Elton John (Best CD's)

Just what the name says.
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Crummy Old Label Avatar
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Postby Crummy Old Label Avatar » Mon Apr 18, 2005 1:57 pm

I have an Elton John Sack Dee sampler that Sony sent me in the mail. I'd gladly swap it for a blank CD-R.
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Patrick M
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Postby Patrick M » Mon Apr 18, 2005 2:43 pm

The only Rocket I've heard was GYBR, and it was lousy. Surely someone has compared the Rockets to the SACK DEEs. (I sold my Rocket GYBR and use the MoFi instead.)
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Postby Mike Hunte » Mon Apr 18, 2005 4:07 pm

Elton John wears a funny wig.

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krabapple
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Postby krabapple » Mon Apr 18, 2005 11:52 pm

I didn't think the Rocket (Gus Dudgeon) remasters were bad -- just a bit loud and trebly IIRC. And the SACDs sound good too (the two-track remasters on these were mastered by Tony Cousins).
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JWB
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Postby JWB » Tue Apr 19, 2005 1:33 am

krabapple wrote:I didn't think the Rocket (Gus Dudgeon) remasters were bad -- just a bit loud and trebly IIRC.


My dad has the Rocket "Tumbleweed", and in the liner notes Gus Dudgeon brags about all the noise processing units they used, including shit like SADIE and PRISM NOISE SHAPER...and how they "would have used this technology if it was available in the 70's". So I'll be staying far away from those.

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krabapple
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Postby krabapple » Tue Apr 19, 2005 2:39 am

I've already said my piece elsewhere about how silly I think this reflexive aversion to digital processing is.
:roll:

If SADie-- which is a lot more than a noise reducing plugin -- is shit, you'd better tell guys like Bob Katz that they're hugely mistaken to even go near the thing, much less use it. Better still, might I suggest you actually listen to the disc a little, next time..preferably with an open mind?
"I recommend that you delete the Rancid Snakepit" - Grant

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Postby Phil Elliott » Tue Apr 19, 2005 2:52 am

Sadie is a hard disc based digital workstation, a long established one. Just because you have put something into it, doesn't 'automatically' make it "shit".

The Prism Noise Shaper provides dither, again a standard procedure. It is not to be confused with a noise reduction algorithm, in case anyone is wondering.
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JWB
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Postby JWB » Tue Apr 19, 2005 3:53 am

Guys, I'm a dumbass. I don't know anything about that type of stuff. First off, I was getting SADIE confused with CEDAR. Second, the only other time I've ever seen that PRISM system listed on a disc is on that "Aqualung" anniversary remaster - so OUCH I say!

I only started paying attention to Elton John's CD catalog recently, after some prodding for my father. He has 35 year old cassettes of all the albums from "Empty Sky" to "Rock Of The Westies" and they won't play anymore. He never goes out and purchases CD's. He wants me to provide them all on CDR for him, or buy used copies on amazon. In the past few weeks, I've picked up all the MFSL's and copied them for him. Now I'm trying to figure out the rest of the albums. In the process I've become quite a fan, immensely enjoying the album tracks I've never heard.

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J_Partyka
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Postby J_Partyka » Tue Apr 19, 2005 7:10 am

JWB wrote:I have the DJM "Piano Player", so we can figure that one out if anybody has the MCA or Polydor.


I believe I have the Polydor Piano Player at home, FWIW.

Here's a sampling of other Elton discs I have:

Elton John (US MCA) ... (I saw a DJM of this in a used-CD shop yesterday for $5.99. I left it behind because this is my least-favorite Elton album from this period, and I was shopping for jazz anyway. Now I'm thinking I should get it, and put it up on eBay ...)

Tumbleweed Connection (US MCA with the channels reversed, which I've fixed on a CD-R copy, plus CD-R of MoFi)

Madman Across the Water (Japan-made MCA, Polydor, and CD-R of MoFi) ... I really like the MCA of this one. I personally don't care for the MoFi; the "smiley EQ" comments have become cliche, but I think that term really applies here.

Honky Chateau (CD-R of MoFi)

Rock of the Westies (MCA)

I also have the MCA and Polydor editions of Captain Fantastic. The MCA really sounds very sweet.

I have other discs too, which are slipping my mind.

Though I have a SACD player, I haven't checked out any of the SACDs. The reports of excessive brightness in 2-channel (I don't have surround) have scared me, though clearly there has been disagreement on this.

Crummy Old Label Avatar wrote:I have an Elton John Sack Dee sampler that Sony sent me in the mail. I'd gladly swap it for a blank CD-R.


Has someone already taken you up on this?

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Postby lukpac » Tue Apr 19, 2005 8:07 am

One thing to note - all of the DJM discs might not be identical. IIRC, the UK (German?) and Japanese DJM copies of Elton John are different.
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JWB
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Postby JWB » Wed Apr 27, 2005 5:35 pm

Is it possible that the DJM/Polydor discs used to original master tapes?

I just compared "Daniel" on the DCC Gold "Greatest Hits" to the DJM "Piano Player", and they are absolutely frigging identical.

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krabapple
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Postby krabapple » Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:49 pm

Howw did you compare?

It seems to me that even the same tape won't be *identical* in two different A/D transfers -- there will be tiny variations due to the difference in e.g., playback heads. So I would guess that the DJM used the same digital master as the DCC, or vice versa.
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JWB
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Postby JWB » Thu Apr 28, 2005 7:42 pm

They *sound* identical to me. I really don't know otherwise.

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Postby Andreas » Tue Jul 26, 2005 4:13 am

JWB wrote:Do any of you cunts want to swap CDR's and fill in all the blanks here?

I have the DJM "Piano Player", so we can figure that one out if anybody has the MCA or Polydor.

It would also be nice if we could figure out which ones are BEST.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Empty Sky" - DJM and Polydor the same. MCA different.

"Elton John" - DJM, MCA and Polydor all different.

"Tumbleweed Connection" - DJM and Polydor the same. MCA different.

"11-17-70" - I only own the Polydor - not tested yet.

"Madman Across The Water" - Don't own the DJM. MCA and Polydor the
same.

"Honky Chateau" - DJM and Polydor the same. MCA different.

"Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player" - Don't own the DJM. MCA and Polydor the same.

"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" - DJM, MCA and Polydor (single disc) all the same.

"Caribou" - Don't own any.

"Capt. Fantastic & The Brown Dirt Cowboy" - Don't own the DJM. MCA and Polydor different.

"Rock of The Westies" - Don't own any.


I wonder if the phenomenon of "same digital transfer, but different volume" was taken into consideration.

For example, in the SH thread, we find the following two posts:
First MCA pressing of Tumbleweed Connection


Come Down in Time
Peak level: 65.3%

Love Song
Peak level: 61.8%
This makes things kinda interesting. With the DJM they're -

"Come Down In Time" 59.5%
"Love Song" 56.4%


Now multply 56.4 by (65.3/59.5). You get 61.89. Maybe the MCA Tumbleweed is the same as the Polydor and DJM, just a bit louder?

(That phenomenon occured with Who Are You. The MCA CD is louder, but once you normalize the Polydor CD, the two are identical.)

By the way, the DJM Madman CD sounds fantastic. Wonderful booklet, too. But I have nothing to compare.

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Postby Andreas » Fri Aug 05, 2005 5:58 am

JWB or others,

have you done any Elton John comparisons, or did you just buy one supposedly good version of each title?

So far, I have the DJM CDs of Elton John (s/t), Madman Across The Water and Don't Shoot Me I'm The Piano Player, plus the MFSL Honkey Chateau. I am planning to buy all the remaining DJM CDs since they sound phenomenal, like a DCC. Compared to that, I find the sound on the MFSL Honkly Chateau a bit veiled.

Is that noise at the beginning of "Levon" on all versions? It does not sound like a mastering error, rather like the squeaking of a chair. But it would be interesting to know if that noise is only on my DJM CD.
Last edited by Andreas on Fri Aug 05, 2005 6:04 am, edited 2 times in total.