Discovery

No need to discuss my opinions of the band here. Clearly I love their entire catalogue or I wouldn't have purchased this product. You, the reader, and probably of the same mind or else you wouldn't be considering the purchase of this product. So moving on.All 16 albums are the 2011 remasters and are by far the superior releases. I already owned several of these albums on CD and vinyl and did not mind the double-dip considering the quality of the sound. Particular on songs like "Echoes" or the entire "Dark Side" album, where subtlety is key to the music, these releases allow Floyd's soundscapes to be full explored by the discerning listener. One side note about these versions of the albums is the inclusion of "When the Tigers Broke Free" on "The Final Cut." It is added as track 4 where it was not included in the original release of this album.As for the complaints some people had about the presentation of the box set, I cannot agree with them at all. The digipacks are tight and glossy, with much (in some cases all) of the original artwork present. Maybe they didn't see the album booklets which are a little difficult to get out at first. In addition to the album art, you get a 60-page book with rare and previously unreleased art and pictures (I particularly liked the deconstructed "Ummagumma" album cover). All pictures are accompanied by a small quote describing the history of that art and how it was created (cameras, lens, enhancements, etc.). For such short blurbs, I felt they explained each piece rather nicely. This entire package adds to the total Floyd album experience rather than detracts from it. Finally, the outer shell is a very sturdy top-gate box kept closed with magnets. I couldn't believe how perfect it all looked. Perhaps the only complaint one might have is the disc art. Each disc has the album's name and track list with credits typed over a background pattern of this box set's icon. Keep in mind that the original vinyl releases would also have had a generic look to them so this shouldn't be a major deal.I would recommend this box set to anyone who is a fan of Floyd but never bought their albums, or those who bought a few but would like to upgrade to the 2011 remasters. I cannot imagine anyone being disappointed by this box set. The only catch is its availability. As of the time I write this, it seems to be in limited quantities and 3rd party sellers and pricing it at various levels (I got mine brand new for $140 all told, but it is currently priced at a minimum $210, only one month after I purchased mine). So good luck price-hunting.

I'll break the review down into two sections, the music and the box itself.The music-It is incredible. I have owned every Pink Floyd album in various incarnation from UK pressings, to US dollar bin vinyl, and dubbed cassettes to various CD masters. I am rather estranged from most of my vinyl and mostly had MP3 and FLAC versions of recent reissues. Since I had a lot of ad hoc versions downloaded from various sources I was pretty psyched to get the whole collection in one nice newly remastered box. And sonically they are incredible. People are looking for a revelation in sound in the other reviews and you won't necessarily find it here. This is not the first time Pink Floyd's catalog has been well mastered. But it is extraordinary. It is neither over-compressed nor "brick-walled," the dynamics are super clear and this reminds me very much of my old vinyl. Especially albums like Wish You Were Here and Animals, which have always had a tremendous amount of depth and clarity. There is a bit of sonic unity through the masters which is also welcome. You can have a cut from the Division Bell follow in your changer after something from Obscured By Clouds without sounding overly jarring. But that is meant as a compliment to the excellent mastering work which just lets the original tapes shine.The packaging-This is where I'm less psyched, and why I am not giving this five stars. The albums are all housed in digi-packs which doesn't bother me as much as other reviewers. However the lack of art does bother me. This is PINK FREAKING FLOYD! The visual element has always been very important. The new booklets are all 8-12 pages long but are mostly lyrics. In some cases, notably Wish You Were Here and the Wall there is actually LESS art than in previous editions. If this is a last push at giving people a gorgeous physical product they definitely fell way short of the mark. And the 60 page book is not very interesting or cool. There are a few outtakes that look a lot like the original covers. Snore.So in summary- from a sonic perspective this is probably the best these albums are ever going to sound on a 16 bit compact disc, and the consistency running through the discs is stellar. However the love put into the sound does not carry over into the bland box which does not do the visual style of Pink Floyd justice.

Loudness Wars no more! This is the entire Pink Floyd studio album collection with every note in the right place, every dynamic nuance as it should be. The only deviations from the original stereo master tapes has been to gently restore what the passage of time has done to the original analog tapes, and to repair the very few recording mistakes that were impossible to mend in the 20th century. The levels on "Fat Old Sun" have been corrected. That one piano note in "San Tropez" that distorted on every LP and early CD is as clear as a bell. The last crescendo of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" that has always been woolly has been tightened up just a bit. Little things like that. What hasn't been touched is the essence of the music. It's all as I remember from the first LP, but better. The bass line on "Echoes" has a solidity that was unknown to records. Guitar parts that had bite the first time the record was played, but slowly faded with every play are crisp and clean and will not fade. These CDs sound like the best open reel tape copies that few of us could own.If you're like me and have a hodgepodge of Pink Floyd records, tapes and CDs that seem to be missing something, this box set may be the answer. James Guthrie has achieved something significantly better than the 2006 remasters. I was skeptical, and kept this on a shelf for a long time before I read about how Loudness Wars was still around. Then I listened for crushed dynamics, and sure enough I found them in some cases. I had been playing Immersion discs for some PF albums, but others were 1990s vintage. I had retired my records and first CDs years before. As I opened the box and unwrapped each disc and played it, I heard an old familiar sound that had been lost in recent years. I wish I could do the same for every CD I own.

La verdad es que yo la pude comprar por un precio muy bueno, en el tiempo en el que el diario El País había sacado también su colección completa de Pink Floyd, pero con una diferencia de precio de 60€. Así que no me lo pensé ni un momento y adquirí Discovery.Así que para poner un poco en contexto, haré una de esas comparaciones "odiosas" entre ambas ediciones para ver las diferencias entre ambas, dejando claro que a mí no me paga Amazon (lo cual estaría bien).Ambas ediciones son casi calcos en lo que respecta al Digipack a primera vista pero la del País es más fiel al vinilo original, incluyendo la imagen original del interior de la carpeta "gatefold", mientras que la del Discovery incluye una imagen diferente. Cambian también las tipografías, siendo la del País un poco más grande.Los libretos también difieren en la tipografía y en la imagen central de los mismos, pero en el resto son idénticos. El papel es sensiblemente mejor en la edición de El País. Mientras que las portadas de los libretos son el mismo tipo de papel, las páginas interiores son con un papel más satinado en la edición de El País.Las imprimaciones de los CD's también se diferencian en que la Edidión del País utiliza la imagen de las portadas de los discos, mientras que la Edición Discovery utiliza esa imagen pseudo-psicodelica horrrorosa para todos sus discos.En cuanto a contenido, ambas ediciones incluyen los mismos discos hasta el "The division Bell", incluyendo "A momentary lapse of reason" (Sin Roger Waters pero aprovechándose de la marca Pink Floyd)La del País incluye el DVD Pulse (Con la actuación completa) y el insufrible "The Endless River" que es el peor broche que ha podido tener este grupo, un mojón de proporciones bíblicas. A evitar si no queréis gastaros el dinero en un CD de música de hilo musical de ascensor. Y si queréis algo autenticamente Pinkfloydiano, pues os compráis el último de Waters, que ese si que es bueno. "Is this the life we really want?"En lo que a mí respecta, me quedaría en "The final cut", que es "de lo último decente" que hicieron. La verdad es que es un disco terriblemente aburrido, pero siguen sonando a Pink Floyd.Por último. El estuche de El País, es una caja sencilla sin más, mientras que el estuche del Discovery es una caja muy pintona con un sistema de imán que facilita la apertura y que incluye un libro con diferentes diseños que realizó el equipo de Hipgnosis para Pink Floyd a través de los años. La verdad es que es un puntazo a favor de esta caja. El libro se extrae fácilmente tirando de una cinta y es muy interesante.Resumiendo, por precio y extras, indudablemente la edición Discovery es mucho más atractiva. Y el Pulse, se puede adquirir por separado!!

This reissue is almost as exciting as the Beatles. However this is now the third box set of Pink Floyd's back catalogue. Shine on being the first, and then Oh by the way. This however is cheaper than both, which i suppose makes it a less bitter pill to swallow. All the studio albums are here, in mini replica sleeves, however, no inner sleeves are here which is very frustrating as getting the CD out of the slip case is an art in its self. I don't like these sleeves and like the Beatles do little to protect he disc when your trying to play them. Some of the inner booklets like meddle and Animals have less pictures in them why I don't know. Now for the sound Quality is it better,well yes it is. I did not realise that the last time Pink Floyd were remastered was over 18 years ago. It appears that the older albums have benefited more as Meddle is much clearer the clarity is just all there on Echoes, and Fearless is crystal clear. I have to be honest was never a major fan of Ummgumma or the two film sound tracks, Atom heart mother had its moments, and fat old sun is sounding great. Dark side or the moon ha been re mastered now so many times its hard to work out which CD to compare the new one with, well defiantly not the 5.1 version. Time is a good track to start with and yes it is sounding fresh and clarity is good, the Great gig in the sky perfect as is Us and them. Wish you were here a personal favourite, I always felt was recorded so well, but this version is better that laugh is still chilling in "Shine on" and now makes you look behind you (only down side smaller booklet)Animals sounds better crisper and less muffled than the original re master. The Wall is always such great highlights for any music fan from the acoustic guitars and it sounds like it was recorded yesterday. The difficult final cut, I always liked it but it is a Roger Waters solo album, the sound effects on the album still sound amazing and now even clearer. A momentary lapse of reason had its moment learning to fly, always sounded excellent, the album does sound better but not leaps and bounds like the 70's Floyd perhaps because it was recorded digitally there is little to be improved on. I loved the Division Bell it was always for me a more complete Floyd album, and the group seemed to be working as a Group and it showed. Again I don't notice too much difference in sound, the album always sounded good anyway. This package does have its faults, the annoying paper duplicate sleeves, No live albums, and relics would have so finished this set off containing the singles of the time, and as nick mason said this was inspired by the Beatles remastered set, so where are the Pink Floyd "Past Master", apart from that its a good set, its a shame that Dark side, wish you were here and the Wall are not in the experience versions with the extra disc that would have be very nice, but as a package if you have no other Pink Floyd set its a must.

Otra caja más en la colección de Pink floyd, tres discos esenciales, Dark Side..., Wish you... y The Wall, siete discos buenísimos, unos podrán gustar más que otros pero rezuman calidad, y cuatro discos totalmente prescindibles: Obscured By Clouds (parece mentira que fuera el predecesor de su gran obra), The Final Cut ( podría ser la segunda parte de The Wall pero ni de lejos, si en The Wall hay momentos depresivos aquí R. Waters se desparrama totalmente, con todo tiene buenos momentos, si a alguien le gusta este disco que escuche "The pros and cons of Hitch Hiking" de R. Waters en solitario, le da mil vueltas). En cuanto a A Momentary... y a The División Bell, si no hubieran existido no nos perderíamos gran cosa.La presentación de la caja es atractiva, pero las carpetas de los discos son tan pequeñas que dificultan la extracción del cd, lo mismo que cuando lo volvemos a guardar en su funda, la carpeta debería haber sido más holgada. Anteriormente se editaron dos cajas de P.F.: "Shine On" con 9 discos, para mi, la mejor, casi perfecta si no hubieran incluido A Momentary..., en cambio dejaron fuera Atom Heart Mother, uno de mis favoritos, contiene un libro de pasta dura muy bien presentado, hoy en día se consigue de segunda mano y se cotiza bastante, yo pagué un pico en ebay pero estoy encantado con la adquisición.La otra caja es Oh By The Way, más reciente, contiene los 14 discos en cd réplica de vinilo, con las carpetas imitando los vinilos originales, muy bien logrado, en eso la presentación es mucho mejor que en la nueva caja, aunque no fueron remasterizados para la ocasión, una pena en este sentido.

All fourteen studio albums carefully re-mastered with a nice booklet to boot. Pink Floyd have always been big on the design front of things (the Immersion Boxset of 'Dark Side' is indeed a thing of beauty). It's just a shame that the actual cardboard sleeves of the individual albums are rather less pleasing. Why so? Well in every instance I found that the side openings were so tight that getting the actual CD's out without scraping them and thus creating damage-The discs are not housed in a seperate sleeve like japanese ones always are- required great care and when it came to 'The Wall' the cardboard actually ripped when I gave the first CD the slightest tug. One cover ruined before I'd even played the album! Cardboard sleeves are the bane of many CD re-releases unless they are Japanese editions, which are always packaged beautifully and perfectly designed. So a word of warning on that front. Now to the music. These new re-masters seem to have taken their cue from the recent Beatles re-issues in that not much compression appears to have been used so the Everything-as-loud-as-everything-else syndrome that is present on a lot of re-mastering these days is not in evidence here. This i'm sure has been welcomed by many opposed to the 'Loudness War' of modern re-mastering.(Although personally I think it depends on the artist as to whether compression is a good thing, The Who,for instance,just HAVE to be mastered as loud as possible in my opinion because of the sheer power of their music). There is some extra volume on these new masters but that's to be expected with the better techniques available today and the overall sound is not compromised. What's missing from this box-set of course is the 'Relics' album which hoovered up some of the stray songs flitting about the Floyd canon (though not all) aswell as some early A and B-sides.Unfortunately this means this set is incomplete. Will they appear on a special compilation later? Lets hope so. If you are a fan of Pink Floyd there is really no excuse not to own this. Even if you don't like every album they made there is usually at least one track worthy of your attention. ( the much-hated Atom Heart Mother contains 'Fat Old Sun' for example). Just be careful with those sleeves!

This set is awesome in my opinion....to people who give negative reviews...if you don't like it...don't buy it...it really is that simple!!The sound quality of these are great...the new remasters sound sharper or crisper to my ears...and you can hear things more clearly than you could on the last remasters....although some people say they hear no difference...i disagree!Its a remaster..not a remix..so don't expect miracles especially when the sound quality of the 90's remasters was really good in the 1st place....i think some people expect the band to come out of the box when its opened and do a live show in their living room when they buy these things!!I have all the floyd box sets...and all the seperate albums...because i'm a huge fan i want to encourage people to buy these...remember these become collectors items if looked after properly...and to make a point...people that review complain about the cost of these..which is fair but look at the SHINE ON box set from around 1992..it cost me £120 when i bought it years back...it only had some of the albums and a singles disc...with some other stuff included,they were the older remasters and if you search on amazon at a used SHINE ON box they sell for more than the original asking price!!So are we really wasting money or buying an investment piece of the future?I think the latter in my opinion!!Anyway....if you ask me the music on here is brilliant (GOES WITHOUT SAYING!)....and any true floyd fan would be happy with it!