Disappointing Elton John CDs?

the original masters are pretty good. surprising the remasters aren't also, but a lot of newer remasters are remastered to be louder than original. some underpowered systems may have trouble getting the most out of them. also many just flat out do not care for loudness wars remasters due to often compressed dynamic range, so they can be more hit or miss in each individual case.

Can't help w/ a direct comparison between original (which were pretty good) & remasters - but I can vouch for how good the SACDs are. The prices are good when you find them and the 2-channel mix sounds very, very good (I have used it in the car and the 2-ch sound was a pleasant surprise there).

These are the standard CDs available at any record store for $7-8 new. They sound muddy/muffled but with occasional strident highs, how can that happen?

Had these titles on vinyl when they first came out and I had Tumbleweed Connection on MFSL gold CD but I can't remember how it sounded.

I will look into some suggested alternatives for these titles because these issues suck! There's some great songs on these albums but IMO the re-masters have not done them any justice.

They sound muddy/muffled but with occasional strident highs, how can that happen?

This is pure speculation on my part and I have not heard these CD's, but what they are saying is that a common practice of late is to compress the hell out of a production, in the name of 'louder is better'. Makes the recording sound like a broadband noise generator not even slightly resembling music. These so-called recording engineers don't know their craft whatsoever anymore.

"Makes the recording sound like a broadband noise generator not even slightly resembling music.'

It would surprise me if this were the case with the EJ CDs. Remasters are most likely louder overall but are in general not distorted unless recorded that way intentionally, ie distortion applied to electric guitars or synthesizer for ezample.