by drivel » Tue Mar 13, 2018 9:31 am
The following Amazon review unfortunately suggests that this boxset is yet another botched reissue:
5 stars for the music, 3 stars for the expected budget "remastering"
By Scott Davieson 10 March 2018
I had been anxiously awaiting someone to revisit the Altered Images catalog in hopes they would do it right after all the mistakes with the last reissues in 2004, to the point that I almost did it myself before I heard of this release. But when Cherry Red responded to inquiries by announcing the only thing being remastered from actual tapes was the Bite album, I knew we were in for a mixed bag. Well, after finally getting my hands on the set, I was 100% correct. The majority of the songs are just copied over from the previous Edsel CD’s with a few new blunders. This includes opening notes on a few tracks being lopped off and early fades on many songs cutting off 3-5 seconds earlier than they should.
Happy Birthday: All the main album tracks are just taken off the previous Edsel CD. Of the bonus tracks, ‘Leave Me Alone’ (cassette version) suffered the fate yet again of having the opening note lopped off as it was on the original 1992 Best Of CD. What’s worse is ‘Who Cares’ is now missing the first second, so it sounds like someone dropping a needle on a record. ‘A Day’s Wait’ (Single Version) cuts off before the fade out is complete.
Pinky Blue: Most tracks are taken straight from the Edsel CD, complete with stereo channels swapped, incorrect from the original album. ‘I Could Be Happy’ (Single Version) uses a better source than the Edsel CD but they cut the first second off and it starts right at the first drum beat. On the plus side, they included the correct version of ‘Insects’ from the single’s B side and the pulled ‘Real Toys’ (Flexi Version) from a tape instead of the original flexidisc like on the previous CD.
Bite: They apparently did go back to the original tapes for only the original 8 album tracks, so you finally get the correct versions of the songs. However, the transfer sounds rather dull and muddy on most of the tracks compared to the rare Japanese CD from 2004. Plus, the aforementioned early fades plague any track with a gradual fade out, eliminating at least 3 seconds from those songs. And oddly enough, ‘Stand So Quiet’ has had the stereo channels swapped. The bonus tracks are just transferred from the previous CD, which means ‘Last Goodbye’ and ‘I Don’t Want To Know’ still sound muted and hollow.
The 12” Album: Most of these are just transfers from the Edsel CD. But there are some new transfers, which doesn’t necessarily mean they are problem free. Even though ‘I Could Be Happy’ is the same as the album version, this is a different transfer and not very good. It’s very compressed and sounds extremely dull. ‘See Those Eyes’ is a better transfer than the previous CD but it’s still rather blah. ‘Don’t Talk To Me About Love’ is finally presented in its full 12” version. But the tape does show minor damage with some left channel fluctuation during the opening of the song. And, it’s as dull sounding as any of the few new tape transfers. ‘Jump Jump/Think That It Might’ is a much-needed new transfer from the terrible quality that was on the Edsel CD, but of course you get another slightly early fade.
So there it is, another cost saving budget “remaster” from Cherry Red that’s essentially repressings of songs previously mastered nearly 15 years ago and some lackluster new transfers. It’s a good thing we’ve come to expect these things.