Black Sabbath: Master of Reality CDs

ok, i've read all of the black sabbath threads in the archive, but i still have questions about this album. anyone who's heard the Warner Brothers CD knows that it sounds drastically different from both the Castle remaster and the recent Rhino remaster (which sound similar, although i haven't done a/b comparisons).

two questions:

1) why such a huge difference? is this the result of EQ'ing, different source tapes, or what? and why is it that this particular album varies so much in sound depending on the mastering? this isn't true for the other Black Sabbath albums, in my experience.

2) which CD sounds truest to the original vinyl version?

thanks.

 

The WB CD sounds pretty close to the green label WB vinyl. I haven't heard UK or Dutch vinyl on this title, though. You're right, though, the Castle remaster is DRASTICALLY different tonally from the WB CD.

 

here are the waveforms from the beginning of "Sweet Leaf" for the following 3 CD versions of this album: Warner Bros, Castle, Rhino (Black Box).

i like the Warner Bros for the flat and sludgy sound. but i also enjoy the Castle - it was the first version of this album that i heard, and i think that the EQ is tasteful even if not completely true to the original vinyl. the Rhino basically sounds like the Castle except that it's louder - a little too compressed for my tastes.

the Warner Bros and Castle masterings both have their merits if you ask me!

 

Thanks for the waveforms. Now I know for sure to stay far away from the Black Box.

 

If you can it give a listen, first. Apart from a few awful moments on Vol 4 it sounds wonderful.

 

I would suggest we give it a listen instead of just looking at it. I see a bit of hi-peak limiting in the Rhino but nothing even CLOSE to compression or maximization.
Gee. Can you imagine what would happen if you gave Sharon Osborne(who has TOTAL say in Black Sabbath matters) a BS CD that was not competitive level-wise to Ozzy's current stuff? That record would get given to someone who would make it LOUD so fast their head would spin....

 

I would imagine Sharon Osbourne has *say*, but I doubt she has "total say."

And how do we know what her tastes in CD mastering are?

Well, anyway, I think Black Box is pretty good, and remember, Sweet Leaf is a piece of heavy rock. Didn't someone once post a .wav of Steve's mastering of Metallica for MFSL that had really high levels? Black Box needs a major analysis from me one day, but one person whose opinion I trust greatly and who has literally doznes upon dozens of Sabbath CDs feels that the Black Box is the best mastering the Sabbath catalog has seen. He also sent me a cdr of samples from the German Vertigo issues of the Sabbath material, which I think have been discussed here as being quite good, but I've yet to listen to them.

I recently found an old Castle CD from 1986 of the s/t album that has a bonus track of "Tomorrow's Dream" (pulled from _Live At Last_). I compared it to the Black Box issue and the Victor Japan mini lp (which is just the Castle mastering, ttbomk) and I thought it was very good. The Black Box and Victor Japan (Castle) sounded VERY similar. Both were a bit boomier than the old Castle. I once compared several of the Victor Japan mini lp CDs with the Castle mastering to the Black Box and the s/t was the most similar. The others varied from Black Box quite a bit. But I've read here where someone felt that the Victor Japan minis were not as good as the Castle minis even though they are supposedly the same mastering. I've never ownded a Castle mini as they were just the same as the 1996 Castle remasters, as far as I know. Maybe they were a bit different in the conversion process?

 

i'm quite happy with the Black Box with the exception of Master of Reality. that one just doesn't sound right to me.

 

I think we can judge her taste from the Ozzy's current albums and the Ozzy catalog upgrades.
You are talking about someone who had two band members of Ozzy's first band excised from the lps they played on. She owns the name Black Sabbath outright. Tony I. has to pay her "rent" to use it. Somehow I think she gets what she wants....

 

Who knows?! Maybe we'd have seen a master tape/24K Gold release of their first self titled album. *Dream* But I wonder who they would want to do the mastering for them???

I actually prefer the black box set the best of the three. The WB are a little bit too attenuated on the bottom end for me. I know I know..... but this is Black Sabbath, not the Moody Blues or John Coltrane. Much like my import Blue Cheer Vincebus Eruptum on the Alarma label, a little low end boost is fine when we're talking distorted sludge fest. Until a DCC-like attitude gets applied to their catalog I'll stick with the Rhino for now.

 

That would be your loss. I love the way the box sounds for the most part.

 

>>She owns the name Black Sabbath outright. Tony I. has to pay her "rent" to use it.<<

This is incorrect.

Tony Iommi owns the name Black Sabbath.

 

That's what I thought. Sabbath was "Ozzy-less" a long time!

 

Uh, nope. Iommi sold the name to Sharon and Ozzy. I'm guessing perhaps he needed the money or something. Why do you think Sharon is listed as "executive producer" for the Symptom Of The Universe Rhino comp and Black Box box set??

 

The fact that she is listed as "executive producer" means that Iommi sold them the name?

Again, this is incorrect.

Tony Iommi and his management company, Blue Flame, own the name.

If you prefer to google as opposed to take my word for this I fully understand. Better yet, just spend some time on Joe Siegler's great site: www.black-sabbath.com. Here are a couple of threads from the now archived email list where the issue comes up:

http://www.black-sabbath.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=1191&an=0&page=0

http://www.black-sabbath.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=1196&an=0&page=0