|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I was transferring some of these today to the fat iPod I blew my life's savings on. I couldn't help but be floored by the sonics on the Goldfinger-through-Live And Let Die phase of the project. It seems as if Lukas Kendall waited his whole lifetime to get access to these tapes, and didn't waste the opportunity to make the best of the Bonds sound the best. I recall how unbelieving I was when Lukas declared that On Her Majesty's Secret Service was, in his opinion, the best of them all. He convinced me in 2003. Happily the holdovers from the Rykodisc Bonds didn't disappoint compared to the newer transfers and masterings. I was wondering how fellow Barry-and-Bond aficionados regarded these discs--even the straight re-transfers of existing masters--after over ten years with them.
|
|
|
|
|
I cherish those CDs - and I am still annoyed that no label got the permission to continue with expanding and remastering the remaining Bond scores.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The expansions really scratched an itch that had been there for most of my life. They sounded better than the EMI releases, and the additional music was fantastic, particularly in cases like Thunderball and Diamonds Are Forever where the original album didn't do the score justice. I listen to these all the time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS! .........Perfection says it all! LICENCE TO KILL is LONG overdue!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Feb 6, 2016 - 6:18 AM
|
|
|
By: |
Spymaster
(Member)
|
A fantastic set of remasters/expansions. Diamonds Are Forever being the most stunning revelation (the original album overdosed on source music at the expense of the amazing, recurring action theme!) with You Only Live Twice and OHMSS not far behind. Goldfinger and Thunderball sound glorious (with several dropouts finally fixed on the latter). A View To A Kill was over-mastered and sounds better on the Japanese CD. FYEO and The Living Daylights - excellent re-issues. A few annoying crossfades on both, and TLD isn't quite complete, but very nice jobs overall. Sure they could be presented more definitely - with full score/album presentations or whatever - but I understand the legal complexities around their production and appreciate that Lukas etc really pushed the parameters of what they could get away with (especially on DAF!) There's a slight mixing change in LALD - Solitaire Gets Her Cards - where a powerful percussion roll is mixed lower than on the original release - that's always kind of bugged me, but that's just a personal thing. The only negative aspect, and I've voiced this several times, was the sloppy packaging. Awful, sloppy typos on almost all of them! A minor point, maybe, but it cheapened the "products" slightly. "May Day Jumpers"... "The Chase Bond Theme" indeed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS! .........Perfection says it all! Actually, that one was expanded earlier by RykoDisc.
|
|
|
|
|
The real problem is, of course, that we need ALL of them. A change of the situation seems highly unlikely, though, especially since UMG re-issued the original albums on LP and as HD downloads (I've not heard the newer ones, but "Goldfinger" sounds stunning!) quite recently.
|
|
|
|
|
I also listen to these disc on regular basis, and the quality blows me away each time (as does the music). Indeed, the Japanese 'A View To A Kill' sounds much better, the reason i held on to it, and 'Moonraker' still sounds lousy. Still waiting, and hoping that one day, the rest get the same treatment.
|
|
|
|
|
I only started collecting them last year when I rewatched all the films for the first time since high school. Got most of them now, but FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and THUNDERBALL are proving tricky to track down for a reasonable price, though.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ooooh, hadn't checked in a while, thanks for that. FRWL is pricey through Amazon, but there's now plenty of Marketplace sellers putting it up for cheap. Definitely wasn't the case a month or two ago. My girlfriend ordered YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE through Amazon for my birthday last April, but they couldn't fulfill it. I told her to keep the order open and they finally dispatched it just after Christmas.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I think the prices rose when the disks were deleted and then somewhat dropped when the downloads were made available. They are possibly up again. It's a true shame - these should never be out of print. Ironically, many of them are now available on LP (without the bonus tracks, of course)...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|