originals. This isn't saying much, because the Virgin CDs sounded poor - bright, tinny, feeble treatments for music that was anything but. My major gripe was with the first four albums in particular.

The good news is that the remastering is both tasteful and respectful. I don't know who did them (I'm still scouring the lyric insert for details), but they're obviously fans of the music, and they also understand the dynamics of PiL's early music - which was rooted in dub.

The CDs aren't loud, but they're clear and a lot more detailed.

First Edition is now very reminiscent of the vinyl, from the short opening shriek of Theme onwards.

I liked the 2009 Metal Box remaster. It's as good as a CD version of that album will ever get. The Japanese version is the same as the UK Virgin reissue. That said, no CD could ever fully capture the sound of those three original 12" records. But there's a great needledrop of the album out there in cyberspace, if you know where to look. Highly recommended that.

Paris au Printemps wasn't the best recording to begin with. The vinyl sounded muddy and the CD was plain awful. The 2011 remasters completely clears up the sound. You can now clearly hear John berating the audience, and some of the heckles. As a live album it's still a frustrating listen, of course; the band alternating from indifference to focus in the same song. But the new CD sounds terrific.

Flowers of Romance - exceptional. It sounds absolutely amazing. A real jawdropper this. The tracklisting is identical to the Virgin CD, as in it has three bonus tracks not on the vinyl.

This is What You Want This What You Get - another winner. A lot of people don't like the album. I think it's underrated. Love Song, The Order of Death, Tie Me To The Length of That and Bad Life are terrific songs. The remastered version manages to trump the vinyl.

Album - brilliant. PiL's best post-Levene/Wobble album by a long stretch. This sounds as good as the vinyl (and I have both the UK and Japanese pressings). Awesome full-bodied sound.

More later.

 

Excellent. How much do the whole set cost ?

 

An equipment profile would be nice, you don't have one in your profile.

 

I do. They're called ears, mate.

 

All in, about £175.00. I got mine from HMV Japan.

 

Whatever, but your opinion about sound quality is virtually worthless then unless forum members can see what you're playing these pricey Japanese cds on to come to your glowing conclusions.

 

Fantastic answer!!!!

 

+1.

I trust Frank's ears.

 

Yes,I would too!

 

Can you compare the running time of Paris au Printemps to the original ? Could it be this is the undoctored version where the additional rumbles to drown the audience heckling is missing ?

Is PIL twin ltd official . It looks like they got a claim in may on the trademark page. Thought I was involved in the SP box set, I have no idea about this.

 

Both CDs are 40.9 minutes. The sound on Paris was cleaned up, so everything's clearer - and far punchier. Theme is intense and hypnotic. Gotta love the effects. Like the soundtrack to a really bad acid trip. Do you remember how flat even the vinyl sounded? The Japanese CD really is the best version of the album.

Of course that's nothing compared to Live In Tokyo. I've just played the remaster. It sounds way better than the original CD, of course, but it's still the dullest album in Mr Lydon's canon. I don't think the performance is bad per se, but the recording is sterile. Great cover though.

More on the rest of the reissues later.

No idea about PiL twin, I'm afraid.

 

where do you buy, I see expensive in ebay aroun $500

 

cdjapan has them for $33.30 a piece, plus shipping.

 

I went with CD Japan, you can buy them individually for around $35 (I skipped 'metal box/second edition' since I already had the remastered versions on CD from 2009). Lots of shipping options too which is nice. I'm more interested in the remastering (especially for 'first issue') than the SHM-CD format. I wonder if I should have waited to see if they would release these new remastered versions on regular CDs? Ah well

 

the mini lps are the most beautiful cds ever made, the quality of papers, cd etc... BUT!!!!! as audiophile the sound is the most import so... the last remasters in the industry almost all are loud as hell... and bad remasters, thats the same, so pay a lot for mini lps sometimes is just a luxury game. IMHO

now I go to read this post for see if the 2011 pil sucks in sound or are better...

 

Any change to inner packaging?

 

inner packing? you mean scans photos inside?

 

i cant find the metal box in cdjapan mmm why?
update: I find... out of print ...
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=TOCP-95081