The Who - My Generation Japanese CD box set *

Heh. No, I'm up in Saitama. I got mine in Kita-Urawa.

 

thanks for the samples. the My Generation samples sounds very close if not identical to the japanese version that came out in the cardboard sleeve last year to my ears on my laptop via decent headphones anyway....

do you have that one? was also part of a 5 cd box set of cardboard reissues using different album covers....how would you compare them sonically if you have both...?

 

The mini-LP with the alternate "girl with jacket" cover art? That disc was sourced from the MCA CD, believe it or not. They changed the EQ a tiny bit and digitally cleaned up some of the clicks and static.

I don't have that disc to hand right now, but I do have the MCA, and I think the new disc sounds sharper. And also — though I'm going from memory here — while "My Generation" had some added bass on the mini-LP compared with the MCA, I don't recall it having this much bass.

 

Thanks for the samples Matthew, I can't wait for mine to arrive!

It's awesome that Astley has learned to keep off his NR button

 

yes the girl on the cover art copy. why am I not surprised to read it was sourced from a CD? how else to do an over priced re-issue, oh right, they'll get it right and put it out again next year in a new box...man, the fans get fleeced...paid a good coin for that box as well, i'm not getting this box though, starting to really feel fleeced from this particular groups first album...what, I've bought it half a dozen times now? in multiple formats...its great but sheez....when will the definitive version be released i wonder...

 

If you've got the My Generation Deluxe Edition from 2002 there's no need to buy the (overly expensive) Japanese box, just get the $20 single disc version. It's as definitive as we're going to get...

Look at it this way:

- Sourced from the 1st gen masters
- All vintage mono mixes, some previously unreleased
- Decent sound (I can't detect any NR or digital clipping on Matthew's samples)

 

I just got an email indicating my 2 CD set of this has shipped. I'll post my thoughts once it arrives.

 

hahaha...i will probably get the single disc, the completist in me wants the box....

 

Other than the outtakes, is the Classic vinyl sourced from the same masters?

 

Yes. And Bernie Grundman Mastering did the transfer for that one too ... I wonder if the digital files Astley worked from were actually prepared back in 2005.

 

Hi, all. I'm still a newbee on this board.

2 days ago I bought mine(single disc one) in Tokyo and I agree with Matthew's comments regarding limit/brickwall/NR.

I'm curious to know where Matthew got this info. According to the liner notes of the Japanese papersleeve CD(out in 2007), "US owned monaural mastertape" was used for 24bit remastering at the time. Thanks.

 

Well i would think this would be a dub of the master, if its a US tape copy....

 

I almost bought the single CD today, but backed off. I still have time before I leave. I realise several Who fans or just music fans are on this board living in Tokyo or around, I'm wondering if you guys would fancy a meet up in pub, just to chat our finds and perhaps exchange good shops adresses ? PM me or maybe I'll start a thread.

 

The confirmation is from the disc itself. If you get hold of one of the old mono MCAs and compare it with the 2007 mini-LP, you'll notice they sound extremely similar. Suggestive, but it doesn't actually prove anything. But if you extract the digital information and compare it in an audio editor, the wave forms line up perfectly. I checked five tracks before I got bored. In four of them, the audio from the two CDs sychronised exactly from beginning to end; in the fifth, it was only one digital sample off.

Two separate digital transfers from an analogue tape will never match this exactly. Even if you're transferring from the same tape under the same conditions, it's pretty much impossible — never mind two transfers with different equipment 20 years apart. Either the mini-LP comes from the MCA CD, or both come from a common digital source. I'm not sure what kind of data storage MCA was using in 1988, but it wouldn't have been 24-bit.

I've read the mini-LP liner notes, and Universal Japan is lying — or at least, choosing their words with deliberate intent to deceive. (I should check — do they actually say they sourced the disc from an American "masutātēpu," or just an American "masutā"?) It's possible that they did convert the data to 24-bit to fiddle with it before converting it back down to 16-bit, but that wouldn't add resolution that wasn't there to begin with.

 

well quite interesting, thanks for the detective work.

 

Matthew, thank you for your explanation.
Now I feel more inclined to stand for your theory.

The liner notes use just "master", not "mastertape", all the way.

Hmm, interesting.

 

Well I bit the bullet and ordered the CD from Japan. I am looking forward to this one!

 

Has anyone got their 2-CD version yet?

Anything unique on the second disc?

 

I checked out all the alternate covers at Disk Union, thought I didn't listened to the second disc. My bet is that unless you are totally crazed collector, the single disc will do. The box isn't that much sexy, and in the end, you'll probably only get one or two variant exclusives from the second disc, hardly worth the price. The sleeves look great thought, but they should have included a CD in each one (and apparently, there's only two CDs in the box, correct me if I'm wrong).

 

PS : So no Who gaijin fan want to fancy a beer in a Kirin City in tokyo while I'm there and exchange a few good tips ? I'm bummed.

 

The two CD Set is just great IMO!

 

According to the back of the box (which also shows images of all the included sleeves), the second box is just the stereo mixes from the 2002 Deluxe Edition. I'd still be curious to know, if anyone can compare, whether those mixes were remastered, and whether they sound better than the redbook layer of the Deluxe.

I'd also be curious to hear any comparisons of the mono disc with the Classic Records vinyl version.

 

The more I read about this set of disks the less interested I am in purchasing this product. Is the mono source better than the old US "The Who Sing My Generation"? Or is it just another Japanese superior packaging marketing initiative designed to seperate me from my hard earned money? The comments about an alternate "Circles" were interesting, but the price tag for one rare track seems excessive.

 

Well, first off, it's seven rare tracks — besides the alternate "Circles," you've got the mono mixes of "I'm a Man," "Daddy Rolling Stone," "Leaving Here," "Lubie," "Heat Wave" and "Motoring." None of that's been out on legitimate CD before. Most of it hasn't been out, period. ("Bald Headed Woman" and the long "The Kids Are Alright" arguably qualify as "rare" as well.)

And yes, the mono source is better than the old MCA The Who Sing My Generation CD. Less tape hiss (without NR), more definition. "The Good's Gone" runs at slightly different speed — perhaps MCA's tape was stretched. To be very clear, the new disc is not an audiophile mastering. Peaks are limited. The EQ is not always ideal. I still like it better than the MCA.

I certainly don't recommend buying the complete box set. The price tag for the mono disc is less than $20 U.S.

 

How much is due to the mastering, and how much is the original recordings? When comparing Circles yesterday, I noticed there was almost no dynamic range on the old MCA CD. The alt version on the new CD is *louder*, but it didn't look much more compressed.