A Nice Pair - Amazon.com Music
A fine mini-LP release of the 1973 album featuring The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) and A Saucerful of Secrets (1968). The gatefold album art is first class, including all the ariginal inserts and LP/CD covers as done with the original release of the double LP album which I will likely never let go. This is for collectors because you can purchase each individual release or both as distinct albums. Is this release a fake? I honestly do not believe so. Am I an expert at this sort of thing? Of course not. Are there fakes floating around? Sure. On eBay one can find at least one release being sold from Russia that has one extra track, namely See Emily Play, on The Piper CD. Several web searches yielded nothing that told me anything neither confirming nor verifying the legitimacy of any of these releases. Who is to blame? That's right, the record label and/or original copyright holder of A Nice Pair. If the labels were to due a service to fans, they could very easily officially verify fakes versus legitimate releases. As one would expect, however, their silence on the matter indicates a clear willingness to support the status quo and hope people keep buying whatever, if any, legitimate releases by asmosis. I'm happy with this release and plan to update my review here when I receive the Russian edition I purchased for chuckles and grins.
Meantime, the audio quality of this set is excellent and I discern no difference between the Oh By The Way box versions of the albums and the Discovery editions. I listen on a decent set up: a Denon DVD 3910 Universal disc player connected via Firewire to a Pioneer Elite VSX-59txi. My sound is therefore processed in the digital domain with zero losses in jitter or other annoyances that plague so many other players using SPD/IF or Coax digital connections to their tuners/amplifiers. If you care about sound, then get a Firewire player and amp/receiver and you will see a discernible difference. Otherwise, hook up your favorite CD player or DVD player using the analog connections and you will hear a considerable improvement no doubt. The Piper disc is crisp, colorful in tonality, and has an uncanny presence in the listening area that rivals any well-done modern CD such as the Division Bell or A Momentary Lapse of Reason. A Saucerful of Secrets, on the other hand, has always been difficult to categorize as other than typically sounding fairly neutral having suffered, in my view, from a conservative use of high range frequency EQ. That is, even through the firewire set up the CD sounds less clear than Piper. But then again, that is the historical essence and value of one of Pink Floyd's greater achievements. Certainly, this take is not to be confused with a "muffled" or "dirty" sound - on the contrary -- the sound is excellent and the separation in the imaging quite satisfactory given its initial release as a mono LP back in the late 60s.
One last notable point, this mini LP set is slightly larger than the Oh By The Way set mini LPs. Meaning? Who knows, different production values, different label, etc. Nevertheless, the set is the same size as the Experience editions of Dark Side (the double CD release) and Wish You Were Here (also 2 disc set). Those are mini LP as well except that they are encased in an extra outer sleave to protect the album gatefold.
A very good set and collectible if I may say so... Get it and stop worrying. Enjoy!