Van Morrison '08 Japan cd remasters

I'm glad I ordered Moondance when I did,I just ordered the 2008 Japanese His Band and Street Choir (a very underrated album IMHO).The HMV deal though is a great one.

 

Careful with the foreign designation there, Jim B.

BTW, There's already a thread evoted to this subject:
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=151089&highlight=van+morrison+japanese

 

OK (had to look it up I'm afraid). It must be a US thing.

wiki says "In Singapore and Hong Kong, the term is used freely as a contraction of the adjective "Japanese" rather than as a derogatory term"

that's the way I have always viewed it, apologies to anyone offended!

 

I knew you didn't mean anything by it ... we're quite politically correct in the U.S. ... anyway, the term you used is actually used as an example of a no-no in the SH Forum Rules.

Anyway, I have he three Morrison remasters from Japan and they're definitely remastered and sound pretty good.

 

The question is though are they the EXACT same masters Steve and crew did for the lps just transferred to digital? or another mastering entirely but similar?

 

Well, I didn't want to say anything, but on my system the remastered vinyl and the Japanese CD's do sound surprisingly similar.

 

I just got these 3 Van Morrison remasters since HMV Japan is currently having a special and they were on sale. I've listened to all three. I am very happy with Astral Weeks and Street Choir, although the original Street Choir CD sounds fine to me and there's not that much difference between it and the remaster to my ears. Astral Weeks sounds a lot better to me than the original CD. Moondance is perplexing. For one thing, it seems to be mastered at a higher volume than the other two. They definitely used the limiter to compress it and make it louder. The other two are louder than the original CDs but not dramatically so, but Moondance is significantly louder. As the Into The Mystic waveform posted above shows, it's definitely been compressed (the waveform for And it Stoned Me looks even more chopped off). It does have the tambourine mix of Into The Mystic, which is nice, but on sound quality I'd say Moondance is the worst of the 3 because of the loudness issue (tonally it sounds good to me). A real missed opportunity. While it's nice that Moondance includes he tambourine mix of Into The Mystic, the only one of these I'm really happy I bought is Astral Weeks, which does improve on the original (more fullness and depth to the instruments, open sound and not bright at all like I feared it might be). Just my opinion, of course.

 

Astral Weeks and Moondance 2008 Japanese Remaster

Hey All,

Just recently got into Van Morrison, and noticed that arguably his two greatest albums (Astral Weeks and Moondance) weren't part of the recent remaster and reissue campaign in 2008. They were, however, remastered and reissued in Japan in 2008. Has anybody heard them? Are they worth the extra bucks?

 

I have the Moondance and His Band and Street Choir 2008 Japanese remaster.Both sound excellent compared to 80's Warner domestic cds.As mentioned before on this site the Moondance Japanese remaster has the only cd appearance of the "tambourine" mix of "Into The Mystic" which makes it worth picking up for that alone IMHO.

 

I have them as well...they sound good to me!

 

Listed as OOP at CD Japan. Anyone know of another online retailer carrying this?

 

Astral Weeks seems like an improvement to my ears. It was worth the upgrade, by my lights.

I agree that Van's best albums were Astral Weeks and Moondance. I wish they were available as SACDs, but the 2008 remasters from Japan are probably the next best thing, barring vinyl.

 

Amazon UK has Astral Weeks and Moondance.

 

I have the 2008 Japanese Astral Weeks CD. It is the best digital version IMO.

 

Thanks all!

 

Not to sidetrack however I bought the vinyl reissue of Astral Weeks after Fremer proclaimed it better than the first press original. It is quite amazing. Does anyone know how the vinyl reissue of Moondance is - and the rest of Van's material for that matter?

 

Mr Hoffman did Monndance I believe and it, along with the other two, are meant to be excellent.

 

Also note the '08 Japanese remaster of Moondance uses the correct tambourine mix of "Into The Mystic", long lost on later WB vinyl pressings, and al originall CDs, owing to an early mixup of master tape.

 

I heard Steve's vinyl mastering of Moondance at a friend's house on Christmas Day, and it sounded very good. The vinyl was absolutely silent. I'm not much of a vinyl guy, but I was so impressed that I ordered a copy that evening from Amazon.

 

Well I just ordered Astral Weeks and Moondance. I want to hear for myself as there seem to be lots of differing opinions on these 2008 Japan issues. I hope it does not turn out to be an expensive mistake.

 

I found only Moondance listed as OOP at CD Japan. I was able to purchase Astral Weeks this morning. I hope I got the right one. Here's the link to the one I purchased this morning.

 

Didn't know about the 2008 japanese remaster,but found it on HMV Japan for a good price just 5 minutes ago.

 

I got them at www.hmv.co.jp. Currently they list all 3 of these Japanese remasters - Astral Weeks, Moondance, and His Band And Street Choir as in stock, and Moondance as in stock. Make sure to get the Japanese CDs, not the International Import or Europe Import. The URLs are:

http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/product/detail/2713838
http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/product/detail/2713839
http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/product/detail/2713840

- Joe

 

You didn't include the link.

 

Are these Japanese Van Morrison remasters packaged in mini-LP sleeves? What are the catalog numbers?