"Station to Station" German RCA

Just what the name says.
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Xenu
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"Station to Station" German RCA

Postby Xenu » Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:32 pm

Hey all,

So I'm having one of those senior moments unique to those who have way too many discs for their own good: I am almost certain that I own the German RCA of "Station to Station," but it seems to have vanished. I apparently never burned it (??) to DVDR, either.

Does anybody here have the thing (hey, did I GIVE it to anybody?) If yes, do drop me a line.

Thanks.

-D
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JWB
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Postby JWB » Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:15 pm

You sent me a DVDR full of Bowie RCA's and the German "Station To Station" is NOT included. The disc is dated 2/26/06.

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Postby Xenu » Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:31 pm

I was pretty sure I actually BOUGHT the thing in '07. Maybe I'm misremembering.

Bah. This bites.

By the way: anybody need the Rough Trades of "The Queen is Dead" and "The Smiths?";-)
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Phil Elliott
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Postby Phil Elliott » Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:40 am

It wasn't in the set I recieved from you either (mid 2006? ). I can't lay my hands on the actual RCA disc right now (all the others you sent me are in their rightful place in my disc folder :roll: ), but there was only one version of Station to Station on the RCA disc, the very wonky sounding Japan version.

Eh - ignore my post. I didn't get the bit above where you bought it in '07.
"If you knew what I was thinking you'd BE me."

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Postby Xenu » Sat Aug 16, 2008 11:24 am

JWB asked me a question about this; it's amazing how wonky the RCAs are in general. Without having other mastering passes with which to compare, you'd never have any idea about how these things are supposed to sound. The regionalisms and peculiarities between versions--Japanese for US versus Japan for Japan, and so on--are enough to give someone an aneurysm. It's easy to see why Bowie was displeased.

Heck, here's a clip from "After All" from MWSTW. Japanese first, then German, then back to Japanese.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/b6iyn3
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Postby Xenu » Sun Aug 17, 2008 12:28 am

Andreas, I know you really like the Japanese Space Oddity, but are there any others that are preferable? Some of these discs are garbage. I'm listening to the Japanese "Low" right now, and it seems as if the stereo spectrum is entirely off.
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Postby JWB » Sun Aug 17, 2008 1:30 am

A list that details Japan vs. German differences would be awesome.

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Postby Xenu » Sun Aug 17, 2008 1:55 am

Except it isn't that simple. Mal implies, for instance, that he has a Japanese "Lodger" without any of the problems plaguing my copy. Fantastic! Except is his copy a clone of the German version?

Moreover, relying on country of origin seems like folly: there are rumblings that the Japan-for-Japan discs are different, for example. Why? Also, I have two copies of ChangesTwoBowie--both of which claim to originate in Japan, although one is the disc for the European market--that differ, although not notably so.

And then there's the problem of tonality. Given the variation in approaches taken throughout Bowie's catalog, it's occasionally difficult to tell what something SHOULD sound like...although when things depart from a standard norm, it simplifies things somewhat--for example, the "Station to Station" tracks are that trebly on the Japanese RCA and nowhere else, leading me to believe that it's the odd one out.

And fuck, what about "Golden Years?" And double fuck, what about things like the German RCA of "Alladin Sane" (if it exists)?

And what's going on with "Hunky Dory?" The German disc corrects the big dropouts in the first few songs, but otherwise--gasp--may use the same transfer (does someone else feel like investigating this? I don't. I just recall that the B. Bros lined up, although the EQ was slightly different).

And heck, speaking about these things as if they're a monolithic set also seems misguided, as I sincerely doubt they were all done at once...or even based off of the same methodology. For example, the guys responsible for transferring most of the program left tons of headroom...yet Pin-Ups is pretty freakin' loud by comparison. Why? And that's a Japanese disc, albeit one with a grey label.

At this stage, if I had to make a gross generalization: the Japanese RCAs seem to be transferred without proper Dolby settings or *something*, as they tend to have a lot more treble than do the German versions...and some sundry investigation seems to paint the Japanese ones as the odd-ones-out. Usually. But not always...for example, the Japan "Alladin Sane" doesn't really sound like anything else.

(speaking of Alladin Sane: give http://www.sendspace.com/file/u0bc03 a gander. Three versions of Jean Genie: Alladin Sane Japanese RCA, Changesbowie German RCA, and Virgin reissue. Many refer to the Virgins as "unlistenable," which I think vastly overstates the case. True, Peter Mew does process things, but I don't think his efforts are "unlistenable" by far. The extent to which his approach alters things, though, is really evident on this clip. I don't recall any of the Ryko iterations sounding quite like that)
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Postby Andreas » Sun Aug 17, 2008 2:40 pm

Xenu wrote:Andreas, I know you really like the Japanese Space Oddity, but are there any others that are preferable? Some of these discs are garbage. I'm listening to the Japanese "Low" right now, and it seems as if the stereo spectrum is entirely off.
Not as far as I remember. The German ones are good enough for me, and I didn't pursue any comparisons for like 2 years. In two cases, the differences where really remarkable: Hunky Dory (drop outs) and Station To Station (very different tonality).

Space Oddity: My preference mainly relies on the title song, which is very wonky (as you say) on the German RCA disc, but since it sounds fine on ChangesOneBowie (both German and Japanese), it doesn't really matter.

What German RCA discs are you missing? Here's what I have:
Space Oddity
Hunky Dory
Ziggy
Aladdin Sane (actually: this is Made in Japan, but with German artwork)
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
Station To Station
Heroes
Lodger
ChangesOneBowie
ChangesTwoBowie
Fame And Fashion

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Postby Xenu » Sun Aug 17, 2008 3:39 pm

At this point, I'm missing:
Alladin Sane (I only have the Japanese RCA...curious to see whether yours is different)
Young Americans
ChangesTwoBowie (is yours actually German? My German copy is Made in Japan)
Fame and Fashion (I think mine is Japanese)

.cue/.log sendspacing?
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Postby Xenu » Sun Aug 17, 2008 3:40 pm

By the way: I also recently bought an RCA MIJ "Diamond Dogs," which I was mildly astonished to learn I didn't already have. Unlike the German copy, it includes the extra indexing during the "Sweet Thing" sequence.
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Postby Andreas » Mon Aug 18, 2008 2:51 am

Xenu wrote:ChangesTwoBowie (is yours actually German?
Made In Japan with German artwork. Matrix: PD-84202, 2A3 5Y.

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Postby J_Partyka » Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:31 am

Xenu wrote:By the way: anybody need the Rough Trades of "The Queen is Dead" and "The Smiths?";-)


I need the latter. In return for Meat is Murder perhaps? ;-) ;-)

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Postby Andreas » Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:01 am

Xenu wrote:At this point, I'm missing:
Alladin Sane (I only have the Japanese RCA...curious to see whether yours is different)
Young Americans
ChangesTwoBowie (is yours actually German? My German copy is Made in Japan)
Fame and Fashion (I think mine is Japanese)

.cue/.log sendspacing?
Here's Aladdin Sane: http://www.sendspace.com/file/nbv1cr
Young Americans: http://www.sendspace.com/file/93gmm9
ChangesTwoBowie: http://www.sendspace.com/file/nclrik

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Postby Xenu » Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:40 pm

"Alladin" at least partly matches the version I have that claims to be Made in Japan.

Young Americans fixes the obvious problem with the title track, but while it doesn't sync, it also doesn't sound much different. Curious.
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"Fuckin' Koreans" - Reno 911