kelly
Herr Babelfish der Übersetzer, he wore a whipped-cream-covered tutu for this title.
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Deep Purple: Machine Head 25th Anniversary Edition was released sometime last year and I just now found a copy at a CD store and wanted to share my impressions.
First, let me say that I've been very disappointed with the mastering of classic and hard rock music on CD. If you've ever bought any of the old Rush or Black Sabbath (which Sony is STILL circulating in the US!) CDs then you know where I'm coming from.
Recently some of these have been remastered to varying degrees of success. The Rush remasters take some liberties with the mix that some of the fans find disagreeable--notably the drums seem adjusted a little louder. The Judas Priest CDs are awesome, perhaps only because the previous ones were so awful by comparrison. The Judas Priest ones come with a couple of bonus tracks but aren't necessarily bonus tracks from the same album timeframe so it's a little disjointed. And of course, Black Sabbath remasters are only available in the UK because Sony is the true incarnation of Lucifer.
That said, the Deep Purple remasters seem to have learned some lessons from everyone else's errors. Machine Head, their most popular album featuring the rock anthem and oft first-song-learned-on-guitar "Smoke On the Water" was probably not the worst of the bandly mastered hard rock CDs but it was, to say the least, lifeless. If you owned it on tape or album, you'd likely prefer to listen to those than the CD.
The new release borrows from artists like Beach Boys who knew that some fans would be upset if they tampered with the music too much. Instead, they released the album as a two CD set. The first CD was remastered carefully to restore the original sound of the album. The second was completely remixed by Roger Glover, one of the band's founding members.
The first disc had a real wow factor attached to it. I was lucky enough to get to hear it through my Sennheiser HD600s and an MG Head OTL, which I owned only briefly. There is absolutely nothing harsh about this CD. While some analog noise remained during the actual tracks, the sound of the original recording was preserved and pure. Listening to this CD was like borrowing a machine from HG Wells and taking it for a spin.
The second disc, to my surprise, was fantastic. I'm typically somewhat of a purist and find remixes to be almost morally wrong. I still don't own the Queen remasters only because they put these awful remixes at the end of each CD. Do the fans really ask for that? "I'll only buy this album if it has the dance remix I've never heard from the DJ I've never heard of doing his freaky twist on Fat Bottom Girls?" I digress but you get the point. Remixes are generally unwelcomed by me and I think by most fans--they are an obscene waste of money and disc space.
And yet, somehow, you get me past that a little by letting someone originally involved with the project do the remixes. And then to top that off, he actually does a good job. Glover's remixes don't pull a genre hop by trying to pretend that a Deep Purple fan suddenly wants to hear the disco version of "Lazy." Instead the listener is treated to a what if scenario that reads something like this: "What if Deep Purple were making Machine Head today with modern production values?" It's a cleaner recording, it's a more balanced recording and of course, the music is more dynamic. It takes advantage of the CD format rather than simply being burdened by its limitations as most older recordings are.
The bonus CD doesn't come free of charge. I paid about $22 for the 2-CD set and it goes for more in some places. Normally I feel ripped off when a publisher forces me to buy their remxies and bonus tracks but in this case, I can sincerely say that if the bonus disc were sold seperately, it would be worth its individual purchase. I can't tell you which of the two CDs you'd like best--I think they both have their merits and together this is an awesome release. But then again, I have to own both the director's cut and theatrical release of Blade Runner, so take as many grains of salt with that as you feel warranted.
This is an A release with an A sound quality. If you've never heard Machine Head before, that it's known for its one rock hit is nothing short of a shame. In truth, "Maybe I'm a Leo" and "Lazy" are at least as worthy of its more popular releases. The album also includes "Space Truckin" and "Highway Star" that quickly became concert favorites. No rock collection is complete without this album and it's finally available in a format worth purchasing.
Kelly
First, let me say that I've been very disappointed with the mastering of classic and hard rock music on CD. If you've ever bought any of the old Rush or Black Sabbath (which Sony is STILL circulating in the US!) CDs then you know where I'm coming from.
Recently some of these have been remastered to varying degrees of success. The Rush remasters take some liberties with the mix that some of the fans find disagreeable--notably the drums seem adjusted a little louder. The Judas Priest CDs are awesome, perhaps only because the previous ones were so awful by comparrison. The Judas Priest ones come with a couple of bonus tracks but aren't necessarily bonus tracks from the same album timeframe so it's a little disjointed. And of course, Black Sabbath remasters are only available in the UK because Sony is the true incarnation of Lucifer.
That said, the Deep Purple remasters seem to have learned some lessons from everyone else's errors. Machine Head, their most popular album featuring the rock anthem and oft first-song-learned-on-guitar "Smoke On the Water" was probably not the worst of the bandly mastered hard rock CDs but it was, to say the least, lifeless. If you owned it on tape or album, you'd likely prefer to listen to those than the CD.
The new release borrows from artists like Beach Boys who knew that some fans would be upset if they tampered with the music too much. Instead, they released the album as a two CD set. The first CD was remastered carefully to restore the original sound of the album. The second was completely remixed by Roger Glover, one of the band's founding members.
The first disc had a real wow factor attached to it. I was lucky enough to get to hear it through my Sennheiser HD600s and an MG Head OTL, which I owned only briefly. There is absolutely nothing harsh about this CD. While some analog noise remained during the actual tracks, the sound of the original recording was preserved and pure. Listening to this CD was like borrowing a machine from HG Wells and taking it for a spin.
The second disc, to my surprise, was fantastic. I'm typically somewhat of a purist and find remixes to be almost morally wrong. I still don't own the Queen remasters only because they put these awful remixes at the end of each CD. Do the fans really ask for that? "I'll only buy this album if it has the dance remix I've never heard from the DJ I've never heard of doing his freaky twist on Fat Bottom Girls?" I digress but you get the point. Remixes are generally unwelcomed by me and I think by most fans--they are an obscene waste of money and disc space.
And yet, somehow, you get me past that a little by letting someone originally involved with the project do the remixes. And then to top that off, he actually does a good job. Glover's remixes don't pull a genre hop by trying to pretend that a Deep Purple fan suddenly wants to hear the disco version of "Lazy." Instead the listener is treated to a what if scenario that reads something like this: "What if Deep Purple were making Machine Head today with modern production values?" It's a cleaner recording, it's a more balanced recording and of course, the music is more dynamic. It takes advantage of the CD format rather than simply being burdened by its limitations as most older recordings are.
The bonus CD doesn't come free of charge. I paid about $22 for the 2-CD set and it goes for more in some places. Normally I feel ripped off when a publisher forces me to buy their remxies and bonus tracks but in this case, I can sincerely say that if the bonus disc were sold seperately, it would be worth its individual purchase. I can't tell you which of the two CDs you'd like best--I think they both have their merits and together this is an awesome release. But then again, I have to own both the director's cut and theatrical release of Blade Runner, so take as many grains of salt with that as you feel warranted.
This is an A release with an A sound quality. If you've never heard Machine Head before, that it's known for its one rock hit is nothing short of a shame. In truth, "Maybe I'm a Leo" and "Lazy" are at least as worthy of its more popular releases. The album also includes "Space Truckin" and "Highway Star" that quickly became concert favorites. No rock collection is complete without this album and it's finally available in a format worth purchasing.
Kelly
