30th anniversary remasters

[newvillefan]

Hello all

The latest topics make for great reading , keep em coming!

I just wondered what your thoughts were on the 30th anniversary remasters that came out a couple of years ago. I bought two of them, Made In America and Passage and was so disappointed that the quality and sound of them was identical to the original CD albums, apart from a slight increase in the volume level. Passgae sounded as dry as ever. As soon as I heard that very first drum beating kicking off B'Wana She No Home, I thought to myslef, what have I wasted my money on?! The same applies to the remastered version of Singles 69-73.

I don't understand the motivation for wanting to go out and rebuy the whole catalogue (at £16.99 per CD too or around $23!). What exactly is Richard supposed to have done with these CDs that makes them more valuable than the originals?

I read with interest the posts over the past few weeks regarding remastering, so don't want to go over old ground, just confused as to what difference they have made!

Are the earlier Cds (tan album, Close To You) the same?

Stephen

 

[amit1234]

Hi Stephen - I only own two of the 30th Anniversary Remasters: 'Close To You' and 'Made In America'. I too am not that impressed with the remastering on these CD's - they both sound VERY flat compared to the versions on 'The Essential Collection'. I know it's probably because they don't feature any remix versions, however, overall, the sound quality just doesn't match what's being released today. These were remasters right?

Amit...still happy he was able to get a copy of 'Beechwood 45789' on CD regardless...

 

[newvillefan]

Hi Amit

Yep the albums you state were also remastered, I think all of them were, including Lovelines.

PS Does anyone know where to get a copy of this on vinyl, I'd love to own it!

Stephen

 

[Harry]

The Remastered Classics series (30th Anniversary re-issues) were not made to sound 'better', but to sound 'original.' In these albums, Richard and Bernie Grundman went back to the original LP masters and issued all of the albums the way they originally appeared on vinyl. Though there was slight tweaking in the way certain instruments appeared in the stereo soundstage, everything was pretty much exactly the way that these albums sounded on vinyl back in the '70s.

The effort was made basically because we, the fans demanded it. Back when CDs were first being issued, Richard compiled the albums using whatever masters/mixes he thought sounded best at the time. That resulted in several of the early albums not getting the 'original' treatment on their '80s CD counterparts. Fans, like me, would listen to the tan album on CD and hear a revised "Superstar", for example. We wanted to recapture the magic that the original vinyl had, and expressed that desire to Richard, and thankfully he gave us the great Remastered Classics series on the 30th Anniversary at A&M.

The biggest differences between the '80s CDs and the Remasters can be heard in the earlier albums, particularly the tan album and A Song For You. Later albums sounded pretty much the same, though "I Need To Be In Love" got its piano intro back.

Harry
...who got all of the remasters except Interpretations (which I never saw), online...

 

[mr J.]

Actually,the purpose of Remastering is better sound quality.Digital Mastering techniques have improved substantially over the past 10 years,enabling record labels to make their albums sound crisper and clearer.Alot of the early CD's that came out at the dawn of the CD era(1984-1986) sounded horrible(particulary CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT-SPECIAL EDITION,and even worse,ASTRUD GILBERTO-SILVER COLLECTION).As far as CARPENTERS REMASTERS go,I've heard all of them.There's a noticeable improvement on CLOSE TO YOU(very crisp),HORIZON and VOICE OF THE HEART sound great,and LOVELINES has a slight improvement(but the original from 1989 sounded good,anyway).Some of the remasters sound pretty bad,like NOW AND THEN and A KIND OF HUSH. INTERPRETATIONS was never actually remixed,but A&M utilized the same enhanced mastering on that 1995 set,as they did on the 1998 remasters.Incidentally,Richard didn't release the remasters.The decision for remastering K&R's catalog was made by A&M.(of course,they let Richard decide which mixes to include!)A&M,as well as the other labels,remaster only their best selling albums.When A&M started doing album remasters in 1998,K&R's catalog got top priority,because they are the top seller on A&M.A&M also made the decision to reissue TICKET,PASSAGE and AMERICA(which were out of print at that point,since 1992)and remaster those albums as well.

 

[Harry]

Actually,the purpose of Remastering is better sound quality.Digital Mastering techniques have improved substantially over the past 10 years,enabling record labels to make their albums sound crisper and clearer.

Well of course that was the intent, but the fact remains that the old, original mixes have flaws in them - flaws that are easily revealed in a digital format. My point was that the Remasters were issued, warts and all. There are quite a few blips, dropouts and other anomalies on those early LPs, and they were transferred, all intact, with minimal attempts at correction, in an effort to preserve the original sound of those LPs, but in a digital format. The result is that some tracks might sound a bit 'better' in their older incarnations. Certainly some of the tracks sound better remixed, with noise removed from the modern backing tracks.

There's a noticeable improvement on CLOSE TO YOU(very crisp),HORIZON and VOICE OF THE HEART sound great,and LOVELINES has a slight improvement(but the original from 1989 sounded good,anyway).

I hear only slight differences in Horizon and Voice Of The Heart. Those were recorded on more modern equipment and the original CDs sounded just fine. My point is, that if this series had never come along, and we were still listening to the '80s versions of the albums, no-one would be crying for remasters, Truthfully, they sounded just fine. Did the Remasters improve upon them? Yeah, slightly. "Solitaire" has a tiny bit more punch in the bass, "I Can Dream Can't I" had some top-end EQ'ing done to make it a little less harsh sounding, things liked that. But overall, if you sat down to listen to the '80s version, you wouldn't be deprived of anything.

For me, the big deal about the Remasters was getting those original mixes all back where they came from.

Some of the remasters sound pretty bad,like NOW AND THEN and A KIND OF HUSH.

I'd hardly call it bad, but they do sound like the original vinyl.

INTERPRETATIONS was never actually remixed,but A&M utilized the same enhanced mastering on that 1995 set,as they did on the 1998 remasters.

My point was that I'd never seen the Interpretations disc with the "Remastered Classics" designation in the clear 'spine'.

Incidentally,Richard didn't release the remasters.The decision for remastering K&R's catalog was made by A&M.(of course,they let Richard decide which mixes to include!)A&M,as well as the other labels,remaster only their best selling albums.When A&M started doing album remasters in 1998,K&R's catalog got top priority,because they are the top seller on A&M.A&M also made the decision to reissue TICKET,PASSAGE and AMERICA(which were out of print at that point,since 1992)and remaster those albums as well.

Well of course 'Richard' wasn't the releasing entity - he has to have the blessings of A&M, and you're right, being the proverbial cash cow, A&M wanted them front and center of their remastering program. If I used the phrase "Richard released...", my intent is merely that he was involved in the decision-making process about what's getting released. And he certainly was on these Remastered Classics. Look under the disc tray, and you'll see, in very fine print at the bottom:

DIGITALLY REMASTERED FROM ORIGINAL SOURCE TAPES FOR SUPERIOR SOUND QUALITY BY BERNIE GRUNDMAN AND RICHARD CARPENTER AT BERNIE GRUNDMAN MASTERING

I guess my point all along is that though I'm happy to have these Remasters, in some cases they just weren't all that necessary. Getting the old, original "Superstar" restored to where it belongs was a big deal for me. And hearing the albums the way they sounded back in the '70s is a real treat, since I wore out those grooves long ago. So for me, the early albums sound better in Remastered form, because they're original. The newer ones I bought for completeness sake, but don't necessarily recommend that casual fans go out and buy those albums all over again to hear some minor tweaking. And I'm happy that ALL of the original albums are still out there, in print, ready for new fans to discover them - just the way I did.

Harry
...happy it's Friday, online...

 

[CraigGA]

All I can say is God Bless the remastered CD's. I love them. Change your sound system if you cannot tell the difference. Granted, there is not much noteworthy from Made in America forward, but from the Singles back to Close to You, it is breathtaking, and with no remix garbage. Just clean as possible, clear, well mixed sound. I love all of them.

Craig

 

[amit1234]

Harry - Your knowledge of all things Carpenters never ceases to amaze me. Thanks for such a brilliant post and for making this board such an informative hangout.

 

[andywithaz]

If you listen to the remastered CDs with a pair of audiophile headphones, you can definately tell the difference. The best headphones are the Sennheiser HD 600s.