U2 reissues

U2 sound was mostly engineered by Steve Lillywhite. This was one of the first bands (apart from Punk rock) to go towards hypercompressed music. It was very successful for U2 - a kind of raw fatiguing unpolished sound that works well in a pub and comes over clearly compared to ther music of those times (but tends to sound flat and monotonous). This sound gives the music a feeling of urgency - it works but it sounds awful when turned up loud on a good dynamic system.

You can also hear the hypercompression by comparing Simple Minds stuff like Waterfront (done with Steve) against their earlier releases. Also you hear it on Dave Mathews Band - yes - that is why the music sounds harsh, edgy and aggresive - it was done deliberately. To me, U2 was one of the bands that led us into the loudness wars by their huge succes, which made many artists follow. Ultimately, the success of this compressed raw sound means that nearly everything produced today in pop is mastered "hypercompressed" or "loud" - thanks partly to Steve Lillywhite!

I would be interested to know if the U2 remasters have fixed the raw edgy sound of U2 (I like U2 for music but not their studio sound. Same as Santana). Generally, uncompressed music will sound much softer and less punchy at low volumes (may even sound thin) but this will sound way way better at higher volumes. Bands like Duran Duran (who had roots in a dance club and tried to emulate the lush sound of Roxy music) made specific studio sessions to record dance mixes for the clubs (these were far less compressed than their regular albums which were targeted at FM radio). A lot depends on what was archived all those years ago...but I would certainly buy more U2 if the new releases sound better.

'it works but it sounds awful when turned up loud on a good dynamic system.'

I disagree with that comment.

Yes you are not alone. U2's great success proves it. Most mastering engineers now agree that pop music requires heavy handed compression to give it that aggresive sound - it has become the norm - nothing gets released without heavy compression these days. There is no doubt that distortion can be pleasing and a heavy dose of distortion in the mastering stage is now seen as an essential part of the aesthetic music process - just as "gated drums" keep the music to a completely "mechanical" precise robotic quality and allow more EQ to be excessively applied.

Here is a link that mentions U2 remasters but also discusses the problem of aggresive sound. Of course, what Steve Lillywhite did in the 80's was not half as bad as what they do today. U2 sound quality is not bad at all by most modern standards but we have all forgetten that Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Alan Parsons and many others showed us that there was another way...

Bob Dylan's Oh Mercy

I agree - great sound on that one - awesome - in fact when U2 works with Lanois they are distinctly less compressed/aggressive sounding - for example Joshua Tree. Likewise Lanois work with Peter Gabriel - "So" was way better sounding than the mechanical sound of "melt" by Steve Lillywhite. Steve used to say NO CYMBALS - he was so firm about making everything sound harsh. I think they figured a lot of this out with early U2 stuff and the early Police stuff - keep it harsh and raw and urgent sounding - get people's attention kind of music - punk was really popular in those days. Luckily the Police toned it down and produced some glorious sounding stuff later on like Ghost in the Machine (Hugh Padgham) and Synchronicity.

Nevertheless the compression dial has been creeping up and you can hear more of it on U2's "All that you can't leave behind" compared to Joshua tree (even though it was Lanois again - perhaps the mastering engineer got control and over tweaked it)

Bongofury,

Thanks for all those suggestions- I missed them until today. I'll do some more buying this weekend ;-)

BTW I already have The English Beat and The Specials - Free Nelson Mandela is awesome sounding.

I'll suggest another - M People Bizarre Fruit - great live album.

M People?
I won't even go there.........

This is played live on Bizarre Fruit CD and it is really dynamic If you don't like them then you can at least use it as a demo disc as it is simply a very nice recording.