Albums that need to be re-mastered in the worst way

Talking Heads catalog (on their way, apparently)
Midnight Oil, "Red Sails in the Sunset" and "10, 9, 8 ..."

Then again, hearing how good remastered CCR, Sabbath, Roxy Music, Hendrix, OMD, Clash, Elvis Costello, et al, sound on disc, I'd say just about anything would benefit.

Well Cutty?

I second the Jungle Brothers, that record rules....it's not LOUD enough.

The Entire SST catalog needs to be REMASTERED.
(Husker Du at the VERY LEAST)

I had to take the JBs disc - one of my all time faves - off my iPod, since the tracks were so significantly quieter than everything else on there. Same with Sinead, actually.

2-CD SET:
DISC 1
Frightened
Crap Rap 2/Like To Blow
Rebellious Jukebox
No Xmas For John Quays
Mother-ister!
Industrial Estate
Underground Medecin
Two Steps Back
Live At The Witch Trials
Futures And Pasts
Music Scene
BONUS TRACKS:
Bingo-Master's Break-Out!
Psycho Mafia
Repetition
It's The New Thing
Various Time
Dresden Dolls
Psycho Mafia
Industrial Estate
Steppin Out
Last Orders
DISC 2:
BBC SESSIONS
Rebellious Jukebox
Mother-Sister!
Industrial Estate
Futures And Pasts
Put Away
Mess Of My
No Xmas For John Key
Like To Blow
LIVERPOOL '78
Like To Blow
Stepping Out
Two Steps Back
Mess Of My
It's The New Thing
Various Times
Bingo-Master's Break-Out!
Frightened
Industrial Estate
Psycho Mafia
Music Scene
Mother-Sister!

I said the ENTIRE SST catalog.

Ummmm, yeah it would.

Merge may be taking care of this for you.

(and, yes, i realize you were joking.)

"This album is meant to be listened to on vinyl."

It would be nice if someone could remix "Suede" by Suede and put some bass on it.

Perhaps the hiss on BOTW is on the original tape.

BOTW was, additionally, put through the Sonic Solutions software to address drop-outs and speed problems; it really does seem that the current gold CD version is the best possible based upon the surviving source material.

The version of UP on the Heart & Soul boxed set sounds great to me. The original CD was shite, though - here in Canada anyway.

Please, please, please won't someone remaster the Smiths' back catalogue? And New Order's?

Weren't the songs on the most recent Smiths compilation remastered? I haven't heard it, I don't know if it was a good job.

24-bit transfers w/superior a/d convertors is great. It does wonders for a lot of music.

Routinely putting everything through digital maximising tools so that every drum his peaks at 0dBFS is a fucking disgrace, which renders everything into background music.

I've read aboot a forthcoming Rhino Records vinyl re-issue of Psychocandy, and anything Rhino has released on vinyl in the last few years has come on the heels of expanded/remastered CDs.

That reminds me: When Capital/EMI put out that 30th anniversary edition of the White Album, did they remaster it too? Or did they use the same set as before?

Man, I wish there was

The Replacements - Entire catalog. Those remasters from a few years ago were disastrous. Where is Sire on this, anyway?

A lot of those "Our Band Could Be Your Life"-era bands could stand the re-mastering treatment, but it might not make them sound any better. I'd just want them for any added rarities.

Really? What's wrong with them? TELL ME MORE!!

I find them shrill sounding; in an effort to brighten and clean the muddy sound, the new versions of the TwinTone albums are worse than the original LPs. The original CD releases were by no means great, but I much prefer them to the re-releases. And while we're at it, Jesperson has long promised a 'Mats box set...

No, amazingly they didn't! IIRC, the Yellow Submarine reissue is.

Ha ha actually, all the songs on Box sound terribly dim in comparison to their counterparts and contemporaries on Hardcore UFO's and Suitcase so a GBV remaster series isn't a bad idea. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is back in business -- go for it, Bob, you know you want to.

Unbelievably muffled.

I had this on vinyl for a few years and it sounded fine then.

I wouldn't mind hearing a remastered Secondhand Daylight either. Has the full New York Dolls debut been remastered?

One album I hope to never, ever, not in a millions years see remastered: Enter The 36 Chambers.

Not likely to happen while Joyce has a lien on all members' royalties.

I'm not sure, but I think it might have been a couple of years ago. In the UK for most of the 90s the only NY Dolls CD available was "Rock'n'Roll" which compiles both albums, but about 2/3 years ago both albums got reissued separately - I don't know for sure but I would assume they got remastered for that.

Both classic late 60's Psych-Pop albums. "Butters is arguably my favourite album, yet hardly anyone has even heard of it.

Go figure.

i want WORST mastering as much as shittyoluy possiblre

This is classic.

You aren't talking about this, are you?

If they ever reissue The Low End Theory, they should put the swearing in.

WHY WON'T HE SAY "COCK"!?!?!?!?

Badly in need of remastering:

The Breeders * Pod (4AD)
Fugazi * Repeater (Dischord)
Afghan Whigs * Up In It (Sub Pop)
Slint * Spiderland (Touch & Go)
PJ Harvey * Dry (Island)
Seam * The Problem With Me (Touch & Go)

PJ Harvey * Rid Of Me (Island) -- At the very least the levels should be corrected on the first track so the intro isn't too quiet so you don't blow your speakers when it kicks in.

Yo La Tengo * Painful (Matador/Atlantic)

Shellac * At Action Park (Touch & Go) -- Albini allegedly sabotaged the mastering so that the CD sounded like shit compard to the vinyl. What an ass. He needs to make that right, and throw in all the singles while he's at it.

And dude, that's teh coolest part of that PJ song!

My entire Fugazi collection was stolen from my work cube, so I guess I might as well start getting them again.

I like the exploding intro in "Rid Of Me," but I like to hear her voice in the beginning, so I have to crank it. Would hate to accidentally blow my new speakers that way.

However, it seems this thread doesn't mention Kate Bush. Apart from "Hounds Of Love" (which was remastered during the EMI anniversary in 1997), her albums all need remastering.

Whoa! Anybody heard this?

Wasn't that intentional? It even sounds like PJ was further away from the mic during this part.

"The BOTW hiss is indeed on the original tape -- I know someone involved with the Sony/Legacy SBM gold remastering of this album, wherein the original tapes were used as opposed to the LP-equalized tapes used for other CD editions. The original analogue tapes sem to have been overused in the process of pressing the original LP, and there is therefore irreparable loss on the best-extant versions of the original master tapes.
BOTW was, additionally, put through the Sonic Solutions software to address drop-outs and speed problems; it really does seem that the current gold CD version is the best possible based upon the surviving source material.

-- Nom De Plume (kontakte2...), February 13th, 2004."

Wasn't that intentional? It even sounds like PJ was further away from the mic during this part.

Fucking exactly! The whole point is that it lures you in and then smashes you in the face! Why kill the dynamics? That'd just make it background music.

the entire Guernica catalog (Insides, Unrest, Underground Lovers, That Dog)

Weekend (La Variete); Prefab Sprout (Swoon); Fatima Mansions (Viva Dead Ponies)

and the entire Triffids catalogue

-- Geir Hongro

http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/froehlich/a010.gif

Also, several Lee Perry productions sound really bad, with a lot of sound dropout etc. While "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown" sounds great on the current CD, however "Super Ape" and "Heart Of The Congos" do not

Really? Do you have the Hip-O Select remaster of Super Ape? It sounds awesome to me. And I figured Blood & Fire did the best they could with Heart of the Congos. Considering Perry literally beat on that 4-track sometimes, I'd expect imperfections, but it's part of the charm.

There were rumors that Rhino was remastering key early Beefheart albums, but there's nothing on their site about it.

Lou Reed's Street Hassle would be nice.

(It must be added that Warner did a better job with their first generation CDs than any other label though. I remember I used to think Warner's CDs sounded fantastic back in the late 80s)

sounds fine to me.

That's what happened to me with Faust IV just now, I buy it for a fiver thinking wot a bargain then the bastard gets a double-disc reissue a month later.

This just may be Stateside, but a bunch of Van Morrison's Warner stuff (save Astral Weeks & Moondance) was Remastered by Polydor in the late 90s. And around the same time Joni Mitchell's Reprise/Asylum catalogue got redone as HDCDs.

(unless it's already been posted...in which case, never mind)

I think -His Band and Street Choir- and -Moondance- are also still only available as first generation Warner's CDs. It's the albums after those (starting with Tupelo Honey) that have been remastered by Polydor. Did Van reup his contract more favorably with Warner's after HB&SC?

Their early albums were released on CD around the mid 80s. They sound like shit, and I guess they'd benefit a lot from a remaster.

And why no Deluxe Edition of "The Joshua Tree"? I mean, there are hardly any more canonical albums in the Universal catalogue.

It needs to be issued, period. If they could fix that awful 80s drum sound, that would be nice. There's many albums from the mid-80s that could benefit from that.

I find it a bit strange that Rhino have made a great new remaster of Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" album while nothing has been done to the Chic catalogue. They were both on the same label.

not a proper Chic album, the the Chic Definitive Pop Collection has excellent sound. i also disagree with the Exile on main St. poster: those Stones reissues from the mid-90's sound pretty great. sure they could be updated, but how clear do you want Exile to sound?

oh, and also not in the worst way, but i'd love to hear After the Goldrush and Tonight's the Night remastered, but Mr. Neil is such a picky **ck i won't hold my breath

but how clear do you want Exile to sound?

IMO it would have been a much better album had it sounded clear like "Sticky Finger". But of course that mistake was made in 1972, and that kind of revisionism would never have been a good idea.

I find it a bit strange that Rhino have made a great new remaster of Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" album while nothing has been done to the Chic catalogue. They were both on the same label.

it could just be a matter of not being able to locate the original chic masters.

IMO it would have been a much better album had it sounded clear like "Sticky Finger". But of course that mistake was made in 1972, and that kind of revisionism would never have been a good idea.

for which, see the abominable 90s remixes (that's right, remixes, not just remasters) of the Who's quadrophenia, the who by numbers, and who are you. jon astley made more than a few revisions, adding things (things which were recorded at the original sessions, but still) and subtracting others (e.g., a scream missing from "the real me").

I haven't heard the 90s masters of these, but they are out of print and overdue for a reissue at least:

Quiet Sun - Mainstream (Antilles/Resurgent) 75
John Cale - Music For A New Society (Island/Rhino) 82
Robert Quine & Fred Maher - Basic (EG) 84
Lou Reed - New Sensations (RCA) 84

there should be a thread for records that need to be remastered in a worse way. like a shine remover.

The Screaming Blue Messiahs and Lou Reed albums got the treatment since my posts. While The Minutemen's Double Nickels sounds fine, it bothers me that it's missing tracks. I second Quadrophenia.

Public Image Ltd - Album 86

The Double Nickels thing will probably never happen, unless Watt and George get the masters back from Greg Ginn and put in the hard work to get it done (like Derrick Bostrom did with the Meat Puppets reissues a decade ago).

Metallica--Death Magnetic

Prince - Sign o the Times -- Gawd the CD issue of it sounds like it was recorded through a layer of marshmallows.

stay-puft pop

Metallica--Death Magnetic

In the same category as "Death Magnetic", see also:

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Anything from "Californication" onwards
The Killers: "Sam's Town" and "Day & Age"
Paul McCartney: "Memory Almost Full"
Coldplay: "X&Y"
Depeche Mode: "Playing The Angel"
Erasure: "Light At The End Of The World"
The Eels: "Hombre Lobo"
Keane: "Perfect Symmetry"
Cut Copy: "In Ghost Colours"
The Cure: "4:13 Dream"
Anything by Oasis
Anything by Gwen Stefani

And many others.

Also, The Stooges "Raw Power" (need to be remastered once more because the remaster sounds way worse than the original)

(Of course it could be remarked that "Raw Power" has already been remastered in the worst way. Literaly)

there's a new raw power remaster out now geir!

gwen stefani? sounds fine to me. sign o the times otm. always wondered is sterelab's 'transient random..' supposed to sound like that?

geir listens to stooges?

vinyl of sign o the times sounds fine. cds are for loozers.

why you

I lost my entire Prince catalog due to a backup snafu. It is time for Prince reissues. Is it ever gonna happen? I can't find lossless rips out in the cyber-ether to save my life. Good piece on this: http://theseconddisc.com/2010/06/07/prince-week-day-4-the-reissue-conundrum/

There were either Japanese remasters or bootleg remasters of the Prince back catalogue upped to places like Demonoid a while back. But I'd love to get the physical discs.

Also surprised that I haven't come across Jane's Addiction remasters, you'd expect Deluxe editions by now.

Was just wondring if Husker Du remasters might follow the recent Sugar ones. Fingers crossed.
There are several other SST sets I'd love to get in decent sound.

Oh & Farewell ALderbaraan by Judy Henske & Jerry Yester really should get a decent remaster. Joe Foster has claimed that a Rev-Ola one was prevented by the appearance of the Radioactive needle drop. I have a decent needle drop MP3 set that was circulated in response to the appearance of the Radioactive one but am wondering what I'm missing in the grooves. Sounds like there might well be a lot to be revealed.

Also CLock Dva's Thirst and maybe other stuff from that line-up's tenure. Plus their later incarnation as The Box.

Thought there might be further releases of Birthday Party stuff since I thought the band got the masters/rights back a few years ago too

Farewell ALderbaraan by Judy Henske & Jerry Yester really should get a decent remaster. Joe Foster has claimed that a Rev-Ola one was prevented by the appearance of the Radioactive needle drop. I have a decent needle drop MP3 set that was circulated in response to the appearance of the Radioactive one but am wondering what I'm missing in the grooves. Sounds like there might well be a lot to be revealed.

Some tracks from this popped up on Rhino Handmade's Judy Henske anthology awhile back. They sounded great, and in the track info in the booklet, it was stated that Warner Music actually holds the copyright on those recordings.

Speaking of Warners, I imagine it's too late in the physical media game to expect Remastered versions of the Little Feat catalogue (which should have been done by Rhino sometime after their box set happened), and the rest of The Cars (Shake It Up and on) and ZZ Top (first two, then Tejas-El Loco in the O.G. mixes).

Will someone do something about that Radioactive/Phoenix guy already

I'd like to see it happen with the Bob Welch-era Fleetwood Mac albums, though tbh I don't really know if there's anything so bad about the existing versions (haven't heard them, I just tend to imagine that those '80s discs aren't always from the best sources and weren't necessarily done with much care).

Actually the only album I can think of where the existing CD version is woefully inadequate is The Fall's Bend Sinister. Beggars did great deluxe reissues of Wonderful & Frightening and This Nation's Saving Grace, but apparently they aren't planning to do any of the rest right now (which, pardon the pun, begs the question of when they ever would).

The existing Bob Welch-era CDs sound absolutely peachy to me.

Don't know if they need remastering--but how in the world is the Telex discography not on CD? And Bohannon?

I wrote a note to that effect to an email link at Bohannon's website once, and got a phone call from his son who'd mistaken me for someone who had any power at all to do something about it! If only I could. . .

Doesn't look like ZZ Top is EVER going to go back and fix those early albums on CD. They did a couple along with the box set a few years ago and that was that. Seems pretty short sighted to me for such a popular group. I guess the band doesn't want it done or there is wrangling on who gets the money if done, as I can't see the label not wanting to pursue it even at this late date in the CD reissue game.

the compact disc era provided such a boom for remasters, it'll be interesting to see if anyone continues remastering old albums for a digital re-release or if the idea of trying to make old vinyl-era albums sound better on current technology will just die off.

Will someone do something about that Radioactive/Phoenix guy already

― Lee626, Saturday, June 23, 2012 4:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Amen. I have a cd of Far East Family Band's Nipponjin on Phoenix that is a criminally bad needle-drop. Mastered too quiet so I have to crank it up and fixate on the almost constant popping and clicking. If you're going to be a bootlegging piece of shit, at least take some pride in your work and honor the material that you're charging people decent money to own.

Blur stuff getting a 'proper job' done on them for this new box set coming out in July, according to Stephen Street who says this in Record Collector

".. EMI were planning to use the 90's production EQ masters, but i wanted to make sure it was done right.. we had to go through the 1/2 inch tape archives finding the right takes.. there was quite a bit of detective work"

It's all being remastered by Street, and the same dude at Abbey Road (Frank Arkwright) who did The Smiths' box. can't wait for these.

Didn't LIttle Feat just get a label multi lp set - Classic lps or whatever their label calls it?
Got a nasty feeling once that's happened it precludes the likelihood of individual lp remasters. & I think they tend to be previous masters. Not sure if they get pressed any louder to fit current market. Feel I should know if that's possible.

Same may be true with Tim Buckley though it looks like with him Rhino Handmade are going through the catalogue doing double cd sets thankfully.

Didn't LIttle Feat just get a label multi lp set - Classic lps or whatever their label calls it?
Got a nasty feeling once that's happened it precludes the likelihood of individual lp remasters. & I think they tend to be previous masters. Not sure if they get pressed any louder to fit current market. Feel I should know if that's possible.

From what I gather, the "Original Album Series" from Warner UK (along with the "X# Classic Albums" series from Sony/BMG UK) are straight reissues of whatever the last editions of the albums that were available. So, for example, the Bonnie Raitt set comes from the 2000 Warner ReMastered series, and the Little Feat ones would come from the old 1990 issues.

Of course there are exceptions. I was under the impression that the set they did for X (the band) would include the bonus tracks from the mostly OOP 2000-1 reissues, but it doesn't (hopefully the sonic upgrade was retained).

For what it's worth, a related thing is happening here in the States. Most of the 70s Little Feat albums (and many other 60s-80s Warner catalogue titles) have been re-released/repressed by Flashback Records, the budget arm of Rhino. Aside from the label credit, these are exactly the same as old versions, and they can be found in budget bins at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble etc. for around $5 a disc.