Thompson Twins "Boxset"

[omar]

Just saw this listed on Amazonuk. includes Set,Quick Step,Into The Gap,Future Days and Close To The Bone. Looks like a budget priced release .

[discoginfo]

Well there was this Box Set in 2009
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thompson-Twins- ... 334&sr=1-6
It features the five first albums as 2008 remastered CDs with bonus tracks. Proper jewel cases with proper booklets.

And now this new one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Album- ... 334&sr=1-5

Yes at that price surely a budget release, not sure about bonus tracks and booklets. /JW
http://www.discog.info/thompson-twins.html

[obs]

Regarding the new "Original Album Classics" boxset, it seems other releases from this series came in just card sleeves, with no booklets.

Eg. here is the Cyndi Lauper one:
http://www.discogs.com/release/2246300
Others @ http://www.discogs.com/label/Original+Album+Classics

You're better off getting the eight-disc Edsel set, although it doesn't include Close to the Bone.

[Rubellan]

The big question is..., will "Set" actually be remastered from tapes this time or just a rehash of the attrocious vinyl transfer from the Edsel reissue? This was such an insult, especially when they had pictures of the master tape boxes in the packaging.

[BigManRestless]

[quote][i]Originally posted by obs[/i]
<br>
You're better off getting the eight-disc Edsel set, although it doesn't include Close to the Bone.
[/quote]

That's another plus then

[obs]

Hmm, good question regarding the mastering of Set. It might be worth buying if it were original tape transfers.

And regarding Close to the Bone, i was thinking something similar when I posted before [:D].

[4play]

After the debacle that was the Edsel release of Product & Set...my only interest in this is getting a proper release of Set. That was unlistenable and that's putting it mildly. Hopefully Sony sourced Aristas original digital transfers or used a stereo master used for cutting the original records. Seems unlikely if this is a budget release.

I'll wait and see if they just copied parts of the original Edsel release...let's hope not!

[Neil Kelly]

Well i've had my copy for some time so i'm guessing others have too. 'Set' doesn't sound great to me. Can anyone confirm it is the same as the Edsel version from 2008 (i think). Was that really an attrotious vinyl transfer? I heard this years ago but cannot believe that they could do this when there was pictures of the masters on the artwork. Some people have even claimed that some of those sets used MP3's from Russia as i seem to remember. I was very happy with the sets at the time probably as i didn't pay much attention to detail back then. I always presumed (wrongly of course) that a remastered CD issue was always of excellent quality. I knew nothing back then at the true extent of the incompetence of the labels and stuff like brickwalling. I didn't realise that one of those double editions, 'Into the gap' (Disc two) i think, had an error on it. I only requested the new and updated disc about 9 months ago which i was pleased to see was replaced.

[obs]

[i]> Some people have even claimed that some of those sets used MP3's from Russia as i seem to remember.[/i]

This is a complete load of shit that was reported by http://www.sharoma.com/ttwins/

I ran auCDtect scans on all the Edsel CDs, and only the CD that failed was disc one of Future Days. However, I also have the non-remastered Future Days CD (two different versions/pressings), and they all report that the majority of the tracks were MPG-sourced, meaning that the problem lies with the original masters. Now, auCDtect isn't 100%, but I will take that evidence over unfounded rumours on the internet.

[Neil Kelly]

Lol obs that's exactly where i read that information i remember that still. Glad that it would appear that claim to not be the actual case. Don't have a clue what auCDtect is TBH. Disc one of ... future days failed. So what does that mean? Sorry to not be up on these things. For that matter i'm not gonna lie and admit i don't know what MPG-sourced means technically either

[obs]

I'm not sure of all the technical stuff on how auCDtect works, but it scans the ripped .wav file of the track ... I guess it examines all the frequencies ... and from that info, decides whether or not it is from an MPEG (MPEG layer 3 -> MP3) source or if it looks to be from a CD source.

A lot of the tracks on the Edsel "Here's to Future Days" show up as being MPEG quality. But I have two different pressings of "... Future Days" CDs, and lots of those tracks showed up as being MPEG quality too, so my conclusion is that this "MPEG quality" is from the original master tapes.

If the Edsel CDs were indeed mastered from MP3s, then all the tracks on all the CDs would show up as being MPEG quality. The thing is, the dude at the Sharoma site didn't even give any specifics or evidence.

[AlwaysSaturday]

I received my copy of Original Album Classics in the mail a couple days ago, and it's a solid collection in terms of casual listening in my vehicle and at home without an in-depth mastering analysis. The songs are loud enough to be played at normal volume, and there are no defects evident to my ears.

As with the other Original Album Classics sets, these five albums come in cardboard sleeves with no booklet. The writing on the back of each cardboard sleeve is nearly illegible, since it's basically a smaller copy of the original album sleeve.

I was never a full-tilt Thompson Twins fan back in the day, but I did love all of the singles, and I had a cassette tape copy of Here's To Future Days. I've had an itch to listen to that album again, and, when I saw this Original Album Classics for less than the price of one single import remaster of Here's To Future Days, I jumped on it.

I'm not sure if I would recommend this to a seriously-devoted fan of Thompson Twins, as there are probably more thorough sets out there like the ones referenced in this thread. If you're like me, though, and you want the five albums that you used to hear on the radio here in the U.S., this set suffices quite well.

I used these five CDs in the box set to make an 80-minute CD-R mix of my favorite Thompson Twins songs, along with a download of the "Nothing In Common" single that I used a free Amazon mp3 credit to get. 99% of the time, this CD-R will be what I pick up when I'm up for listening to the band.

Maybe it's because I had it on cassette back then, but the album that sounds best to my ears today is Here's to Future Days. Most people seem to like Quick Step or Into The Gap more, and the singles from those albums are outstanding. Here's to Future Days has a fun randomness to it, though, when it comes to the variety of musical styles...sort of like a second-tier incarnation of The Cure's Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me.

[Sean]

[quote][i]I didn't realise that one of those double editions, 'Into the gap' (Disc two) i think, had an error on it. I only requested the new and updated disc about 9 months ago which i was pleased to see was replaced.
[/quote]

Who did you request the replacement cd from? Did any of the other Thompson Twins releases need replacing? I know I read this in another thread but totally forgot about it.

[Neil Kelly]

Damn just seen that that question was aimed at me! I can't remember who it was now i got the info from another site. It was only that disc. Track 5 i think. I could barely tell the difference TBH. Looking on Amazon (as no track listing on that useless HMV site) i think it was track 3 You take me up (machines take me over)

[obs]

I received the Original Album Classics set a few days ago. Haven't had time to compare it in detail yet, but looking at the wave of In the Name of Love, it is different from the Edsel one. [b]However[/b], it seems to have come from the same source (!), as you can hear the same vinyl surface noises near the beginning of the track.

I then took a secure FLAC rip of Ghostbusters and listened to that version of In the Name of Love (all with headphones, of course). No v vinyl surface noises.

So my conclusion is that Sony just took the Edsel CD, ripped it, and re-EQed it. The other tracks on Set did not have vinyl noises.

Into the Gap had an AccurateRip score of 27, whereas the other albums were not in the AR database, so they used the same CD master as a previously released pressing.

Here's to Future Days seems louder than Into the Gap, so maybe this was sourced from the Edsel remastering, as well.

Again, I haven't done any in-depth testing/listening yet.


edit// Forgot to mention ... This is the first time I bought one of these Original Album Classics, and I have to say that the packaging isn't all that bad. Okay, it would be nice to have a booklet or five, but other than that, I like it.

Instead of those boxsets that require you to remove a lid, you have easy access to the individual cardsleeved CDs. They used quality scans for the replica sleeves, too, unlike the Superfecta release of Quick Step. It looks like they took the DE pressings of the vinyls, except for Quick Step, in which they took a JP pressing. The CDs themselves have generic, and ugly, Arista Original Album Classics graphics.

I still haven't had time to compare sound quality yet, but I would recommend the Edsel set over this one, unless you really want Close to the Bone (which is probably nobody). However, if you're a TT fan, also picking this up for $20 isn't too bad.