Reissues

Yeah, there's a big difference between remastering and remixing. I agree with you for the most part. Unless the original version was such a mess mix-wise, leave well enough alone. That said, I think many Blue Oyster Cult albums are prime candidates for both a remix and a remaster. A lot of them (Fire Of Unknown Origin and Imaginos especially) suffer from really muddy mixes IMO. Particularly Imaginos which really pains me because that's my favorite BOC album.

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

I generally don't mind remastered version but what bothers me to no end are remixes! I would like to plead with any band to never remix their original albums, and if they do, they should at least include the original disc with the package too. I was so disappointed when Mustaine remixed Megadeth's albums. It would have been fine had the remixed discs been included as bonus discs together with the original albums but no, it was far worse - the original discs went out of print! How can this be allowed?

It depends on why it's being remixed. The Megadeth ones were poorly done and weren't really necessary to begin with. However, in a case like the new Aqualung (which is a remix) that was the only way to significantly improve the sound quality of the album. Just remastering that title wouldn't have yielded much improvement...but going back to the original multi-track tapes and fixing the instrument balance and being able to EQ each individual track (not just a blanket EQ of the entire stereo mix) made that 40 year old album sound like a record I had just heard for the first time. An amazing experience.

That remix was done for a good reason (the band had never liked the sound of that album) and they picked the right person (Steven Wilson) to do the remix. A win for all concerned.

If the remaster helps to clean up the sound a bit, make it clearer and fuller sounding then I'm all for it. The Black Sabbath reissues via Rhino are imo the best ever sounding remasters in that regard. Do you remember the first Black Sabbath CD pressings? Those were downright awful sounding but 20 years later, the remastering technology has advanced quite far to make it possible for these albums to sound near flawless. And the beauty of it is that none of these have been remixed just very well remastered.

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

If the remaster helps to clean up the sound a bit, make it clearer and fuller sounding then I'm all for it. The Black Sabbath reissues via Rhino are imo the best ever sounding remasters in that regard. Do you remember the first Black Sabbath CD pressings? Those were downright awful sounding but 20 years later, the remastering technology has advanced quite far to make it possible for these albums to sound near flawless. And the beauty of it is that none of these have been remixed just very well remastered.

Those albums didn't really require a remix, they were good sounding albums to begin with, the Black Box remasters do indeed sound great (though a little too compressed for my taste) but that's primarily because better source material was used (original 2-track stereo masters instead of the LP master used for the WB discs) and A/D converters had improved by a huge margin in the intervening years.

HOWEVER...

Take a Black Sabbath album like "BORN AGAIN". The ONLY way to fix that album would be to remix it. Remastering just doesn't accomplish anything with that title (I know, I've tried it myself), because it sounds like garbage on the stereo mix, you'd have to go back to the multi-track tapes and rebuild it.

Remastering to me is the preferred option...but if an album truly does need a remix I'm all for it provided the engineer does his best to keep the overall vibe of the original album.

Yeah I agree about Born Again. I haven't heard the latest remaster but the one released by Sanctuary about 10 years ago or so doesn't sound much better / different from the original. I am okay with it there is something charming about bad production (I guess that's why I like black metal too) but I would like to hear a proper more epic sounding version of Born Again where everything shines.

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

Yeah I agree about Born Again. I haven't heard the latest remaster but the one released by Sanctuary about 10 years ago or so doesn't sound much better / different from the original. I am okay with it there is something charming about bad production (I guess that's why I like black metal too) but I would like to hear a proper more epic sounding version of Born Again where everything shines.

The new reissue sounds worse than the one Castle released back in '97.

Tony Iommi intended to remix Born Again, but thus far Warner Bros has been unable to locate the original mult-tracks, they are presumed lost.

S.D. wrote:

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

If the remaster helps to clean up the sound a bit, make it clearer and fuller sounding then I'm all for it. The Black Sabbath reissues via Rhino are imo the best ever sounding remasters in that regard. Do you remember the first Black Sabbath CD pressings? Those were downright awful sounding but 20 years later, the remastering technology has advanced quite far to make it possible for these albums to sound near flawless. And the beauty of it is that none of these have been remixed just very well remastered.

Those albums didn't really require a remix, they were good sounding albums to begin with, the Black Box remasters do indeed sound great (though a little too compressed for my taste) but that's primarily because better source material was used (original 2-track stereo masters instead of the LP master used for the WB discs) and A/D converters had improved by a huge margin in the intervening years.

HOWEVER...

Take a Black Sabbath album like "BORN AGAIN". The ONLY way to fix that album would be to remix it. Remastering just doesn't accomplish anything with that title (I know, I've tried it myself), because it sounds like garbage on the stereo mix, you'd have to go back to the multi-track tapes and rebuild it.

Remastering to me is the preferred option...but if an album truly does need a remix I'm all for it provided the engineer does his best to keep the overall vibe of the original album.

My ears are not as tuned as yours so i dont notice a lot of the stuff but i do think the megadeth re-issues are pretty lousy.

Eyesore wrote:

I used to collect everything, but once I started running out of room, I began to notice how absurd it is to have the US version of an album, plus the Japanese import, the UK import, the European import, and the super-duper deluxe edition with 3D glasses I'll never use and a DVD which I'll watch once, maybe. And on top of that, there's the jewelcase promo, the CDR promo, the acetate promo, the six-track promo sampler, the three-track promo sampler in a slimline cardboard sleeve, and the cassette promo from Thailand.

That is just ridiculous, and this was repeated way too many times in my collection.

Now, I try to get the version with the most tracks, if cheap. Otherwise I go for the cheapest version and download the bonus tracks. Often legally now, too. Haha.

On the note about being a completist - I don't really care so much about different editions, unless they come with bonus tracks, in which case I want to get the edition that comes with all the tracks released for that particular album. Packaging and additional items such as patches, posters, pins etc don't really interest me too much. I generally prefer to have the CD in its standard jewel case, rather than digipacks and all sorts of crazy vinyl imitations like gatefold digipacks etc.

My completist habits are pretty standard - I just like collecting main releases by the bands I like. I want to have every official album released (preferably as part of the same pressing / reissue series).

From time to time I also like to collect the 'first pressings'. I use first pressings loosely, in the sense that I prefer the original releases (especially of thrash and death metal bands) to any re-issues with new artwork or new packaging. However, this cannot always be helped. Most of the time I will settle for whatever I can find as the original pressings are either no longer available or come at a high price. This isn't necessarily always the case - it depends on many factors, how popular or obscure the band is, etc etc.

There is however something very special about the original pressings of certain albums. It is not just the sound but also the fact that you own a piece of that band's original history, not modified in time by labels or producers. It is what it is - the way it was released originally. I always find that special.

i fight the completist in me - especially for a certain band named Helloween...