What deserves to be Remastered on CD?

For starters, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young catalogs

Supertramp, Fleetwood Mac

Trey not all remasters are improvements on rock/alt CDs, many times they pump up the presence and give you a brighter CD that has diminished 3D and no air/bloom around instruments (and charge full list price!)......that said there are many great sucesses like Joni Mitchell "Court and Spark" HDCD which is great improvement. I find the Beatles remasters are sucessful, but the Rolling Stones albums from 60S ie: Hot Rocks is very dissappointing remaster, of course Beatles had Abbey Rd Studio masters to work from! I am sure the Bruce Springstein catalog will get remaster soon, although Darkness and River sound very good for main stream rock albums in current form. Fleetwood Mac CDs also sound good in current form from early 70's, I am afraid remaster will screw them up.........Tom Petty box set is remastered, I have original CDs ie: Torpedos, Waiting, would be interesting to compare sound.....they are getting better, but sometimes I prefer the original to the remaster.......classical remasters are usually very successful, probably because they have better original masters, and are sold to a more discriminating customer......Sam

Sam, I agree with a lot of the points you make. However, most of the "alternative" rock music has been recorded in the 90's. It also seems that a healthy portion of 60's music was remastered at the "dawn" of the digital age and hasn't been remastered since. I'm still having to suffer with great titles like The Who: Who's Next - and I don't want to spend $50 for MoFi version. These old CD's just lack life - the warmth, depth and detail just ain't there! Thank God I kept SOME vinyl!

Why don't you get the MCA reissue on 180gm vinyl, of Who's Next? It has more warmth and depth than any CD. Another thing I don't understand, is why there isn't more debate about analog, versus digital...this thread would be the perfect place for it....oh, yeah, sorry! Guess I had a brain hiccup...

Yeah, I suppose I could pick up some good vinyl - but I don't have a good turntable. In fact, it's an old Craig that I got in Jr. High. You know, the kind with a tuner and built-in 8 track player. Since I have a pretty good digital front-end AND the "software" to go with it, I'm probably going to stick with that format. I think having BOTH formats IS the way to go but I have a wife and young children - so money spent on new, quality turntable AND LP's ain't gonna happen. My original point though is that newly remastered CD's are noticeably better than old ones - just like newer DAC's and CD players sound superior to those in the 1980's. Not to stoke the digital vs. vinyl fire but, don't you guys think it's hard to find classic rock LP's that don't have worn grooves, scratches, etc.? Seeing the way most people handle their CD's, I'd be amazed if MOST older LP's are in pristine condition. I know there are exceptions but...

The Beach Boy's Surf's Up needs to be remastered IMHO. Problem is opinions may differ on their later stuff, I would buy it, any other takers? Actually that album has never been released on CD at all and it is an excellent recording. Just 100000000 versions and compliations of their early to mid 60's warhorses. It is difficult to find used record albums from the 60's that are in good shape. I have the Rolling Stones Hot Rocks album and would certainly welcome a CD remaster of it but the eary Rolling Stones were so very poorly recorded in the first place and I doubt if it would make too big a difference. The Doors were just remastered and there is a compliation of ALL their albums in one boxed set. I don't know who did it but a friend has it and I believe he said it is by BMG music service. Most rock and roll vinyl from the sixties is horendously recorded with few exceptions notably the Beatles. Peter Paul and Mary were always well recorded and I also would welcome a good remaster of their early albums, great group. SuperTramp albums always sounded good. Their "Crime of the Century" is about as good as it gets. I hope I contributed something to this thread other than the fact I like Surf's Up and 60's recorded music was VERY poorly done. "Hey the kids can't hear all that noise anyway"

Hey Tubegroover!!! "Surf's Up" along with all of the Beach Boys later albums starting with "Sunflower" have just been released on CD. Remastered, of course, and they sound superb. "Holland"," Carl and the Passions", "In Concert" just to name a few. America's greatest and most influential band of all time finally gets their due!!!!

Kira You made my day!!! My vinyl is wearing thin on all those albums you mentioned. I have them all and multiple copies of most. They are ALL great albums, better than the earlier stuff in my opinion except Pet Sounds. Man who would remember Carl and the Passions with Pet Sounds as a bonus if he weren't a true believer? Brian Wilson musically has to be the Mozart of American pop music. Well not quite Mozart but.....Right On!!!!

Tubegroover, thanks for that tip on the Doors! I'll have to see if I can track that down.