Album Remasters?
 

Hey, I'm a newbie here, albeit not a newbie in SY world having begun my relationship with the original vinyl release of Bad Moon Rising and gigs back in London in the mid-80's. I'm currently filling gaps in my CD collection and badly want copies of Sister and Evol but I'm wondering if there are plans afoot for these (or any other) albums to be relased in the near future in deluxe editions (like Daydream Nation) or remastered versions? I'm sure you people know all about it but any info would be great....

There has not been any word from SY or their management on such a release, it would be cool to have those albums remastered more so to see what bonus material may come up. Though its been told that the Master Tapes for Sister were recorded over for the recording sessions of Experimental Jet Set... which would make a 'remaster from the "original" master tapes impossible' though that may not necessary mean some sort of tapes still exist...

thought that issue was "solved" with comment of Lee in one of the threads concerning this issue, that they still have a master tape. now I'm not sure again and might be wrong.

speaking of reissues and remasters, maybe we should ask Moshe.

Think it was Steve, Greenlight... He basically said they just played Sister through a walkman into one of the mixing desk tracks, so masters should still be in the vaults somewhere....Remasters would rock!

Howdy and thanks, and thanks to everyone who has replied. Sounds like I shouldn't hold my breath for these just yet. Perhaps I'll stick with the vinyl for the older albums for the time being....:confused:

hope they wont remaster them, they sound perfect now. bonus material would be great.

Hopefully they rerelease them... they're incredibly expensive on vinyl from what I've found.

you can get the current cd issues of evol and sister for like $5 each if you check ebay or the amazon marketplace. both would be a good investment to hold you over until if/when they release deluxe editions

also, the old geffen cd of DDN sounds alot better than the remastered version in the deluxe edition IMO

I agree, the remastered DDN separates the guitars too much for my liking.

~Jeremy~

I'm cool with more bonus material, but everything that's been remastered so far is terribly loud. Dirty in particular is painful to listen to. I'd just stick to the originals.

I think remastered Goo sounds fairly solid, but I agree Dirty is too loud, and DDN suffers from similar problems.

~Jeremy~

true. but Dirty came up with best bonus stuff compare to the other reissues. i mean it was full disc of previously unheard (is this correct word in english?) stuff. songs of Dirty in its rehearsal form. fantastic. the other reissues and its extras had to me more or less known stuff. not saying it's bad, but I was blown away with Dirty reissue. I'd love to hear more of previously not released stuff and something from early albums would be deadly!

oh yeah and welcome (of course)!

I think both EVOL and Sister badly need a remaster to be honest. It's not about 'changing' the music; it's more taking a DVD and changing it for Blu Ray: everything is clearer and more enjoyable.

Some albums simply don't need the remaster, but those two sound very dense and murky. I think Steve's drumming would benefit the most from it. It's way too buried.

I really love the DDN remaster. I think it sounds better than the original, and it's my 2nd favourite record of all-time, so I wouldn't say that lightly.

While I would be interested to hear remastered versions, I would be very annoyed if they lifted any of the density or murkiness from those two, especially EVOL. That sonic (no pun intended) character is just what makes that album so amazing. The whole atmosphere of things just being a bit off and cloudy is one of the main reasons that EVOL is my joint favourite Youth album.

With Sister the same is true to a certain extent, but due to the more full on "rock" nature of the album, I suppose I can see the appeal of a louder/cleaner mix, but really if it lifted that murky atmosphere it would do again do more damage than good for me. I can see how a remaster for both would be good, but in all likelyhood the remasters we would actually get, judging by Geffen's taste in the past, would be... not good.

As to the drums thing, I really don't know what people always seem to have against them on those two album. They sound amazing! Tom Violence, Expressway, especially Shizophrenia, and basically all of the tracks on those albums have some of my hands down favourite drum sounds ever!

Or just separate all the guitars, bump the volume and flatten the whole thing out. Whatever. I have the originals if they do make sucky remasters.

Many thanks for so much feedback (pun intended); the main reason I've held off on the CD issues of EVOL and Sister was a possibly unfounded concern as to how well the original mastering was done given the age of the recordings but it seems for most people that it was a job well done. I may have to take the plunge after all. And yes, the vinyl IS expensive but still worth it...

i know what people mean about the feel or the sound of the albums being part of the appeal, but they are very muddy and that can be annoying at times (putting them on a mix cd, mix tape or even *gulp* playlist)

i think a better solution would be for the band to re-record the albums from scratch

I'm all for EVOL / Sister re-mastering.

I really like the Goo demos, because we hear the songs in early SY form and then how they evolved into the more "radio friendly" songs on Goo. It's a really cool difference to hear.

Better than Dirty's bonus stuff? Debatable.

~Jeremy~

hmmm, is not what Dirty bonus material is about? that's exactly the reason why I love Dirty reissue most among the rest. hahaha, nice.

Yeah, so true. I love the deluxe editions of Goo and Dirty. DDN was cool, but it was pretty much just all live material which you can easily get from bootlegs.

And the Enigma/Blast First edition of DN sounds slightly better than the Geffen one.

As part of the eternal BEGN bonus we got a sister session demo of catholic block, i guess that´s a hint that a sister deluxe is due in near future.

as far as remastering the albums, i don´t really see the point.
The lps sound just fine the way they are.
(that said, i don´t know how they sound on cd, but can image that they sound a bit crappy)

remasters no, Deluxe edtions yes please

the DGC DN was awful! awful transfer, awful master, awful something... all those scratchy guitars... eeww..

instead of remastering it, they should just play it again, record it how they play it now, how it sounds now. How about that? Live, studio - whatever. Somebody has to give them this excellent hint.

imagine the ddn deluxe with a cristal clear live record from their last ddn tour instead of this crappy tape.

I think Sister and EVOL don't need to be remastered at all; Their sound is their charm. Of course I'm all for any bonus material from the timeline (Not counting live shows, since SY bootlegs are fairly easy to find).

~Jeremy~

no. there is no good sy live album existing. and i havent heard any listenable boot of the recent ddn show yet, and i listened to all of them. what i want is a professional live record, comparable to grateful deads "live and dead" or wilcos "live in chicago".

Nonsense:
- Blastic Scene
- Hold That Tiger
- Live At The Continental Club
- The Walls Have Ears
And of course boatloads of good to very good bootlegs.

Out of interest is there a page or site that rates SY boots or alternatively can anyone reccomend some of the "crown jewels"? I don't have any but would be interested in cherry picking some of the better ones.....

good idea for upgrading utkonos with this kind of page actually.

regarding the quality, these live-records are not comparable to the live-records i named. in fact, the few you named are of a terrible bad quality compared with live recordings of any other band. and i was talking about special quality live recordings! do yourself a favour and listen to grateful deads "live and dead" and to wilcos "live in chicago" - not because of the music, but because of the sound, the method of recording. the only step in this direction from sonic youth so far was the recording of the "from the basement" session. the guys who did that obviously know how to record live music, and sy should try out more like that. best they could do: hire the professionals who recorded "live in chicago" for wilco, thats perfect.

I certainly wouldn't rate them "terrible bad quality" [sic]. There's a certain charm to less than stellar production with some records. For example, Evol and Sister have a kind of murky quality that I really like, and a "remaster" (perish the thought) might not be an improvement.

If you want pristine production, you can always go back to your Girls Aloud records. :D

evol and sister are great, as i said, and Blastic Scene, Hold That Tiger, Live At The Continental Club, The Walls Have Ears are charming, but not what anyone would call a good live record.

I have to beg to differ and agree with rappard, i would call the above recordings, "good"... you must consider other things than just the most pristine quality recordings made on the most hi-end of equipment, it will ultimately dissappoint you as once you feel you've heard the so-called perfect "live" record there will be another and then another and another and so on... imo, there is no such thing as an ultra perfect pristine live recording i don't care who its by.

There is something especially charming about hearing those live 80's recordings of SY, those listed above are some of the best recordings of the band and disputedly some of the best out of any "indie/underground" band of that time. I like the mystery of a non perfectly sounding live recording to a certain degree (of course!).

as i said, they are charming. all i said is: i wish they would ad a live recording with a better quality, using the best recording-method. i didnt say, you or rappard whish that. :-) do you know how they record classical music? they dont take it direct from the instrument, but from the audience - but from 100 different points in the room, and then mix it. they have a milky-way of microphones above their heads, so they catch the atmosphere. thats what you should do with sonic youth. i hate it, when they take it direct from the output, audience is better for the atmosphere - but i hate the audience for beeing only one "point of view". so, mixing many professional audience-takes with a little direct-sound, thats what i am dreaming of. as grateful dead did in the 70, and that was never reached again - in case of sound-quality.

Okay, I haven't been a big fan of remastered albums as I get annoyed at the potential of buying, and re-buying the same album over again because of a few bonus tracks...etc and supposed "better sound".

With that said though I took the plunge and bought the recent Dirty 2LP remaster and I must say it is noticeably superior to the deluxe edition (4LP). It doesn't have that awful overly compressed sound, every instrument sounds distinct and clear and it doesn't venture into that loudness war that seems to continue with todays recorded music. I don't have an original 2LP version of this to compare to but, wow this is awesome!

The digital download that came with the LP also sounds better than my Dirty deluxe edition 2CD. Just wished all the bonus tracks from the deluxe were done the same way.

Thanks for the review man! Almost tempted to get this now. But the fact that I already have the original CD, the deluxe 2CD and the deluxe 4LP is putting me off a wee bit...

Yeah I was put off until I read on some message boards that this remaster is superior to the deluxe edition, and I got a discount at my local store.

oh, the matrix recordings are out there, but no one is giving them away for free.

The remaster is the only way I can listen to Goo. I feel like the remaster actually sounds more sincere, like the record the band would have made if they hadn't jumped to the majors.

I'm not down on them for going to Geffen, they did some awesome stuff during that period. They were making music their career so more power to them if they want to make that jump. I just think Goo sounded like a version of Sonic Youth that was meant to be played on MTV next to the Pop, and Rock videos of the day, whereas earlier(and later) Youth didn't fit that bill.

If Goo had the vibe of Sister or Daydream Nation it would be an amazing album. Unfortunately for the longest time is was my least favorite of their albums.