Needle Time

  David Bowie - Hunky Dory [NL 83844 UK&EU 1983 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Like many, I've always held an affection for the early eighties mid-priced Bowie represses on RCA. Although the vinyl was at times flimsy, they tended to use the same original metalwork from much earlier pressings - a little toppy in places they played well on cheaper turntables, but they could have benefited with a little more punch in the bottom end.  I foolishly cleared out these pressings in the late eighties as I 'upgraded' to compact disc. Hunky Dory wasn't resurfaced much since the eighties, the most significant repress was the all analogue EMI 100 release from 1997 (which now fetches good money). I'm sure there will eventually be a Abbey Road compressed remaster from digital to vinyl like other Bowie albums, however for now we are limited to what seventies & eighties pressings we can find which are not worn out. Earlier this week, I ripped a couple of £5 charity shop bargain albu...

  David Bowie (デビッド・ボウイー) -  The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (ジギー・スターダスト) [RPL- 2102 JPN 1982 24-Bit FLAC] This is one of my most requested re-ups, this will be the last in this series of re-posts and is exactly the same files posted to Needle Time in February 2021. Originally released as a vinyl album worldwide in 1972, here is the immaculate Japanese reissue from 1982, nicely pressed up by the RCA Victor Company. I guess everybody has a copy of this album in some format somewhere, some of you may have an original, I like most, initially made do with the UK RCA mid-price pressing on cheap vinyl. A few years back, I spent some time in Japan where my evening occupation was food & record stores, here is one of the souvenirs of that trip ripped to lush high resolution flac, at a comfortable level for both headphone listeners and home system streamers. Expect a high level of detail, space and enough warmth to heat up the cockles of your hearts. A...

  David Bowie - Heroes [DB 77822 UK 2018 24-Bit FLAC] Torn between my original (quite flimsy & crackly) 1977 UK RCA pressing and this 2018 remaster pressed onto 180gm by Parlophone, I have decided to give the modern day mastering of Heroes an outing. The high quality thick card sleeves and reproduction ephemera make these new pressings an attractive proposition for Bowie-heads. More regular readers may know of the issues that I originally had with the Low re-press, I've learnt from my mistakes, therefore I now feel confident to present Heroes . A1 Beauty And The Beast A2 Joe The Lion A3 Heroes A4 Sons Of The Silent Age A5 Blackout B1 V-2 Schneider B2 Sense Of Doubt B3 Moss Garden B4 Neuköln B5 The Secret Life Of Arabia Click on the above for more detail (If you like this sort of thing)

 David Bowie - Low [DB 77821 UK 2018 24-Bit FLAC] I am shortly about to disappear for about ten days, but before I go I thought I should put something right, which I totally screwed up back in June 2020. Like all shoddy workmen, I blamed my tools and the quality of the source material. I was still getting used to a moving coil cartridge and relied on the basic MC switch on a Cambridge phono amp - how foolish! Roll on just over a year, add a more knowledgeable ripper, a very nice Japanese diamond, a decent tube phono amp which can be adjusted and a SBooster kick in the voltage ....and here are the new results. I always feel cautious about ripping a classic album and letting a wide audience hear the results. You expose yourself to the vultures who trawl the web looking to make a living with threats over legal actions ...or overly critical audiophiles who raise their badly trimmed eyebrows when you post in anything less than 24/192 (you know who you are). This is the 2018 repress on ...

  David Bowie - Lodger [RPL-2107 JPN 1982 24-Bit FLAC] How's about the Japanese 1982 repress of Bowie's 1979 album, Lodger ? I have been holding back on this rip until I was happy that the new cart has burned in - so here you are! I would guess that we all grew up with this record, these were the post-Berlin years where Bowie and Eno hopped over to the tranquility of Switzerland, although this album is anything but tranquil.  Adrian Belew joined the crew  adding his licks of guitar. If you want an example of how the Hana Shibata handles this superb pressing just check out the intro to Yassassin and the punchy D.J.. Enjoy! A1 Fantastic Voyage A2 African Night Flight A3 Move On A4 Yassassin (Turkish For: Long Live) A5 Red Sails B1 D.J. B2 Look Back In Anger B3 Boys Keep Swinging B4 Repetition B5 Red Money

  David Bowie (デビッド・ボウイー) -  The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (ジギー・スターダスト)   [RPL- 2102 JPN 1982 24-Bit FLAC] Originally released as a vinyl album worldwide in 1972, here is the immaculate Japanese reissue from 1982, nicely pressed up by the RCA Victor Company. I guess everybody has a copy of this album in some format somewhere, some of you may have an original, I like most, initially made do with the UK RCA mid-price pressing on cheap vinyl. A few years back, I spent some time in Japan where my evening occupation was food & record stores, here is one of the souvenirs of that trip ripped to lush high resolution flac, at a comfortable level for both headphone listeners and home system streamers. Expect a high level of detail, space and enough warmth to heat up the cockles of your hearts. This is all purely to make up for ripping & posting that abysmal new Parlophone Records pressing of Low . A1 Five Years 5年間 A2 Soul Love 魂の愛 A3 ...

David Bowie - Low [DB 77821 UK 2018 24-Bit FLAC] I always feel cautious about ripping a classic album and letting a wide audience hear the results. You expose yourself to the vultures who trawl the web looking to make a living with threats over legal actions ...or overly critical audiophiles who slam you for posting in 24/48 when they demand nothing less than 32/192. This is the 2018 repress on 180gm vinyl, the Bowie archive is now officially part of Parlophone's repertoire - they have made good work of reproducing the packaging and I quite like the way the have replicated the original RCA labels. I'll let you decide on how well they have remastered the music to vinyl. A1 Speed Of Life A2 Breaking Glass A3 What In The World A4 Sound And Vision A5 Always Crashing In The Same Car A6 Be My Wife A7 A New Career In A New Town B1 Warszawa B2 Art Decade B3 Weeping Wall B4 Subterraneans