Cheap CDs: a word of caution

Thanks to John Carvill:

“Just a word of caution regarding all those super-cheap Dylan CDs. As with many artists, the record companies have seen fit to bestow upon us a wide range of encodings, remasterings, clippings, edits, remixes and whatnots of Dylan albums.

“Often, 'cheap' CDs are older versions of albums which have subsequently been remastered.

“A few examples worth noting are: Blonde on Blonde, which has been issued and reissued in I don't know how many variants, it must be into double figures for sure, certainly at one stage they faded/clipped tracks so it would fit on a standard-length CD.

“The best CD version (that I know of) of 'Blonde on Blonde' is the SACD remaster from a few years back, you don't have to buy the SACD to get it, there's a widely available one-disc version which has the SACD's 'CD layer' on it.

“Same goes for 'Bringing It All Back Home', except I think you do have to buy the SACD to get that one.

“And the original issue of 'Street Legal' was terribly murky, it benefited hugely from the 1999 remaster.

“You should definitely avoid older versions of these CDs. Probably most Dylan Daily readers already know this stuff, but just in case … “