CD Remasters and the art of being duped or overwelmed.

[fluffernutter]

Over the years as my CD collection has grown, I have enjoyed in some cases CD Remasters. Being the huge KISS and AC/DC fan that i have been for most of my life, I was overjoyed with the remasters that came out some 5 or 6 years ago.

The Judas Priest ones are nice and have the extra tracks which were cut from the original studio albums. After listening to most of them, I see WHY they were cut. Not a big deal with those but I never had any Priest on CD before. The same goes with Iron Maiden but on their CD's not only do they make up a the Iron Maiden album cover when their spines show, they have videos and again, a full site for practically each album. Very nicely done as well. The Maiden albums originally came out 7 or 8 years ago and on the British label Castle and had a second disc which had B-sides on them. Those B-Sides are included on the later Castle and then the domestic releases algon with the videos. GREAT STUFF!

The Ozzy albums have recently been not only remastered but RAPED of the original bass and drums that appeared on Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman. I will never understand how Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake's work and musicianship were erased from those remasters. Worse yet, you cannot even get those originals on CD anymore unless you see it at your friendly Interstate Truck Stop.

In some cases ENTIRE labels have decided to slowly over time remaster and re-release their enitre catalogs (within reason) and it has been a pleasant surprise on the fronts I have encountered. The Roadrunner Obituary, Sepultura, Suffocation and Deicide remasters have brought out more death, pain and misery than before (and I LOVE it!) and the Combat remasters of selected Forbidden, Exodus, Crumbsuckers and DEATH have been nice as well but without the little video trinkets that made the others rock. Then again, those came out a few years back. All the labels will eventually catch up and release video (I HOPE!) of some of those classic bands.

Sundazed has also done a beautiful thing and remastered The Stooges and MC5 albums onto 180 gram vinyl which just makes them sound SO good!

Which brings me to the current AC/DC remasters. I have them already. ALL OF THEM and the originals still on vinyl. So I see SONY decides to reissue the catalog with this CD Connected web thing which I figured to be some kind of scam. I grumbled by I went ahead and since they were under $10 a piece at Wal Mart, I bought the first batch (excluding the Live album). To my surprise the CD Connected thing has to be one of the coolest things I have seen in some time as far as remasters and CD themselves go. There is an entire website dedicated to each album with the original promo films for each. Photos I have NEVER seen before and stories behind each album and tour dates from each tour. I recommend these HIGHLY even though i will only get a few bucks for the other remasters, these are WELL worth it. AC/DC remastered on vinyl is coming soon as well. YAY!

The domestic release of the Black Sabbath albums are FINALLY coming this summer I believe and I hope those are done the same remastering justice.

The only thing I worry about is this becoming a habit and having a remaster every 3 or 4 years and addsing a little thing that makes you NEED to have it. I feel ripped off enough by the Major Record Labels anyway but I will be a sucker and buy them anyway.

How do you feel about remasters? Do you buy them? Do you want the full maximum sounds out of your favorite bands or are the originals keeping you content? Do you hold onto the originals thus making you a bigger collecting nerd?

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[Steels]

Iron Maiden

Here goes one of my favorites....very rare poster..


(Coming Soon)

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This message was edited by Steels on 3-19-03 @ 4:12 AM

[fezident]

Remasters are a rip-off.

The term "Remastered" has become a catch-all phrase for any re-released music these days. Just because a CD has new photos, "extensive" liner notes and a few bonus tracks.... it has not (necessarily) been Remastered.
Even if they took the source tapes, took them to a Mastering facility, and actually remastered it... very few people would actually be able to tell the difference. Mastering is the final phase of the music making process. The final compression, limiting, and harmonic tweaks are made there.

In order to really hear a difference; the original tracks have to be REMIXED. This is waaay more involved, more expensive, and more time consuming.... but it yields much better results. Very few albums are remixed.

For example:
The BON JOVI & RUSH remasters are sonically identical to the original CD releases. MOTELY CRUE'S Decade of Decadence and all of the QUEEN reissues feature some REMIXED tracks and the difference is simply amazing. The original feel of the recordings is there, but the actual impact of the sound is lightyears beyond the original. (compare the original mixes of "Somebody To Love" or "Fat Bottom Girl" to the remixes featured on the re-releases. It's night and day!)

"Digitally Remastered!!" stickers on a cd is nothing more than ploy to lure people who already own the music to purchase it a second time. It's the musical equivelent "Now Even Fresher!!" on a pack of gum or "Longer Lasting!" on a pack of batteries. It's not true.... but it's effective marketing.



Fez 4 Prez!!

[fluffernutter]

As far as the M”tley Cr�e, Bon Jovi and Rush remasters go, one thing I found is that when the original versions of these albums came out, although they were on CD, their label, Polygram, had some of the WORST sound on their Cd's. I think all they really did was UP the levels and I couldn't agree with you more. I like it when a band actually GIVES you smething more with their remaster.

Again, the AC/DC is more and more amazing each time I dig into it. And as far as the sound goes, I have noticed some CLEAR differences from the pat remasters. The songs have a bit more punch to them and the bass and rhythm guitars are more defined.

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2/5 OF THE MOUSTACHE LEAUGE

170 LBS is 90 KG, METRICS can even make you THIN

[TheMojoPin]

Some remasters go all out and give the listener something new. The recent reissues of The Clash's albums are nothing short of spectacular...like fluff said, the AC/DC albums sound much, MUCH better now...remasters of The Who's catalog around '96, '97 unleashes a treasure trove of sound...the brand new reissues of The Police's albums are a thing of beauty. Seriously, I thought those albums would be fine, given most of them are 20 or less years old, but man, they now sound like they were just recorded last week!

But by FAR, my favorite reiusses is the stunning job Rhino is doing with Elvis Costello's catalog. The sound transfers are crisp and better than ever, and the bonus discs are packed with rarities, long-sought and cherished B-sides, covers and live tracks...all in all, a fantastic series of reissues! The only problem is Rykodisc did a same series of reiusses for Costello about ten years ago, practically the same albums, also with bonus discs, and the bonus discs between the two companies are drstically different, so if you wanted ALL of the rare tracks, you'd have to track down the hard-to-find vinyl singles, bootlegs, or the out-of-print Rykodisc reissues. Damn.

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This message was edited by TheMojoPin on 3-19-03 @ 1:55 PM