Pre-1975 catalog reissues from Japan
 

The CD reissues from Japan have arrived, and they're great. But I think only audiophiles will really appreciate them. The albums are produced with SHM (Super High Material) CD technology, developed by Universal and JVC. No remastering, but what you get is clearer, fuller sound similar to the SACDs (Super Audio CDs) released in the early 2000s. I compared the reissues to my old discs and there are some noticeable differences. To the casual listener, the recordings will seem louder. But, unless you're a sound purist, you may not notice any difference.

The CDs all come in cardboard sleeves, some of them are gatefolds, and include lyrics and original artwork. For that alone, they have some collector's value.

Is there any way you could post some pics of these (inner sleeves, CD labels in particular)? I'm highly curious how these turned out, as I won't be getting mine before October...

Here are the scans for Mystery to Me. The others follow this format... Cardboard sleeve, "obi" wrapper, classic Reprise logo design, mock vinyl sleeve (with Reprise advertisements), plastic sleeve to hold the CD, and lyric booklet.

http://stevienicksinfo.files.wordpre...-cover-sni.jpg

http://stevienicksinfo.files.wordpre...e-back-sni.jpg

http://stevienicksinfo.files.wordpre...-inner-sni.jpg

http://stevienicksinfo.files.wordpre...-me-cd-sni.jpg

http://stevienicksinfo.files.wordpre...lyrics-sni.jpg

thanks for these pics - the japanese arm of warner seems to have done a nice job, as always. i like that they bothered to include the lyric sheet and what looks like an inner sleeve. i hope the rest of the fm catalogue will get this treatment as well, incl. the original, slightly over-the-top tusk vinyl edition...

Someone over at the Steve Hoffman forums ran scans of the sound on these for comparison to the original CDs, and determined they are no different than the originals, except the volume is turned up 15% on some and 25% on others.

I personally don't know one way or the other.

I will say the packaging is nice, though.

Yeah, definitely no remastering. But the recording is fuller. I won't say louder because that connotes a different and negative meaning in terms of CD mastering these days. I'm not sure if this was the result of the type of disc that was used or if the volume levels were adjusted during the mastering process. I don't think the SHM format will catch on, just like the SACD format never caught on. The differences just aren't striking enough to the average music listener.

Reading the katakana I'm just appreciating how difficult the group's name would be for Japanese to speak. Sort of like this: Fureetawud Maku. If there were a cover band there that would sing Japanese translations of the original songs I would buy that! I'll bet Hypnotized and Rhiannon would sound particularly great, and Green Manalishi too.

I wish the SHM or SACD would become standard, and I'm not sure why it hasn't, especially since they play in standard players. I have all of the Depeche Mode remasters in SACD and they sound brilliant.

Always loved the MTM inner sleeve photo. :nod: Everyone looked great on that.

I honestly have no experience with the SACD/SHM formats, so nothing to say about it. :shrug:

was that pic taken inside the house they were all living in at the time?

No mystery here
 

I only have the EU CD right now but Japanese CDs are always streets ahead of the rest! Stevie is the only one who counts here that I have from there (actually an early US CD) I would get the other '70s CDs this way if I could manage. Rhino hasn't released any remasters of the albums from the first half of the decade yet Warner Japan have which is the case for some others in the catalogue depending on who has the rights for certain parts of the world. There should've been a dedication to Messrs Welch and Weston in there.