Bruce Springsteen "Born To Run" old CBS CD. Wow, it cannot be beat.

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, Dec 13, 2011.

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  1. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    BORN TO RUN is one of the greatest albums of all time. Can we agree on that? If you do, read on, if you don't, go to another thread because this won't concern you..

    OK, I continue.

    In 1976 my first real job was hand editing out pops and tics from needle drops at Bill Drake's radio automation studio. I made $3.35 an hour but learned to be a master with a razor blade. One song I couldn't do anything with was "Meeting Across The River" by Bruuuce. It was too low in level on the record, too noisy. So, Bill Drake had Columbia in NYC pull the stereo master tape and make us a 15 ips flat transfer of the album for us to use on all the songs. Record companies did that for us in those days because the Drake stations were all over the country, in every market and Bill Drake was THE man. No one ever said no to him, or rarely. He understood that sound quality was important, he was a great guy.

    I remember listening to this tape in the big studio and marveling at how lifelike Bruce's voice was and still how BAD the mix and drums were. Obviously (as Mark Ford explained to us) this album was mixed at a very high level. That could be the only reason the drums sound so bad. The trade off was that Bruce's voice sounded lifelike and natural, spooky almost.

    Well, that was 1976 but I never heard Bruce sound that good again. I have the original white label promo LP and I have the old CBS compact disk that I bought right when the album was released digitally for the first time. Mind you I had NO expectation that the CD would sound any better than the music sounded in the past because I knew what the thing really sounded like and other than Bruce's voice, it was just average.

    I had to laugh when people started returning the CD as defective because it sounded so bad and blah, blah, blah. I hung on to mine. Last time I played it before today was in the car blasting out driving home in the middle of the night from San Diego about 3 years ago.

    This morning I was in the mood so I pulled out this trusty old CD and popped it in on my good upstairs system. I was shocked at how good it sounded (Bruce's voice, I mean). Scary realistic. I realized that now that I have this state of the art loaner system I'm hearing the music the best I've ever heard it. This CD sounds pretty much exactly like that tape I heard back in the day. I would be willing to bet this disk was made from the two track original master.

    Point being, if you have this, keep it, it's a true representation of the original BORN TO RUN mix. It's CBS CK33795, "Made In Japan".

    Do you have one? Go put it on and report back. Don't confuse a crappy mix with a crappy sounding CD. Just listen to Bruce's voice. It's magical.

    Try and find one of these. I don't know the history of this album on compact disk but I imagine it's been remastered several times by now. Try and find this original CD version. You'll be glad you did!

    You can probably find this old CD used for like two bucks. Probably no one wants it anymore. Heh, this will be our little secret....
     
    Steve Hoffman, Dec 13, 2011
    #1
    bordons, dunce, lightbulb and 2 others like this.
  2. houston

    houston Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, Texas, USA
    I do have it, got it a year or so, ago, for $1 in the clearance section, no front insert....it sounds great, I remember reading about this disc in a cd review guide, circa 1986, that panned the sound, so even when I began buying cd's in 1992, I purposely avoided Born to Run....very glad to have it now
     
    houston, Dec 13, 2011
    #2
  3. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway YES, I'M A NERD

    Location:
    England
    That's weird... I was listening to Lou Reed's "Street Hassle" LP earlier today, which Bruce does a bit of talking on, and was thinking, I must do a SH search on Springsteen, as to my shame I have hardly any, and know nothing about which versions to look out for when I often see his CDs used. So now I have a start, cheers !
     
    BlueSpeedway, Dec 13, 2011
    #3
  4. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    Man, if there was any album that could use a revisionist Pete Townsend-style remix, it's this one.
     
    walrus, Dec 13, 2011
    #4
  5. jpgettes

    jpgettes Senior Member

    Location:
    Atlanta
    My ancient Japan-for-US copy is CDCBS80959. Wish I had your copy to compare. Just listened to 'Meeting Across the River' and it sounds sublime.

    Maybe they're the same master...someone here probably knows.
     
    jpgettes, Dec 13, 2011
    #5
  6. lamont

    lamont Member

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    I have one, thanks to the discussions on this board. Took me around a year and a half to find one and it was one of my more exciting finds. Cheap too.
     
    lamont, Dec 13, 2011
    #6
  7. mikee

    mikee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Huntington Beach, Ca.
    Wasn't the BTR cd re-mastered with no change in the packaging (the frist time the cd was re-mastered) making it impossible to know which one you have other than by using your ears?
     
    mikee, Dec 13, 2011
    #7
    razerx likes this.
  8. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Location:
    Southwestern United States
    Ah! Got rid of mine. The music just didn't impress me beyond a couple of songs.
     
    Grant, Dec 13, 2011
    #8
  9. Bull Moose

    Bull Moose Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Portland, ME
    That's right, if I remember Bob Ludwig's comments about this correctly. One of my co-workers set up a listening party where Bob presented the 30th anniversary remaster of Born To Run. Unfortunately, I don't remember if Bob said why the switch was necessary.

    The same UPC has been in use since the 1980s and it's still in print, so finding that original mastering might be tough.
     
    Bull Moose, Dec 13, 2011
    #9
  10. pool_of_tears

    pool_of_tears Searching For Simplicity

    Location:
    Midwest
    I've never heard the old CBS cd. I only have the Mastersound gold cd. Can anyone tell me how they compare? Thanks :)
     
    pool_of_tears, Dec 13, 2011
    #10
  11. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialist™

    Location:
    B.C.
    The Mastersound sounds very cold and clinical in comparison to the Japan 1st CBS/Sony CD that is more than likely the same mastering as the CBS Steve is describing. Grab it, you won't be sorry.
     
    Dave, Dec 13, 2011
    #11
  12. Muzyck

    Muzyck Pardon my scruffy hospitality

    Location:
    Long Island
    I purchased a Billy Joel disc from a seller in the classifieds a couple of months ago and he sent the Japan for US disc of Born To Run he also had for sale by mistake. I sent it back :eek:

    No worries, I already had one ;)

    You just might want to take a look through the classifieds, he may still have it!
     
    Muzyck, Dec 13, 2011
    #12
  13. DangerousKitchen

    DangerousKitchen Up in TO

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Good to know. Steve, is your version pre-1987? I'm not sure which I have at home and I could be confusing this with another Bruce cd but I seem to recall mine having "STILL made in the USA" on it and I'm pretty sure I got this one in cd format pretty early after it's cd release. "STILL made in the USA" always struck me as funny because it seemed to come out right around "Born in the USA" was released on cd but that might have just been a cross the catalog bumper to "buy American".
     
    DangerousKitchen, Dec 13, 2011
    #13
    Silver Surfer likes this.
  14. Adam9

    Adam9 Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Totally agreed on this being one of the greatest albums ever.

    I'm not sure this CD is that easy or cheap to find though, at least here in the frozen north. I got mine on the forum a few years back.

    It's playing right now and Steve, you're right about Bruce's voice. Damn, it sounds good! :)
     
    Adam9, Dec 13, 2011
    #14
  15. sberger

    sberger Dream Baby Dream

    Location:
    West Coast now, East Coast before
    A lot of folks on Ebay offering up BTR cd's that never get questions are going to get a bit more activity today asking the same question and wondering why.
     
    sberger, Dec 13, 2011
    #15
  16. ivan_wemple

    ivan_wemple Senior Member

    Location:
    The Green Mountain State
    ivan_wemple, Dec 13, 2011
    #16
  17. wayneklein

    wayneklein Forum Fool

    Location:
    Northern California between Sac and SF, CA
    Then no one would be happy with what was done complaining about all the little things...I'm happy with the original. It's supposed to sound that way.
     
    wayneklein, Dec 13, 2011
    #17
  18. therockman

    therockman Senior Member In Memoriam

    Location:
    THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT, NEW MEXICO USA
    Thank you, great info.
     
    therockman, Dec 13, 2011
    #18
  19. LeeS

    LeeS Music Fan

    Location:
    Atlanta
    I really wish Steve would PM me before he posts this stuff so I can buy a 35DP before they go up in value.

    ;)
     
    LeeS, Dec 13, 2011
    #19
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  20. wayneklein

    wayneklein Forum Fool

    Location:
    Northern California between Sac and SF, CA
    I don't remember seeing any that stated STILL made in the USA but I do recall them saying NOW Made In THe USA.
     
    wayneklein, Dec 13, 2011
    #20
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  21. HGN2001

    HGN2001 Mystery picture member

    Location:
    Sunny Central Florida
    My copy of this is a radio station promo CD with a hole punched though the black spine of the jewel case.

    The back insert has a "Now Made In The U.S.A." indicator printed sideways with some other copyright jargon.

    The disc has the CK 33795 DIDP 050021 numbers on it, with that mysterious upside-down equilateral triangle beneath the COMPACT DISC DIGITAL AUDIO logo.

    Around the silver hub, it has:

    DIDP-050021 G3 1A 08, some machine bar code, and IFPI 1423.

    Inside on the clear-plastic hub is a tiny IFPI 7292

    Is this the "good" disc?

    Harry
     
    HGN2001, Dec 13, 2011
    #21
  22. Echo

    Echo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands
    Echo, Dec 13, 2011
    #22
  23. houston

    houston Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, Texas, USA
    oh, he's still got it, and he's reading this thread....and his BIN price has quadrupled! ;)
     
    houston, Dec 13, 2011
    #23
  24. houston

    houston Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, Texas, USA
    no...the "good one" has no little triangle, has big CBS lettering on the left-side of the disc, CBS on the spine, no "now made in the USA" on the back insert, and has made in Japan along the bottom perimeter of the disc
     
    houston, Dec 13, 2011
    #24
  25. The Rush Fan

    The Rush Fan Well-Known Member

    Location:
    San Lorenzo, CA
    Man! 10 years later in 1986, when I got my first job, minimum wage was still $3.35 an hour!

    Oh yeah, I will have to spin this one tonight. I've had it for ages but haven't listened to it in ages either.
     
    The Rush Fan, Dec 13, 2011
    #25
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