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Re: BOW WOW WOW - YOUR BOX SET PET ~ THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS

PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 9:41 am
by omar
Got both my Bow wow wow and Kissing The Pink cds today. Heard the KTP cd and it sounds ok. Haven't paid much attention to the tracks yet. Afraid to listen to Bow wow wow for the fear of disappointment.

Re: BOW WOW WOW - YOUR BOX SET PET ~ THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS

PostPosted: Sun Jun 10, 2018 3:56 am
by schwenko
Rubellan wrote:Amazon's U.S. site has pulled down two reviews for this set. One was mine but another was a simple review from someone just confirming it didn't sound very good. So basically, they are now censoring reviews to prevent people saying they didn't care for the quality of a product, whether it's a detailed or casual review. My review had 11 helpful votes and two positive comments before they yanked it. I hope enough people were able to see it before blindly buying this set thinking they were getting a high quality "remaster". I can only assume that CR is making a last gasp by returning to these poor quality vinyl transfers because there's only so many titles you can release and re-release in a world where physical product is waning, especially when they are trying to pump out 40 titles a month. The only reason CR (somewhat) changed their shortcut practices years ago was because of all the negative complaints and reviews that were being posted about the various product issues. Now I guess it's just easier to block truthful reviews than obtain proper source material.


Can you post your review here?

Re: BOW WOW WOW - YOUR BOX SET PET ~ THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS

PostPosted: Sun Jun 10, 2018 4:24 am
by swerve

Re: BOW WOW WOW - YOUR BOX SET PET ~ THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 12:12 pm
by cefuroxime
In relation to the reviews, I feel it would be helpful if something were mentioned in the "Notes" section of the Discogs entry when it comes to audio sources:

Bow Wow Wow ‎– Your Box Set Pet (The Complete Recordings 1980-1984)

This goes for any and all releases that feature vinyl rips of tracks. Even if it's something along the lines of:

"The audio recording for track 14 is sourced from vinyl."

Re: BOW WOW WOW - YOUR BOX SET PET ~ THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 3:28 pm
by Willbfree
What a freaking piece of work that Mr D is. If he'd found a single factual error in the review, he forgot to mention it.

I think he's B(l)army.

Re: BOW WOW WOW - YOUR BOX SET PET ~ THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:13 pm
by omar
Heard the Bow wow wow stuff in detail today. At best it's mediocre. Yes Scott was right, the tracks that sound ok were copied straight from previous cds, where's many of the single mixes sound crap. I even tried to clear up a couple of tracks through Audacity but wasn't able to fix them appropriately.

Re: BOW WOW WOW - YOUR BOX SET PET ~ THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 7:15 pm
by Willbfree
I compared a few songs to other releases (from the smattering of compilations and earlier releases i have), and while some of the older discs have better dynamic range, it is clear that we will never have any idea how these songs were meant to sound. Every release has different EQ, trying to make a best-guess at how the masters might sound.

Re: BOW WOW WOW - YOUR BOX SET PET ~ THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS

PostPosted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 2:59 am
by Rubellan
Yes, it's a shame. I had already begun my artwork for my planned BWW releases before I heard of this box coming. I was very eager to give them a high quality treatment.
But here's an interesting twist. I got an email from Cherry Red confirming they've read my reviews (as well as confirming some of the content there in), and asking me if I would be interested in working on future projects with them. Perhaps it's a 'keep your enemies closer' scenario? I responded politely detailing that I had worked with CR before, and explaining why I departed (the whole skimp on quality for the sake of a deadline situation). The person who contact me is a manager who has been with CR since 2015 and may not have been aware of my history with them. Honestly, I don't see the point. They've just done probably the three main Sony owned artists that I wanted to do (Altered Images, BWW and King), so it feels like too little too late. And now with my own label going, as well as still being tapped for the occasional project for Futurismo, it just makes me sigh...

Re: BOW WOW WOW - YOUR BOX SET PET ~ THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS

PostPosted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 8:31 am
by Willbfree
Rubellan wrote:Yes, it's a shame. I had already begun my artwork for my planned BWW releases before I heard of this box coming. I was very eager to give them a high quality treatment.
But here's an interesting twist. I got an email from Cherry Red confirming they've read my reviews (as well as confirming some of the content there in), and asking me if I would be interested in working on future projects with them. Perhaps it's a 'keep your enemies closer' scenario? I responded politely detailing that I had worked with CR before, and explaining why I departed (the whole skimp on quality for the sake of a deadline situation). The person who contact me is a manager who has been with CR since 2015 and may not have been aware of my history with them. Honestly, I don't see the point. They've just done probably the three main Sony owned artists that I wanted to do (Altered Images, BWW and King), so it feels like too little too late. And now with my own label going, as well as still being tapped for the occasional project for Futurismo, it just makes me sigh...


I suppose they may just want you under contract so you'd be under a non-disclosure agreement. But, maybe there is nothing sinister of the sort in their minds.

You should take the job. I mean if you look at the BWW box, look at the art direction. It was outstanding. I realize it may have been outsourced (there's a design credit on the back cover), but at least some people there are trying to make an impressive-looking product.

So, the audio quality comes up short, and will again due to their inflexible stance on not paying to get access to master tapes. But even with that limitation, you know how to avoid mistakes that others repeatedly make when dealing with second-hand materials. If they are asking for your advice, and you could give the best advice - and can let go of whether or not they accept it - then why not get paid for your expertise?

I dunno. I tend to give bad advice, so maybe do the opposite of what I suggest. But still it seems like they'd have been better off hiring you for the past two boxes.

Re: BOW WOW WOW - YOUR BOX SET PET ~ THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS

PostPosted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 2:48 pm
by swerve
Scott --- Are there really no other artists under the Sony umbrella you would be interested in doing even if it's not in your top 3 ? I think a lot of people would want you to take this opportunity as it at least gives you an in to Sony where it would appear that door was closed. Of course it's up to you with your schedule etc... The only reason why I bought a Cherry Pop release was because you were involved ( the Mood ). With all the bad audio quality reviews over the years I've avoided them.

Re: BOW WOW WOW - YOUR BOX SET PET ~ THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS

PostPosted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 4:06 pm
by Rubellan
swerve wrote:Scott --- Are there really no other artists under the Sony umbrella you would be interested in doing even if it's not in your top 3 ? I think a lot of people would want you to take this opportunity as it at least gives you an in to Sony where it would appear that door was closed. Of course it's up to you with your schedule etc... The only reason why I bought a Cherry Pop release was because you were involved ( the Mood ). With all the bad audio quality reviews over the years I've avoided them.


The only other Sony artist I wanted to do, and got approval and quotes for just before I cut ties, was Slow Children. Between the 6 other albums CR took and the possibility of a King project, there really were no other Sony artists I was craving, more so than lightly considering. Universal seem to hold the bulk of what I want at the moment, and I've had several people commend me in recent weeks because I'm told so many others who have tried to license from Universal get nowhere. I can only assume it was cautious persistence that helped. The dialog with CR has gone no further at this point, and I sort of cringe at the thought of trying to bail them out of their current reputation destruction with more low cost remasters for them. I mean, what am I supposed to do, slip them secretly remastered CD's for the box sets so the second pressing would be better like I did for that Toyah 'Mayhem' CD back in 2006 that was garbage? It would be tempting but they just should have used proper sources to begin with. But one thing is for sure, I would not hand them over any release ideas I've been contemplating for my own label.

Re: BOW WOW WOW - YOUR BOX SET PET ~ THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS

PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 9:12 pm
by Sean
Slow Children, please release that Scott!!!