riverrat

Can anyone tell me about this version of "Ole Coltrane": Japanese CD remaster AMCY 1007. Is this a 20 or 24-bit remaster? How does the sound compare to the currently available US version? (I'm not too impressed with that.) I think there is a later Japanese remaster (AMCY 1159?) but I cannot find it anywhere. Thanks in advance.

A few months back, circumstances forced us (my wife and I) to replace our sound system, VCR and TV, so I actually did follow all the back and forth about SACDs on the old BNBB before buying anything. To those of us who read any of his posts, Greg's "True Believer" attitude and brusque style of communicating could be kind of annoying, but he did seem to know quite a bit about the new format, and I learned quite a bit from following his posts. From what I gathered, SACD is supposed to be able to break the blocky digital signal into such tiny parts that it approximates the smooth analog waveform, and thus the smooth, warm sound of analog, in way that conventional CDs can't, even 20 and 24 bit CDs. (This may not be an accurate description, and please don't ask me to explain why or how.) There is also interest on the part of music companies because SACDs are encrypted in such way as to preclude burning exact digital copies. I don't even have a CD burner, but I'd like one, so this is one potential concern that I tried to learn about- apparently SACDs can be copied as analog but not digital. I do not understand how this works, or any potential difference in sound. The way the "hybrid" discs are able to play on conventional players is that they have 2 layers- SACD and "regular" CD. We ended up getting the Sony DVPNS 755 unit to use as a DVD player, and a Sony SCD C222ES 5 CD changer to use as our main CD player. If I were just upgrading a CD player, I'd look closely at the 755 or a similar unit- it plays video (but not audio) DVDs, SACDs and regular CDs. The 222 plays regular CDs and SACDs, but not DVDs. Since purchasing these units, I have stopped following the issue, but I'm pretty sure both have been superceded by newer models. I remember Greg stating on a few occasions that Sony players had better "noise shaping" than Pioneer or Philips players, and sounded better. I don't really know what this means- something to do with how they handle the signal and noise reduction(?) As far as sound, the few SACDs I have sound very good indeed. The new Rolling Stones SACDs are a truly amazing improvement over the old versions, even the regular CD layer, but this is probably partly due to the poor quality of the remasters they replaced. I have not really gone whole hog into replacing titles I already have with SACDs, but I do buy them occasionally, if they have a conventional CD layer. My speakers aren't that great (the only part of our system we didn't replace) and I am not completely convinced that SACDs sound that much better than a really good digital K2 remaster, which are some of the best sounding discs I own. I will readily admit that the differences between SACD and Digital K2 might be more apparent if I had better speakers, and/or if I was a more discerning listener. I do not own any single layer SACDs, and I won't buy any until I'm sure I can make decent sounding copies or "best of" discs for personal use. I don't like the idea of not being able to copy them, and the music industry controlling my personal use of something I paid for. If I want to make a "best of" disc to use in my car, I should be able to, especially at the prices for CDs. I also don't like the idea of possibly having a bunch of "white elephant" SACDs if the format fails to take off.

grey: "When I asked Toshiba why they kept releasing the first 20 JRVGs and none beyond that they replied that these were very popular. I would venture to guess that some of the other never re-released 250 titles in the series are just as popular." I couldn't agree more. It seems that it would be easy enough to identify which JRVGs are not also available as domestic 24-bit RVGs. A considerable number of JRVGs are also not available domestically in any form. I'm not up to speed on this, but some of them might not even be available as TOCJs. To me, these seem like the most logical to repress. Tina Brooks "True Blue", Donald Byrd "Fuego", and the aforementioned Dorham "Trompeta Toccata" seem like obvious choices- I would pick these up if offered. Perhaps Toshiba is just concentrating on the Japanese market, but if so, some of these points would still hold true.

I've noticed a couple of things about Hank Mobley's "Poppin" from this series. 1. The insert actually says "made in Japan". 2. The tracks and personnel are listed on the back of the insert, but there are no liner notes. The inside of the insert is blank. Is this also the case with the "real" Japanese version?

My order from the Spanish Blue Note Collection series included these: Leo Parker "Let Me Tell You 'Bout It" TOCJ 4087 Cliff Jordan "Cliff Jordan" TOCJ 1565 Johnny Griffin "The Congregation" and Blue Mitchell "Boss Horn" do NOT have TOCJ numbers.

Can anyone fill me in on the latest news regarding the diferences (if any) between the newer JRVG's and domestic RVG's? I'm aware that in the past these were different remasters, JRVG's having more mid-range, domestic RVG's often quite "trebly". I've also followed the various musings as to whether RVG had the original tapes available to him for the Japan reissues as he apparently did for the U.S. series. The reason I ask is that the JRVG of "Indestructible" listed by Hiroshi/Hans has an additional track, the one that appears on the OOP Collector's Choice version I presume. Since JRVG's have heretofore not contained extra tracks, does this mean that JRVG's and U.S. RVG's are now the same remasters, and all that is different is the packaging? In other words, is this JRVG of Indestructible the same new remaster scheduled for domestic release later this fall?

I had a copy of "Poppin" from the Spanish Blue Note series. The CD had a TOCJ 1600 series number on it, and sounded fine, albeit maybe not quite as good as most of the Japanese TOCJ's.

Brownie's Complete Blue Note & Pacific Jazz Recordings (4 CDs, I think this is a reissue of the Mosaic set) for $15.99 is as good of a reason as any to join the BMG Jazz CD club. Shipping and "handling" to the tune of about $6-8 or so would probably be included. Working a BMG membership for the best deals and prices is confusing and difficult, a definite time sink, but it can be worthwhile...