Hello all…
I listened to 2 well remastered albums tonight
Actually, I’ve been buying up original 80s pressings of CDs I remember from the first time around. Their respective remasters are so often victims of the loudness wars that they’re difficult to listen to with enjoyment for long periods.
I’ve started keeping the originals and remasters together in the same boxes, since the remasters often include extra tracks that aren’t otherwise available.
The only 80s recordings I can think of off the top of my head which sound at least as good as an original pressing are the Scott Hull 1997 Jarre remasters. Will try to think of others.
Mark
Thanks for that. I will look out for that one.
Rudy Van Gelder’s remasters of Jazz greats are pretty good too I have a few
Of those CDs
R
There’s a bit of disagreement about the RvG remasters if you look around online. Some think they’re too treble-heavy and over-bright and it’s been suggested that RvG’s age-related HF hearing loss might be responsible - after all, he was well into his seventies when he was doing the remasters.
I’m not familiar with any earlier pressings or releases of them, so I can’t say for sure whether this is the case. They do sound quite bright to me - though not irritatingly so - but, for all I know, that might be how they always sounded!
Mark
On my modest experience, many cd re masters are often ruined with loudness.
On avarege, best remasters or reprints are from late ’ 90s/ early '00s. (eg. D.Duran, Talk Talk, Steely Dan. More recently an exception are 2011 Pink FLoyd cd 2011 editions.
Vinyl reissues are usually worse than originals either for Sq and vinyl (i found many Vinyl180 really bad) On the other hand among the best Music On vinyl and Analogue Productions, the latter either for vinyl & cd (The Doors)
I am more a classical music guy. They rarely suffered from the loudness wars, but did suffer from attempts to remove analog hiss. On the popular music side, I prefer the 2009 Beatles remasters - and the mono box. (I don’t have any of the most recent re-releases.) A lot of my most improved albums are on audiophile labels: Sinatra, Miles Davis, Dylan, and The Band on MFSL; Blue Note on Analog Productions and other labels, etc. Just picked up the MFSL Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. While many of these are hybrid SACDs, most (sometimes all) of the improvement is present on the redbook layer.
The 2002 ABKCo. Rolling Stones remasters are very good. The more recent remasters are ghastly.
Variable in my limited experience but I will offer Prefab Sprout ‘Steve McQueen’ as a great example. The 2007 2CD remaster version.
One poor one in my view is XTC ‘English Settlement’. 2016 I think. Too bouncy and overdone.
It is not artist specific either. Paul Simon ‘Graceland’ (25th anniversary 2011) was only so-so in my view but ‘Rhythm of the Saints’ (2004) is very good.
I buy few remasters now unless it is a really favourite album, if any additional material appears worthwhile, and accept I might be dissapointed.
Bruce
I am not very fond of the RvG remasters either, i have a really “mellow” system and even there it sounds too bright and treble heavy. It works well for things like drums, organ and so on but it is quite painstaking to listen to Lee Morgan or Freddie Hubbard when they blow the trumpet, especially since they are put so much forward into the mix.
Anyway, 70 and 80’s it is not really is it? I think the topic here is about the era just before and after introduction of the Compact Disc?
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.