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Topic ClosedYour thoughts on albums being remastered
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mystic fred View Drop Down
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Points: 4252 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 08 2007 at 02:17
Originally posted by salmacis salmacis wrote:

I agree, the Tull remasters were an example of how it should be done, imo. They sounded great (the older CD of This Was especially I found to be dreadful), and the extras were mostly essential to the album in question- fewer 'one play' jobs (in fact I rarely played most of them that much!) like those Yes demo versions. And what's more, the Tull ones cost around £5, save the doubles, near me in most any shop. Cost effective, but superbly done. I've been getting most of them lately- surprised at how much I like the late 80s and onwards albums.
 
However, I think 'Aqualung' NEEDS a overhaul desparately. The Thick As A Brick one sounds great to me, and was done around the same time, but the Aqualung 'remaster' sounds terrible- really flat, especially when compared to the later remasters. Also, the extras were largely superfluous- BBC sessions from 1968, which had not only been already released, but Aqualung came out in 1971!!Confused
 
 
An American audiophile record company (will edit the name in when i get home) has reissued "Aqualung" remastered on vinyl, they borrowed the original tapes from Ian Anderson. i ordered a copy and when i get it will report on my findings, a British hifi mag reported it as the best quality recording so far so we'll see....Wink
 
 
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perennial_quest View Drop Down
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Points: 14 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 10 2007 at 03:34
Personally, I love remasters, especially when an album hasn't been available for a while (all those that get sold on eBay for over $40). Sound quality is generally good, but occasionally, some companies tend to over compress the sound to make it seem very loud to the point of distortion. This is also the case for new albums since the 00s and especially in metal. Bonus tracks are welcome even if they don't add much to the album, but it shouldn't be the reason to upgrade your old copy. Also, you generally can't go wrong with Japanese Mini-LPs. The only problem is that they are much sought after and their price can be a little high, but they are worth the price. Be aware that there are bootlegs out there.

I've encountered great remasters, like the Gentle Giant re-issues from DRT. Fans of the band know that prior to 2005, all albums from 1973-1980 were quite hard to find (at least in N.America they were). The die-cut Power & the Glory and the embossed cover of The Missing Piece were a nice touch. Jethro Tull's Warchild is a great example of great bonus tracks. Not only there are plenty of additions but these extra songs are as good as the album itself.

While remasters are generally great imo, there are some really crappy ones. The initial pressing of Gentle Giant's Interview from DRT was mastered in mono. It was the CD manufacturer's fault and thankfully my disc was replaced with a correct copy and signed by Derek Shulman himself. I also bought Sadus' Swallowed in Black (great metal band!) from Metal Mind Productions and it had a really big mistake: the music on the disc was from their next album, Vision of misery. I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail.

The last crappy one I've bought was Comus' First Utterance released by Breathless. Please avoid at all cost!!!! I've wrote about this in the Comus thread. For the details click here
I never heard other releases by Breathless, I assume they're not that bad. Anyone can comment on that?

Geez, that was a lot of typing...



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con safo View Drop Down
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Points: 1230 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 10 2007 at 12:49
Why would you have a problem with them? Sure there are some shoddy remasters but a good majority are an improvement. Like was said, if you're one of those people who believe original LP's sound best then just keep listening to them! Remasters give new clarity and depth to classic recordings. For the most part.
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thellama73 View Drop Down
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Points: 8368 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 11 2007 at 22:39
I love remasters. They usually sound way better than the original cd release, which most of the time came out in the mid 80's when they didn't really know how to made good cds. But if I'm not in the mood to pay a lot of money for aa remaster, I can usually find the original kicking around for a really low price. Everybody wins.
What I don't like is when artists remix as well as remaster, as Megadeth has done with their releases. That's the equivelant of Lucas sticking a CG Jabba the Hut into Star Wars IV. :P
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A B Negative View Drop Down
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Points: 1594 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 28 2007 at 10:14
When I started to listen to prog again (about 5 years ago) my local music shop had some old prog CDs that were pretty cheap. I bought most of the VDGG albums, a couple of Robert Wyatt albums and In the Land of Grey and Pink by Caravan.
 
I loved the music but the sound quality was on a par with cassettes. When the albums were remastered and re-released I had no qualms about buying them again.
 
The reissues are louder, more detailed and have less noise.
 
Bonus tracks range from very good (Caravan reissues) to unremarkable (VDGG) to non-existant (Wyatt).
 
And I gave my old CDs to friends, introducing them to the ways of prog... Wink
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Hyperborea View Drop Down
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Points: 234 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 29 2007 at 20:59
Re-masters are a con.......digitally re-mastered? so what. A few tracks thrown in that weren't good enough first time around.or some dodgy demo/live track.  More money for the appalling record companies, and more than enough buffoons ready to buy them.
 
p.s original record releases have better quality than cd's.


Edited by Hyperborea - March 29 2007 at 21:00
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