David Sylvian remasters from 2003

Hi,

After many years I rediscovered David Sylvian's "Brilliant Trees", "Gone to earth" and "Secrets Of The Beehive" albums, which I have on CDs from the late 80's.

I saw that these albums were remastered in 2003. Has anyone compared the remasters with the previous CDs?

The reissues are copyprotected in Europe (one reason not to get them, even if the copyprotection is harmless). Are they normal CDs in the US?

Thanks

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=6331782
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000AQVS4/

 

I bought them all, but I haven't compared them to the original CDs at all. I bought all mine from amazon.co.uk and nowhere on the package do they indicate they have copyprotection. Are you sure they are copyprotected??

The only thing that is written in the inserts (which you wouldn't see unless you could take the insert out of it's jacket) is:

 

the US ones are not copy protected and i love them a lot more than my original "caroline" US pressings. the gone to earth is complete 2 discs, not the 1 disc with missing tracks, so essential if you want all the tracks. also has a few remixes which are worthy.

the live oil on canvas is on 2 cds now when it can easily fit on 1 so thats annoying. (edit, oh sorry this is a Japan live album, not a Sylvian solo)

Brilliant Tree's no longer has the Forbidden Colour bonus track, but that didnt really belong on there anyway.

 

Actually, it's the original Secrets Of The Beehive which contains Forbidden Colours.....to my ears, it fits perfectly as the last song.....and it's omission from the remastered version is precisely why I didn't buy it.

 

I was fine with the abbreviated Gone to Earth CD -- they kept the instrumentals with the interesting guitar solos and lost the others (I'm not a huge fan of Sylvian's ambient music).

 

Maybe Amazon UK was selling US pressings. I read in the forum archives that Canadian versions are copyprotected, and Amazon Germany also indicates that they are protected ("kopiergeschützt" in the disc info)

 

I''ve never seen a Canadian version of any of these. All we have (AFAIK) are UK pressings with a "distibuted in Canada by EMI" sticker on the back (and a "copy controlled" sticker on the front).

 

Thanks. I had taken the info about copyprotection from this thread:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=22307 (last post)

 

I decided not to buy any of the remasters after reading the negative comments about sound quality here:

http://www.davidsylvian.net/

And, I agree about Forbidden Colours. It might not have been intended for Beehive, but it is completely in context with the rest of that album. I wouldn't want to have Beehive without Forbidden Colours.

Doug

 

you are right, i was pulling information out of my head and i knew each title; Secrets and Brilliant were different remastered. The newly added track to secrets of the beehive is a very beautiful etherial acoustic type thing, though certainly not as fantastic as Forbidden Colour, but i have the original Beehive and the soundtrack containing Forbidden, so i was glad to get Promised, the new bonus track.

(frankly i got all the sylvian/japan remasters as a "gift") I dont know that i would have re-bought any of them otherwise. Packaging is quite top shelf, sound of each version that i have leaves something to be desired, and all my Sylvian vinyl is not stellar either.

His new cd Snow Borne Sorrow is quite nice if you want to hear something new by him. Also check out his World Citizen cd single with Sakymoto...a couple of great songs on there.

 

Sylvian claimed that he wished them no-noised.
That's enough for me!

 

i can post a sound sample perhaps of each version? not sure i know how to upload that. any clues?

 

David Sylvian Sonic shootout between original and 2003 remaster

Ok, here are 2 samples of the second part of Orpheus off of Secrets of the Beehive. One is from the original Virgin release CDV2471 mastered by Nimbus in the matrix area...the other sample is the 2003 remaster.

sample 1
http://s54.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0RXCZ2U2MMT2Z1ZY32QXAGSO43

sample 2
http://s54.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=265LIHWC2Q4RB0QFL51CGB8OXU

these are 2 minute wav files, hope i did this right...

 

That would be great, Bill! But I don't know the easiest way to upload wav files.

There are also opinions on the sound here:

http://www.davidsylvian.net/mod.php?mod=forum&op=threadview&topicid=17&forumid=1

I think I will try the "Gone to earth" 2CD reissue, which has more music than the initial CD version.

 

oh boy i meant to put this in the current David Sylvian thread...sorry...Gorts, can it be moved there?

 

oh thanks for this link. i uploaded 2 wav samples of orpheus, but its in its own thread by mistake. check them out.

 

Thanks Bill. That's perfect. I've used Yousendit myself, but I had forgotten about it.

 

Claude after you've heard them both let me know your thoughts and i'll tell which cd each bit came from.

 

Done Bill!

 

Clearly Sample 1 is the remaster, it's louder. Only able to listen on my *extremely* crappy computer monitors, but they both sounded pretty good actually. Would also like to know which are preferred versions of his stuff that's been remastered.

 

Thank you Dave.

 

I'd say sample 1 is from the remaster, because it is louder, more immediate and a bit more detailed. Sample 2 sounds more distant and smooth, but less clear.

 

Here's a link to some technical info on the remastering:

http://www.davidsylvian.net/article.php?sid=15&mode=&order=0

 

and you are correct, sample 1 is the remaster.

 

oh thanks for pointing this section out, i had missed it when on that site earlier today.

You might want to check out the compilation "Everything And Nothing" as it has many rarities, including "Ride" an unreleased track meant for Secrets of the Beehive that didnt make it. I think its one of David's best songs and the sonics of that 2 disc set are terrific.

There was also a 3 disc limited edition digi pak a UK release of it. 4 tracks on that bonus disc. Nice packaging.