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Best Bowie Reissues.

wezzywest

wezzywest

pfm Member
I am looking for peoples thoughts on what are the Bowie reissues that are closest to the original releases. I am interested in; Hunky Dory, Ziggy, Aladdin sane and Low albums. Any info welcome.
Cheers.
 
wezzywest said:
I am looking for peoples thoughts on what are the Bowie reissues that are closest to the original releases. I am interested in; Hunky Dory, Ziggy, Aladdin sane and Low albums. Any info welcome.
Cheers.
Click to expand...

The Ziggy that they sold until about 2020 was all analogue but no longer. There should be some around but none of the others have been. It's the same as this

https://www.discogs.com/release/364...l-Of-Ziggy-Stardust-And-The-Spiders-From-Mars

As for the rest you're best off going back in time I think

Hunky Dory - there were many pressings before the record became successful (at the same time as Ziggy) I have this one
https://www.discogs.com/release/4641620-David-Bowie-Hunky-Dory

The other two aren't that expensive
 
gavreid said:
The Ziggy that they sold until about 2020 was all analogue but no longer. There should be some around but none of the others have been. It's the same as this

https://www.discogs.com/release/364...l-Of-Ziggy-Stardust-And-The-Spiders-From-Mars

As for the rest you're best off going back in time I think

Hunky Dory - there were many pressings before the record became successful (at the same time as Ziggy) I have this one
https://www.discogs.com/release/4641620-David-Bowie-Hunky-Dory

The other two aren't that expensive
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info, i will check them out now.Cheers.
 
I have a few early pressings and some 2016-2018 remasters. Unless you can get clean originals (good luck) the remasters are not bad at all. I only have the original Aladdin Sane - oops, mistake, I do have the remaster as well.


More images

Label: Parlophone – 0825646289448, Parlophone – DB69733, Parlophone– DB 69733, Parlophone – DBXL1
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, 180 Gram
Country: Worldwide
Released: 26 Feb 2016



More images

Label: Parlophone – DB69734, Parlophone – DB 69734, Parlophone – 0825646287376, Parlophone – DBXL1
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Repress, Stereo, 180 Gram
Country: UK, Europe & US
Released: 26 Feb 2016


More images

Label: Parlophone – DB 77821
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Portrait Leaflet, 180g
Country: UK, Europe & US
Released: 23 Feb 2018



More images

Label: Parlophone – 0825646289431, Parlophone – DB69735, Parlophone– DB 69735, Parlophone – DBXL1
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, Gatefold, 180g
Country: Worldwide
Released: 26 Feb 2016
 
Depends on budget, but if looking for good sounding Bowie without paying original orange RCA Victor label prices the budget green label RCA International pressings from the late-70s-early-80s are actually very good. You don’t get the gatefold sleeves for ones that had them, and I don’t think all titles even exist in this range (I’ve never seen Stage or David Live) but they are decent analogue pressings and should be *a lot* cheaper than UK originals or orange label repressings. The black label RCA pressings from a couple of years later are very good too. Scary Monsters had the black label from 1st press. Everything else RCA was originally orange.

PS I set myself the task of a complete EX/EX or better run of orange RCA Bowie about 35 years ago. I’m there now bar Pin Ups, which is a black label and I don’t care much about that title anyway. Hardly any are first pressings (there were a lot of orange label issues), but a good clean run is hard to achieve even over that timeframe! Looking at Discogs it appears the price has come down a lot. It went crazy after his death. Surprisingly some of my most valuable now are actually the RSD live albums, but Discogs never factors condition in and a fair number of my RCAs look NOS!
 
Big Tabs said:
I have a few early pressings and some 2016-2018 remasters. Unless you can get clean originals (good luck) the remasters are not bad at all. I only have the original Aladdin Sane - oops, mistake, I do have the remaster as well.


More images

Label: Parlophone – 0825646289448, Parlophone – DB69733, Parlophone– DB 69733, Parlophone – DBXL1
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, 180 Gram
Country: Worldwide
Released: 26 Feb 2016



More images

Label: Parlophone – DB69734, Parlophone – DB 69734, Parlophone – 0825646287376, Parlophone – DBXL1
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Repress, Stereo, 180 Gram
Country: UK, Europe & US
Released: 26 Feb 2016


More images

Label: Parlophone – DB 77821
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Portrait Leaflet, 180g
Country: UK, Europe & US
Released: 23 Feb 2018



More images

Label: Parlophone – 0825646289431, Parlophone – DB69735, Parlophone– DB 69735, Parlophone – DBXL1
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, Gatefold, 180g
Country: Worldwide
Released: 26 Feb 2016
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info it is really appreciated, I will have a look at them. Cheers.
 
Tony L said:
Depends on budget, but if looking for good sounding Bowie without paying original orange RCA Victor label prices the budget green label RCA International pressings from the late-70s-early-80s are actually very good. You don’t get the gatefold sleeves for ones that had them, and I don’t think all titles even exist in this range (I’ve never seen Stage or David Live) but they are decent analogue pressings and should be *a lot* cheaper than UK originals or orange label repressings. The black label RCA pressings from a couple of years later are very good too. Scary Monsters had the black label from 1st press. Everything else RCA was originally orange.

PS I set myself the task of a complete EX/EX or better run of orange RCA Bowie about 35 years ago. I’m there now bar Pin Ups, which is a black label and I don’t care much about that title anyway. Hardly any are first pressings (there were a lot of orange label issues), but a good clean run is hard to achieve even over that timeframe! Looking at Discogs it appears the price has come down a lot. It went crazy after his death. Surprisingly some of my most valuable now are actually the RSD live albums, but Discogs never factors condition in and a fair number of my RCAs look NOS!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the that Tony, finding really nice 1st pressings looks like an expensive route to take, definitely reissues for me. Cheers.
 
Hunky Dory is a stunning recording. Mine is just a mid-run orange RCA and it is a remarkably dynamic record. The guitar on side two on Andy Warhol etc is amazing. I’ve not heard the reissue.
 
Tony L said:
Hunky Dory is a stunning recording. Mine is just a mid-run orange RCA and it is a remarkably dynamic record. The guitar on side two on Andy Warhol etc is amazing. I’ve not heard the reissue.
Click to expand...
I agree. I think with Hunky Dory you're looking for a Rasputin/Bobil (Bob Hill and Ray Staff at Trident) pressing.
 
gavreid said:
I agree. I think with Hunky Dory you're looking for a Rasputin/Bobil (Bob Hill and Ray Staff at Trident) pressing.
Click to expand...

Mine has neither so likely could be improved a fair bit. It is this one (Discogs) with 5E matrixes, so I assume pretty late on. Still has the insert (I think some later ones miss it). It’s actually at the bottom condition end of my Bowie collection bell-curve being a strong VG+/borderline EX so one I’d upgrade it if the opportunity presented. As ever with my collection everything is fluid, with some I’m on about my 5th copy (e.g. Ziggy).

8443457725_e8f7c0ee9a_c.jpg


Here’s a very old pic (clearly taken before The Next Day, Blackstar and at least three RSD live albums). A few are really good, e.g. David Live, Young Americans, Station To Station, Stage and Lodger are pretty much NOS. I definitely went on condition over matrix number here, 70s Bowie is very hard to find in an audiophile grading IME. I’ve had a few earlier matrixes in less good condition previously, e.g. I actually swapped a 1 or 2 Ziggy for the current 6E/4E as this one is near mint and the Hoffman lot seem to think it is the best cut anyway (I wasn’t convinced, but I went on condition, I did the same with Stage swapping a yellow vinyl one for a quieter NM black one) - I don’t keep multiples).
 
I'm not sure which pressings I have to be quite honest, I have a mix of older RCA orange label, at least one green label and quite a few of the later black label pressings.
I also have a few 'audiophile' 180 g pressings reissued in the past twenty years and a couple of the box sets.
Sound quality is excellent on all of them imho , some sleeves are a bit worn though.
I guess I really should do the Discogs thing and catalogue everything.
I don't think there would be much in the way of Bowies catalogue that couldn't be bought for a reasonable price, most stuff seems to be available, though prices tend to go up and down , before the last 'Brilliant Adventure ' box set was released, titles like Outside, Earthling and Hours commanded a heavy price tag, sometimes as much as the box set for an individual album.
 
Nigel said:
Did "Stage" originally come with inner sleeves?
Click to expand...

Just plain RCA-branded die-cut white paper. David Live has printed inners with the most annoying square-edged cut-out at the top edge that make them impossible to find undamaged. I bet most were damaged sleeving them at the factory!

PS The first UK issue of Stage was on yellow vinyl and has a hype sticker to that effect. There are a lot of them and a couple of variants. I suspect the yellow is actually more common than the black!
 
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