Bananarama – Deep Sea Skiving

CD2 Track 14 "Shy Boy (U.S. Dub)" is NOT the same as the mix that appeared on the U.S. 12" Promo. It's a tiny difference, but I noticed it and decided I might as well leave a note here pointing it out. The opening 4 snare hits on this track are more similar to the original UK album/single version, with lots of reverb. The actual Dub Mix on the U.S. 12" starts with 4 snare hits, but there's hardly any reverb at all. This appears to have been corrected for the 2015 "In A Bunch" CD singles box set. The U.S. Dub on the "Shy Boy" CD-Single has the CORRECT "dry" snare intro.

Also a minor error, CD2 Track 3 "Shy Boy (U.S. 7" Mix)" is mis-identified. This is in fact a shorter version of the John Luongo mix that was commissioned for the U.S. market, and it was used as the LP version in the U.S. So this track should be titled "Shy Boy (U.S. LP Mix)". The actual 7" single released in the U.S. had the original UK LP/Single version of "Shy Boy". I , as a 12yr old at the time, being a huge fan of the album and then being surprised with a completely different mix when I picked up the "Shy Boy" 7" single. Of course, I didn't realize at the time that the (new to me) 7" mix was actually the ORIGINAL version of the song.

Similarly, CD2 Track 2 "Really Sayin' Somethin' (U.S. 7" Mix)" is a shorter version of the John Luongo commissioned remix. This is indeed the mix on the U.S. 7" single, but it is ALSO the mix that was used on the original LP release of "Deep Sea Skiving" in the U.S. instead of the original UK version. When "Deep Sea Skiving" was released on CD in the U.S., the original U.K. mix of "Really Saying Something" replaced the John Longo mix.

Great set, sounds wonderful. I think the videos look good, and personally I'm fine with NTSC, I hate that PAL speed-up that makes the vocals sound squeaky.

Regrettably the quality of all the videos has been deliberately deteriorated into blatant NTSC system instead of PAL. If they did their best to keep the highest possible quality, we would enjoy 720×576 pixels (PAL) and not the shoddy 720×480 (NTSC). But there is even worse. Bearing in mind the black vertical bars the effective resolution is 600×480 pixels. Shame! Apparently Edsel (and unfortunately not only they) turned out to be sycophants once again. Why the hell they disdain the European customers by spoiling the quality?! If Americans really insist on the worse quality for them, let they do it on their . Hands off the PAL quality! Their DVD equipment cannot play PAL whereas European can manage both PAL and NTSC. And that ought to be their issue only! I am very disappointed because of such attitude and it is next to impossible to believe that we will ever see the unspoiled videos (in PAL) by NTSC application. Lost forever, I am afraid! There is proof though that not every record company disregards the quality matters. Even in the year 2015 PWL Records released first four albums by Kylie Minogue supplemented with digital versatile discs of PAL resolution. Well done! Keep it up! There is no excuse. Take the example form them! It is not an insurmountable task.