[chillysalsa]

Has anyone heard the new 2003 remasters? I understand 4AD is putting out Treasure. How do they sound?

 

[DarkAngel]

I see there are new remastered English import versions of both TREASURE and VICTORIALAND. Unfortunately full price and no bonus tracks

I will wait and see if we get domestic remasters at reduced price and/or bonus tracks. They have huge number of non album songs that could be used as bonus tracks on any new remasters.

 

[zzz]

just got my copy of treasure remaster from amazon.

well, if the original sounded like 64kbps mp3, this is more like 128kbps mp3. there's occasional `warping` (very like low-bitrate mp3) not present on the original release. oh well, the master tapes must be nearly 19 years old now and this must be unavoidable. in a couple of places I've heard timing mismatches that weren't there before and this is clearly a remastering engineer's fault.

it's not all bad though. the remaster doesn't sound like am radio through a car stereo anymore, so that's good. guitar is clearer, vocals are not as grating, and some low-level detail occasionally pop up.

this is probably useless, as I believe all current owners of `treasure` would get this remaster just for the sake of completeness anyway

.

 

[AtEase]

I had been looking forward to these, but this review doesn't seem so positive:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/watw/0...eautwins.shtml

 

[markl]

Pitchfork is very unreliable and seems to be staffed 100% by nameless faceless college kids who seem to think they are the center of the universe. Have you ever noticed their so-called "reviews" (and even their News, for chrissake) are composed almost entirely of useless personal ****/memories/anecdotes/musings, and almost no review? You have to skip almost the first half of the review before the review actually kicks in. Oh well, they're all too ill-informed to know enough to fill the space if they actually talked about the music anyway.

I'll pick up Blue Bell Knoll, and I'd love to have a remastered Heaven or Las Vegas. Any word on whether this is coming (different label, I believe?)?

Mark

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally posted by AtEase I had been looking forward to these, but this review doesn't seem so positive: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/watw/0...eautwins.shtml

Oh my it all makes sense now. I was very disappointed in remastered sound quality of STARS and TOPSOIL collection a couple years ago, I see why now that a band member decided to try remastering.............very poor job.

Also if you see my original post, like Pitchfork I was also very critical of issuing full price remasters with no bonus tracks...............they have tons of non album material that should have been put on these remasters!

I will tell you that long ago when I had 4AD vinyl Cocteau Twins and Linn LP12 table these albums have fabulous sound quality. Please call Bob Ludwig for CD remasters I beg you.......

 

[AtEase]

Quote:

Originally posted by markl Pitchfork is very unreliable and seems to be staffed 100% by nameless faceless college kids who seem to think they are the center of the universe. Have you ever noticed their so-called "reviews" (and even their News, for chrissake) are composed almost entirely of useless personal ****/memories/anecdotes/musings, and almost no review? You have to skip almost the first half of the review before the review actually kicks in. Oh well, they're all too ill-informed to know enough to fill the space if they actually talked about the music anyway. I'll pick up Blue Bell Knoll, and I'd love to have a remastered Heaven or Las Vegas. Any word on whether this is coming (different label, I believe?)? Mark

Yeah, for the most part I agree with you, but, the guy who wrote the article, Chris Ott , happens to be one of their better reviewers, and I know from his postings on the pitchfork bbs that he is a hardcore cocteau twins fans, so I put some weight in what he says. Still, I hope they are better than he says... When you pick up BBK please post your opinion,

 

[markl]

DA,
I have that import best of that came out recently, too. It's very "bright" sounding to me as I recall.

Now that I've read the article, that's probably the most informative thing I've ever read on that site.

Mark

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally posted by markl DA, I have that import best of that came out recently, too. It's very "bright" sounding to me as I recall. Mark

Yes, STARS AND TOPSIOL has very bright/hard treble very unfortunate since it is very good selection of songs on one CD.
This is one of the very few examples I can think of where new remaster made in last couple years is inferior to mid 1980's era CD (which also is not very good itself)

 

[Hobbesy]

Quote:

Originally posted by markl Pitchfork is very unreliable and seems to be staffed 100% by nameless faceless college kids who seem to think they are the center of the universe. Mark

I agree for the most part, but you have to admit that they are a group of people totally dedicated to their music. Most other sites that I've run across are either worse or the music seems to be an afterthought. Do you have any other sites that you recommend?

 

[markl]

Hobbesy,
I read the English music magazines primarily-- Uncut is my favorite, followed by Mojo, then I sometimes pick up Q. Terrific journalism from people who know about the music and care about it and treat it seriously. English music mags have hundreds of reviews per issues, including sections dedicated to re-issues, so you can find out about new remasters. They aren't cheap once imported over here, but to me, they're indispensible.

Mark

 

[Dill]

Hey
 
Bit late to the game but there ya go its my first virgin post here on Head Fi ..and I'm a Brit!  Massive CT fan from the begininng and so have all the original LPs and CD issues. Well what a .....shocking disaster.  I have to - tragically - agree.that these remasters done by Kevin "I'm not really bonkers but I do build 100 foot high gates to keep people out" Shields are absolutely in the red in the dynamic range measurements carried out on the DR site. And by me. They are bad...very bad. Everything but everything is compressed so much there is no space or detail or anything that could remotely justify such weird insane mastering. And sorry Kevin I luv ya -  but you're NOT a mastering engineer! False brightness, ringing and heavy distortion allied to a lack of bass frequencies where they existed on the prime original issues. Yes the CT material is dense and has dynamic swings to test the best systems. But the remasters simply add more rubbish and noise to the glorious racket.
 
Bin the remasters and dig out the vinyl or original CDs. Simples folks!
 
As for Pitchfork? Us Brits rate it highly along with a few others like Quietus over here in good ole Blighty.  
 
Dill     .  

 

[Jupiterknight]

  Hey
 
Bit late to the game but there ya go its my first virgin post here on Head Fi ..and I'm a Brit!  Massive CT fan from the begininng and so have all the original LPs and CD issues. Well what a .....shocking disaster.  I have to - tragically - agree.that these remasters done by Kevin "I'm not really bonkers but I do build 100 foot high gates to keep people out" Shields are absolutely in the red in the dynamic range measurements carried out on the DR site. And by me. They are bad...very bad. Everything but everything is compressed so much there is no space or detail or anything that could remotely justify such weird insane mastering. And sorry Kevin I luv ya -  but you're NOT a mastering engineer! False brightness, ringing and heavy distortion allied to a lack of bass frequencies where they existed on the prime original issues. Yes the CT material is dense and has dynamic swings to test the best systems. But the remasters simply add more rubbish and noise to the glorious racket.
 
Bin the remasters and dig out the vinyl or original CDs. Simples folks!
 
As for Pitchfork? Us Brits rate it highly along with a few others like Quietus over here in good ole Blighty.  
 
Dill     .  

 
Are you Robin Guthrie in real life? He wasn't too fond of the remasters either, although he never official expressed his opinion and these releases added quite a few quid in his pocket..
 
Regarding Pitchfork. It is actually very different today than ten years ago and you just consume it and let it not be a guidance to any kind of truth but just a take that you can agree or disagree with and then we can yell out either way..
 
blimey..