Selling England By the Pound

I thought this was a comment on Government policy, but no.......

This was a comment on government policy by Roger Waters. Dave Gilmour was incensed and withdrew from producing the album. The rest is history.

Maybe you have to be Irish?.........,,

Not quite true Steve. Roger Waters did say that, and said it a lot during the Floyd Wars, but told me in an interview many years later that he was very proud of the record and the themes meant a great deal to him personally. Gilmour's indifference to these themes, and his scorn for the music Waters had written, hurt him a great deal. The album was, by all accounts, hell to make for all concerned.

Gilmour has gone on record as saying he dislikes The Final Cut intensely, but he also told me that he agreed with much of what Waters was saying, but he didn't think it was suitable subject matter for a Floyd album (although of course he had no ideas of his own). He also thought the music was weak, and his withdrawing a production credit (he still, as far as I know, helped produce it) was more to do with musical, rather than political, differences.

It's the least "Pink Floyd-sounding" of all Floyd albums, and has been written out of some histories, but I think it's a good record, and one that has lasted a lot better than Gilmour's effort of four years later, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, which is a real dog.

And the production and SQ are quite unbelievably good - must sound amazing on your system.

Thanks for the info Kevin.

I actually love The Final Cut, must be one of the few.

In what format did you rip to, I've just bought the Close to the Edge Blu Ray and don't know how to get the 24 bit audio stream out.

Google DVDae (DVD audio extractor) will do FLAC or WAV etc

You may also need to bypass any protection, then download Slysoft Any DVD, only works for Windows mind, they both have 30 day demo also.

 Excellent, thank you very much Dan. Will give it a go definitely.

Add me to another "one of the few" that love the album. 

A timeless classic!

I ripped it to FLAC, using the programs already described. When using the audio extractor, edit the track titles, to save grief later on. 

I don't suppose The Final Cut will make it to Blu Ray. Perhaps the CD is worth the investment, (if available).

There is a database that you can access in dvdae, click on the folder on the right near the title bar and it will search for all the metadata, I would say about 75% of titles are in there and it instantly fills in the tracks etc, if it doesn't fill it all in then enter manually and upload for others to use.

Yes Dan, I knew about the download, which didn't work, and usually doesn't for Blu Ray. Am I too late to upload now?

I don't think so, re-insert the BR disc and if the info you inserted at the time of ripping has been remembered by dvdae then you can upload it.

I tried that, but it doesn't remember. Will upload next time I rip one.

This will be the 2008 remaster? IIRC this is the version on the BD release. It's not liked much but I suppose it is inevitable the most recent remaster will be the one that gets released. From many accounts they have made a right mess of it.

The CTTE BD is interesting for the remix. I used DVD Fab to take out the block and DVD Audio Extractor to rip it, selecting only the stereo files. That gives you the remix and the flat transfer and the difference is obvious on listening. The DR is higher (but not overloaded) on the remix also.

Thanks for the tips guys. I normally buy the DVD versions and always ripped with DVD AE without great problems, but was having a bit of a problem with the Blu Ray, this should help alot.

David, glad to hear that you find V1 to be in CD555 league, but that seems impossible. Are you serious?

Harry,

I too have the Steven Wilson DVD remix, but I only ripped the CD 16bit/44.1kHz version using the Naim NS01. Personally I didn't like the remix as it messes with my memories of this album - I have lived with the album for so long that it feels like someone has rearranged my history!

But when you refer to the 'flat transfer' on the DVD do you mean a 24bit version of the original mix? If so, I think I'll have to risk it with DVDAE. 

Cheers, CB

I'm not saying that V1 is in the 555 league, but that some high definition recordings can sound better in some respects than the equivalent 'red book' CD played on 555. 

Which incarnation of the CD David? Provenance is all. And from which master is the Hi-Res version derived?

I would expect the 1985 West German original (Charisma CASCD 1074) to sound best - a straight analogue master transfer.

John.

That's the version I sought out and it is well worth seeking - much better than the compressed remasters - as are most of the Charisma originals.

G

With respect, JN, I am not trying to arbitrate between mixes, nor do I know much about the choice on offer. I am more concerned with the SQ difference between Red Book CD replay, and the claimed 'higher definition' alternatives.

Yes indeed. On the BD (not sure about the DVD) there is also a 24bit needle drop. The flat transfer is 192 whereas the remix is at 96. I'm with you on the remix. It's OK for the title track because the changes are for the most part subtle. On balance I like the changes but it's an alternative for me, not the go to version. What I still think of as side 2 (old habits die hard) IMO does not benefit at all from the remix. But I applaud SW for the effort and I'm grateful for the un-remixed versions. I think this is as good as it's going to get unless someone finds something really tasty in a vault (probability slightly less than zero) and it shades SH's earlier work, although I believe he had less to work with.