33.3 is now superior to 45

One wonders what those jazz musicians, most of whom lived a hand to mouth transient existence, might think of this craziness, if they were around to see it. I suspect they'd laugh at us. The solos and improvisation that we go ga-ga over were mostly one-offs; they probably played the same tune differently from day to day and thought nothing of it. Listening to an LP rendition is like looking at a snapshot of your summer vacation 20 years ago. But it's all we have.

I was just thinking the same thing. It seems like were producing the same 50 albums over and over. Thats to bad because there is a lot of great music out there. I wonder if it's because of the difficulty and expense of finding and licensing master tapes. Perhaps they want to avoid risk by sticking to their "hit" titles similar to what Hollywood does with sequels to hit movies.

Lewm, IMHO, those jazz musicians would think we are crazy. They wouldn't say it because at the end of the day, we're still buying their music.

Davt's wonderful epigram reminds me of these lyrics:

At the record company meeting
On their hands - a dead star
And oh, the plans they weave
And oh, the sickening greed

At the record company party
On their hands - a dead star
The sycophantic slags all say :
"I knew him first, and I knew him well"

Re-issue ! Re-package ! Re-package !
Re-evaluate the songs
Double-pack with a photograph
Extra Track (and a tacky badge)...

Best of ! Most of !
Satiate the need
Slip them into different sleeves !
Buy both, and feel deceived

-The Smiths, PAINT A VULGAR PICTURE

Not that I would accuse anyone of doing such things.

HaHa, just got back from Christmas shopping. Looks like Santa got me a mint Mobile Fidelity Rolling Stones box set ( the price was very very good ), to go with my entire collection of english pressings, that I play instead of the US issues I also have. Man, I have about 2000 LP's but am starting to realize only a few dozen separate titles.

Is a remastered version of an existing title conceptually any different than an equipment manufacturer trotting out a Mk2 or Reference edition of current production preamp? The purpose of a remaster is to improve upon an existing versions. How is that bad? Whether they actually succeed is a whole other question. I leave it to individual tastes whether someone should keep buying the same old songs.