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I haven't spent that much time yet with Live in Seattle (it was the last one I bought), but some Amazon.com reviewer was raving about the SHM. I just made a quick comparison with the grp and thought I could detect a different mastering. I thought the SHM sounded very good in itself. Interstellar Space was an excellent Reeves remaster in the US/EU in 2001. This new SHM remaster is even more open like the other studio discs, but less of an upgrade than say Sun Ship and Meditations. Stellar Regions sounds beautiful on the SHM. A greater difference with the digipak than Interstellar Space (obviously since this was a Labson remaster). Living Space the same as Stellar Regions. I hope you enjoy them.

Thank you. Maiysha is also a minute shorter on the (excellent) Wilder remaster. The end is a fade out during Mtume's percussion (I downloaded the Mastersound in FLAC through bittorrent this morning). I also downloaded the 2001 Japanese Pangaea (SRCS 9752-3, not a Mastersound CD) and Gondawana is actually over 2:30 minutes longer on the 2009 Wilder remaster! Listening to the Agharta Mastersound I cannot justify buying this thing second hand at an inflated price for ten minutes of guitar feedback and percussion.

Another Question. Do (post Mastersound) all Japanese editions have the extra minutes of music? Do you know of a post Mastersound release that does not have them?

No extra minutes on the 71 disc box (Complete Columbia Album Collection). CD 2 of Agharta is 51:36 there according to my CD player (51:56 according to the box's book). Are the Japanese discs sonically superior to the Complete Album Collection editions from 2009? I thought these sounded very good. This besides the question JETman put forward of the quality of the music in those ten minutes.

i agree. the 20 bit versions (the ones i replaced) do sound compressed, but to me, only by comparison. it sure would be nice to have an original pressing to compare to... when you say 'third wave', are you' referring to those released in 2012 or 2013? 'ballads' and 'a love supreme' were released in november 2013, but 'deeper' titles were issued in march 2012. which brings me to: it would be nice if the shm reissue of the coltrane catalog were handled a little more carefully. the titles issued have been all over the map and hardly in any kind of order. 10 of the 11 discs I listed under third wave have a 2011-08-24 release date (Live In Japan Deluxe is from 2011-10-26). Those 10 discs I find sonically pleasing. The 2013 releases of Ballads and Love Supreme are Platinum SHM-CDs. Both titles have been issued on SHM several times now with different masterings. Ballads was also released in what I called the second wave or series, see here. The first of those second wave discs were released on 22 June 2011. Others were released in March 2012. So basically, it's a mess, but there are some worthwhile upgrades in the 1965-67 Coltrane material imo. Especially since the US/EU CDs of the Coltrane catalogue have been all over the map sonically. I prefer the SHM over all other editions of the original album. I believe it compares favourably to the complete edition. That 2 disc set has a somewhat different saxophone sound. I could make another quick comparison and give you some more thoughts on this. So far, whenever I feel like listening to Sun Ship I still grab the SHM.

The whole point of mentioning what I called above 'the second wave' is to warn people about those discs. The late 2011 titles from the 'third wave' might possibly be of interest to others. Different people sharing actual experiences with these discs might create some clarity about them. Some of the 20bit K2 remasters (by Shigeo Miyata & supervised by Tamaki Beck at JVC) are still in print as regular CDs. Titles include: UCCI-9142, The Coltrane Quartet Plays, UCCI-9143, Kulu Sé Mama; UCCI-9144, Live at the Village Vanguard Again; UCCI-9145, Expression. These sound compressed. The 'third wave' of SHMs do not reproduce this sound. The sound of the 'third wave' is also different from the 24bit remasters like Crescent (UCCU-5153, SHM UCCU-9613) from a decade ago. That discs sounds more closed, compressed. I primarily like it because it is not as hard on the ears as the Impulse Orginals Crescent in terms of annoying peaks. My conclusion is that the 'third wave' must feature different mastering from what came before (both in Japan and the US/EU).

If I had known the mastering was the same I would obviously never have picked up these four titles. This seems to me obvious from my initial post. I'm not a believer in SHM as a manufacturing process that brings benefits. See the I pasted into my initial post. Learn to read and interpret without projecting. Ah, so I ask an honest question, and you respond by being a dick. I'd be pretty pissy too, if I had been suckered into such nonsense. You often seem to enter discussions simply to derail them. It seems you've succeeded in derailing this trane.

If I had known the mastering was the same I would obviously never have picked up these four titles. This seems to me obvious from my initial post. I'm not a believer in SHM as a manufacturing process that brings benefits. See the I pasted into my initial post. Learn to read and interpret without projecting.

If the codes are UCCU-6069 & UCCU-6154, these are the exact same discs as the recent Originals which are probably already in your collection. The four 'duplicates' I imported are: UCCU-6069, Live at the Village Vanguard UCCU-6133, Crescent UCCU-6154, Impressions UCCU-6163, Live at Birdland

With the recent rise in interest in Japanese SHM releases from the Blue Note catalogue by Universal Japan, I've returned to an earlier idea to start a thread dedicated to Japanese John Coltrane Impulse SHMs. When I posted earlier about these discs I never got the impression that anyone else here had added but one of these to their collection. As far as I'm aware there have been three waves of Coltrane Impulse SHMs. The second is redundant for people in the US & EU, while the third is of most interest. (In 2013 there was also a Coltrane release on Platinum SHM-CD which I will keep out of consideration in this first post.) The first wave consisted of a few titles including Crescent (UCCU-9613, release date 2008-06-25). This disc features the same mastering as UCCU-5153, an earlier (non-SHM) 24bit remaster from 2003. The number UCCU-5153 is actually printed inside the matrix ring of UCCU-9613, while the label for the disc gives the code UCCU-9613. I like the sound of this one because it is not as hard on the ears as the Impulse Orginals Crescent in terms of annoying peaks. What I call the second the second wave have catalogue numbers starting with UCCU. The four discs I've heard feature the exact same mastering by Kevin Reeves as the US/EU Impulse Originals series. See my post So, there are two different SHMs of Crescent, the second being UCCU-6133 released in 2011. The other titles I've imported are Live at the Village Vanguard, Impressions, Live at Birdland. All have the same 'Jazz The Best' OBI strip as the Crescent disc in the image above. The third wave was released in late 2011 and feature catalogue numbers starting with UCCI. The OBIs I've seen look like the one in the image of Live in Seattle above, except for Live In Japan Deluxe Edition. According to CDJapan it was a series consisting of 17 titles (including the Temple University set that was in the end never released). (Coltrane, Ballads and A Love Supreme from this wave are the 2 disc Deluxe Editions from a decade ago. I have no idea if they have the same mastering.) The 11 albums I have from this third wave are imo sonically excellent/superior and worth the effort of importing with perhaps one exception. UCCI-9191/5, Live in Japan Deluxe Edition, 5 discs. The exception. Sonically the same as(?) or very close to the 4 disc US GRP release. Features a fifth disc with the well known two interviews and press conference (see for instance Chris DeVito's Coltrane on Coltrane). UCCI-9202, Transition. UCCI-9203, Living Space (including bonus track The Last Blues from 20bit US/EU digipak). UCCI-9204, Sun Ship. UCCI-9205, First Meditations. 1 bonus track, Joy (second version). UCCI-9206/7, Live in Seattle. 2 discs, complete concert, but different mastering from the early nineties GRP set. UCCI-9209, Meditations. UCCI-9210, Cosmic Music. UCCI-9211, Jupiter Variation. Different tracks from three different sessions translates to sonic differences per track (especially Peace on Earth). UCCI-9212, Stellar Regions. All tracks from the US/EU digipak in improved sound. UCCI-9213, Interstellar Space. The two bonus tracks from the US/EU digipak are now included in UCCI-9211, Jupiter Variation. Albums like Meditations now have a beautiful spacious & dynamic sound superior to the 20bit digipak and Originals issue. More about the sound later, perhaps. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update: The whole point of mentioning what I called above 'the second wave' is to warn people about those discs. The late 2011 titles from the 'third wave' might possibly be of interest to others. Different people sharing actual experiences with these discs might create some clarity about them. Some of the 20bit K2 remasters (by Shigeo Miyata & supervised by Tamaki Beck at JVC) are still in print as regular CDs. Titles include: UCCI-9142, The Coltrane Quartet Plays, UCCI-9143, Kulu Sé Mama; UCCI-9144, Live at the Village Vanguard Again; UCCI-9145, Expression. These sound compressed. The 'third wave' of SHMs do not reproduce this sound. The sound of the 'third wave' is also different from the 24bit remasters like Crescent (UCCU-5153, SHM UCCU-9613) from a decade ago. That discs sounds more closed, compressed. I primarily like it because it is not as hard on the ears as the Impulse Orginals Crescent in terms of annoying peaks. My conclusion is that the 'third wave' must feature different mastering from what came before (both in Japan and the US/EU).

The reason I'm currently on headphones only is because speakers would have been too hard on the neighbours in my previous apartment. I'll get back to speakers now that I've moved as soon as finances and the expansion of my CD library allow. That said, even when I had both speakers and headphones, I always felt headphones were particularly good for checking up on particular aspects of the sound of a CD. I have little knowledge of the job of an engineer, but I sure wish Kevin Reeves had listened closely to the end product of his labour for the recent Coltrane Impulse Originals series on headphones. The ear splitting peaks on (some) of these discs are awful.

It is a key distinction, and I'd add a third - as you say, is a new version of any kind true to the reality of the sounds, true to the tape, or (my addition) true to the feel of the original LP issue. All different things. This seems to me a dishonest diversion from legitimate criticism. The only live experience the RVGs are a representation of is that of an end user manipulating the output of his speaker system through a dedicated equalizer component. They adhere to the order of the 12 inch LPs (plus liner notes, artwork), I believe. The bonus cuts make this the complete sessions.

With the SHM Monks obliterating the RVGs (and the nineties Addey box set), even the myth that despite a rough start to the series Rudy was able to work wonders on the early mono material turns out to have been complete bullshit. The Monks clearly were boosted and compressed (which Rudy denied in a more general sense for the whole RVG series in an interview, I believe). Next month, I'll get Amazing Bud Vol.1 and J.J. Johnson Vol.1 and that will be a very interesting comparison indeed. The Rollins Village Vanguard disc is also an improvement with four bonus tracks (no overlap in titles), half the material recorded. I ordered the Hancock Maiden Voyage because currently I think I prefer the BN Works for its more focused sound. Tony Williams' cymbals do sound nice on the SACD, but with the extreme soundstage they dominate too much on headphones. The Empyrean Isles SHM gives me hope for a more satisfying group sound coupled with superior transfer & mastering.

Grass Roots must be my least favourite Hill Blue Note session, and the sound of the 24bit McMaster Connoisseur does not help the music one bit. I did order the SHM, of course, to support the further release of more relevant Hill sessions. Next month's Lift Every Voice is a favourite and in desperate need of a sonic upgrade imo. Odyssey of Iska is new to me, apart from bittorrent, and I'm very much looking forward to it. I didn't bother to get Moto Grosso Feio in the BNLA999, as I was never able to connect with it listening on my iMac.

I've ordered the new XRCD24 of Blakey's A Night In Tunisia to compare against the wonderful SHM. An SHM of Hancock's Maiden Voyage is also on the way for comparison against the Hoffman/Gray APO Hybrid SACD (and the TOCJ BN Works).

An Amazon wish list is not the same thing as the saved for later items below your shopping cart, right?

That sounds like a good deal, then. I was worried that they tried to make the Village Vanguard sound like the Village Gate, or some such. "Modern tastes" and all that. Glad to hear that's not what happened. I'd be really interested to know if this was originally recorded on analogue equipment. If it was a relatively early digital recording I wonder about the limits to "improvements". It does not have that early digital recording sound to it, like those eighties Deutsche Grammophon albums. There is a lot of warmth to the sound. It's a digital recording after all. On the cover of volume 1 Joe is wearing a white jacket. In small, faint white letters at the bottom right it says digital recording. The cover art for volume 2, which was also used for the US/EU double CD, makes no mention of this fact, hence the confusion. Anyway, volume 2 sounds equally fine. This is not a question of simple manipulation for an increasingly deaf or bored audience with money to burn.

As the SHM, Blue Spec 2 and the Platinum SHM's are the CD's that are getting the superlative remastering treatment, then like XRCD's and Gold CD's, it is the whole process that I am recognising as delivering a superior sound to standard CD's. The remastering as close as possible to the original source tape, clearly comes into this and likely the game changer and significant factor. But I also buy into the engineering fact, that certain material grades can deliver a more desirable quality in the product or the function of equipment. I certainly don't believe the position that its only digital zeros and ones, so the material that the CD is made of is irrelevent. I also have old 16bit CD's from the 80s that sound tremendous and I can hazard a guess that these were remastered from the original master tapes. I am a recent convert to the whole SHM and even XRCD phenomena and before this, I was going for Japanese 20bit and above remasters as my choice of CD's. My gut feeling, is that these wonder materials account for only 20% of the improvement in sound, the rest being delivered by the closeness to source tape or best DSD remaster. But as I stated above, it is part and partial of these products that you are getting as close to the source as possible. So my position isn't about materials alone. Thank you for clearing up your position on SHM-CDs. I was thinking of the you created last May. I've also shifted focus from older Japanese 16/20-bit remasters to more recent DSD remasters and SHMs.

On my DVR. Looking forward. I'm going to watch the first episode again in a moment. Impressively acted.

I'm about to watch the pilot episode of HBO's True Detective. Supposed to be an excellent show.

This morning, I watched some YouTube clips of Amiri Baraka. After trying a few clips I settled on the following. http://youtu.be/nR5pdz2uGFc At the very end of the lecture and immediately following a moving poem, he gives the audience a reading of his controversial poem Somebody Blew Up America. This so they can judge for themselves. (His introduction to the poem starts at 55:20.) Earlier in the lecture he warns about the danger of putting crosshairs on people, how such actions can influence others to violence. He should have taken his own advice when writing his loco 9/11 poem. Here is another passage not yet quoted in this thread: "Who knew why five Israelis was filming the explosion And cracking they sides at the notion." (The whole poem can be found here.)

I bought a ticket for a Sonny Rollins concert at a Belgian festival two or three years ago. I wasn't feeling well and decided against a long uncomfortable train journey. Probably was my last chance at seeing Sonny.

Um, yeah. Of course. That has nothing to do with the difference in formats, which is what we're discussing. Are we? Unless you meant reduced to 44.1kHz files, because there is no CD corresponding to the HD Tracks release.

I thought I was on the Hoffman Forums for a minute when I read that.. "Obey!"

There is a discernable difference between different physical digital versions of Out To Lunch (because of the different analogue to digital transfers and masterings used). This seems stating the obvious. It's clearly audible.