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David Bowie - Blackstar - Vinyl

P

peelaaa

pfm Member
Had this delivered yesterday. The cover printing quality and the inner booklet/cover are extremely high quality.

And great tracks too!!
 
I notice on the dr database that all versions except the vinyl and a 24/96 download from dr.doctor are a very poor dynamic range. This seems to be a torrent, does anyone know the source? I'm listening on Tidal now, it's a good recording but the volume is relentless.
 
At least it isn't hard clipped like Heathen. The latter sounds much better by reducing level slightly and restoring clipped peaks with Audacity.
 
Heathen on vinyl is a real improvement to The cd. Really worth getting.

Blackstar otoh has the same sq regardless if cd or vinyl.
Vinyl is a cd master. Easy to hear on a competent record player.

The dr measurement might differ but thats not valid.
 
peelaaa said:
Had this delivered yesterday. The cover printing quality and the inner booklet/cover are extremely high quality.

And great tracks too!!
Click to expand...

I don't know what yours came in but the disc in my package came in hard clear plastic sleeve that could only have been designed to destroy the LP...swapped it out immediately for a anti stated inner sleeve.
 
Joe said:
I don't know what yours came in but the disc in my package came in hard clear plastic sleeve that could only have been designed to destroy the LP...swapped it out immediately for a anti stated inner sleeve.
Click to expand...

Mine did too. I also placed the vinyl into an anti static sleeve.
Possibly design over function, but I am assuming the designer wanted it this way to give the desired affect to the cut out black star. This was Bowie after all, he did everything his own way. Fair play to him.
 
I heard the plastic cover was there to show the grooves of the record through the die cut sleeve. I think that it was packaged that way to mirror the vulnerability of the record / music / artist. No picture of the artist on this LP. Just the fragilities of mortality.
 
I put the booklet inside the hard plastic sleeve, thus Bowie is framed by the star cut-out. My first copy was warped... 2nd copy turned up okay. I have not listened to it yet, not in the correct frame of mind.
 
Mine's a very good pressing, nice & quiet. Not too sure about the music at the moment - it's not exactly jolly...
 
Suffolk Tony said:
Mine's a very good pressing, nice & quiet. Not too sure about the music at the moment - it's not exactly jolly...
Click to expand...

that is what I mean about 'being the right time' - I love Mahler, but it does not get a listen when I am doing the washing-up.

Time and place and it will be great. (It will involve a tumbler of rum no doubt.)
 
Mine showed up yesterday. Warped. Pop, click, pop, click. P*** poor. QC aside, I'm not convinced it sounds any different to the CD either.
 
Yes it is and keep your imagination in check as you muse on the links between the manner of his cremation and the lyrics to the track Blackstar.
 
I am returning my copy as having listened to it properly all the way through, it is popping badly at the end of side 2. I am getting it replaced.
Out of interest, the copy I have is the 2nd pressing. What about everyone else who has had a problem?
 
There are apparently two EU repressings, one French, one German. The German apparently being far superior from a QC perspective. The French one can be identified by the vinyl being in a soft PVC inner sleeve (which will wreck the vinyl in a very short time as PVC reacts with vinyl), the German a hard plastic inner like the original press. The French press has three concentric ridges in the label centre, the German the usual one. There is also a difference in the cover sticker, the German one is underlined, the French not.

I picked up the German one before I even realised there were two and it is fine; unmarked, flat, quiet and well-centred. I'd grade it as M/M, which is sadly rare for a new record IMO!

PS Reissues can be identified by having p&c 2015-2016 on the rear sleeve, the original press is just 2015.
 
Ian M said:
I notice on the dr database that all versions except the vinyl and a 24/96 download from dr.doctor are a very poor dynamic range. This seems to be a torrent, does anyone know the source? I'm listening on Tidal now, it's a good recording but the volume is relentless.
Click to expand...

The contrast between the CD and vinyl is really interesting. They do sound very different to me and to be honest I'm not sure which I prefer. I heard the CD a long time before the vinyl (the vinyl was out if stock everywhere when I tried to buy it) so I got used to it's somewhat sledgehammer impact. It made so much sense given the gravitas and pain of the content, and I really have played it to death as I love it. I've not played a single album so much for many, many years. The vinyl, which I've only had a short while, is a far lighter and more delicate affair, a quiet cut too so you really need to crank it for impact. Thankfully mine is a really quiet pressing. I think my ideal mastering would be somewhere between the two.
 
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