Flood of Good Classic Rock Remasters


I have been very impressed recently with the latest releases of remastered rock classics. In the mid 90s Bob Ludwig pointed the way with his excellent remasters of the Virgin catalog for the Rolling Stones and more recently his
Tom Petty 2 CD Anthology continues his high standards.

Judas Priest has just started releasing remasters of their classic 70/80 Cds. Only a couple are now out but I tried
"British Steel" and was blown away. Selling at super saver
price level with extra bonus tracks this great stuff, bass and drums have emerged from the murk providing great kick and drive, detail has been enhanced noticeably without the usual grainy/hard treble some remasters produce. Little known is that the "metal works" anthology from early 90s
had remastered tracks which improved upon originals, but not as good as current remasters, rock lovers don't hesitate
to grab these!

Black Sabbath has started to release remasters of 60/70s Cds, but they are full price and contain no bonus tracks,
what a rip! So I went ahead and got "masters of reality"
which now has cardboard sleeve, and it is a successful remaster with drums and Tony Iommi's massive sonic slabs of riffing coming into clearer light. I probably won't get 1st
two CD remastered versions because existing Cds sound OK,
and I'm not paying full price for 30yr old music!

Kiss "double platinum" has new "album replica" cardboard sleeve remastered CD. CD folds out with embossed reliefs
of band members, kewl! Sound is successful about 75% of the time, many of these had murky masters with thin treble, and although the remasters clean up drum and bass, some tracks the vocals and cymbals now have treble glare/hardness, a double edge sword but on the whole worth buying.

Just ordered today Cheap Trick remasters, 1st three albums in box set with bonus tracks on all Cds at super saver price. will have to report later.

Any comments?
128x128megasam

Showing 1 response by twinsdad

If youre in to the Zeppelin, try out those jap remasters released in the mini-lp sleeve's you previously mentioned.If you can find them, theyre worth every cent.
Remember "since Ive been loving you" from "III", I could hardly stand listening to that track because Jones's bass
would buzz all they way down the street! This is the only
CD Ive ever heard that is sooooo clean you can crank it,
with pleasing effects. My fav remasters are the Yes HDCDs.
Listening to these was like hearing them for the first time.
Call me synical, but my Mfsl's, and DCCs are getting shelved
for the new Jap masters. Some of these titles sound better
than the gold CDs I spent $25 to $30 bucks a pop for!

Some of the Import remasters (Marillion) and Expanded US
versions (Trower) carry a similar improvement in sound quality. But my bottom line always finds the Jap CDs at the top of the list. Just seems music is still treated as an art
in Japan, and it shows!