DealsDeal alert / David Bowie: Five Years 1969-1973 / CD box set
Here we go, the first major price-drop (via Amazon Italy) for the much anticipated David Bowie Five Years CD box set, which is due out this Friday.
The 12CD box set is just over £70 on the Italian site (€98), compared to £98 on Amazon UK. A significant saving which works out to be under £6 per CD.
Remember, there are no import duties within the EU and if you’re ordering outside the EU VAT is deducted. So the Amazon Italy price equates to $90 for American SDE readers (it’s $120 on Amazon US). Usual tips apply – use Google Chrome to aid with translation and you don’t need to create a new Amazon account.
One final point is that there is nothing different about the version on sale in Amazon Italy, you won’t get a booklet in Italian, if you’re worried about that!
In The Box:
- • David Bowie AKA Space Oddity*
- • The Man Who Sold The World*
- • Hunky Dory*
- • The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
- • Aladdin Sane
- • Pin Ups*
- • Live Santa Monica ‘72
- • Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture Soundtrack
- • The Rise and Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (2003 Ken Scott mix)
- • Re:Call 1 (2CD set)
Re:Call 1 tracklisting
CD1
- Space Oddity (original UK mono single edit)*
- Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (original UK mono single version)*
- Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola
- The Prettiest Star (original mono single version)*
- Conversation Piece*
- Memory Of A Free Festival (Part 1)
- Memory Of A Free Festival (Part 2)
- All The Madmen (mono single edit)* previously unreleased
- Janine*
- Holy Holy (original mono single version)* only ever issued on original ‘71 Mercury single
- Moonage Daydream (The Arnold Corns single version)*
- Hang On To Yourself (The Arnold Corns single version)*
CD 2
- Changes (mono single version)*
- Andy Warhol (mono single version)*
- Starman (original single mix)
- John, I’m Only Dancing (original single version)
- The Jean Genie (original single mix)
- Drive-In Saturday (German single edit)
- Round And Round
- John, I’m Only Dancing (sax version)
- Time (U.S. single edit)
- Amsterdam
- Holy Holy (Spiders version)
- Velvet Goldmine
All tracks stereo except *mono.
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I felt that Space Oddity and Man Who Sold the World CDs sounded smooth as one would expect from decent vinyl. The rest of them were played in the car so difficult to judge them. In terms of actual quality of the music I played the Ziggy Hammersmith and Santa Monica back to back and Hammersmith is superior in every way. Not sure why they bothered with the latter – Bowie at the Beeb would have been a better inclusion.
Anybody got any info on the CDs sound quality?
Mine fit ok in the plastic sleeve but not a good fit in the paper inner.
Are you supposed to take the CD’s out of the protective baggy protective thingy and just have it rest in the CD card provided or are you supposed to leave it in the baggy protective thingy and jam that into the CD card holder?
The five years are 1.1.69 to 31.12.73….. Birthdays don’t work like that as I’m sure you know.
I ordered CD box from the Bowie site. It was delivered on Thursday. Outer section of box is bashed and split at the surface along one seam. No quibble replacement from their customer services was despatched Friday and they haven’t asked me to return the damaged box. This compares well with Amazon. had this been Amazon I would have had to return the whole thing as I did with a few of the Zep SDEs but aside from that I agree Amazon return policy is pretty faultless.
Just to point out that these are not all new 2015 remasters. Ziggy Stardust is the 2012 remaster and Aladdin Sane is the 2013 remaster. Have i missed something to why this is called five years when it only covers 69-73 which by maths only equals 4 years and it’s strange that Diamond Dogs is missing in action.
1969,1970,1971,1972,1973 – I think you’ll find that is five years :)
Still doesn’t make sense 73-69 = 4. I was born in 69 so in 73 i turned 4 not 5.
Hi could anybody tell more about the quality of the artwork package ..
just paper sleeves or real thick japan style mini lp .. like the pink floyd box content … ?
Thanks Richard
These are not japanese style mini lps. They are not to the level of the Beatles mono discs. And the sleeves are not as rigid as the Roxy Music box. I was disapointed that they weren’t of higher quality. They are still very nice and include a lot of details, from the varying finishes of each sleeve, to the inner sleeves and bonus material. The book is of the highest quality I have seen in a set like this. I Still think this is a great value.
Hi Ben, thanks for your clearance .. i will purchase the JAPAN smh versions instead. but what about this:
Update 19:00 23/6: SDE has been in touch with the label who have confirmed that these are high quality ‘Japanese-style’ packaging not simply card sleeves with CDs in them. To quote “a great deal of care, love and attention to detail has been taken on getting them right and looking beautiful.”
Richard
I read that too, and that is why I was somewhat disapointed in the CDs. They are nicely done, but aren’t Japanese style as I know them. Japanese style, to me, is a sleeve that is flat. Some of these sleeves are wider than typical, such that you can turn the sleeve upside down and the contents fall out. The recent Maria Callas remastered set has the same type sleeves. They are about 1/8 of an inch wide.
Just in case there is any doubt, that was a direct quote from someone at Parlophone.
Ben .. they have the same low quality as in the YES album boxes .. indeed a cardboard so wide that you can stick 3 disc in it .. i know its sad .. and for PAUL: i don’t blame anyone .. just a bit disappointed today i have seen them for myself i don’t like the package ,, so i will collect the japanese SHM mini lp CD’s
Amazon.com just dropped the price to $98 and change. I preordered at the $119 price, so I aksed for the $20 credit and they refunded it gladly. Love Amazon!
Import CDs has it for $90 U.S.D.
My copy from davidbowie.com, with the extra pin-ups disc arrived this morning.
Amazon U.S. has the CD set at $119.99 and the Vinyl at $249.98 i’m figuring it comes to the same price with the shipping as getting it from the U.K. or Italy
Paul, you don’t have to use any language translator to contact any foreign language Amazon as theres contact-form on each of their help-pages. If I remember correctly, the contact-form sends message to address like [email protected] or [email protected](just for example).
They have contacted me back quickly and solved any issue.
Everytime that I have had any problem with anything, they have provided that usual excellent service that Amazon does. So no worries at all as I have ordered from all other Amazons and all has gone well.
Thanks. Great tip.
Ordered mine at £71 (Inc postage) from
Wow HD and it shipped yesterday! Never had to return anything but when I’ve had to cancel an order they refunded almost immediately
Personally I think this is a great box set (although rather steep at £98).
I managed to buy the LP & CD box sets today
Trust me I am not made of money & put aside the dosh as an early Xmas present to myself .
The sound quality is fantastic . I did a comparison to my RCA Lps & these new ones SMOKE them away . I am sure some people will reply stating that’s impossible because the RCAs are analog transferred etc if they do could they please state their replay equipment & made an actual comparison without speculating , thanks.
Never mind the sound quality, what is the packaging like?
Just ordered the LP Box set (at David Bowie Store), with the bonus Pin-ups radio Show 10”.
Not very interested in this 10”, so re-selling it on eBay will hopefully cover a good part of what this big box cost me.
Paul, next time you have any trouble contacting a french seller (Amazon FR or other), feel free to contact me and I’ll be happy to help.
You’ve been so helpful for all of us… :)
Regards !!
Thanks :)
It will probably be eye-wateringly expensive, but the Japanese verison of this set supposedly has some sort of ‘exclusive’….Did anybody ever find out what it it?
From CDJapan..
….Japanese edition features: A. Booklet written in Japanese / B. Japanese edition bonus (details forthcoming)….
I’ve fallen for the promise of Japanese exclusives (Duran Duran – Rio and A-ha HHAL SDE) too many times. I doubt there is any extra audio, although happy to be proved wrong.
I’m Italian. No problem with Amazon. IT. It’s the same thing of uk and Germany. Don’t worry people.
Thanks Martillos… I ordered earlier and it is £76 inc the shipping. I will be interested to see how long it takes from despatch and what markings are on the packaging (re somebody else’s comment about an international order coming from Dunfermline which, last time I looked, was not on the European mainland)
Thanks for the deal alert Paul! Pre-ordered this; despite knowing only a little Italian, the buttons are all the same & you can log-in with your email/password from any other Amazon site, so it’s really no hassle. I’ve successfully purchased from the German site previously, so I’m not too worried, despite the poor reputation of Italian postal service. LOL
Despite having all the most recent Bowie remasters – with the exception of the Ziggy mix from the vinyl release – I think this is very good value. Including delivery to Australia it cost €98,15 minus the VAT – once conversion rates are applied & including Visa’s foreign currency charge, it’ll end up costing me about AU$162 – which works out to AU$12.50 for the 13 discs/book, or AU$13.50 for the 12 discs alone – personally, I count the 128 page full-colour book as a worthy item in & of itself.
Considering the discs come in (presumably) very nice quality Japanes-style miniature replica card sleeves, inside a (hopefully very sturdy) box, with a substantial full-colour book you won’t find anywhere else, I’m confident I’ll be very pleased with the overall value. Hopefully the (new) remastering sounds fine, & if the production quality is similar to that of the Roxy Music box (but with the detailed book that set sorely lacked), I should be most happy with my birthday present in a fortnight! :-)
Earlier this year i bought DM Live In Berlin from Amazon France and it was posted from Dunfermline here in Scotland. I still can’t fathom that out.
3 of the albums are new mixes and some of the tracks are on the Nothing has changed and they sound amazing!
Anybody know if amazon it is as sloppy as amazon uk when it comes to packaging stuff like this? I’ve had too many box sets etc that have arrived battered and damaged from amazon uk to take a chance
I can state from much experience that the packaging is a gamble. Most of the time I receive boxes that are crushed, and about 20% of the time the item is damaged. I just had to do a return to Amazon.IT and they refunded the money the day I mailed the package back. So great customer service!
I bought the Chrissy Hynde white vinyl from Amazon France. Badly warped, but sent them an email (in French – using translation tools) and they are sending out another one. No request to return the bad one. Hard to argue with that level of service.
Also I would add that I have much better luck in receiving items in good condition when I spring for the expedited shipping….Less time in transit = less time to get damaged.
Pre-ordered this some time ago from Amazon Italy, so looking forward to getting it at lower price. Received Jimi Hendrix box from Amazon France with no issues, so Italy should be fine.
There’s absolute no more hassle ordering from Amazon It rather than Amazon Germany, UK, France, or USA… I ordered from them all and the return procedure is exactly the same
£72 on WOW HD with free worldwide shipping.
All things being roughly equal, Amazon offer MUCH better customer service.
Hi Paul (and Brian)
I had it ordered from Amazon and switched to Wow last week when their price dropped.
I agree with you re customer service from Wow, not very good.
Most annoying thing for me is lack of a tracking number for big orders like expensive box sets.
Amazon nearly always have a tracking number.
Great price so gone for it – thanks for the tip-off.
Thanks again for the heads-up, Paul. I was going to buy it from the Bowie store (for the bonus disc), but I’d rather save thirty quid.
Thank goodness I didn’t get the Isleys box yesterday…
I must say Amazon have been great at returning/replacing things. I bought an expensive DVD boxset from Amazon.com and one of the discs was cracked and unplayable. They said a. keep the current box and b. we’ll send you a whole new box to replace it so I was happy!
Even at £70, I still can’t see any point in shelling out on this. It’s a box set for the sake of a box set.
BUT RJS Winchester… if you had only ONE of the discs previously like me (Ziggy) it would be a good set wouldn’t it? If you had these already then I can see some validity in your comment…
Bowie never passed me by (the first ever single I bought was ‘Life On Mars’) but somehow he just never made it much impact in my collection which was heavily influenced by what brother’s bought and school friends listened to. I am in a bit of a rediscovery period of early to mid 70s music so this fits the bill at £6 per disc with a book included.
You’re right John, for filling in those gaps this is pretty cool and the price is not too shabby either.
I’m with RJS though as in my teens I did save up and buy all the Sound & Vision remasters (at a hefty £15/disc, gulp!) back in 1991/2 and unless the remastering on these is something out-of-this-world there is no draw for me. I have virtually all the bonus material already so for me it’s has to be the remastering. I plan to wait for some reviews before committing!
Remastering is a all a bit of a con aimed at forty something blokes with disposable income. Obviously a lot fall for it but the way some people go on about remasters, it’s a wonder they liked the music in the first place given how bad the original releases must have sounded. In a few cases, the remastering process makes for a worse listening experience! I can understand the attraction of indulging in a shiny box set of music you’ve already got if it has worthwhile extras – I buy more than a few myself – but I wouldn’t buy anything soley for a remaster job.
Now there I would agree with a lot of what you say RJS… and it will also depend on what system you play it on too re the eventual audio quality… there are a lot of nuances involved.
Sadly , you are too cynical to enjoy the fact a major artist has had his back catalog overhauled & for my hard earned money (not disposable) the Bowie remasters sound fantastic (Compared to my 2nd hand slightly crackly RCA Lps ) I am listening to the Man Who Sold the World right now & it is sublime .
Hi Paul
Thanks for your email – just ordered – in total incl p&p £76. The set probably will go lower – but hey I want it this week.
Cheers
Noel Fitz
Never ordered from any EU Amazon site before except the UK one… are there any pitfalls? Returns for example or huge delays?
I like the set and £70 is good!
Definitely a bit more hassle if you want to return, although still do-able. That, and having to wait a bit longer for the box to get to you are probably the only real negatives.
Ordered today following your Deal Alert message… first ever purchase from an EU Amazon but after all the comments it is worth the £20+ saving.
Incidentally it is £87.99 on Burning Shed + £3.80 UK shipping.
I’ve ordered two box sets from Amazon Italy this year (Spooky Tooth and The Faces) thanx to SDE Deal Alerts and both came from Amazon UK! So if you got to send it back there should be no problem. I guess the order gets passed on to the customers nearest Amazon outlet if you see what I mean. Both boxes arrived in good time and with no problems, although you do have to pay about £4.95 postage. Hope that helps.