Savatage 2010/11 remasters

I am interested in getting these but I have grown very weary of remasters. Does anyone recommend these? Do they sound better than the original pressings?

Please let me know. Thanks.

These have been weirdly tough to track down for me until recently. They were announced ages ago and then delayed a few times.

I picked up dead winter dead and fight for the rock last week to finish off my collection. Got them all now, at least the all the ones that have been released. Only handfull of rain and mountain king left to go now.

In my opinion they were totally worth it. I've thought for ages that the savatage albums needed remastering and to my ears these have been done very well. The booklet with each one is very good too and I've picked them all up on amazon for what I consider a pretty decent price, they were £6.99 each with a couple being £7.99.

I only have the remastered best-of compilation, released prior to thew reissues. And frankly, I can't hear any differences between the songs on the compilation and the original CD's I own. The bonus tracks on these remastered versions are bogud too, as they seem to be the same acoustic versions of songs on the last round of reissues.

I have all the ones that are out right now. Its tough to say if there's really a difference because to me they sound the same. They might be a little louder if anything but other than that I don't really hear a difference. I just got Fight For The Rock the other day and maybe so far that one might sound a little better but again its not that noticeable.

The booklets are nothing special either. There's a little story written by Jon in each one but nothing going into great detail. The booklets itself are kind of lame no new photos and I even think one of them just has 2 pages with no lyrics all of the others have lyrics.

The bonus tracks are no big deal wither. I think they all have at least 1 re-recorded song and I believe Jon played all the instruments and they are all acoustic. The other bonus tracks are weird too because they aren't from the albums time periods.

The spines will all spell out Savatage once you buy them all which will look cool when complete but I honestly don't think they are must haves. I'm only getting them because I love Savatage. Also if you hate Digipacks don't bother.

Oh the one thing that I really hate about the whole remaster thing is the albums are not going in order. When you put them together to spell the bands name out you have Wake of Magellan first and like Edge of Thorns next. Would have been nice if they at least would have fixed that.

Isn't this like the third time their albums are getting remastered? Which remasters are the best of the three?

I just went and got all my Savatage cds to compare the originals to these new reissues.

Sirens and Dungeons Are Calling are both on 1 cd with the reissues. The booklet just has no pictures, no lyrics just a little description about both albums from Jon. The bonus track is In The Dream (acoustic)

Sirens (Silver Edition) I think is better because you get 2 bonus tracks Target, and Living On The Edge Of Time. Again the booklets are no big deal but they do have a little more info on the songs and some pictures from the time period.

Sirens Metal Blade Reissue from 1994 has 2 different bonus tracks not on the Silver Edition Lady In Desguise and The Message. No lyrics in the booklet or pictures just a picture of Criss.

Dungeons Are Calling (Silver Edition) has 3 bonus tracks Metalhead, Before I Hang, and Stranger In The Dark. Booklet is pretty much the same as the Sirens Silver Edition.

Dungeons Are Calling Metal Blade Reissue from 1994 has 2 bonus tracks Fighting For Your Love and Sirens (Live). Booklet is the same as the Sirens Metal Blade Reissue.

Power Of The Night original. No bonus tracks. Lame booklet

Power Of The Night 2011 Reissue again lame booklet no pictures just a short story written by Jon. Bonus Tracks City Beneath The Surface (live 1990), Hounds (live 1990)

Fight For The Rock original No bonus tracks. Better booklet with lyrics pictures etc.

Fight For The Rock 2011 Reissue has 2 bonus tracks This Is The Time (acoustic 2010), and This Is Where You Should Be (a song from Hall Of The Mountain King sessions). The artwork is a little different from the original. Instead of the bands logo being on top its on the top right corner. Also the colors are a little more darker and the image is a little bigger. A lot of the picture was cut off which I think looks better. The booklet on this one is one of the better ones. It has some pictures but nothing different from the original but the liner notes go into more detail and this also has lyrics. None of that though makes up for the actual album not being as good as their other releases haha.

Gutter Ballet original has 1 bonus track Thorazine Shuffle. Booklet has lyrics and pictures of the band members.

Gutter Ballet 2011 Reissue has Thorazine Shuffle as a regular track but adds 2 bonus tracks Alone You Breathe (acoustic 2010) and Handful Of Rain (acoustic 2010). The colors on the artwork again is a little darker and is also blown up a little more cutting away some of the original artwork. This one is a little less noticeable than Fight For The Rock. Booklet has liner notes on each song with lyrics but there are no pictures of the band members like on the original.

Streets original has no bonus tracks no pictures in the booklet just lyrics and the story about the album.

Streets 2011 Reissue is pretty much the same except there are 2 bonus tracks This Isn't What We Meant (acoustic 2010), and Morning Sun (acoustic 2010). The booklet is kind of the same except there are descriptions about each song. No pictures. The artwork again is updated a little with sort of darker colors. This one actually shows a little bit more of the album cover as well.

Edge Of Thorns original no bonus tracks. Nice booklet pictures lyrics etc.

Edge Of Thorns 2011 Reissue has 2 Bonus tracks All That I Bleed (acoustic) and If I Go Away (acoustic). This so far probably has the best booklet. Tons of info on the album and what was going on with the band at the time. Also has pictures lyrics etc.

Dead Winter Dead original has no bonus tracks. Booklet is nice with pictures and also story behind the album and lyrics.

Dead Winter Dead 2011 Reissue has 2 bonus tracks Miles Away/Follow Me (acoustic 2010) and When The Crowds Are Gone (acoustic 2011). The booklet is pretty much the same except its not as nice looking as the original. There are no band pictures or any pictures for that matter except for one of a guy playing his cello which is the guy who they got the idea for Christmas Eve Sarajevo from. Liner notes about the album and the story of the album like the original. The artwork again like these releases have tweaked artwork. Colors are a little darker and somewhat of bigger cover artwork.

The Wake Of Magellan original has 3 bonus tracks Somewhere In Time/Alone You Breathe (Jon singing and piano), Sleep (Jon singing and piano), Stay (acoustic). Nice thick booklet lyrics, story about the album pictures.

The Wake Of Magellan 2011 Reissue has only 2 bonus tracks Desiree (acoustic) and Stay (acoustic). Besides that everything is exactly the same even with the booklet. The only thing different from this reissue compared to the other reissues is the booklet is glued to the digipack where the others are slipped into a slot thats cut out in the digipack.

Thats all the ones I have at the moment. I think Hall Of The Mountain King, Poets and Madmen and Handful of rain are is coming out soon. I think they are also reissuing Live In Japan and Ghost in the Ruins but I'm not sure if those will be part of these releases.

Hope this helps. I've been wanting to sit down and look at the differences between these releases for a while so I figured might as well do it now haha. In some instances I think the originals are good enough. The acoustic bonus tracks are ok. I would rather have bsides or other songs that were left out all together which I know there are a bunch of songs that haven't been released. Why they opted out of those I have no idea. Basically if you are a completest you might want to get these. It will look great once all the albums are out and the spines match up to spell Savatage but I don't think these are necessary for people who already own these.

What they need to do is to release Streets/Gutter Ballet the way it was intrnded, with ALL the songs (including Desirée & Larry Elbows), as a 2 disc version. Take the dongs from Gutter Ballet that was intended for Streets, and do it the way Jon envisioned it!

But there are so many lost songs from Streets that (allegedly) can't be recovered that it can never be heard the way it was originally intended.

I take it Hall of the Mountain King has never been remastered? Thats my favorite album from them!

There is a 2011 remastered version of the "Mountain King", too. Unfortunately I don't have it, so I can't say how it is or if it's any better than the original mix.

Ok cool. Thanks. I am gonna hunt it down!

The Hall Of The Mountain King comes out on the 27th I think.

kmorg wrote:

What they need to do is to release Streets/Gutter Ballet the way it was intrnded, with ALL the songs (including Desirée & Larry Elbows), as a 2 disc version. Take the dongs from Gutter Ballet that was intended for Streets, and do it the way Jon envisioned it!

HAHA He said dongs! Now really, what were you doing when you wrote this?

I saw that. Haha.

Hey...any chance you can toss those bonus track up in the NZ?

I got some of those reissues, as a local record store was selling them for a good price, namely wake of magellan, streets and Gutter ballet.

The sound was ok.

I just got the Gutter Ballet one. It's okay. My advice is if you can find it cheap it's not a bad upgrade. But nothing I'd spend much to pick up. I'll admit I may be biased though, since listening to it I came to realize I don't love this album like I once did.

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

kmorg wrote:

What they need to do is to release Streets/Gutter Ballet the way it was intrnded, with ALL the songs (including Desirée & Larry Elbows), as a 2 disc version. Take the dongs from Gutter Ballet that was intended for Streets, and do it the way Jon envisioned it!

HAHA He said dongs! Now really, what were you doing when you wrote this?

Eyesore wrote:

I saw that. Haha.

Hey...any chance you can toss those bonus track up in the NZ?

Done

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

I just went and got all my Savatage cds to compare the originals to these new reissues.

Sirens and Dungeons Are Calling are both on 1 cd with the reissues. The booklet just has no pictures, no lyrics just a little description about both albums from Jon. The bonus track is In The Dream (acoustic)

Sirens (Silver Edition) I think is better because you get 2 bonus tracks Target, and Living On The Edge Of Time. Again the booklets are no big deal but they do have a little more info on the songs and some pictures from the time period.

Sirens Metal Blade Reissue from 1994 has 2 different bonus tracks not on the Silver Edition Lady In Desguise and The Message. No lyrics in the booklet or pictures just a picture of Criss.

Dungeons Are Calling (Silver Edition) has 3 bonus tracks Metalhead, Before I Hang, and Stranger In The Dark. Booklet is pretty much the same as the Sirens Silver Edition.

Dungeons Are Calling Metal Blade Reissue from 1994 has 2 bonus tracks Fighting For Your Love and Sirens (Live). Booklet is the same as the Sirens Metal Blade Reissue.

Power Of The Night original. No bonus tracks. Lame booklet

Power Of The Night 2011 Reissue again lame booklet no pictures just a short story written by Jon. Bonus Tracks City Beneath The Surface (live 1990), Hounds (live 1990)

Fight For The Rock original No bonus tracks. Better booklet with lyrics pictures etc.

Fight For The Rock 2011 Reissue has 2 bonus tracks This Is The Time (acoustic 2010), and This Is Where You Should Be (a song from Hall Of The Mountain King sessions). The artwork is a little different from the original. Instead of the bands logo being on top its on the top right corner. Also the colors are a little more darker and the image is a little bigger. A lot of the picture was cut off which I think looks better. The booklet on this one is one of the better ones. It has some pictures but nothing different from the original but the liner notes go into more detail and this also has lyrics. None of that though makes up for the actual album not being as good as their other releases haha.

Gutter Ballet original has 1 bonus track Thorazine Shuffle. Booklet has lyrics and pictures of the band members.

Gutter Ballet 2011 Reissue has Thorazine Shuffle as a regular track but adds 2 bonus tracks Alone You Breathe (acoustic 2010) and Handful Of Rain (acoustic 2010). The colors on the artwork again is a little darker and is also blown up a little more cutting away some of the original artwork. This one is a little less noticeable than Fight For The Rock. Booklet has liner notes on each song with lyrics but there are no pictures of the band members like on the original.

Streets original has no bonus tracks no pictures in the booklet just lyrics and the story about the album.

Streets 2011 Reissue is pretty much the same except there are 2 bonus tracks This Isn't What We Meant (acoustic 2010), and Morning Sun (acoustic 2010). The booklet is kind of the same except there are descriptions about each song. No pictures. The artwork again is updated a little with sort of darker colors. This one actually shows a little bit more of the album cover as well.

Edge Of Thorns original no bonus tracks. Nice booklet pictures lyrics etc.

Edge Of Thorns 2011 Reissue has 2 Bonus tracks All That I Bleed (acoustic) and If I Go Away (acoustic). This so far probably has the best booklet. Tons of info on the album and what was going on with the band at the time. Also has pictures lyrics etc.

Dead Winter Dead original has no bonus tracks. Booklet is nice with pictures and also story behind the album and lyrics.

Dead Winter Dead 2011 Reissue has 2 bonus tracks Miles Away/Follow Me (acoustic 2010) and When The Crowds Are Gone (acoustic 2011). The booklet is pretty much the same except its not as nice looking as the original. There are no band pictures or any pictures for that matter except for one of a guy playing his cello which is the guy who they got the idea for Christmas Eve Sarajevo from. Liner notes about the album and the story of the album like the original. The artwork again like these releases have tweaked artwork. Colors are a little darker and somewhat of bigger cover artwork.

The Wake Of Magellan original has 3 bonus tracks Somewhere In Time/Alone You Breathe (Jon singing and piano), Sleep (Jon singing and piano), Stay (acoustic). Nice thick booklet lyrics, story about the album pictures.

The Wake Of Magellan 2011 Reissue has only 2 bonus tracks Desiree (acoustic) and Stay (acoustic). Besides that everything is exactly the same even with the booklet. The only thing different from this reissue compared to the other reissues is the booklet is glued to the digipack where the others are slipped into a slot thats cut out in the digipack.

Thats all the ones I have at the moment. I think Hall Of The Mountain King, Poets and Madmen and Handful of rain are is coming out soon. I think they are also reissuing Live In Japan and Ghost in the Ruins but I'm not sure if those will be part of these releases.

Hope this helps. I've been wanting to sit down and look at the differences between these releases for a while so I figured might as well do it now haha. In some instances I think the originals are good enough. The acoustic bonus tracks are ok. I would rather have bsides or other songs that were left out all together which I know there are a bunch of songs that haven't been released. Why they opted out of those I have no idea. Basically if you are a completest you might want to get these. It will look great once all the albums are out and the spines match up to spell Savatage but I don't think these are necessary for people who already own these.

Thanks for the very thorough break down but one thing you didn't mention is how different the sound is.... I generally prefer original releases rather than remasters (I learned the hard way with Scorpions) so in terms of the sound of the remasters is it markedly different from the original pressings? Or is it just a little louder...

Hahaha of course I forget to mention the most important thing....the sound. Honestly I really don't hear a difference. It could just be me and also I never really listened to each one to test it out so maybe I will to give you a better answer, but these are albums I almost listen to on a daily basis so I know everything through and through and from what I can hear the levels might be slightly higher but I don't hear any new sounds that might have been burried in the original release that these should have brought out more.

Today I got the final remaster in the mail. I put it all together and I get this!

Man, my OCD would have made my head explode! Haha. Are you serious? Who put those out?

Eyesore wrote:

Man, my OCD would have made my head explode! Haha. Are you serious? Who put those out?

Haha I don't have OCD but I'm a little aggravated. They are put out by Ear Music. I'm thinking maybe they are remastering that best of album From The Gutter To The Stage? If not then someone messed up something. It says 14 albums were going to be in the set. The only thing I can think where this went wrong is they combined Sirens and Dungeons Are Calling onto one cd making it only 13 albums in total.

They actually have a facebook page so I wrote them about it I also wrote them a email. They seem to be pretty quick with responses on facebook so we'll see.