Carpenters New 2007 Remasters?

[scottb]

Hi All,

I haven't posted here in sometime now.

I received an email from Amazon UK that lists 'Now and Then' as remastered and will be released on December 3rd. When I looked at Amazon.co.uk it also listed 'Close To You' as remastered and with the same release date.


I assume (?) that these will just be reissues of the 'Remastered Classic' CD's but I'm not sure so I thought I would post the links to both discs below at the end of my post as well as the text from the email I received from Amazon UK.

If anyone has any more details I would be greatly interested.

Thanks

Scott B


Greetings from Amazon.co.uk,

As someone who has purchased or rated music by Carpenters, you might like to know that Now and Then: Remastered will be released on 3 December 2007. You can pre-order yours for just £4.98 by following the link below.


Now and Then


http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00000G3WU/ref=pe_3451_8719441_pe_snp_3WU

Close To You

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Close-You-C...r_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1196272751&sr=1-10

 

[Mike Blakesley]

The price isn't too bad. I wonder if it's one of those mini-LP packages. (Converts to about $10.50 US)

Here's something humorous from the description on the Amazon site:

Featuring a surprisingly poignant cover photo of a suburbanhouse--not unlike the Downey, California homestead in whichKaren and Richard Carpenter grew up.

Uh, it IS the house they lived in.

 

[Harry]

I got that same email. I'm almost positive it's just a reissue of the old Remastered Classics disc. NOW AND THEN constantly gets reissued in Japan too, first as a Remastered Classic, them as part of box sets, then as a CD inside a record-sized jacket, then as a mini-LP CD. And through it all, it's just the same old mastering - not that there's anything wrong with the mastering - it's just fine.

I think they do it to generate interest in the catalog. And NOW AND THEN gets picked a lot on the strength of "Jambalaya", "Yesterday Once More" and "Sing", three pretty big hits worldwide.

Harry

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

So is this intended to be a remaster of the remaster? Don't we already have this? I see no real motivation to buy this, personally.

Ed

 

[Dave60640]

Kinda off, but related...
I received an email from CDJapan stating that "Now & Then" is being released as a Super High Definition cd or some-such thingy. Is this a SACD or something comparable???

 

[Harry]

Kinda off, but related...
I received an email from CDJapan stating that "Now & Then" is being released as a Super High Definition cd or some-such thingy. Is this a SACD or something comparable???

Not an SACD. This new release scheduled for January in Japan of NOW AND THEN is going to to be an SHM-CD (Super High Material, apparently).

A quick bit of research and Google translations reveals this:

Universal Music, Victor and joint development of new materials of high-quality CD "SHM-CD" release


CD発売から25年を迎えた今年。 CD release from 25 years old this year. ユニバーサルミュージックと日本ビクターが共同開発した、新素材による高音質CDが発売される。 Universal Music and Victor Company have jointly developed a new high-quality materials from the CD will be released.

SHM-CD（スーパー・ハイ・マテリアル・CD）と呼ばれるこのCDは、通常の素材とは異なるポリカーボネイト樹脂系を使用。 SHM-CD (Super High material CD) called this CD is the normal material is different Polycarbonate resin is used. この新たな素材は液晶パネルにも採用されている透明性の高いポリカーボネイトで、音質的には通常のCDに比べ「歪み度が少なく」「透明性が向上」「解像度を高める」などのメリットを引き出すことに成功しているという。 This new material is also used in LCD panels that are highly transparent Polycarbonate, and the sound quality is usually compared to the CD "to reduce the degree of distortion", "transparency will improve," "increase the resolution," such as the advantages of draw it has succeeded in that.

発売されるタイトルは、ユニバーサルミュージックより発売中の作品の中から、クラシック20タイトルとジャズの30タイトルを厳選。 Titles released by the Universal Music from the sale of works from the classical 20 title and jazz 30 titles carefully selected. 価格は1枚2,800円で、このほか2枚組が5,000円、3枚組は7,500円となっている。 Price is one cost 2,800 yen, the other two pairs of 5,000 yen, and three pairs are 7,500 yen said. 発売日は11月21日で、初回プレス限定となる。 Release date is November 21, and the first press limited.

実際の音質の違いについては11月21日発売の『オーディオアクセサリー127号』でも紹介する予定となっているので、ご参照いただきたい。 The actual difference in quality of the November 21 release of the audio accessory 127 issue, but planned to introduce, because you would like to see.

Included in the November 21st releases was Wes Montgomery's A DAY IN THE LIFE.

Harry

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Hmm. That sounds a little like record-company promotionspeak, doesn't it. I guess I'll stick with the Remastered Classic version.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

I agree. This sounds like info straight from the "artificial hype" department. Highly suspect. Unless I'm mistaken, distortion isn't caused by the CD itself; it's caused by the actual recording or the finished master. Am I missing something?

Ed

 

[davidgra]

Theoretically it is possible for the material out of which a CD is made to affect the sound quality. The way the laser reflects off the pits in the metal inside the disc, and the clarity/smoothness of the plastic surrounding the metal can both affect the accuracy of the digital data.

However, since audio CDs have built-in redundancy in their data (for error-correction), this is not usually much of an issue.

The only compelling reason I've read for using "superior" materials in a disc is for archival quality. The adhesive that holds the plastic together in a standard CD might, over time, corrode the aluminum disc or actually separate from the disc. Supposedly, if a corrosive-resistant metal (like gold) is used with a higher-grade plastic and adhesive, the discs could last centuries longer.

I've never been able to tell a difference in the audio quality in such discs -- I have a limited-edition 30th anniversary soundtrack for THE SOUND OF MUSIC that was pressed on a gold disc, and it sounds exactly the same as the 35th anniversary CD that was issued five years later. Same remastering, different materials.

David

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I still have some of the very first CDs I ever got in 1980-something, and I still have some of the first CD-Rs I ever made...some of them on a crappy no-name brand called "Mr. Data" that cost about $1 apiece when blanks were going for closer to $2.50. I've never seen any degradation of any kind on any CD I've ever owned. My disks have been left in my car in heat, cold and everything in between.

So any talk about "superior materials" in CDs tends to go right past me...I'm still waiting for my first case of "CD Rot" to happen. (I understand the problem is worse in humid locations like Florida or Hawaii. Here in Montana, humidity is never a problem -- more often, the trouble is the lack of it.)