"Sparkle in the Rain" Separating Fact from Fiction

[timothyemerson]

I just checked mine and took a pic. I can't see any distinguishing marks other than:

1. The dud is on the left and the corrected disc is on the right.
2. The dud is a lighter overall colour and the corrected disc is yellower.
3. The dud has darker text around the outside of the disc. It might be black but it's so small, I just can't tell. This text on the corrected disc looks to be dark blue or at least lighter in colour than that on the dud.

Not much to go on sorry.

 

[LENNONOLOGY]

Does anyone know if the correct version was ever released in the wild, or if it was only available via replacement?

Chip Madinger
www.lennonology.com

 

[Beefalo]

So all these years later, I'm looking to pick up a used copy - is there any type of visual mark on the corrected Blu-Ray to distinguish it from the flawed original? Or is the updated authoring with colored buttons the only difference?

According to Discogs they have different matrix numbers:
Corrected:

• Matrix / Runout: 56100044/00602537973552V3 S 21

Faulty:

• Matrix / Runout: 55981828/00602537973552 S 21

 

[J. PUPSTER]

So all these years later, I'm looking to pick up a used copy - is there any type of visual mark on the corrected Blu-Ray to distinguish it from the flawed original? Or is the updated authoring with colored buttons the only difference?

might want to request a PM reply for that sort of thing sj, as now everyone and their brother will be competing to find one

 

[jamesc]

Maybe this is old news but it appears that the replacement DVD-A discs that were sent out long ago have a different and inferior mix than the replacement blu-ray discs. I never thought the mix on the replacement DVD-A sounded very different than the original DVD-A aside from bumped up vocals. A friend recently brought over his blu-rays since he said the difference was dramatic between the original and replacement mixes. Well, his replacement blu-ray does sound dramatically better than either of my DVD-As!

I've been digging into this since this was always one of my favorite Simple Minds albums and I was never completely satisfied with the mix. I ripped original and replacement 5.1 mixes from the blu-rays and DVD-As. The 5.1 mixes from the original blu-ray and DVD-A completely cancel out with the inverted phase null test so they're identical. The 5.1 mix from the replacement DVD-A has a similar waveform to the originals but the levels are different with the vocal channel being the most obviously changed. The 5.1 mix from the replacement blu-ray has an obviously different waveform in the front and surround channels at least. It seems like a different mix than the other three. It sounds a heck of a lot better too!

Here's Waterfront waveforms for the new blu-ray at top, new DVD-A in the middle and old BD/DVD-A on the bottom (the differences will be more obvious if you download the images and flip between them):

 

[Perpendicular]

Great! Now I’m going to have to play and compare both the Sparkle In The Rain original DVD with the replacement again to make sure I’m not hearing things. I haven’t listened to the 5.1 mix in a while.

 

[jamesc]

Great! Now I’m going to have to play and compare both the Sparkle In The Rain original DVD with the replacement again to make sure I’m not hearing things. I haven’t listened to the 5.1 mix in a while.

Yeah, it's weird because it's definitely different than the original DVD but it mostly seems like tweaks to the levels of the original mix. It's a bit frustrating but I'm glad I was finally able to hear the proper Steven Wilson mix. I'll grab the blu-ray if it ever gets reissued (doubtful I know).

I can upload a sample excerpt of a song if that's not frowned upon here.

 

[Perpendicular]

Yeah, it's weird because it's definitely different than the original DVD but it mostly seems like tweaks to the levels of the original mix. It's a bit frustrating but I'm glad I was finally able to hear the proper Steven Wilson mix. I'll grab the blu-ray if it ever gets reissued (doubtful I know).

I can upload a sample excerpt of a song if that's not frowned upon here.

Samples should be okay. I would think less than a minute would work.

 

[jamesc]

Okay, here's 60 second samples of the first track from the replacement Blu-ray and DVD-A:

Simple Minds

Shared with Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

The rear channels may be identical on this track but the front channels are not with the DVD-A having a wall of sound in front while the BD is more spacious and balanced.