It didn't occur to me until yesterday why some remixes bother me. In an A&M-related situation, I'm a proponent of all original Carpenters albums.
This is what happened. With the new DVD-A/SACD player I bought, I popped in Fleetwood Mac's Rumours on DVD-A. Right away I noticed something didn't sound "right". The more I listened, the more I noticed that the balances between the instruments were different, vocal parts were slightly off, there was some added instrumentation (including some extremely distracting added guitar and snare drum in "Never Goin' Back Again".
It then occured to me: these "remixes" are distracting! When you listen to an album dozens of times and know every little note and detail, hearing it remixed is a distraction. You wind up listening to all the little added or changed details rather than the music. I realized that the same thing happens with Carpenters CDs or songs that have been remixed: "I don't remember this being here" or "That piano part sounds too new"....or "I'm sure Karen didn't sing it that way last time!" I can't enjoy something I've heard dozens of times in its original form and expect to "retrain" my ear to something new.
I can tell Rumours won't get played very much around here...maybe to hear it in the surround mix, but that's it. I'll stay with my original vinyl on this one.
Don't get me wrong: I have at least a hundred dance remixes on 12"...but that's something totally different. You expect to hear something different. I'm talking of original albums or songs that have been tampered with.
This is what happened. With the new DVD-A/SACD player I bought, I popped in Fleetwood Mac's Rumours on DVD-A. Right away I noticed something didn't sound "right". The more I listened, the more I noticed that the balances between the instruments were different, vocal parts were slightly off, there was some added instrumentation (including some extremely distracting added guitar and snare drum in "Never Goin' Back Again".
It then occured to me: these "remixes" are distracting! When you listen to an album dozens of times and know every little note and detail, hearing it remixed is a distraction. You wind up listening to all the little added or changed details rather than the music. I realized that the same thing happens with Carpenters CDs or songs that have been remixed: "I don't remember this being here" or "That piano part sounds too new"....or "I'm sure Karen didn't sing it that way last time!" I can't enjoy something I've heard dozens of times in its original form and expect to "retrain" my ear to something new.
I can tell Rumours won't get played very much around here...maybe to hear it in the surround mix, but that's it. I'll stay with my original vinyl on this one.
Don't get me wrong: I have at least a hundred dance remixes on 12"...but that's something totally different. You expect to hear something different. I'm talking of original albums or songs that have been tampered with.