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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
megasam's avatar
megasam OP
798 posts
 
Milo, this is all relatively speaking, for instance none of these approach the sound quality of say Dire Straits, but they are improvements from previous versions.

Black Sabbath "masters of reality" CD had very poor sound quality, very murky with little detail. The remaster has now elavated sound to almost average, so still no great sound but much improved from before. Ozzy owes me big time,
this is the third time I have purchased this, album in early 70s, CD in the 80s, now remaster in the 90s!

The Virgin era Rolling Stones and newest Judas Priest are quite good by any standard now. Several years ago I got several Led Zepplin and Bowie CD remasters, and overall they were slightly better than previous versions, but this latest crop especially Judas Priest is much larger improvement.
twinsdad's avatar
twinsdad
16 posts
 
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!
megasam's avatar
megasam OP
798 posts
 
Twin good point about japanese version Cds, don't own any
but every once in a while I see them and wonder how they
sound compared to US release.

Just finished listening to Cheap Trick remasters of 1st three albums, available as super saver box set, and it is 100% successful in improving on originals. Debut CD emerges
as best sounding of the group, also shows CT as harder rockers compared to more polished pop sound of the still excellent In Color/Heaven Tonight, don't make quality rock like this anymore fortunately we have the remasters.

Just saw soon to be releases list of Cocteau Twins catalog and Pat Benatar catalog, these will almost certainly be remasters and drain my bank account some more, I love it!
megasam's avatar
megasam OP
798 posts
 
One more comment on the Cheap Trick trilogy set, my favorite single CD by far is 3rd album "heaven tonight"
More polished than debut but rocks almost as hard. Much
more drive than "In Color" which is almost pop rock. The remasterede sound for Heaven Tonight has much more drive and punch now with enhanced detail. Songs like "surrender" and "high roller" have never sounded better. Treble is smooth and clean, very successful remaster.
nelsjay
14 posts
 
These aren't real recent, but The Band remasters are great. Also the 1997 Moody Blues remasters IMO are at least as good as the MFSLs.
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