Black Sabbath - Born Again on cd - which version to get?

Why? With the exception of Sabotage and Mob Rules, most of the Warner CDs are absolute schit.:thumbsdn:

For Born Again, my advice is to buy an LP. The West German Vertigo CD was mastered by Hans Brethouwer, who typically uses smiley-face EQ on everything. I don't recall the Castle remaster but it doesn't seem to be getting high marks around here, not unlike the other Castle remasters.

The only Born Again CD I am still curious about is the Japan 1st press, but this might be identical to the WG Vertigo CD. Hopefully, one day I can find out.

 

I just really never cared for the Castle masters. All I ever had was the Warner ones because of living in the States and missing out on the Vertigo imports way back when.

I do have the LP on Warners of Born Again, but I rarely crack the vinyl out anymore and just need a handy, digital copy. I agree...I'd love to find a Japanese Vertigo cd. Some fansite (can't recall the site) had pictures of them...the blue swirl...so nice.

 

Neither do I and they are not popular here, but most are better than the Warner CDs. For even better Sabs CD listening, however, I recommend perusing this thread:


http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=116489

 

Thanks for the link! I'll have a look-see.

 

Well, Gillan's 1978-1982 work was his peak IMHO with albums like Mr.Universe, Glory Road and Future Shock real classics. They slay any non-Gillan Purple record (including MK 3 & MK4) as well as some later day Gillan-fronted Purple records. His live shows were as good as MK2 Purple at their peak. Check out Live at BBC Vol 1 & 2 - the 1979 Reading show (Vol 1) is THE best live hard rock record I ever heard. Totally insane energy there. Better than Made in Japan IMHO.

I'm not a big Whitesnake fan but in the late 70's-early 80's they certainly didn't degenerate into cock rock embarrasment yet and had plenty of quality stuff. Ready'n'Willing was a classic and highly popular record.

 

So I finally played "Trashed" tonight back to back from the U.S. Warner vinyl and the Castle remastered cd. Hhhhmmmm, yes, the cd is probably too bright afterall (although it works fine for my car).

On the vinyl there is basically no treble other than Iommi's solos. It is a muddy mess. Note that I purchased this lp new upon release and probably only played it a couple of times back in the day before recording it to cassette, so it is basically a pristine original pressing. In other words, the lack of high frequencies is not due to wear and abuse.

Apparently, Ray Staff's solution was to jack the treble which achieves mixed results. It does create more of a sense of space in the mix and you can make out Ward's drums a lot better. But it adds an unnatural sheen to Gillan's vox and takes Iommi's already obnoxiously wiry guitar solos into earbleed city if you crank it too much, which is probably reason enough to favor the vinyl despite it's flaws.

The album is what it is. Ian Gillan's quote in the liner notes says it all: "I saw the cover and puked, then I heard the record and puked."

 

One day someone here will snag a Japanese Vertigo and compare to the UK Vertigo and/or the Castle remaster. Not holding my breath, and as you mention even the original vinyl is mud, so not a tragedy not having much CD comparison info, but an odd little hole on the "SH forum favorite" front.

 

The castle RM is not that bad compared to JP SAS or something where the cymbals crash all through it.