Japanese/UK CD comparison

[Rolf.Peukert@Theoinf.TU-Ilmenau.DE (Rolf Peukert)]

Hi,

after several people (not only in this newsgroup) told me that Japanese 
CDs sound better, I decided to give it a try and bought a Japanese copy of 
"The Kick Inside". Here are the differences between

a) Kate Bush - The Kick Inside, EMI (UK/UK) CDP 746012 2 (CDEMS 1522)
   (from the UK TWW box set)
   
b) Kate Bush / The Kick Inside, Toshiba-EMI (JP/JP) CP21-6082
   ("Pastmasters", probably the equivalent to "cool price" or "fame")

- Packaging

As you probably know, the UK pressing has the kite-and-eyeball cover, the
Japanese has the "pink top" portrait of Kate.
The CD tray of (a) is made of grey plastic, (b) is white. (a) has an 8-page
(= two folded sheets) booklet with English lyrics. "Booklet" (b) is a single
folded sheet, the lyrics in Japanese and English are printed on an additional
foldout sheet of 2*4 times CD size. There's also some additional information
in Japanese (don't ask me to translate this, the title alone took me half an 
hour with Langenscheidt's Kanji & Kana dictionary).

Interesting: some of the song titles (and Kate's name of course) are only 
transcribed to the Katakana alphabet, others are actually translated to Japanese.

Translated:  Moving, Strange Phenomena, Kite (transcription also given in 
             brackets), Wuthering Heights, Oh To Be In Love, L'Amour Looks
             Something Like You ("l'amour" only transcribed),
             Room For The Life
            
Transcribed: The Saxophone Song, Kite, James And The Cold Gun, Feel It, 
             Them Heavy People, The Kick Inside.

more interesting: the Japanese album title isn't "The Kick Inside", it's
composed of the same Kanji characters as the translation of "Moving".

(caution! amateur's work:)
these characters read: tenshi to sho akuma
this means: angel and little devil

now this is really strange!
Could some kind soul please correct (or confirm) this?

possible reasons: - my translation of the characters was wrong (as usual)
                  - i got the characters right, but this combination
                    actually means "moving"
                  - the original translator had a different opinion
                    what the song is about

Why did they call the album "Moving" at all? because it's the first song?

- Discs

(a) has black text printed on the label side, (b) has clear text
on black background.
Disc (b) seems to be slightly thicker. I compared their weight:
(a)  14.5 grams
(b)  16   grams
my letter scales certainly ain't the ultimate in precision, but there is
a difference in weight. This could explain why Japanese CDs play better
in some players.

- Music

(a) is 43:12 minutes, (b) is 43:16 minutes long in total, so the they
obviously don't contain exactly the same data. I chose the track 
"The Kick Inside" for a closer examination:
(b) has less tape hiss.
(a) sounds more "brilliant" (the piano _and_ Kate's voice)
The differences are very subtle, but clearly audible in direct comparison.
I don't know much about CD mastering, but I'd guess the people at Toshiba
just applied a low pass filter, removing the higher frequencies.

Personally I like the sound of the UK CD better. 
Surely we can't to generalize the results, they are valid just for these two 
specific items.
Maybe you get different results when comparing a UK "cheap edition" CD to 
a Japanese box set CD. Probably it's totally different in case of other albums.
Results can also be different on other CD players. 
Seems like I have successfully wasted your and my time.

bye,
Rolf