SPV Popol Vuh remasters

[Brian Bieniowski]

I have the lousy Spalax CD issues of the terrific mid-period Popol Vuh albums (Das Hohelied Salomos etc.), and they appear to be recorded from vinyl, as many Spalax discs were.  Anybody have the new SPV reissues done a few years ago who can offer commentary?  I was pleased with the sound quality of the Popol Vuh discs put out by Ohr/ZYX, but I don't want to put down the cash to replace the Spalax ones unless there's a distinct improvement of quality from SPV....

[Wayne Higgins]

Same here.  I got a copy of the Nosferatu soundtrack on CD and a cassette copy from an album that was 20 years old sounded better.  I just take my chances in the used bins, but it's not like I'm finding much Popol Vuh at the Goodwill in Tallahassee/Thomasville.

I'm like you Brian, don't want to take a chance on something that's so good sounding so bad.  When I first started buying cds, I had a bit of cash and ordered all the Van der Graff Generator albums.  Good to have on cd, but nothing to recommend.

[Wayne Higgins]

Same here.  I got a copy of the Nosferatu soundtrack on CD, and I had a cassette copy from the vinyl album that was 20 years old and sounded better.  I just take my chances in the used bins, but it's not like I'm finding much Popol Vuh at the Goodwill in Tallahassee/Thomasville.

I'm like you Brian, don't want to take a chance on something that's so good sounding so bad.  When I first started buying cds, I had a bit of cash and ordered all the Van der Graff Generator albums.  Good to have on cd, but nothing to recommend.

[Wayne Higgins]

How did that happen?

[9dragons]

I've got two of the SPV remasters of Popol Vuh - In Den Garten Pharaos and Hosianna Mantra. The liner notes say they are digitally remastered. Haven't listened to them in a while, but I think they sound good. Will check them out again and report back. Though I don't have any old versions to compare them to. One thing good is the bonus material though. One thing I don't like is that they include the same exact booklet in both of them, and I'm assuming this same booklet is in all the remasters. Lame that they couldn't come up with a different booklet for each one, it will suck for someone buying all of them, as I assume most fans will want to do.

[ffcal]

There are also the High Tide remasters from around 1992.  I have a few of them and they are not great, but are better than the Spalax versions.  For Hosianna Mantra, the OOP Celestial Harmonies version is best.  I have the SPV version of Bruder des Schattens, which is better than the High Tide version (though it doesn't have the bonus electronic pieces), but is more muffled than my original vinyl on Brain.

Forrest