Well... the re-release of D&D has hit the shelves of our local JB Hi-Fi, this morning! And... the Oils' webpage has been updated to accomodate the new release!
Well... on first impression, what can you say??
The Fan:
Yes. Veddy nice. Tenk you veddy much.
The Train-spotter:
Um, yeah. Sounds OK... but what about all the extra stuff?
There's nothing that I don't have already!
The Uber-Geek:
Oh, fer fuck's sake. 26 bucks for 46 minutes? Are you kidding? The sticker on the front says "Limited Edition bonus DVD"... meaning that at some point this will be cut from the package and probably be released as a cut-price, stand-alone DVD (if I know Sony). So, I suppose we ARE getting something extra, for our buck. Annnddd... it did include Gunbarrel Highway. Wow.
Package - It's a 3-fold digi-pack with everything re-scanned from the original package. Booklet likewise re-scanned from original with new type-setting. No big deal.
It will be interesting to see what they do when they slip it back to a single-disk release when the 'limited edition' runs out (ie - will have to remove one tray, so sleeve will have to be re-made, 1/3 chopped off or just 'squashed' to fit).
AUDIO CD:-
The booklet mentions:
"RE-MASTERED by BOB LUDWIG at Gateway Mastering, Portland September 2007.
With special thanks to Warne Livesey."
No mention of Jim or anyone else's involvement. Curious.
The CDDB (Gracenote / iTunes) brings this up as the same ID as the original CD release. Since Gracenote works on a code built from the length of the tracks partnered with the length of the breaks between tracks, to give a CD it it's identity, then a completed master (of the whole album) was used. ie - no new work, here, just 'processing' the final-assembly master tape (which is at least one gen down from the individual track masters).
I didn't actually compare, 1-1, because I couldn't be arsed, until tomorrow. CDDB is good enough for me, right now.
There's nice separation between the different layers of audio. Vocals nicely @ front. The bass & mid-tones are more defined (and I can hear all the words from Pete & the back-up vocals without having to resort to the lyrics sheet). Brass is nice & clean.
Ultimately, the quiet passages come off the best. Put Down That Weapon, Dreamworld (!), Arctic World, Warakurna and Bullroarer all benefit as a result, much punchier and cleaner and a much better sense of space between the instruments. Since the original tape hiss isn't apparent, i've got to presume that a fair degree of noise reduction was applied. I think that shows with some digi-distortion in a couple of the quieter passages. Maybe not... I could be wrong... maybe it's supposed to sound like that? Anyway, a lot of stuff that was lost in the previous mix is now a lot more apparent... like guitars & vocals. And... there's all these special effects that I don't remember hearing in the original release!
OK. I've probably been spoiled by the Capricornia release but is it too much to ask for this to be done as a Dual Disk with standard release on one side & 5.1 on the other?
Capricornia is superb in it's full (DTS ES 6.1) glory. Diesel and Dust could have been, as well. Annndddd... we could have had the original flat stereo spectrum as well as a fully spatial 5.1/6.1 version.
Have a look at the Talking Heads re-releases for what could have been. They have it all.
DVD:-
The DVD has an unusual sequence, when I play it through my machine.
Black Fella / White Fella starts with a quote from Rob then segues into the clip for The Dead Heart which is the lead-in for the documentary.
Also included are the clips for The Dead Heart and Beds Are Burning. However, when you access the clip for TDH, it starts at the tail end of Rob's quote, from the documentary, and then slides into the clip from the start of BF/WF and stops on the last frame before the documentary gets going. Nice.
Why no clips for Dreamworld or Put Down That Weapon?? Oh yes... 20KWRSL.
Justin - nice job on the colour grading. Who was cloning out the dags in the film stock? ; )
This is a PAL release and I presume Sony has a NTSC version just waiting in the wings for the US unveiling.
The DVD was mastered at Sony Australia (Hi Wayne!) and runs 66.23 mins. It also has the aforementioned TDH and D&D 'clips' and a credits roll-through. Didn't find any eggs on first run.
Ummm... nice to see this, again, after so long out of print.
With all the push to move the consumer to hi-res and large-screen formats, I would have thought Sony would have been particularly keen to give us something that would come up well on large-screen plasma / lcds (yeah, right). Not so. View this one on your computer monitors. With the push to spend money on the 'great leap forward', led by Sony with their accomplished Blu-Ray product, you'd think that they would be aware of the trends in current audio and video releases? Maybe they'll fix this in 2 years time when this is offered, again, in their new music/video standard (Blu-Ray-A / Blu-Ray-Super?¿?) and they gouge another 30 - 50 bucks out of us for stuff we already have. At least Elvis Costello always offers demos, alternates or a live show when he re-re-re-releases product (ie - new stuff we haven't already got!).
All up? Underwhelming.
I'm probably going to get bollocksed for this... but I actually think I was quite restrained and polite. : )
Bring it on. Share the lurve.
What do YOU think of the package?
- lurk.
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