Hey, Wait a Minute!

richardh wrote: progbethyname wrote: richardh wrote: progbethyname wrote: richardh wrote: ^That is an interesting one. I'm not convinced that its much better if I'm totally honest. The first 2 IQ albums were shrouded in murkiness and atmosphere like something evil emerging from the slime. I reckon that might be part of their appeal. IQ were well aware of the restrictions of their recording studios at the time but made the best of it. Later on they fixed this by creating their own record label and building a state of the art recording studio. Remixes can end up sounding hollow like you are stretching the sound beyond its elasticity. I get this sometimes from the Genesis remasters which are often hailed as being the best. That all said I am still a sucker for a remaster and will be getting my 10th or so remaster of BSS shortly.  Hey Richard. Yeah I remember Peter Nicholls in an interview saying that everyone in the band were pretty well aware of the studio recording originally didn't fly well with the band. I guess in some cases that 'murkiness' can yield some character, but I am a firm audio enthusiast when it comes to taking remastered albums and running them through a pure warm analogue signal, especially through the use of DAC. My best listening experiences are with this format, which is why I love remastered albums in high resolution like 5.1/stereo mixes and DTS 24/96k playback or as you Brits like to use mostly (SACD's.) It is all worth it, so enjoy your next remaster purchase!! I suppose at my age there is this element of Nostalgia regarding IQ for me that the remasters doesn't really address. I think fans love the imperfections. I'm not that down on remasters though. ELP - Welcome Back My Friends live album is an example of a good remaster. It was never a perfect album soundwise and would never satisfy audiophiles (is that the correct expression?) like yourself but its nice and clear and has the dynamics intact. The one that makes my angry is BSS as up to now its been horribly massacred by people attempting to resurrect the quality of the original. I really can't understand why there has been such a trail on ineptitude following my favourite ever album. Oh well here's hoping that the latest attempt can put it right. The guy doing it was also responsible for Anathema's album Weather Systems so I have a bit more hope than usual. So BSS is your all time fav huh? Incredible high praise there. Can I be honest, I've only heard Karn Evil 9 off that album. Maybe I should treat myself to this latest remaster, especially to honor the great H.R Giger for his fantastic album artwork on BSS. . release date is now 31 May per Amazon Jerusalem , Toccata and Karn Evil represents ELP at their peak .That's 40 minutes of the best prog imo. The other two tracks are inconsequential really (about 5 minutes inc Lakes worst ballad to that date and a throwaway excuse for Emerson to play de-tuned piano) but that accounts for why the album is lowly ranked on PA in case you were wondering.

Hey. It's an album I feel now is worth lending a kind, open ear to regardless of some poor reviews on here.

TFTO's beginning with the wash of sound and Steve's guitar swells add much to the piece.  It builds the anticipation for greatness.

Slartibartfast wrote: Perhaps this will help to clarify -

richardh wrote: progbethyname wrote: richardh wrote: ^That is an interesting one. I'm not convinced that its much better if I'm totally honest. The first 2 IQ albums were shrouded in murkiness and atmosphere like something evil emerging from the slime. I reckon that might be part of their appeal. IQ were well aware of the restrictions of their recording studios at the time but made the best of it. Later on they fixed this by creating their own record label and building a state of the art recording studio. Remixes can end up sounding hollow like you are stretching the sound beyond its elasticity. I get this sometimes from the Genesis remasters which are often hailed as being the best. That all said I am still a sucker for a remaster and will be getting my 10th or so remaster of BSS shortly.  Hey Richard. Yeah I remember Peter Nicholls in an interview saying that everyone in the band were pretty well aware of the studio recording originally didn't fly well with the band. I guess in some cases that 'murkiness' can yield some character, but I am a firm audio enthusiast when it comes to taking remastered albums and running them through a pure warm analogue signal, especially through the use of DAC. My best listening experiences are with this format, which is why I love remastered albums in high resolution like 5.1/stereo mixes and DTS 24/96k playback or as you Brits like to use mostly (SACD's.) It is all worth it, so enjoy your next remaster purchase!! I suppose at my age there is this element of Nostalgia regarding IQ for me that the remasters doesn't really address. I think fans love the imperfections. I'm not that down on remasters though. ELP - Welcome Back My Friends live album is an example of a good remaster. It was never a perfect album soundwise and would never satisfy audiophiles (is that the correct expression?) like yourself but its nice and clear and has the dynamics intact. The one that makes my angry is BSS as up to now its been horribly massacred by people attempting to resurrect the quality of the original. I really can't understand why there has been such a trail on ineptitude following my favourite ever album. Oh well here's hoping that the latest attempt can put it right. The guy doing it was also responsible for Anathema's album Weather Systems so I have a bit more hope than usual.

So BSS is your all time fav huh? Incredible high praise there. Can I be honest, I've only heard Karn Evil 9 off that album.
Maybe I should treat myself to this latest remaster, especially to honor the great H.R Giger for his fantastic album artwork on BSS. .

The remastered TFTO includes all sorts of ambient music in the beginning of "Revealing Science of God" which I find annoying.

richardh wrote: ^That is an interesting one. I'm not convinced that its much better if I'm totally honest. The first 2 IQ albums were shrouded in murkiness and atmosphere like something evil emerging from the slime. I reckon that might be part of their appeal. IQ were well aware of the restrictions of their recording studios at the time but made the best of it. Later on they fixed this by creating their own record label and building a state of the art recording studio. Remixes can end up sounding hollow like you are stretching the sound beyond its elasticity. I get this sometimes from the Genesis remasters which are often hailed as being the best. That all said I am still a sucker for a remaster and will be getting my 10th or so remaster of BSS shortly.

Hey Richard. Yeah I remember Peter Nicholls in an interview saying that everyone in the band were pretty well aware of the studio recording originally didn't fly well with the band. I guess in some cases that 'murkiness' can yield some character, but I am a firm audio enthusiast when it comes to taking remastered albums and running them through a pure warm analogue signal, especially through the use of DAC. My best listening experiences are with this format, which is why I love remastered albums in high resolution like 5.1/stereo mixes and DTS 24/96k playback or as you Brits like to use mostly (SACD's.)
It is all worth it, so enjoy your next remaster purchase!!

My personal definition of prog is when everyone else says: that sounds crap.

Once again...in some cases ''yes' and others 'no.'
Some albums need major restoration. I think my latest example and experience of quality album overhauling(remastering) would be IQ's Tales Of The Lush Attic. Listen to the 2013 remastering and remixing of that album as apposed to the 1983 pressing. The 83' pressing is marred by absolutely sh*t audio engineering and production.
I feel this is a good example of an album that needed a digital facelift.

^ I second that.  LP's used to be state of the art, but they really aren't any more for me.  And the early CD's were put out were from the original LP masters and were not adapted for CD.

progbethyname wrote: Chris S wrote: lazland wrote: I have always considered "remastered" releases to be an excuse by record companies, artists, or others merely to squeeze more money out of the poor old punter, and, as such, I rarely bother to get them, unless there is something wholly new that I absolutely must have. By and large, the originals are the best way to taste the goods. This  You can't say this definitively. Some yes and some no for audio remastering.