Pink Floyd The Wall Remasters

The Japan Harvest Blackface is one of the greatest, but like anything, there's a lot of contention.

on this one the only CD version i've heard is the MFSL which is quite wonderful

I agree. The Japan Harvest releases are the best followed closely by the Columbia C2K and 48DP pressings.

Mm, IIRC, Steve Hoffman prefers the C2K pressing. I lost my Harvest version somewhere on my backup hard drives though...I should dig it back up to compare it to the C2K pressing.

The Harvest and Columbia pressings are way better than the mass-produced versions in stores these days.

A while ago I tried to make some sense of the different masters available and made a list from the info at The Pink Floyd Discographies Page

What you end up with are:
The Harvest Records release
The MFSL release
The Sony/Columbia initial release (50DP, 48DP, C2K 36183)
The Doug Sax remaster from 1994
Some EMI (Uden) master from Japan released in 2006

That's the big picture. You can confuse yourself by fussing about individual releases. There are apparently different versions of the Harvest release and I'm not sure if they're all essentially the same.

Note that the Harvest and the C2K 36183 releases have pre-emphasis and you'll need to do de-emphasis if you rip them.

I have the MFSL, C2K 36183, and Doug Sax 1994 versions. I have not heard the Harvest version.

My personal preference is for the MFSL version for headphone listening. It has a warmer smoother sound that allows you to listen to the full two CDs with no hearing discomfort or harshness on any headphone (even Grados).

The C2K 36183 version is brighter. Different EQ during the mastering. The guitar is a little more edgy compared to the MFSL. If listening with headphones like the HD600/HD650 you might prefer this version over the MFSL. It's personal preference. Both are great to listen to. Just remember to do the de-emphasis if you rip it.

The Doug Sax remaster is fun to listen to when you want to experience the style of sound you'd get at a laser light show. It's a louder more punchy version.

The MFSL version is a bit expensive. I'm not sure it would be worth getting unless you can find a deal or don't mind paying a lot for a CD (I got it back in 1990 when it was released and selling for about $30). Otherwise the old C2K 36183 version can be found easily for cheap. I don't know what the sought after Harvest version sells for. I've not looked into trying to get it. I'm happy enough with the versions I have.



My little summary file of the USA and Japan releases of The Wall

I don't recommend the MFSL remaster - it's just too quiet.

I'll check out the Japan Harvest Blackface, thanks for the tip!

I like the C2K version I have. I think it's pretty easy to come by, too.

I decided to look at the U.K. releases and add them to my little info file.

There are two different production masterings for the U.K. Harvest releases. So that's why there's a distinction between different Harvest versions. There's two versions. Not sure how they differ in sound quality. Seems that the first one (the Sony mastering) is the one people want rather than the second one (the EMI mastering).

that's why the volume knob was invented

Have you even heard it? Thought not.

You need to put the volume to at least 75% to even start hearing it properly - and that's on a decent headphone amp. Even max volume isn't loud enough sometimes. Rediculous.

If your headphone amp can't get your headphones loud enough for you with the MFSL version of "The Wall" then the amp doesn't have enough gain for your headphones no matter how decent the amp is. I don't know how you'd manage to listen to classical or jazz if you're complaining about the MFSL version of "The Wall" being too quiet. Does your source perhaps have a very low level signal which would force the amp to need to do more gain? Maybe a source with a stronger line level signal would solve the problem.

My amp will get my HD600 or D2000 or SR60 to driver busting levels with the MFSL disc. No problems.

Ok maybe that was an exaggeration, I haven't put the CD on in ages. I remember needing to set my volume MUCH higher than normal though.