Hi Everyone. Im sure that this has been posted elsewhere but with the music world going Beatles mad and the news about the Kraftwerk reissues I was wondering if the Bowie 1999 LP remasters are worth getting. Owning the 1990 Ryko reissues I have never bothered getting the 1999 set but after listening to the superbly remastered Joshua Tree by U2, how diferent are the 1999 Bowie to the 1990 set and are the forthoming SO 40th and STS based on the 1999 version or are they newly remastered again. Thanks everyone

I can't tell much difference between the Ryko and EMI. The EMI remasters are already 10 years old, I was disappointed EMI removed all the bonus tracks from the albums. When David's contract expires with EMI in 2 or 3 years, I can't remember the date, i'm sure we will get another round of remasters.

Ryko wins for me.

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I'm like a one-eyed cat, peepin' in a seafood store.....
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Has indeed been discussed before.

The EMI remasters and Ryko remasters are sound very different to each other.
Personally I prefer the EMI remasters. I find the sound of Ryko's too cold.
The EMI's sound warmer and I like the better instrument-separation on these
cd's. Unfortunately the bonus tracks are not available on the EMI's.
The only problem I have with the EMI's is that the soundlevel can sometimes
get a little too uncomfortable to my ears although the remasters don't
suffer from the "loudness-war". I'm not sure whether the sound quality can
be improved more. I doubt it though. Well, maybe a future 24 bit 192kHz
release on Blu-Ray (or whatever format is around by then...) will give us
the ultimate sound quality. We will see.

Apart from the Ryko and EMI 1999 remaster we can expect next month a new
remaster for Space Oddity. This one should sound more like the original
vinyl album. So maybe an improvement is still possible? Will all the
albums get the same "new" treatment? If that's the case, they can keep on
burying us in remasters...

Did the remasters really kick off with Young Americans? Is the CD version a new mix- or the 1999 mix?

According to the booklet of the 2007 YA edition:

5.1 surround sound mixes by Tony Visconti - 2007

Stereo Mixes - all tracks 1975 except track 9 (John I'm only dancing (again) 1979,
track 10 (Who Can I Be Now?) 1991 and track 11 (It's gonna be me (with strings)) 2007.

So, the only difference of stereo mix of YA on the 1999 compared to the 2007 edition is
that on the DVD the stereo mix is 24bit 96kHz. CD's are limited to 16bit audio.

Thanks for the YA info.

I don't really know what I expect from "new editions" of Bowie's back catalog.

Improved sound is nice- but I think I want completion more than anything.

I want good sound, missing tacks and singles, documentaries, live shows, and art all in one package.

Was there film shot for Station To Station? There was, wasn't there?

For the Christine F film? Miming to a live version of STS from Stage?

For me the Ryko ones win. EMI left bits of songs out on ZS (the only one I got) so I avoided them.