Frank's Super Remaster Review List

Idlewild South

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:21:42 GMT

The Allman Brothers Band - CAPRICORN CLASSICS

Year: 1997

Company: Capricorn Records/Polygram

For many years I've held these reissues in a very high regard, as not only were they my first encounters with the Allman Bros., but they are exactly what a remaster is supposed to sound like.

The entire Allman Brothers catalog from Capricorn Records has been reissued through these 1997 remasters, which is most of their best material. As for the "deluxe edition" of At Fillmore East, I have yet to get my hands on it to review it.

As for the sound quality, this is exactly what you would want from a remaster. Nothing is turned up, everything is at it's original level in sound, so when you adjust the volume of your stereo, you can hear everything better. On tracks like 'Revival' and on the first album 'Black Hearted Woman' the dual harmonized guitars do not stick out from loudness and you can even hear Gregg laughing after a verse in a song. Nothing is drowned out at all, now if this were made super loud, the Organ would probably drown everyone out. Now I do have to say, the opening song on the first album (Don't Want You No More) is loud, but mostly this is from the effects of the fuzz box, and eventually goes down when the effects are out of use, but it's still not super loud like the Rolling Stones 2009 remasters.

Now there is no bonus material, nothing on these reissues. Some of us spoiled with liner notes and additional pictures may want a fit over this, but really do you even need a long essay of someone telling you how great the album or a bunch of pictures is in the booklet? What you're holding is a masterpiece, and all you need is your ears to judge it as it is. I guess it would be nice to have bonus tracks, but really you don't need them for it to be better.

Sound Quality - 10/10

Bonus Material - N/A

The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:24:37 GMT

Miles Davis - Sessions Box Sets

Year - 2005-2007

Company - Columbia

Leave it to Columbia for Jazz reissues, cause they are strictly nitty gritty and don't attempt to screw anything up. Now I am not reviewing the Columbia '97 reissues of Miles catalog here, this is strictly the Sessions Boxes, which I have listened to 2 (Jack Johnson and In A Silent Way). The boxes go from the sessions to the albums; In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, and The Cellar Door. and a special one that I believe was made limited edition called The Complete Miles Davis & John Coltrane Sessions

These box sets on a scale of awesomeness would hit a 12 out of 10 easily, there is so much cool stuff in them. Albeit expensive but it's worth the extra money if you love the album. Now first off you get a long box that stands up tall, and has a big thick booklet. I've seen some versions come in a steel metal case, (which I believe were from another collection). The artwork I'll get into later, but first off the sound of these session mixes is no different than any album that has a "Columbia Jazz" logo printed on it. There is no major turn ups or anything, this is pure quality, what you'd dream of having.

On the final disc is the actual album as the final 2 tracks. The artwork to this is quite amazing. For such a scale of the box, the book itself is the biggest part. Loaded with tons of photographs, and a long biography scale of the recording and writing of the album. I think the pages went up 70-75, an interesting read if it's an album you dig.

Sound Quality - 10/10

Bonus Material - 10/10

Quality of Collectors Item - 10/10

Station To Station [Special Edition] (3CD)

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:41:48 GMT

David Bowie - Station to Station Anniversary Edition

Year - 2010

Company - EMI

This is the golden scale of special editions; Bowie's entire discography could be remastered like this. They went quite their way to make you feel like you were actually buying the original album for the first time, as if this was 1976. There's more than enough bonus material to keep you happy, and the album itself sounds crystal clear.

Now first I am going to get to the sound of the actual "Analog Remaster" of the original album. Bowie's entire catalog was remastered by EMI/Virgin in 1998, so I figured this may be the same album thrown in here, but it's not. The '98 reissues are slightly louder compared to the first print RYKO discs from the early 90's. This 'Analog remaster' of the original album sounds more crisp, more clean, and beautiful. The only difference is loudness, it sounds maybe 1+ louder than the RYKO release, and -3 louder than the '98 reissue. The live bonus double is another story.
The bonus double disc live album is much louder, and easier to hear. This I don't really blame for the loudness cause with bootlegs you have to do something so you can hear everything, yet it's still got nothing drowning out anyone so it's all cool. The only downside is the drum solo in Panic In Detroit has been reduced from 13 minutes in length down to 6 minutes.

The bonus material of this album is massive. A small booklet, houses a date by date diary of the writing and creation of the album, and also the tour. There are many great pictures, and the original album itself is housed in the sleeve like the vinyl was. There is a digipak fold out for the live show, and 3 nice post card like photographs from 1976. The only thing they basically did not shove in was the lyrics, but that's OK when you have a bonus live record sitting there in your hands.

Sound Quality -
Original Album - 10/10
Live at Nassau - 8/10

Bonus Material - 9.5/10

Quality of Collector's Item - 9/10

Fresh Cream

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:40:06 GMT

Cream - THE CREAM REMASTERS

Year - 1997

Company - Polydor

Leave it to Polydor to create examples of how to remaster albums. The entire Cream catalog, and even most of Clapton's solo records have been reissued by them and they have done a fine job with the audio and sound. There is not much to additional artwork but then again no reason for it.

The sound on these remasters are amazing. You're not getting drowned out by the layers of guitars, and Jack Bruce's vocals cross in beautifully. I don't think there is any loudness effect at all on these records, which I approve of greatly. As for the bonus material, there is just a picture or two, nothing else but then again this is Cream, you don't need any of that to enjoy their records. There is no bonus tracks, however a 'deluxe edition' of Disreali Gears was released some time back with a complete bonus disc of unreleased material.

Same can be applied to the Clapton reissues from the 70's, which I have 2 of, and did not list them cause this is basically the same thing.

Sound Quality - 10/10

Bonus Material - N/A

Dance

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:33:34 GMT

Gary Numan - BEGGARS BANQUET REMASTERS

Year - 1998

Company - Beggars Banquet

A full remastering of the Telekon man's Beggars Banquet catalog, which is the first Tubeway Army album all the way to 1983's epic failure of Warriors. The Numan remasters, are held in high regard as they are everything you'd dream of buying of a band you love. There is extensive artwork, the sound quality is top of the line, not loud at all, and to top it off there is dozens, dozens of bonus material that you can absorb.

I've bought about 6 of these, including all 3 Living Ornament albums, and I was very impressed. The discs themselves are the original vinyl print, the sound quality is wonderful. The synth on Pleasure Principle does not drown out anything as it would in a super loud remaster. The Living Ornaments reissues in particular are loaded with a full bonus disc of the entire Hammersmith show (Living Ornaments '79) and a whole other bootleg of another show (Living Ornaments '80). There's liner notes here and there in each one of the booklets but the real cake of the bonus material is the loads of B sides and single mixes added to these.

You cannot go wrong with early Numan reissues, now everything after Warriors that's a whole new ball game.

Sound Quality - 10/10

Bonus Material - 10/10

The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:39:26 GMT

Wes Montgomery - KEEPNEWS COLLECTION

Year - 2009

Company - RCD/Riverside

This belongs in a collection under the tag "Keepnews Collection" which goes by the name of legendary Jazz producer Orrin Keepnews whom produced many, many albums for Jazz greats on the Riverside label. I have heard 2 of the Wes Montgomery Keepnews reissues, and I have listened to the Keepnews edition of Blue Mitchell's album, and Bill Evan's Portrait in Jazz and that's what I use to judge.

Sound quality is important with Jazz records, and there's always a question with Riverside records popping up "Does this have a dragging background noise?" and the answer is no here. I never listened to the original issues of Wes Montgomery, as they are so hard to find, but this sounds top of the line, beautiful quality, almost like the vinyl. Nothing is turned up, and everything blends perfectly to the clean tone of his guitar.

The albums come nicely tagged with the Keepnews Collection, and open to a nice liner note introduction by the man himself, and he speaks of the finding of Wes, and how the album was recorded. Flash forward, the rest of the booklet is the original liner notes (also written by Keepnews) that were in the original pressings of the vinyl.

These are great to have, if you are into these records. The Bill Evans Portrait in Jazz album is also a great reissue.

Sound Quality - 8.5/10

Bonus Material - 7/10

Blizzard of Oz

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:32:11 GMT

Ozzy Osbourne - 1995 REMASTERS

Year - 1995

Company - Epic

It's such a shame looking back and seeing how well it was crafted. The first set of Ozzy remasters were remarkable in sound quality, but the shame is they are out of print, and anyone that has bought an Ozzy remaster recently (with the exceptions of the 2011 Blizzard and Legacy Edition of Diary) knows quite frankly there is nothing nice to say about them.

I bought a handful of these when they first were printed, each album cover is like shown, with the background housing a small picture (yet the first page in the booklet is the full cover art). You can complain about the lack of bonus material, but these remasters sound great in quality. I would say they are slightly louder than the original pressings, but you can't tell the difference.

The same artwork layout was used on these, no difference, lyrics included, same cd design, back panel, and cover (small pic) every album.

Sound Quality - 8.5/10

Bonus Material - 5/10

Beggars Banquet

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:25:55 GMT

The Rolling Stones - ABKCO STEREO REMASTERED

Year - 2002

Company - ABKCO

These are a blessing. For years there was always many versions of the Stones 60's material floating around in Mono, Stereo, and even slowed down versions. All these reissues cover the band's early stage, up to their prime gold of 1970. Now the reason I chose Beggas Banquet is the correct speed was applied to the song Sympathy for the Devil. Same can be said about Paint It Black, who would have guessed there was a slower Mono mix that got played on the radio?

There is not much of bonus stuff on these cds. The Between the Buttons reissue did have a bootleg with some artwork, but the rest are just credits, no lyrics, no bonus tracks, nothing. Some of them are circulating in Digipaks, but these reissues are mostly good for collecting if you want the Stereo mixes and not those low Mono ones. The only shame here is that the UMe 2009 reissues of the Stones discography from 1971- are drowned in loudness and can't match the quality of these beauties.

Sound Quality - 10/10

Bonus Material - N/A

Sticky Fingers

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:26:04 GMT

The Rolling Stones - 1994 VIRGIN REMASTERS

Year- 1994

Company - Virgin Records

For reissues, these were top of the line when they first came into the picture. Now out of print, the 1994 Virgin reissues of the Stones 70's period seems to be quite a collector's thing, and they range in pricing when trying to get a hold of them, thanks to the utter shit remasters they released in 2009.

There are 2 sets of Virgin reissues, and I'm going to tackle both of them. There is the "Limited Edition" pressings, and the standard albums. Both are the same as far as sound quality goes, but the difference with those Limited edition releases is this -

As you can see; Virgin made it as if you were buying the vinyl all over again with the original album packaging. That means, Sticky Fingers (as pictured) comes in all it's glory of unzipping the pants, and having post card credits. The Some Girls reissue, actually has the faces punched out so you can move the pictures around in place.

Sound quality is all that really matters when it comes to Rolling Stones reissues, and these were remastered by audio genius; Bob Ludwig.

Sound Quality - 10/10

Bonus Material - N/A

Quality of Collector's Item (Limited Editions) - 10/10

In the Jungle Groove

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:40:38 GMT

James Brown - EXPANDED EDITION

Year - 2002

Company - Polydor

The same company that did the Cream/Derek and the Dominos/Clapton reissues, also did this funk bomb from the Godfather of Soul. There is a huge difference though. This version of the album is a bit louder than the original pressing, and the album cover has been colored in, as I remember the original pressing was faded black/white quality.

There is 1 bonus track, and lots of liner notes, on each song (this is a compilation album). The loudness here is not really bad. You can hardly tell, and I don't mind it one bit, cause now you can hear the bass better, the best upgrade would probably be the Mono mix of Get On Up, Get Into It, get Involved (yet now it don't sound Mono at all)

Not a bad reissue all around, and this is exactly how all James Brown reissues need to be in the future, just don't keep turning them up, Polydor.

Sound Quality - 7.5/10

Bonus Material - 6/10

Aladdin Sane

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:31:50 GMT

David Bowie - VIRGIN/EMI REMASTERS

Year - 1999

Company - EMI/Virgin

After remastering others, it was due for the star man to get his turn with Virgin, and we get some nicely crafted reissues here once again. These Bowie reissues use the same format, as a template and just copy/past everything into there. Exact same layout for the tray, album artwork, lyrics, back panel, and you can even say it's arranged perfectly for the back of the booklet to have the back of the original vinyl. Absolutely zero liner notes and bonus tracks, but some nice pictures, including the singles to songs on the albums.

I've bought a number of these reissues and can't complain about them. If you thought the RYCKO ones sounded flat, then here you go. I do have to say, they are slightly louder than the other reissues, but it's not loud or dynamically in your face to the point you can't hear the backing instruments from being drowned by a sax or organ.

Sound Quality: 8/10

Bonus Material: 6/10

Couldn't Stand the Weather: Remastered

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:41:33 GMT

Stevie Ray Vaughan LEGACY EDITION

Year - 2010

Company - Epic/Legacy

After so many Legacy Editions, I was cautious on this one. SRV is my main man for guitar, and I would be heart broken if they made these super loud. I ended up buying it and was surprised. Epic got this one correct by matching the volume of the 1998 SRV reissues, and not raising it anymore.

Like all Legacy editions, it's loaded with bonus material. As far as reissue series, I'm going to say Legacy Editions have the best bonus material with liner notes, artwork, and that bonus disc you get. The bonus disc here is a show from Montreal Jazz Festival 1984, with a stomping version of Texas Flood, and one of the only shows Stang Swang was played live on.

Other than the live show, there's only 2 tracks that were unreleased; The Sky Is Crying and Stang Swang outtakes. The rest of the first disc is selections from The Sky Is Crying album squeezed on here with the original Couldn't Stand the Weather bonus tracks.

Sound Quality - 8/10

Bonus Material - 7/10

Texas Flood

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:24:53 GMT

Stevie Ray Vaughan EPIC REMASTERS

Year - 1998

Company - Epic/Legacy

Here's one I have held in high regard enough though it's slightly louder than the original pressings. I have bought 3 of the 4 reissues of SRV's albums, and I can say they are totally worth it. Each one has a good liner note essay, a few pics, and then a segment of "SRV Speaks" which is 30 seconds edited from an old interview on each CD, before the loads of bonus tracks.

The bonus material is where the heart is with these reissues. The outtakes to some of SRV's records make you wonder how they didn't end up on there to start with. Texas Flood and In Step have some bonus live tracks as the feature which are great live versions especially on In Step with the version of Life Without You.

Sound Quality - 8/10

Bonus Material - 8/10

Diary of a Madman

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:41:16 GMT

Ozzy Osbourne LEGACY EDITION

Year - 2011

Company - Epic/Legacy

Of all the Legacy Edition cds that had a bonus live album, this was one I wanted the most. Ozzy is redeeming himself here remastering the original album, and on top a live show. I forget where it was recorded, but hearing Randy Rhoads blistering melodic solo work live will make my day.

For a Legacy Edition, this was the first one I bought with a sleeve of protection that houses it's nice Digipak. There is loads of artwork as usual, the actual remaster of the original album is quite beautiful, but the loudness is there, and it's not as good as the 1995 remasters. Just like I said for the Blizzard Expanded Edition down below.

The bonus live show is turned up too in volumes, like most bootlegs that are officially released. Some minor differences, same track list from Tribute with the exception of a few songs, there is a nice synth intro to Mr. Crowley, and of course, this version of Paranoid is just as amazing as the one from Tribute.

Sound Quality - 6.5/10

Bonus Material - 10/10

Blizzard Of Ozz (Expanded Edition)

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:32:26 GMT

Ozzy Osbourne EXPANDED EDITION

Year - 2011

Company - Epic/Legacy

After nearly 10 years of people buying those shitty 2002 remixed reissues, Ozzy felt like redeeming himself with the 30th anniversary of his first 2 solo releases, and giving back a remaster of the original albums. But of course is it any good?

Loudness factor is a vary here. The loudness on this remaster is about the same as those 2002 remasters. If you have your 1995 copies of these 2 albums, just keep them and don't waste your money on an expanded edition, cause it's really not worth it. The bonus material is quite something though. A short Randy Rhoads solo that can leave you drooling, and then a Vocal/Guitar edit of Goodbye to Romance, that just stripped the drums and bass from the song. This is cool if you want to hear some genius work of Randy Rhoads layering his guitars, before that beautiful melodic solo.

Sound Quality - 6.5/10

Bonus Material - 7/10

High Voltage

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:34:50 GMT

AC/DC - EPIC REMASTERS

Year - 2003

Company - Epic/Albert Records

I am not really an AC/DC fan by any means. Paid a fortune to see them live some time back, they do put up a memorable show and in return I bought a couple of their albums.

This is what you would probably dream of with your favorite band. Each remaster is housed in a nice hot digipak, that folds out with tons of artwork, and a big booklet with liner notes, several pictures, and so much cool stuff. The Back and Black one is the only one I seen that has a large fold out.

Now comes the sound quality. I never bought any AC/DC album years before these remasters hit the block but from listening to them, the sound is upgraded and louder but not super loud. Not the best, far from the worst sounding quality, so hats off to these.

Sound Quality - 6.5/10

Bonus Material - 8/10

Led Zeppelin IV

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:30:19 GMT

Led Zeppelin Atlantic Reissues

Year - Unknown (1994 I think)

Now Led Zeppelin reissues came under the table. There was no big thing announcement about them, which is good if you ask me, there really shouldn't be. There's not much of a difference, as this is the only one I have bought and only one I will buy.

These remasters sound no different than the original pressings of the Led Zeppelin albums from Atlantic. There is absolutely no difference what so ever in sound quality. The only thing is the artwork, the lyrics to Stairway to Heaven are here, along with a few pictures, including that one everyone loves of the Hermit.

The only reason they even remastered Led Zeppelin's discography was the hammering of law suits due to Jimmy Page and Robert Plant being greedy assholes not giving any credit what so ever to the original writers of most of all these old Blues songs, which most of them are standards today. (A common internet search, you'll find many, many songs they stole and credited as their own) If you compare the credit section of these reissues to the original pressings, you'll see some major differences, but still they didn't bother crediting Spirit for Stairway to Heaven (Taurus), yet they give credit to the Memphis Minnie for writing When 'the Levee Breaks' (along with putting their own names there in typical Page/Plant greed) but they left off Kansas Joe McCoy.

There's really no difference to these reissues, good band yes, not the greatest ever. I would have a lot more respect for them if they credited their songs in the beginning like most Blues bands started doing since the 1960's without putting their own name there for a few extra dimes (The Rolling Stones, Cream, The Allman Brothers, Stevie Ray Vaughan) or for the matter just claiming you wrote it like Page and Plant did.

Sound Quality - 8/10

Bonus Material - 5/10

White Noise

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:31:26 GMT

Gary Numan - EAGLE/CLEOPATRA REMASTERS

Year - 1999

Company - Eagle Records/Cleopatra

In a cheap attempt to circulate Numan's catalog from 1984-1992, Eagle records decided a nice gimmick way to totally capitalize and make money on both remasters; they did this by remastering the same album, 2 different ways, both with different bonus material.

The Cleopatra Reissues are really cheaply done.The album covers are all cheaply edited and as if someone don't know how to read the back of the cd, they throw it in your face by a text that says "includes bonus tracks" wow...I didn't know that.

It's really like breaking a picture in half and giving one side of it away, and the other side to another person. One remaster has the liner notes, and the real album cover (Eagle reissue) the other is a cheap copy/paste yet might have better bonus tracks than the other. Usually the Eagle reissues have the common bonus tracks and the Cleopatra ones are the real rarities.

All the live albums however remastered by Eagle have a boring album cover with one of Numan's Exile logos and they line up to form a picture of that symbol (as the symbol is on each and every Eagle remaster disc)

Sound quality, I won't complain. These are top of the line, remasters as far as quality goes. They are not super loud, not loud at all and there is a dynamic range. They fit the exact same volume of theBeggars Banquet reissues, which creates the bridge in one smooth road for Numan's catalog

Sound Quality - 10/10

Bonus Material - 5.5/10

Axis: Bold As Love

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:36:09 GMT

Jimi Hendrix - EXPERIENCE HENDRIX REMASTERS

Year - 2010

Company - Sony Music/Legacy/Expierence Hendrix

With the current trends of all these Legacy Edition reissues, I am waiting on them to do one of the Hendrix albums. They probably won't thanks to these recent reissues, least they could have done was not make them super loud.

I don't own any of the 1997 reissues, but from listening to these, I can complain about the loudness. Whoever mixed this turned them up really loud. People argue that there is little difference to the 1997 reissues, but there is a huge difference, especially the Are You Experienced album. All they basically did was turn up the 1997 remasters to 9 or 10 (not 11) and then throw it some cheap DVD so everyone that bought the '97 reissues would buy it again.

There is some positives to negatives, and that is Axis Bold As Love. This reissue fixes a lot of things that were wrong with the original album, such as the ending of songs and fade ins like Little Wing. I am not sure what songs it was, but a few on the original album faded out without an outro, and that is fixed here, along with enhancement of the many effects used on the guitar.

As for bonus material, this is my favorite bonus stuff. The album itself is housed in one of those fancy Digipak double cases, yet the ones I bought were in standard jewel double cases (Digipak is nice, but don't want them all in one). These art booklets are down right loaded. There is many, many liner notes, many many pictures, all the lyrics, but then the disappoint lingers on the DVD bonus.

As for a bonus DVD, you are just watching 15 minutes of Chas Chandler brag how great a handful of songs on the record, nothing special. No live material, nothing. It would have been better, if they went through all the songs, but instead they only pick a handful and I believe the running time to the Axis DVD is exactly 16 minutes.

Sound Quality - 6/10

Bonus Material - 9/10

Live After Death

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:34:19 GMT

Iron Maiden - EMI REMASTERS

Year - 1998

Company - EMI/Raw Power

This is quite difficult to judge. When I first seen one of these reissues, I just had to buy it, cause it looked so awesome. There's a big see saw of wonder and I have a hard time making my mind up, and that's why I will go with my gut and use Live After Death as the biggest example of disappointment.

We all know Iron Maiden, love their artwork and that is the key to all these reissues. They are absolutely slam pack loaded with a thick art booklet, housing great liner notes, every lyric, every picture of Eddie you never got to see, and even concept artwork. You can put it in the computer and it plays the released music videos as the Enhancement, which was really cool back in the day of the late 90's and early 2000's. I was thrilled at this, and that's the real best part.

The worst part is sound quality. Not as bad as some down below on the list, but someone turned everything up on these remasters. Best example is listening to the original CD pressing of Live After Death, and then listening to the remaster. There's a huge difference as everything is turned up to maximum and the crowd noise really drowns out parts of the music, while the vocals are louder than everything. Granted, this don't sound bad on the studio albums, but it's absolutely horrendous on Live After Death.

Here is a photo of before and after, with the song The Trooper.

As you can see, the remastering is shit on this record compared to the original pressing.

However, here is the real bonus of these remasters, if you are looking to fill in gaps of your CD collection

Even though they may not sound as good as the rare Castle reissues or original pressings, have to give it to them for this awesome picture they make.

Sound Quality - 6/10

Bonus Material - 10/10

British Steel

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 06:40:59 GMT

Judas Priest - COLUMBIA/LEGACY REMASTERS

Year - 2001

Company - Columbia/Legacy

Boy do I get worried when I see a "Legacy" sticker on a remaster. After the magnificent jobs Columbia did with Jazz legends on their Columbia Jazz reissues, it's hard to believe they could so easily fuck this one up, but Legacy is truly the kings of loudness.

Art wise, this is like the Bowie reissues. They created a template and copy/pasted each record into it. Housing the album cover is a silver (grey on some records) lining, and the back has a really cool label of the Metallion symbol that says Remasters, advertising the bonus tracks. Most of the bonus tracks from what I have concluded; are unreleased tracks that were meant to be on the Turbo/Ram It Down album, so yeah that means most bonus tracks do suck, except for the live cuts on each and every one of these, there are some great live versions, especially on the 70's remasters.

I own several of the original prints of Priest albums that I bought when they first started printing CDs and to compare, I do own British Steel, along with the remaster. I am going to post a before and after pic to back up my claims on the remasters epic loudness

As you can see, someone turned everything up to 11 compared to the original pressing of the album, which is sadly out of print to this day. If you have your original Priest cds, hold on to them and don't waste a dime on the reissues.Sure you are getting lyrics and if you but them all they make a nice cool picture of the Metallion logo on the shelf, but they really are not worth it. I would recommend forking out 20 dollars and buying a used copy of the original albums, if you are that desperate for them.

Sound Quality - 3/10

Bonus Material - 6/10

On the side note; the KOCH Remasters of Priest first 2 albums; Sad Wings of Destiny and Rock A Rolla are top of the line on sound, yet I am not listing them here as I don't find it necessary to really go into detail on them.

Some Great Reward (W/Dvd)

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:35:50 GMT

Depeche Mode - RHINO COLLECTORS EDITIONS

Year - 2006

Company - Rhino.

Rhino Their tagline should read "leave it to us to fuck up remastering" cause they did a damn good job doing it here with these collectors editions of Depeche Mode's discography.

Now, I own most of the original prints of Depeche Mode's albums. I have almost every record from the 80's printed by Sire/Warner Brothers, and I can't complain. I didn't have Some Great Reward so I bought this "deluxe edition" and put it in my stereo and immediately had to turn it down and not up as I was getting annoying at how super loud it is.

These deluxe editions come very sexy housed in a double digipak with a sleeve. The booklet has the lyrics, some notes, good small pictures, and the DVD is a full on making of documentary of the album. Sadly, they were dumb enough to just add the bonus tracks to the DVD instead of the cd, which include a live show, and unreleased material. The DVD's are not like those half assed 15 minute wrap ups of a handful of songs like those Experience Hendrix bonus DVDs, they are great documentaries, and go hands on with each song, and each sampling effect.

But even all this great bonus material, it can't make up for how horrible they sound. Just look at it below.

I used People are People from my compilation album 'People Are People', and you can see exactly what I am talking about.

Sound Quality - 4/10

Bonus Material - 7.5/10

Goat's head soup (1973)

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:37:56 GMT

The Rolling Stones - UMe REMASTERS

Year - 2009

Company - UMe/Universal

Someone needs a beating for this, and I ain't playing. These remasters are absolute shit. If it weren't for bands remixing their original albums, this would be at the very bottom. As the story goes, the Stones decided to butcher those great 1994 Virgin reissues cause they wanted more money.

Now I chose Goat Head Soup for a reason. I have bought only 3 of these reissues (Sticky Fingers, Goat Head Soup, Exile on Main St.) and was very disappointed in the utter loudness of them. When you wanna talk about Loudness, this right here is the prime example I have for you. Just take that song 'Bitch' from Sticky Fingers, and the horns at the bridge drown everything out. In Brown Sugar; the saxaphone is drowned out from the guitars being turned up to 11. The beautiful song Angie is destroyed by this, as everything is so loud, it drowns out those ghost vocal effects half way through the song. Now under further listening, I have found out they actually sound OK through an Ipod/MP3 Player when you have headphones on, but I'm an older generation man, that prefers to play albums in the stereo.

Worst of all with these remasters is that they are the only ones in circulation. You can spend 20 bucks for a used copy of a Virgin reissue and be far more satisfied than buying 2 of these for the same price. Bonus material, there is nothing. This is not like those Collectors Editions from the 1994 reissues that actually created the famous album covers like the zipper of Sticky Fingers. This is just cheap marketing.

What you are looking at is the song Can't You Hear Me Knocking. Take note on how everything is lost in the high dynamics of epic loudness. Everything is drowned out by the guitars.

Sound Quality - 3.5/10

Bonus Material - N/A

Power Corruption & Lies (2 CD Collector's Edition)

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:33:06 GMT

New Order - 2008 RHINO COLLECTORS EDITIONS

Year - 2008

Company - Rhino

Well...we already have a clue right? Rhino did a fine job ruining the Depeche Mode classics, they can't possibly fuck up New Order any worse now can they? I was actually very exciting hearing about this. I had pre-ordered both Low-life and Power, Corruption & Lies, and then I began to regret it as I waited for it to come in the mail. Regretting the fact I over looked the Rhino name on the albums.

I knew these were going to suck. If you browse Amazon you will find many pissed off reviewers that timed these remasters cause Rhino rushed them and they came out all bugged. That is a fact, I can't even use Power, Corruption & Lies as an examplein wave audio format cause every track skips like hell every few seconds. However my Low-life copy did not have this.

The bonus material is really a straight rip off of the album Substance. Now if you own that record, don't buy any of these, cause there is barely any unreleased stuff. 4 of the 8 "unreleased tracks" on Low-life, are actually from Substance. Only difference is the epic loudness. Rhino goes all out to make sure they ruin these great 80's masterpieces by turning everything up to 11.

That picture speaks louder than words. Just when you though the Rolling Stones, Depeche Mode, and Judas Priest remasters were super loud over the edge, who knew this would be worse?

Now to top this off, there was a lot of steam from pissed off fans noticing that all the bonus tracks (12" Versions, Instrumentals, Remixes) were taken from previously released commercial vinyls. In response; Peter Hook via his Myspace account some years back said the whole situation was a mess, and Rhino did not even send the band advance copies to do quality control.

Sound Quality - 0.1/10

Bonus Material - 4/10

If you really need the New Order albums, BUY THE ORIGINAL PRESSINGS! They are a lot cheaper, and easier to find online. If you want over half of the bonus tracks on these bonus discs, just buy the album Substance, it's easy to find, and save a lot of money in the process.

Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:30:51 GMT

Megadeth - REMIXED & REMASTERED

Year - 2004

Company - CapitolRecords/EMI

Well...you gotta really have some crappy remastering to go below the New Order records. Dave Mustaine not only looked to remaster the entire Megadeth catalog from 1986-1999, but he wanted to remix it too. This is really a 2 way streak, there is absolutely NO in between at all on it.

As far as bonus material goes, they did include some nice outtake mixes, and a couple of the original mixes (or close to it) and all the lyrics and some additional pictures but this don't make up for the vast butchering of these great records. I do like some of these bonus tracks that were unreleased, especially on the Cryptic Writings disc, there's some nice gems there as bonuses. Dave Mustaine single handedly proved that he is the alpha and omega of this band, as he can create great music, and then years later decide to destroy it. And the sad reality is, these are the last circulating versions of the albums. It is hard to come across the original prints now. I regret ever buying these. When they first came out, I bought every one of them except Risk and probably listened to the 3 or 4 times at most.

I am not even going to list pictures when it comes to the loudness of these records. Just look at the Judas Priest picture and imagine hearing totally different bass, totally different drums, and thinking to yourself if this is the same song you are hearing.

Some basic examples of the butchering of these tracks by album, NOTE: I did not go through, this is just off top of my head.

Peace Sells

Wake Up Dead's full drums have been altered, and the guitars are extremely louder than everything else

So Far, So Good...So What!

Into the Lungs of Hell - Horns added to the intro (random, like WTF)

Mary Jane - Guitar interplay seems different, drums heavily altered.

In My Darkest Hour - acoustic guitar intro added, much louder than original and single versions

Rust In Peace

Holy Wars - Way louder than original

Take No Prisoners - Vocals have been re-recorded

Countdown to Extinction

Symphony of Destruction - drums heavily altered, added backing vocals at certain verses

Sweating Bullets - guitar intro added

Architecture of Aggression - drums heavily altered

High Speed Dirt - Fade In Intro has been removed

Ashes In Your Mouth - Drums heavily altered again, everything sounds so layered

Youthanasia

Reckoning Day - Drums altered to a difference

Train Of Consequences - Intro is totally remixed, everything sounds different.

Addicted to Chaos - Drum reduction, guitars sound a little off too.

Cryptic Writings

This is the only one that believe it or not, don't sound bad at all for the remixing, except the loudness of the record is quite an earache.

Use The Man - The long intro with the Beatles song has been removed

I don't want to list anymore, you basically get the picture. Epic loud record, and remixed past extremes. I'd say for the record, Countdown to Extinction and Youthanasia got the worst of the remixing. Peace Sells, on the other hand you know sounds like shit, just cause everything is so layered and turned up to 12. I do have to say, it looks nice like the Iron Maiden cds when lined up on a shelf as it creates the iconic image of Vic's skull, but still means little to me.

Sound Quality - 2.5/10

Bonus Material - 7/10

Bark at the Moon: Remastered

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:35:16 GMT

Ozzy Osbourne - EPIC REMASTERS

Year - 2002

Company - Sony Music/Epic/Legacy

I saved the best for last as far as shit goes. The Ozzy 2002 remasters are the greatest example of all time for greed, and trying to rub off your original band members cause you are pissed off at them. You probably bought one of these cheap, and was turning it down before you turned it up cause they are super loud, then you notice something don't sound right at all, then the horrible truth conceals these are albums are remixed.

Truth of the matter is, you can argue if it was Ozzy or Sharon all you want (that family is one big cluster fuck of greed either way) but at the end of the day, this is total shit for remasters.

Why on earth would you want to get rid of the original bass and drums in Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman and bring in Robert Trujilo and Mike Bordin to cut/paste their shit into this record? Randy Rhoads can't come in and tell them it sounds out of key, and what made them think this would sound good to start with? Ahhh the $$$$$$ in their eyes.

Bark at the Moon was listed for a reason though, and that is because unlike Diary and Blizzard that only had their bass and drums removed and re-recorded, this album is totally remixed. I don't know who or what, but someone really put a beating on every song. As for the bonus material; yeah every one of these songs are remixed and heavily edited too, it's not even worth noting.

The liner notes mean absolutely nothing when you are talking about musicians that you don't even credit on these releases, it just makes you look like a bigger asshole.

Bark at the Moon - Ghost synth fades in are changed, the backing echo vocals are drowned out

You're No Different - intro changed, synth is louder

Now You See It Now You Don't - Synth changed, certain parts are drowned out but this song is the least changed.

Rock N Roll Rebel - Certain guitar parts are heavily edited (sounds like Zakk Wlyde)and the timing of the song is thrown way off.

Centre of Eternity - Bell ringing has been changed, choir vocals has been changed.

So Tired - Not much difference here, piano is just super loud.

Slow Down - Certain guitar parts have been edited and changed

Waiting for Darkness - Not much difference, guitar parts edited, and synth is heavily loud.

Ozzy redeemed himself with the Legacy Edition and Expanded Edition of Blizzard and Diary, but I'm still waiting to see if he will try and make up for totally screwing this one up.

Sound Quality - 2/10

Bonus Material - 4/10

Street Songs (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:00:26 GMT

Motown - Deluxe Editions

Year - 2008

Company - Motown

You may laugh at Rick James now but once upon a time he was the shit. I am serious, this album was the bomb when it first came out. At the time you had Prince with 1999, Rick James with Street Songs, and a few years later you had James Brown himself with In The Jungle Groove. That's the best 3 funk albums of the 80's IMO.

Motown did deluxe editions of a number of classic albums in their top artists catalog. For Rick James, it was Street Songs. For Marvin Gaye it was What's Going On. For Lionel Richie it was Can't Slow Down. I decided to include just one of these, because it's too much trouble to go through them all and they all have the same formula.

For your bonus material, you have a bonus disc with a live show of the Super Freak himself. Besides that, you have the glory of the 12 inch version of Super Freak as well as the Instrumental version. On the Lionel Richie - Can't Slow Down deluxe edition, they also included instrumental versions.

Since Universal Records has absorbed Motown and bought them out, this deluxe edition has went out of print and has become a pain to get a hold of, but it's worth it. Sound quality is top notch like all the Motown reissues, they didn't make it super loud

Sound Quality - 8/10

Bonus Material - 10/10

Dancing on the Ceiling

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 15:52:35 GMT

Lionel Richie - Motown Classics

Year - 2001/2002

Company - Motown Records

Here is one of Lionel Richie's best albums, and it had some of his biggest hits on there. When it came time to do remasters in 2001 for Motown records, they remastered all their gold albums, but did "deluxe" editions for the big records.

The Motown reissues are some of the most well taken care of remasters I've come across recently. The sound is slightly louder, but it's not in your face super mega loudness (See New Order/Depeche Mode, Rolling Stones)

Even better than the average remaster, Motown included the 12 Inch versions of the singles to most of their reissues. On this particular one you have all 4 singles in their extended glory, as your bonus material. This makes it worth buying for those of us who treasure those old mixes, along with a book let loaded with artwork and a nice summary of the album.

Sound Quality - 8.5/10

Bonus Material - 9/10

Thriller

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:00:16 GMT

Michael Jackson - Special Editions

Year - 2002

Company - Epic Records

Rolling through the Michael Jackson records can be summed up very easily. It's the "We could release a bunch of bonus material but we really don't want to" and you know that's the truth. Especially with the recent Bad 25th Anniversary where they manage to shove an entire bonus disc of unreleased content into it, tells you that they didn't do much with these remasters.

The remasters of MJ's Epic albums; Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad, and Dangerous are nice in quality. They are slightly louder, and you get the lyrics to everything. When these were first issued they had sleeves on them similar to the Iron Maiden remasters. The only problem is the lack of bonus material. Thriller probably has the best, a few bonus tracks, the acapella of Vincent Price's verse from the title track, and a bunch of boring ass interviews with Quincy Jones and the other writer of this album basically telling you what you already heard a hundred times about the making of the album. The only one of these remasters that don't have it, is Dangerous since Quincy Jones did not produce it.

The reason these fall short on bonus material is the advertisement of "Special Edition". In fact the Dangerous remaster is really no different than the original pressing, except maybe a few pages of artwork.

Sound Quality - 7.5

Bonus Material - 4/10

Bad 25th Anniversary Edition

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:00:05 GMT

Bad 25

Year - 2012

Company - Epic Records

It came to my attention that with the recent 25th Anniversary of Bad, that they were going to give the album a proper reissuing in a deluxe edition. I mean it's only fair since Epic/Legacy is doing all the "Legacy Edition" records to classics, it would be a sin to not give Michael a Legacy Edition. This is just like the Janie Hendrix Experience. Janie did not want them doing Legacy Editions of Hendrix stuff, so they did their own remasters, not giving any bonus material, and just a cheap ass DVD full of 6-8 minute short documentaries. Unlike Janie, the people holding Michael Jackson's great creations wanted to award their fans with a great piece of gold.

Bad 25 is a remarkable tribute to arguably Michael's best recording. The album remastering is basically the same as the 2002 edition. The bonus disc features the songs that did not make the album. The would have been controversial Abortion Papers, Al Capone, Don't Be Messin' Around, I'm So Blue, Street Walker. These are the songs that should have been included on the first reissue of Bad. Along with them are the various different language versions of I Can't Stop Loving You, and some remixes of the title track and a nice Dance remix of Speed Demon.

Now I must understand, there is 3 versions of Bad 25.
The standard 2 CD edition
Target Exclusive that included the DVD with all the short videos of the album.
Finally you have the Box Set, that included the Wembley Arena DVD that is now been sold separately, but also a CD version of it.

I really liked Bad 25 as an Anniversary Edition, and thought it was cool that Spike Lee did the documentary on it, but they could have at least put that in the box set too instead of making you buy that separately.

Sound Quality - 7.5/10

Bonus Material - 8/10