Achtung Baby/ Zooropa remaster/ reissue - Part V/Five

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Firstly, I am NOT, NOT, NOT, trying to stir up the "remastered" debate again.

The deluxe version of Achtung Baby is now on iTunes, with the claim that it has been "mastered for iTunes." Has anyone actually downloaded the album from iTunes? Just curious as to whether they would dynamically compress it to sound "better" on iPod earbuds or something. Or is that just marketing bullshit?

masteredforitunes.jpg
 
Friends,

Question about the Super Deluxe,
Are the discs kept in a holder identical to the uber-box?
You know the 6 cds in one and the 4 dvds in another, thanks!!!

I`m expecting my copy of the superdeluxe this week, can`t wait.

Cheers,

Mauwer

p.s. any video on youtube of the unwrapping of the superdeluxe like the Uber?
 
Recieved my deluxe boxset this morning very nice set.its big and has some fair weight to it.the cds are actually inside the book behind the front and back covers.theres a fair bit of writing in the book aswell.well worth 75 pounds i think.
 
Mauwer said:
Friends,

Question about the Super Deluxe,
Are the discs kept in a holder identical to the uber-box?
You know the 6 cds in one and the 4 dvds in another, thanks!!!

I`m expecting my copy of the superdeluxe this week, can`t wait.

Cheers,

Mauwer

p.s. any video on youtube of the unwrapping of the superdeluxe like the Uber?
Click to expand...

There's photos floating around (I think the link is in part 4 of this topic) that unbox the Super Deluxe, and it appears that the book in the super deluxe has special pages that hold the CDs and DVDs.
 
Mauwer said:
Friends,

Question about the Super Deluxe,
Are the discs kept in a holder identical to the uber-box?
You know the 6 cds in one and the 4 dvds in another, thanks!!!

I`m expecting my copy of the superdeluxe this week, can`t wait.

Cheers,

Mauwer

p.s. any video on youtube of the unwrapping of the superdeluxe like the Uber?
Click to expand...

I found a video of the unpacking of the superdeluxe on youtube
Achtung Baby Super Deluxe 20th anniversary Edition Unboxing - YouTube

Cheers ,

Mauwer
 
Got it yesterday the Super-Deluxe edition ,jesus its heavy:hmm:
 
Aaaaaaaaaaaand the Super Deluxe is now hiked up to $125.99 on release date.

I am so glad that I pre-ordered it. Started at 117.98 which I thought was reasonable, but because of Amazon's fantastic pre-order guarantee policy, I was able to get it for $115.96 :drool:


Also, I can't stop playing Blow Your House Down. It's been on repeat all week. I am loving it so much. :love::love:
 
Can someone describe the video contents a little more?

I'm mostly curious about the "Bonus Material" DVD:

MTV Rockumentary
- Is this "Rockumentary" the "Interference from Zoo TV" that has already been released twice? (On the Sydney DVD and the Achtung home-video.)

MTV’s “Most Wanted – ZooTV Special”
U2 on TV-AM, 1992
- I've never heard of these before. Can anyone describe them? What year is Most Wanted from?

U2 on Naked City, 1993
- Just saw this on YouTube. Had never heard of this either, but some of the footage was mixed into the Sydney DVD "Fistful of Zoo TV".

ZOO TV SPECIAL – a documentary
- I gather from the thread that this is the TV special broadcast in the fall of '92, "Zoo TV Featuring U2" sans WLCTT.

And on the Videos DVD:
THE FLY (Performance only)
- Meaning what? Just the standard video we're already used to?

THE FLY (Text only)
- This is from the Zoo TV screens?

UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD (Live)
- Live from where? Freddie Mercury tribute? Indoor/outdoor/93?

Any Easter eggs in any of the DVDs?

Cheers to anyone who can help settle my burning desires.
 
My Super Deluxe is out for delivery. If it arrives early enough in the day, hopefully my wife will bring it to the office for me. She did that when my Boy/October/War box set arrived a few years ago. :) Ah, love.
 
That TEXT ONLY The Fly video is gonna be cool. I'm gonna blast that on my screen all day and see if I start getting some subliminal messages :drool:
 
did they release the kindergarten/baby achtung baby as a way to prove to us that they need a long damn time to release something, because if they would have released the album like this it would have sucked?

or did they purposefully put this out as a rethought version and thought that some if it was actually better?

i'm very confused by it...
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
did they release the kindergarten/baby achtung baby as a way to prove to us that they need a long damn time to release something, because if they would have released the album like this it would have sucked?

or did they purposefully put this out as a rethought version and thought that some if it was actually better?

i'm very confused by it...
Click to expand...

I think it's mainly to just show the evolution of the songs. I wish they had also included a disc with the more rough demos of each songs, along with the Kindergarten disc.
 
Danny Boy said:
Firstly, I am NOT, NOT, NOT, trying to stir up the "remastered" debate again.

The deluxe version of Achtung Baby is now on iTunes, with the claim that it has been "mastered for iTunes." Has anyone actually downloaded the album from iTunes? Just curious as to whether they would dynamically compress it to sound "better" on iPod earbuds or something. Or is that just marketing bullshit?

masteredforitunes.jpg
Click to expand...

I think it's a marketing gimmick. If you think about it, what ISN'T technically mastered for iTunes or whatever? The deluxe edition on my iTunes store doesn't have any indication that it's been "mastered for iTunes" either.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
so these are freshly mixed/created version of the songs?

apologies... i haven't been paying attention.
Click to expand...

They are demos of the songs. They have been mixed this year, according to liner notes, and some people are saying they hear 2011 Bono vocals in some of the songs, but we cannot confirm this.

I think the demos are fairly close to what became the final songs. The lyrics are different, but you can hear what each song finally became. It's pretty cool.
 
taytay8b said:
I think it's a marketing gimmick. If you think about it, what ISN'T technically mastered for iTunes or whatever? The deluxe edition on my iTunes store doesn't have any indication that it's been "mastered for iTunes" either.
Click to expand...

I read in another forum that this is a new "branding" that iTunes will be rolling out in the coming days. It's not just for the U2 album. There are going to be a lot of upcoming releases that are "mastered for iTunes." And yes, it sounds like a marketing gimmick.
 
Wow, it's here...think that's the earliest UPS has ever delivered to the office. The Super Deluxe is a heavy mofo! :) Can't wait to get into it, may listen now, I was holding off on the kindergarten songs...
 
Pop Artist said:
Wow, it's here...think that's the earliest UPS has ever delivered to the office. The Super Deluxe is a heavy mofo! :) Can't wait to get into it, may listen now, I was holding off on the kindergarten songs...
Click to expand...

Congratulations! I hope mine comes soon! I wanna see this beast! :drool:
 
Listening to AB super deluxe right now.

Blow your house down: ok, i like the sound of bono's new vocals but not so much the lyrics, I'm probably too used to the original demo!

Heaven and hell: I miss Edge's original wah guitar which was louder in the original mix. New lyrics seem to be about Bono and Ali, a kind of personal re-exploration of that time, which is cool. I find the do-wops a bit obnoxious. There's a loud lead guitar which sounds as though it could be played by Bono (one of those bono soloes that pop out from time to time on U2 records). I prefer the original, again I'm very used to it.

Oh Berlin: New vocals over old track. Beautiful, I would love it if they would go in this direction for the next album. The drum track seems to be an ealry version of the Acrobat drums, although the chord changes, etc.. are very different.

Near the island: Nice instrumental, reminds me of something...

Down all the days: amazing, never thought it was so close to Numb. It has the futuristic optimism of zoo station, and some of the chaos from Elvis Presley and America

Everyone loves a winner: some of the early STS demos sound a bit like Rattle and Hum ii. This song is one of them, it was probably recorded as a demo, although the emphasis on falsetto vocals and fame does bring it a bit more into AB territory.

Even better than the real thing (fish out of water remix): nice and groovy, similar to the 360 live version.
 
Some new observations after having heard the songs again...

About the kindergarten versions, I think I understand why some say that these tracks don't sound like demos. And I agree. These are definitely not demos. "Where Did It All Go Wrong", that is a demo that was mixed properly to be released as a b-side. These kindergarten versions are no more than earlier versions (but not that early, they seem pretty almost finished) that got new touches, maybe were rerecorded and (re)mixed for release now. There's an obvious discrepancy on some versions. When I listen to "One" or UTEOTW, it seems that they took several different takes, recorded some new ones, and mixed it as a new track.
I found curious too that the The Fly version has some of the vocal takes used on the Lounge mix.
 
TheEdge25 said:
That TEXT ONLY The Fly video is gonna be cool. I'm gonna blast that on my screen all day and see if I start getting some subliminal messages :drool:
Click to expand...

"Uhh, hello Pizza Hut? I suddenly need to order a thousand pizzas."

Actually, I did call the 800 numbers that appear at the end of End of the World (it's kinda embarrassment to admit, but I was 13 and it was 1992 when this happened). I think one was for the USDA, and another was something about voting or the census.
 
Aygo said:
Some new observations after having heard the songs again...

About the kindergarten versions, I think I understand why some say that these tracks don't sound like demos. And I agree. These are definitely not demos. "Where Did It All Go Wrong", that is a demo that was mixed properly to be released as a b-side. These kindergarten versions are no more than earlier versions (but not that early, they seem pretty almost finished) that got new touches, maybe were rerecorded and (re)mixed for release now. There's an obvious discrepancy on some versions. When I listen to "One" or UTEOTW, it seems that they took several different takes, recorded some new ones, and mixed it as a new track.
I found curious too that the The Fly version has some of the vocal takes used on the Lounge mix.
Click to expand...

yeah, demos in the true sense are kind of more like the outtakes. these are much more of bridges to the final versions. for example, i can hear more of the outtake of 'horses' in the baby version than the final version.
 
Aygo said:
Some new observations after having heard the songs again...

About the kindergarten versions, I think I understand why some say that these tracks don't sound like demos. And I agree. These are definitely not demos. "Where Did It All Go Wrong", that is a demo that was mixed properly to be released as a b-side. These kindergarten versions are no more than earlier versions (but not that early, they seem pretty almost finished) that got new touches, maybe were rerecorded and (re)mixed for release now. There's an obvious discrepancy on some versions. When I listen to "One" or UTEOTW, it seems that they took several different takes, recorded some new ones, and mixed it as a new track.
I found curious too that the The Fly version has some of the vocal takes used on the Lounge mix.
Click to expand...

I can't remember where (U2 by U2?) I read that the original take of Until the End of the world was recorded while Bono was on holiday. When he came back he listened to the take and sang the lyrics he had written during the break. Aparently the first take was very good and he pretty much got all the melody.

The baby version here has I think original bass and drums (and guitar solo) from that version and (presumably, although who knows) bono's first take.

The Until the end of the world BSO mix is another early mix that has the same bass and drums, Bono's final take and some new guitar overdubs (some of which made it and some of which did not). It sounds a lot more like the album version than the baby version.

The album version is the final version and features different mix and guitar overdubs than the BSO version.

About "the fly" early version, you are right, it's really similar to lounge mix (even the guitar effects in the solo, etc...). I think that's because Flood mixed both.

To me they represent a less guitar heavy vision of the Fly. During the recording of an U2 album many mixes are prepared that emphasise different aspects of a track - Brian eno explains it quite well in his Achtung Baby essay. So for each final mix there are many early mixes that do not get used and that represent the other paths the song could have taken.

So, in summary, you are right, some of the baby versions are not so much earlier full performances, but earlier versions on top of which the band built up the final version. In the age of multi-track recording that's how most records get made...
 
Re: "Mastered For iTunes"

From: http://productionadvice.co.uk/mastered-for-itunes/=
(BTW, the standard bitrate for iTunes is 256kbps. 128 is SO 2 years ago... :) )

This is part of a bigger article, referenced above, where the author was disparaging "Mastered For iTunes" as hype, but then received some additional information.

Update: Meaningless hype ? Actually no…
Scott from Masterdisc left a comment below shedding some extra light on this subject – I’m adding it here because lots of people don’t read the comments ! Thanks to Scott for taking the time to reply.

“The goal of the unique AAC master of the Chili Peppers album was to make it sound as close to the CD as possible. The ears involved in the process felt it was a success. Pick up the CD and compare to the AAC file with your ears. It’s really damn close.

Keep in mind, I’m not addressing whether or not you like the sound of the CD. It was RR’s goal to make the Itunes file as true to the sound of the CD as possible despite the data reduction. A lot of time, effort and careful listening went into this project. This was not just media hype.”

So, my guess that “Maybe the tracks were even mastered [through a real-time AAC encode/decoder ?] to optimise them for a downloadable file-format rather than CD” was along the right lines.

How sad and ironic that Rick Rubin asked for so much time, effort and careful listening just to accurately reproduce pointless clipping distortion…

(By the way, for those care about these details, I’m calling it “clipping” distortion because that’s what it sounds like to me – looking at the file it isn’t heavily visually clipped, which suggests the mixes were already distorted when they were supplied for mastering – which was the case for Death Magnetic, too.)
 
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