SDE Blu Ray #32 and #33......Simple Minds Sparkle in the Rain and New Gold Dream! Released February 7th, 2025

[Steve Bruzonsky]

Have you seen the bits delivering food with a human bicyclist following for training bot purposes? We have them here in the Phoenix area for like 6 months now. Will this be the future of the USPS - bots sorting and delivering mail?

 

[BillTubes]

My package has been lost as well. Last tracker said it is out for delivery, that was Mon. Hopefully it will turn up.

 

[JulesRules]

My package is supposedly still "out for delivery" but I already got it

 

[hi-res_edition]

I was talking with another collector how the USPS works so well for us in the Southwest. I am pretty convinced that the problems are region related, and likely directly related to the distribution center. Sorry to read about these delays for collectors in other parts of the USA.

 

[The Rang]

My bundle is scheduled to be delivered today.
Once again being smacked by taxes and handling. I get that theoretically I should be paying on all incoming shipments but larger/more expensive shipments that arrived this week from CD Japan and Dutton Vocalion had no problems.

It’s only on SDE shipments, there is something in the way they ship that seems to result in extra scrutiny.
Even more exasperating considering I already paid VAT.

Rant over

 

[splinter7]

My package has been lost as well. Last tracker said it is out for delivery, that was Mon. Hopefully it will turn up.

Crazy - it sounds the same as my situation. First time that an SDE shipment was lost. In fact, I think the last international shipment that was lost to me was a Marillion shop order back in 2019. The empty box arrived about 4 months later. Soggy cardboard and the bottom torn out.

Man - I am so bummed. It is (was ) the bundle. I doubt that it can get replaced even if I wanted to pay that much again. Not SDE's fault of course

 

[fetchmybeer]

I've listened to New Gold Dream just once and didn't really take much of the mixing in, but it sounded fine. Sparkle I've listened to a few times and am pleased with both mixes. Oddly, the SW mix seems to have the vocals a little low, sometimes overshadowed by the rest of the instrumentation. I've never had that be a problem before with a SW mix. It's a small thing, but unusual. His mix is still stellar as usual. The Clearmountain mix is also very good, perhaps more active in the panning.

But more to the point, both of these albums are excellent. If all you know from Simple Minds is that song from the Breakfast Club or maybe a few songs from the follow-up album, you should give these a whirl. Sparkle is closest in sound to their well-known stuff, whereas New Gold Dream is a bit of a transition into it.

 

[Perp]

My previous SDE order for Bryan Ferry arrived in 7 days. The current one with the Simple Minds discs took only 5 days. That is normally what it takes to get my orders from SDE to Southern California, Ventura County. Over the Holidays, it was taking two weeks. So, I’m happy that USPS is back on schedule again.

 

[SomethingAnything]

I'm really enjoying playing both of these albums. They take me right back to my fun, wild, clubbing days when life was so utterly carefree!

I'm even enjoying the screenshots, though usually I prefer a static picture. I totally relate to how they look. It was exactly my look too in those days ... coincidentally, I even had the same leather bomber as Jim (he wears it in the Belfast Child video from a different album, no doubt we picked it up in the same London store). They're such pretty boys aren't they? As I was too, comes with us all growing up with Bolan and Bowie, I guess. And unexpectedly happy and smiley (while staying cool, not easy!), especially in the Sparkle in the Rain pics.

I'm also enjoying the stereo instrumental versions (upmixed with Auro 3D). There's a fair bit of nice intricacy that you spot without Jim's dominant vocals, as great as they are.

 

[Oldschoolsoundengineer]

I got my disks ripped yesterday. After being disappointed after the first round of listening to New Gold Dream on Tidal I didn't have high expectations to Sparkle. I think however Clearmountain's take works much better on this album. I am not super found of his very center centric focus in the front. I also think some of the drums sound a bit overly compressed, but all in all this is a mix worth listening to. Well summarized by @sjcorne earlier in this thread.

When it comes to the atmos mix of New Gold Dream I am still having problems listening to it without getting annoyed. I have a long lasting realtionship with this record. One of the 80s records I've listened to most regularly since the original release. Listening to the atmos mix is a bit like meeting your high school sweetheart after 4 decades and relizing she had an unneccessary and not very successfull facelift. I get annoyed by the snare, others drums and vocals that are far too dry, compressed and prominent compared to the original and the 5.1 mix from 2005. What would the reactions be if Clearmountain had done the same with the drums on Avalon (which is about the same age)? If it had been for the sake of polishing why did he forget to improve the hihat and cymbals? In other songs it feels like there's at least an octave missing in the sub department while they have too much energy around 100 Hz. Well, even mix engineer heroes can have less great days at the desk. Speaking of, I read his studio 'Mix This!' burned down in the LA blaze. I certainly hope he gets a new studio up and running. We are many waiting for upcoming Roxy and Ferry albums in atmos. This is where Clearmountain really shines, doing remixes of his own mixes.

I also have to give SDE a well diserved credit for these albums. It is so cool that they are released like this. Well authored Blu-Rays with all these versions and easy to switch between. Excellent for music slaves like us that never can stop buying, listening and discussing music.

And when you have listened to the the atmos mixes, threat yourself to some great 5.1 sound and have a go at 'Hunter and the Hunted' from the 2005 mix. Crank it up. It doesn't get much better than that!

 

[@gpoly]

My bundle is scheduled to be delivered today.
Once again being smacked by taxes and handling. I get that theoretically I should be paying on all incoming shipments but larger/more expensive shipments that arrived this week from CD Japan and Dutton Vocalion had no problems.

It’s only on SDE shipments, there is something in the way they ship that seems to result in extra scrutiny.
Even more exasperating considering I already paid VAT.

Rant over

I'm assuming you are in the USA and without bringing politics to this thread, be aware that there was a statement made the other day that if you buy from a country that charges VAT (UK currently 20%), the current US government looks like it is going to match it with another 20% tariff. Interesting times for us all.

 

[The Rang]

I'm assuming you are in the USA and without bringing politics to this thread, be aware that there was a statement made the other day that if you buy from a country that charges VAT (UK currently 20%), the current US government looks like it is going to match it with another 20% tariff. Interesting times for us all.

I’m in Canada, the tariffs will impact what we ship to the US. I figure they’ll hurt both sides.

 

[Ryk]

My package has been lost as well. Last tracker said it is out for delivery, that was Mon. Hopefully it will turn up.

I'd ordered both the Simple Minds along with Brian Ferry and some empty Pure Audio cases all in the same order. I'd heard nothing about my order from theSDEShop until this past Friday (a week after the Simple Minds release). They've sent a partial shipment of the Brian Ferry and empty cases, but not sent the Simple Minds. A strange action considering the rest of you have had your Simple Minds shipped the week prior, which gives rise to a few thoughts of (not very nice) possible scenarios as to why.

On an unrelated note, despite watching this thread, I'm no longer getting alerts of new posts.

 

[madscot]

I'm assuming you are in the USA and without bringing politics to this thread, be aware that there was a statement made the other day that if you buy from a country that charges VAT (UK currently 20%), the current US government looks like it is going to match it with another 20% tariff. Interesting times for us all.

I’ve always thought that people outside of the UK didn’t pay our vat?

 

[JulesRules]

I'd ordered both the Simple Minds along with Brian Ferry and some empty Pure Audio cases all in the same order. I'd heard nothing about my order from theSDEShop until this past Friday (a week after the Simple Minds release). They've sent a partial shipment of the Brian Ferry and empty cases, but not sent the Simple Minds. A strange action considering the rest of you have had your Simple Minds shipped the week prior, which gives rise to a few thoughts of (not very nice) possible scenarios as to why.

On an unrelated note, despite watching this thread, I'm no longer getting alerts of new posts.

That's odd. I had bought Bryan Ferry and the Simple Minds bundle in one go, but nothing else, and it arrived as one package.

 

[minimumtumbleweed]

I’ve always thought that people outside of the UK didn’t pay our vat?

It's just SDE. I honestly don't even think it should be legal but there it is. I've never paid VAT from BS or Racket Records.