[Dev Avidon]

Going through my collection of The Smiths today, I found that I had a huge number of duplicates as a result of the fact that I obsessively bought all the original albums when they came out when I was growing up, and didn't have the heart to throw out or give away the "best of" type albums that people invariably gave me.  So I figured I'd clean up the duplicates in my digital library at the very least.  In the process, I was reminded just how heavily remastered all the tracks on "greatest hits" albums tend to be in general.  Frankly, the production tends to be better.  Better articulated frequencies and instruments, wider soundstage, usually more compression which I'm not a fan of, and consequently higher preamps...basically all the telltale signs of more modern production.  Naturally, quite often I prefer the more modern production.  But I always keep the originals and delete the remastered tracks.  Because a part of me, as an artist, as an engineer, and as a certified indie-kid feels that once you create a recording, press it onto an album and release that album, it takes on its own life and soul.  It's a piece of work that stands on its own, and ought stand on its own without modification for the rest of time.  You can most certainly go back to a song and re-record a different version, but simply remastering the original to take advantage of a larger budget or appeal to a wider audience more accustomed to the palate of modern production almost feels sacrilegious to me.  I feel that it's almost akin to those "modern English" Shakespeare translations.  Usually the audiophile in me walks hand in hand with the purist in me.  But here they clash irrevocably.
 
What say you to this dilemma fellow head-fiers?

 

[Uncle Erik]

I think you're doing the right thing, since I avoid compressed music, as well.

Since you have a good collection of the Smiths' catalog, can you be talked into writing a small guide to their various recordings along with recording quality?

 

[Dev Avidon]

Quote:

I think you're doing the right thing, since I avoid compressed music, as well.

Since you have a good collection of the Smiths' catalog, can you be talked into writing a small guide to their various recordings along with recording quality?

Sure.  I have a fairly large Morrissey collection as well, but I'll start with the Smiths. 
 
The short preview, essentially, is that there are about a billion compilations, that include a good deal of material from non-studio albums, different versions, etc.  The "Best of" albums are, far and away, the most heavily remastered, and I would stay away from them, as they really just don't give you a sense of the original creations.  I have not heard the 2008 Singles release, but the only two compilations I would strongly recommend are Louder than Bombs and Hatful of Hollow, because between the two you'll get all the non-album singles.  Louder than Bombs actually gives you some of the original singles before they were remixed for the studio albums, and leaves the rest pretty well enough alone, and while Hatful of Hollow is definitely heavily remastered on average, there are a number of different versions (acoustic arrangements, etc) that are worthwhile having.  If you can find the original singles, all the more power to you, but it's pretty tough. 
 
I'll do a full writeup in the next day or so for a new thread, but I am curious to get more opinions on the original topic.  It can be expanded to consider as well, what constitutes "good" production for you?  I think of Steely Dan's mid-career material as being ideal; meticulously crafted, shaped and sculpted but still oozing with life.  Aja or The Royal Scam I think are the pinnacle of what they did.  But when you listen to an album like Two Against Nature, it is so hyper-produced, so minutely, obsessively scripted that it feels robotic and lifeless to me.  It's too perfect.  There's no humanity, no subtle imperfection that makes it breathe.

 

[Hadoe]

I feel your pain, finding great indie bands only to discover that they're recordings are extremely sub par as far as sound quality goes.But at the same time you don't want to alter it because that's what the artist/band put out and it's the original. It just has that imperfect perfection feeling.

 

[Dev Avidon]

As requested, here's a brief guide to the Smiths http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/518076/the-smiths#post_6997622