Pet Sounds 50th Boxset - CD problems

[petsite]

Anyone else having trouble ripping the new boxset? The CDs seem to play ok, but I can't seem to rip them. I have tried numerous PCs in my house and numerous software packages. Just wonder if I got a bad set or is this a bigger issue. Also, on the mono LP, God Only Knows has a loud glitch at the front of the track. Is that on everyone's version?

[pdas1996]

The info for the discs would not automatically load, so I had to find it in the database. That was my only problem.

[Misterlou]

What I've noticed on disc 1, the mono version, is that they were either working from a poor quality master (apparently the CATP from 1972 - why this one?), or did a sloppy job with the remaster. For example, listen to LGAFA - at about one minute in two loud clicks can be heard, on both the CD and digital download. Very disappointing... I'll stick with my 1996 box set.

[petsite]

I sent my discs back to amazon and am waiting for another set. I finally noticed disc three looked like someone had raked it across gravel.

[Awesoman]

The info for the discs would not automatically load, so I had to find it in the database. That was my only problem.

I'm having the same problem.  How did you go about finding it in the database?  I'm trying to rip it into my iTunes, but there is no CDDB information for it.  I am not about to type all that sh_t up manually. 

[pdas1996]

The info for the discs would not automatically load, so I had to find it in the database. That was my only problem.

I'm having the same problem.  How did you go about finding it in the database?  I'm trying to rip it into my iTunes, but there is no CDDB information for it.  I am not about to type all that sh_t up manually. 

I used Windows Media Player, and searched "the beach boys pet sounds" and it was around page 9 in the results.

[Bill M]

Very surprised to see that the metadata wasn't in the CDDB yet, at least through iTunes.  Also, some of the tracks came in with disc errors, so it looks like I'll be returning my set to Universal Music.

[CJS]

I sent my discs back to amazon and am waiting for another set. I finally noticed disc three looked like someone had raked it across gravel.

I'm sending mine back to them too..  disc one skips then stops on track 12 of disc one..  my corners of the book were creased (in shipment?.. packing
box looked like it went thru a war).. inside where the CD's are stored has a big scratch in the cardboard as if someone's nail gouged it when the CD's were
inserted...

[petsite]

My disc 3 also had a drop of glue on it, like the glue used to hold the book together.

[CenturyDeprived]

I'm guessing that with the general decline of CD sales, that many record companies have ditched many of their longtime vendors (who know a thing or two about quality control) in favor of the cheapest possible vendors, who are possibly less experienced, and who themselves may be inexpensive due to their own cost-cutting measures.  Basically, when everyone cheaps out on the production line, stuff like this happens, thus leading to recalls, disc replacement programs, and negating the savings they think they're going to get.

I am skeptical that proper QC procedures were done if these messed-up discs are the result...  

[c-man]

What I've noticed on disc 1, the mono version, is that they were either working from a poor quality master (apparently the CATP from 1972 - why this one?), or did a sloppy job with the remaster. For example, listen to LGAFA - at about one minute in two loud clicks can be heard, on both the CD and digital download. Very disappointing... I'll stick with my 1996 box set.

Because the '72 CATP production master is widely regarded as the best-sounding, at least in terms of the LP format. It's got better bass and treble response than the '66 original production master, and it's closer in generation to the 1/4" mixdown tape than anything since besides a 16-bit DAT made from it before it went missing. As for the clicks on LGAFA, there's there on the original. As Lee Dempsey points out in his terrific analysis of the various PS releases from the latest issue of ESQ, "If the clicks are absent, the source is a cleaned-up digital copy."   

[petsite]

I just wrote the following review on Amazon about this boxset. Cap screwed us again!

Universal / Capitol Records ruin another great boxset with shoddy manufacturing.
Date: June 19, 2016
Format: Audio CD|Verified Purchase

This boxset is impeccably mastered by Mark H. Linett, as always. Mark is so familiar with this material that quite honestly, those of us that have been lifetime Beach Boys / Brian Wilson devotees don't really want anyone else doing this. Mark comes thru for us every time.

That said, it seems that Universal Music is doing what every corporation is doing in this day and age. Giving the job of production to the lowest bidder, regardless of the actual quality of the end product. These CDs are some of the worst I have seen. I have returned a set and received another with the same issues. Disc 1 has what is knows as CD ROT (Disc rot is a phrase describing the tendency of a CD to become unreadable due to physical or chemical deterioration). Disc 3 in both sets were scratched like they had been dragged across a gravel. This comes after the Beach Boys box set Made In California issued in 2013 where one disc was improperly mastered causing the last two tracks to end before the end of the song. There was a recall on the disc that took forever to get the new disc out to people. Now here another wonderful box ruined by shoddy production.

Amazon has been wonderful with the returns and Mark Linett did a fantastic job. Capitol, get your act together. Some of us don't want 256 kbps downloads but 1411 kbps wave files. How hard is that??

[Jim V.]

What I've noticed on disc 1, the mono version, is that they were either working from a poor quality master (apparently the CATP from 1972 - why this one?), or did a sloppy job with the remaster. For example, listen to LGAFA - at about one minute in two loud clicks can be heard, on both the CD and digital download. Very disappointing... I'll stick with my 1996 box set.

Because the '72 CATP production master is widely regarded as the best-sounding, at least in terms of the LP format. It's got better bass and treble response than the '66 original production master, and it's closer in generation to the 1/4" mixdown tape than anything since besides a 16-bit DAT made from it before it went missing. As for the clicks on LGAFA, there's there on the original. As Lee Dempsey points out in his terrific analysis of the various PS releases from the latest issue of ESQ, "If the clicks are absent, the source is a cleaned-up digital copy."   

So if the 1972 is closer in generation to the mixdown tape, what was used for the 2012 reissue? I guess what I'm trying to get at, is what is the closest to the original master that has been used on the CD releases? Do any of them have the "original" master?