Giant Steps Super Deluxe 2020 edition

[Musicophile]

https://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/giant-steps-60th-anniversary-super-deluxe-edition-2020-remaster-john-coltrane/pqw6qlp09nqcb

 

Just saw this on Qobuz. While I love the album, I already have the 24/192 mono remaster and am wondering if it is really worth spending €25 (with Sublime discount, regular high res price is €40) for 2h of tons of alternate takes. 

 

What do people think?

[firedog]

41 minutes ago, Musicophile said:

https://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/giant-steps-60th-anniversary-super-deluxe-edition-2020-remaster-john-coltrane/pqw6qlp09nqcb

 

Just saw this on Qobuz. While I love the album, I already have the 24/192 mono remaster and am wondering if it is really worth spending €25 (with Sublime discount, regular high res price is €40) for 2h of tons of alternate takes. 

 

What do people think?

I've felt on most of these types of releases that all the bonus tracks tend to be only curiosities and I don't really listen to them after hearing them for the first time. The greatness of streaming is that you can listen and then decide if the added tracks are worth the cost of the album. With Coltrane there's always the chance that one of the discarded takes is a never released masterpiece. 

 

[CatManDo]

For such a historic session, fans will want every bit of music, especially complete alternate takes. False starts on the other hand much are less interesting, when they don't include a solo. Most of the bonus material had already been released in the "Heavyweight Champion" box set from 1995.

 

I don't think a high res release and yet another remaster is really worth it for this album, since these Coltrane Atlantic sessions don't sound that great, compared to other recordings from around the same time (on Columbia, Blue Note, Impulse!, etc). Bass is very muddy, no upper treble, even some distortion (the Trane & Bags session)

 

At least this reissue seems to come from the original session tapes, unlike other Atlantic albums for which the original tapes were burnt in a 1978 warehouse fire

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Records#Long_Branch_warehouse_fire

[Dan Sapen]

Listening now. 192/24 downloaded from Prostudiomasters. First, no booklet....this, I want to do something about. However, I can say that the sound is dramatically improved compared to the last remaster. The mix is opened up, the highs not so much extended as unveiled, with a great deal of the muted cymbal/snare tones, and their airspace, available; same with the bite and delicious harmonic spectrum of 'Trane's sax. Attack and pitch of the bass is greatly improved, and one can hear clearly the responsiveness of Tommy Flanagan's piano, as well as the effort he makes to keep up with the changes on the title track; oddly, he is more interactive and in time on some of  the alternate takes, though the tenor is most on point on the classic version.

 

So, the alternate takes: Valuable. Trane taking different approaches, with varying success, at the harmonic gymnastics of Giant Steps and Countdown, while making the statements beautiful and ear-catching, more witty and linear on some, more   aggressively risk-taking on others. The Deluxe is not just for completists - it is a great document of the results of this experiment: landmark technical and aesthetic statement, yes, but as Ravi Coltrane says, accessible at the same time. I'm a Coltrane nut and student for years, and have written on the psychological and philosophical implications of Trane and Miles (Freud's Lost Chord); but this remaster, with the alternate takes, is a revelation. 

[JoeWhip]

Will have to get it.

[charlesphoto]

Sounding great(Qobuz 96/24). I love Coltrane, but suffering from pretty severe tinnitus, anything to temper saxophones is a plus. A wee bit bottom heavy for my taste, but isn't that all the rage theses days....

[Musicophile]

I'm still going to pass on this one. It's a truly great album, but I don't need two hours of it. 

[dmackta]

Tune in next Wed: 

 

[JoeWhip]

4 hours ago, Musicophile said:

I'm still going to pass on this one. It's a truly great album, but I don't need two hours of it. 

This is one album that I don’t have. Getting it to round out my collection.

[mkrzych]

Very cool, another special edition, but where the hell is booklet!?

[firedog]

1 hour ago, mkrzych said:

Very cool, another special edition, but where the hell is booklet!?

Agree. Qobuz is very good about supplying booklets where they exist. But only the classical labels seem to think it is necessary to provide them for download/digital purchases. Pop/Rock - almost never, even for expensive "deluxe" releases. Jazz and others - sometimes, but mostly not provided.

It's just another example of the contempt the labels show for their customers. Does anyone think in this day and age that if a booklet was produced, the labels don't have a digital copy sitting handy that they could include with the package to the streaming and download sites?

But a click of a button is too much for them.

[mkrzych]

47 minutes ago, firedog said:

Agree. Qobuz is very good about supplying booklets where they exist. But only the classical labels seem to think it is necessary to provide them for download/digital purchases. Pop/Rock - almost never, even for expensive "deluxe" releases. Jazz and others - sometimes, but mostly not provided.

It's just another example of the contempt the labels show for their customers. Does anyone think in this day and age that if a booklet was produced, the labels don't have a digital copy sitting handy that they could include with the package to the streaming and download sites?

But a click of a button is too much for them.

 

Yes, time to time I used to fight with the label or the files provider to find where is the booklet, unfortunately without luck. If they are pressing/re-issuing anything the booklet and art is already in the digital form, it's just a matter to share it and include into the package. If in the digital era we are going to pay for the high resolution files (sort of, since many of them are just fake still!), booklets should be always included.

[AnotherSpin]

19 hours ago, mkrzych said:

 

Yes, time to time I used to fight with the label or the files provider to find where is the booklet, unfortunately without luck. If they are pressing/re-issuing anything the booklet and art is already in the digital form, it's just a matter to share it and include into the package. If in the digital era we are going to pay for the high resolution files (sort of, since many of them are just fake still!), booklets should be always included.

 

If people are able to download files with music from the Internet, probably they should be able to locate and download any information of interest to any extent from the Internet in the same way? 🙂

[Ralf Hutter]

18 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

If people are able to download files with music from the Internet, probably they should be able to locate and download any information of interest to any extent from the Internet in the same way? 🙂

 

Not if the record companies don't make it available.

[AnotherSpin]

9 hours ago, Ralf Hutter said:

 

Not if the record companies don't make it available.

 

Any information. Is there a problem to find an info about John Coltrane or Giant Steps album in any variety and quantity?

 

To start with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Steps

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/sep/18/john-coltrane-giant-steps-60th-anniversary-edition-review

http://www.openculture.com/2018/11/jazz-deconstructed-makes-john-coltranes-giant-steps-groundbreaking-radical.html

https://www.jazzwise.com/features/article/john-coltrane-giant-steps