The Who - My Generation Japanese CD box set *

I think I will wait and buy the single mono disc when it comes out. Looks worthwhile.

 

I've got my order in at HMV.co.jp for the single disc version

They ship by EMS so it should get here sometime next week

Also, my Amazon.ca order arrived with MMBB, Who's Next and Who's Missing, so a lot more listening and comparing will get done soon.


Wow, that makes my Who collection:

My Generation (2008 Japan Polydor Remaster)
My Generation (Deluxe)
The Who Sings My Generation (Old MCA)
A Quick One (Japan Polydor - Mono)
A Quick One (1995 Mono Remaster)
A Quick One (2003 Stereo Remaster)
I'm A Boy (Japan Polydor Mini-LP)
The Who Sell Out (Japan Polydor - Stereo)
The Who Sell Out (Remaster)
The Who Sell Out (Japan Polydor Mini-LP)
Direct Hits (Japan Polydor Mini-LP)
Magic Bus (Old MCA)
Tommy (1st press WG Polydor)
Tommy (Remaster)
Tommy (Deluxe)
Live At Leeds (Japan for US MCA)
Live At Leeds (Japan Polydor)
Live At Leeds (Remaster)
Live At Leeds (Deluxe)
Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (Sanctuary)
Who's Next (Canadian MCA)
Who's Next (BMG Club Hoffman MCA)
Who's Next (Remaster)
Who's Next (Deluxe)
Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy (MCA)
Odds & Sods (Remaster)
Quadraphenia Soundtrack (US Polydor - Original Mix)
Quadraphenia Soundtrack (Remaster)
The Kids Are Alright (Remaster)
Rarities 1966-1973 (Japan Polydor)
The Singles (WG Polydor)
Who's Missing (MCA)
Two's Missing (MCA)
Who's Better Who's Best (MCA)
Who's Better Who's Best (WG Polydor)
30 Years Of Maximum R&B
BBC Sessions
My Generation - The Very Best Of The Who
The Ultimate Collection

 

Looks like it's real and released!

Here's a photo of the single disc remaster (A Brunswick logo would have been a nice touch):

 

My double CD is on its way to Germany(just received a mail)!

 

New generation

My Generation Box [Cardboard Sleeve] [SHM-CD] [Limited Release] Release Date: 25-Jun-2008 - Deluxe edition cardboard sleeve box set for The Who's debut album "My Generation Set features two high quality SHM-CDs (compatible with standard CD players) with the first ever release worldwide of the original UK mono recordings of the album plus

 

Got a ship notice this am.

 

Originally Posted by Matthew B.
"The long-unavailable mono master of My Generation reappeared in 2002, when Shel Talmy did his stereo remix of the album. After Talmy completed the stereo master for the My Generation Deluxe Edition, all of the tapes he possessed at that time were handed over to Universal in L.A. Those tapes contained the same mono mixes released on LP in 1965, together with the additional bonus tracks we've included here. (All of these were 1965 mixdowns from the same three-track half-inch masters used for the stereo remixes.) In L.A., Barney Grandman [?? 'Baanii Gurandoman'] carefully transferred them to 24bit/96kHz files, using Ampex 350 tube electronics equipment with a full-track mono head. I imported those tracks to a SADiE 5 system, and with just a tiny bit of Weiss EQ, I performed the remastering."

— Jon Astley

I guess I should not have bought the MG Japanese CD that was made available just last year, at the time of the Japanese Sell Out mono and Magic Bus cd releases, etc...

Maybe it will be interesting to hear what the mastering differences might be -using the same tapes - between the stereo MG Deluxe, and this "new" mono master? Will it be possible that these same mono mixes that are said to have been used for the lp, be the definitive digital MG mono release? What tapes did Classic Records use when they mastered for their lp release? These same tapes?

 

The DE didn't use the mono tapes, except perhaps for the 2 mono bonus tracks. It used the (incomplete) 3-track tapes.

I'd assume Classic used the "new" mono tapes.

 

Ok. Thank you. I wonder then too if the mono masters were used for those two mono bonus tracks on MG Deluxe? So Shel Talmy had both the 3-track tapes, which he mixed to stereo, and the mono master with which the 1965 lp was made? He, or the Who camp/label, decided to use the three-track tapes to mix to stereo, at the time, and not do a MG Mono Master release, until now?

 

It's a bit murky, but the Jon Astley quote would seem to indicate the mono tapes came from Talmy.

Obviously the big deal with the DE was it was (for the most part) first time stereo. The only way the mono tapes would have been used is if they would have done a dual mono/stereo release.

 

Disc Two (stereo)

01. Out in the Street
02. I Don't Mind (full-length version)
03. The Good's Gone (full-length version)
04. La-La-La-Lies
05. Much Too Much
06. My Generation
07. The Kids Are Alright
08. Please Please Please
09. It's Not True
10. I'm a Man
11. A Legal Matter
12. The Ox
13. I Can't Explain
14. Bald Headed Woman
15. Anyway Anyhow Anywhere (alternate version)
16. Daddy Rolling Stone
17. Anytime You Want Me
18. Shout and Shimmy
19. Circles
20. Instant Party Mixture
21. Leaving Here (alternate version)
22. Lubie (Come Back Home)
23. Heat Wave
24. Motoring

Isn't all of this already available on MG Deluxe?

 

It looks like it, yes. What about it?

 

Well, just that it's disc two of this new Japanes MG box set, and so I figure I will only need disc one for the original mono master tape used for the lp and for some of the mono bonus tracks. I suppose I will go ahead and order this single disc from Japan, rather than wait to see if it will be released elsewhere.

 

Yeah, you're right, it was that whole idea of a stereo mix that had fans excited, and that was what was being advertised.

 

That's my plan!

 

I picked up a copy of the mono disc during lunch today. Astley's original message is given in the CD booklet; if you want to see what it looked like before going from English to Japanese and back to English again, here's the relevant portion in his own wording:

Some more detail, translated from Inubushi Isao's liner notes. On "Leaving Here," "Lubie," "Heat Wave" and "Motoring":

On the alternate "Circles":

So far I've only listened to two or three tracks at work. More thoughts anon. I'll say for now that those liner notes aren't just hyperbole; the new "Circles" is a lot more interesting than what they actually released.

 

A lot of that makes more sense.

What is different about Circles? And how does the regular mix of Circles sound? The one on the old MCA CD always sounded like a disc dub...

 

I haven't A/Bed this with the MCA, but the regular "Circles" still sounds kind of ratty. The new alternate is cleaner. It has a guitar solo overdub in that patch around 2:30 where the original isn't doing much of anything. Backing vocals are more prominent. There might be some bass overdubs too; the EQ is completely different, and the bass is a lot higher.

 

Is the horn present?

 

Yes.

 

Cool. This actually sounds pretty interesting.

 

How is the mastering? Smiley faced? NR'd? Brickwalled?

 

can you post a sound sample?

 

Matthew, did you picked it up at Disk Union shibuya ? I think I may have crossed you yesterday

 

The mono disc is loud (and limited) but not brick-walled. If you've heard Astley's mono Sell Out, you have an idea of what you're in for. I don't hear NR.

The EQ isn't a dramatic departure from the old MCA The Who Sings My Generation CD, but it's a little bright. (The MCA was a little dull.) The bass is also often lower than I'd prefer. Some tracks sound fine; others are somewhat harsh.

And none of these defects matter that much, because it's audibly from a better source tape than any other CD.

Samples of "My Generation" and "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" are here.