What are some notable digital remasters of music over the last few years?

November 9, 2009 6:50 AM

With the recent attention given to the high quality of the recent audio re-masters of the Beatles catalog, I'm wondering if there have been other notable re-masters in the last few years.

I realize this is potentially a broad topic, but virtually all the reviews of the Beatles re-masters focused on how they represented a significant update in the listening experience. So I'm interested in any equivalent digital re-issues that are acknowledged as a significant leap in audio quality for the listener.

posted by jeremias to media & arts (9 comments total)

Neil Young's "Archives vol. 1 1963-1972" is supposed to sound amazing on Blu-ray. (I've only heard the CD version.) It's not a 100% re-issue, but it might meet your criteria.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 7:47 AM on November 9

Rudy Van Gelder has been remastering his original jazz recordings over the last several years. He was the original engineer for many of the greats including Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, and John Coltrane. The response to the remastered recordings has been overwhelmingly positive.
posted by paulg at 8:13 AM on November 9

Yeah, the Young one was well advertised. I think a Stones one has been announced or is imminent. Just about any major artist of the 60s and 70s has had their catalog remastered at least once. The reason the Beatles one got so much press (besides them being the Beatles) is that they had gone so long without being remastered. They'd also never discounted their catalog (they still haven't).

Rudy Van Gelder has been remastering his original jazz recordings over the last several years.

As has Orrin Keepnews.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 8:21 AM on November 9

Back in 2003, Capitol released James Guthrie's 6.1-channel surround mix of Dark Side of the Moon on SACD. There's also an unreleased 1973 quad mix by Alan Parsons (the original DSOTM sound engineer) that can be found easily online and burned to DVD if you're so inclined. Much debate swirls over which mix is better (of course, audiophiles are the last to admit that "better" is a purely subjective concept). The Parsons mix is a lot bolder, with more discrete sounds and full 360-degree movement, while the Guthrie mix aims to "fill out" the mood of the original stereo release.

I'm guessing this is a lot more detail than you were looking for, so I'll just say this: I haven't heard the Guthrie mix, personally. But I love the Parson's mix. It sounds phenomenal on a good home theater and positively commands the listener's attention. If you're looking for a good digital audio experience, I can't recommend it highly enough.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 8:45 AM on November 9

Everything on the Rolling Stones catalogue has been remastered in the last few years.
posted by Zambrano at 8:47 AM on November 9

I was recently impressed by the remaster of REM's Reckoning.
posted by puritycontrol at 9:44 AM on November 9

I have been impressed with the Big Star boxset though not so impressed with the sequencing. Its not that the remastered version is so great, its that the older version of the cds were rather dull.

As a flip side to to the question, the New Order reissues from the last year were absolutely terrible.
posted by Razzle Bathbone at 10:39 AM on November 9

The Beatles thing is really a special case. I don't think there is any other music with anything like that profile that went untouched from the first CD issue to the present. For example:

Everything on the Rolling Stones catalogue has been remastered in the last few years.

The Rolling Stones catalog has been remastered at least half a dozen times on CD. I know the late 90s Japanese mini-lp edition was pretty nice.. In searching for that it looks like there is a 2009 North American remaster, I'm pretty sure there was an early 2000s North American remaster.. And many more.

Technically, even the Beatles have other remasters out there. Toshiba-EMI in Japan remastered the whole Beatles catalog in 1998.
posted by Chuckles at 11:06 AM on November 9

Err, missed the core point I was trying to make:
People need to be very specific about the recommendations.
posted by Chuckles at 11:08 AM on November 9