Speaking of CDs: Do you remember your first?

[ar surround]

My first CD was this one, Arista's Perfect 10. I still listen to tracks from it. It's very well mastered...possibly one of the best in my collection to this day. It was all downhill from there with some labels using LP masters, then the "hot" remastering era followed by the loudness wars.

 

[Lord British]

Pink Floyd - A Collection Of Great Dance Songs, the old CBS pressing. I got this one about 5 months before buying a CD player. That kind of forced me to buy the player. Still have the CD. Passed on to my older boys (8 & 5) to listen on their player since they like Pink Floyd. Now we have kind of a same start with CDs.
I always loved the format, I still do. It was like science fiction when they came out. I only recall the same kind of feeling when the iPhone arrived.
Living science fiction indeed.

It blew my mind that you could just press a button and it would "fast forward" to the desired "track" without having to wait for the tape to get there!

 

[Woody71]

My first CD and the player I had in 1988 (as 17th birthday gift).... also exactly 36 years since the albums original release in 1983. 'Mama' still my favourite track ever.

 

[EricKalet]

 

[halbroome]

I came very late to CDs -- 1994 or thereabouts -- and only because my housemate had a player. Before that I was into the tape trading scene, so it was all bootleg cassettes (yes, I have vinyl from my youth, and I should probably sell it off, but I'm sentimental . . . my collection is still sitting around my parent's house, actually). Travelling around the world in the 80s, my music had to be portable.

Anyway, I had been away from the commercial music scene for a long time, and a Sandy Denny box set with 5 CDs caught my eye during a lunch break from work, so I bought it on a whim. King Crimson's FRAME BY FRAME was next, then, finally, R.E.M. single CDs and on and on. Still without a player! Digital music on a computer was starting to be a thing, so I went the Soundblaster route shortly after that, which led to surround music with a decent system (after many years).

And here I am. Still buying the damn box sets .

 

[kap'n krunch]

1985
Bought them at a record store in LA near Manhattan Beach when I went to visit Emmett Chapman to show him my 10 string Stick which had warped...
Bobby Plant .. with a Factory defect...

AND

which I still have

WAIT!
It wasn't Pa11 but TPOM!!!

 

[rjpinca]

My first CD purchase (Camel - Nude) was around 1985, before I even had a player.

A few months later I bought my first CD player, a Technics SL-P2

 

[Audiowannabee]

Funny how i can remember my first cassette n cassette player...but cannot remember my first CD

First cassette was led zepplin ii

 

[perzon57]

My first casette was CCR : Cosmos Factory,and I think my first CD was Brothers in Arms.(My first vinyl LP was Nazareth : Razamanaz.)

 

[smokey911]

I bought my first CD in 1985 from Sandy's in Dee Why, Australian Crawl-The Boys Light Up, It still plays perfectly.
At the time I worked in a Hi Fi shop and was able to get a Yamaha CD-2 for cost price.

 

[The Rang]

Yes -90125
From A&B Sound (r.i.p.) on Seymour Street in Vancouvet

 

[ljlefti]

I waited until The Beatles were finally released on CD in 1987 until I bought a player. My first two cd's were "Rubber Soul" and "Help".

 

[OdysseyMusik]

Roger Waters - Amused to Death in 1992. I took the jump from vinyl because it first was released on CD only.
I'm still listen to CD's in the garage, else their flac. But of cause I most listen to mc flac!

 

[bayards]

Genesis - Abacab. Purchased around 1984 in Japan. Had no player then!

 

[ar surround]

I waited until The Beatles were finally released on CD in 1987 until I bought a player. My first two cd's were "Rubber Soul" and "Help".

Yes, I remember buying the first four when they came out. I opened Please Please Me and found out it was in MONO! I took the lot back to the store. The nice young clerk tried to tell me there was no such thing as stereo back then. I gave her a short history of stereo recordings. So I went back to listening to my MoFi's transferred to open reel with dbx.

IIRC there is an interview with George Martin where he says his instructions were to issue only the first two albums in mono but AHDN and BFS in stereo. That message apparently got lost somewhere along the food chain.

 

[soundboy]

My first CD was this one, Arista's Perfect 10. I still listen to tracks from it. It's very well mastered...possibly one of the best in my collection to this day. It was all downhill from there with some labels using LP masters, then the "hot" remastering era followed by the loudness wars.

View attachment 43432

I have this one too....kind of rare nowadays.

 

[soundboy]

I believe the below are among my first CDs.....

I think Whitney Houston's self-titled debut album would make a great sounding SACD.

 

[skindzier]

1985 - Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy and The Firm s/t

 

[bayards]

I believe the below are among my first CDs.....

I think Whitney Houston's self-titled debut album would make a great sounding SACD.

Yes! Love that album. It sounded so crisp when i played that on my CD machine back then (a Marantz)

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Mine was Peter Gabriel's Security, his 4th solo album after leaving Genesis. I didn't even have a player yet! But I worked at a music store where we sold some nice stuff (McIntosh, Sony ES, etc.), and by 1986 I'd been enjoying these newfangled discs in our showrooms for several years, and I just couldn't wait any longer. (I did get a player soon after, a used Sony, can't remember the model, shame on me!)

I loved this Gabriel release on LP, and was curious to see how the CD compared. I was impressed with the CD sound - very dynamic and powerful, with no distracting background noise.

Howzabout you guys & gals? What was your first little shiny disc?

As usual I'm late to this party but it's been fun reading everyone's recollections. Kinda meta, really, when you think were all discussing a similar event at roughly similar times and yet doing individually,

Like Jim I bought CD's before a player. I was planning to build a library so I had a bunch to play when I actually could do that. I bought my first three (count'em: 3) CD's at one time.

Thomas Dolby: Golden Age of Wireless
Eurythmics: Sweet Dreams
The Beatles: Abbey Road

They are still in like new shape. Perfect sound forever, 'eh? I listened to AR last night on the Surround Master in lieu of the new surround release that I don't have yet. Sounded pretty damn wonderful. This disc is actually a Japanese Toshiba EMI pressing & I was amazed to see it on sale at Discogs for $179 up!! That's not even the highest historical sales price.

All were purchased because I had the LP version & knew it sounded good through QS Synth mode. My plan to build a library didn't last long. In 1984 I bought these discs & two more & that was it. Out I went to buy a Yamaha CD-X1 . I purchased locally in Kansas City area from audio specialist David Betty. Yes, I actually had to sign a release form that said I would not hold the mfg'er or retailer liable from any damage due to a malfunctioning laser device. You know, shoot a hole through the wall or whatever. In reality protective laws just hadn't caught up yet with a new consumer use for a laser player.