The Best Remasters, track by track

Absolute Greatest - Under Pressure

Singles Collection - Under Pressure

Hey Joe, I can't open any of your attachments. Could you upload them to something like http://www.imageshack.us/ ?

Joseph. The PM function doesn't work for me, so could you please email me on pootle50@hotmail.com ?

Thanks.

I appreciate that you're presenting this "Under Pressure" info for comparative study, but the version from Greatest Hits II is an edit. It's remaster, good or bad, wouldn't qualify for inclusion on a remastered Hot Space album, since it isn't the complete song, which is a similar problem we encounter looking at the excellent remasters of tracks like "White Queen," and "Tenement Funster" from the Singles Collection.

That said, I'm not certain which remasters were used for the Gold and Platinum Collections. I'm tempted to say it was the 1994 Digital Master Series, since the Gold came out in 1994 and the Platinum came out in 2000 (which would simply allow for re-using the Gold masters and Hits III was likely created from the 1994 DMS remasters* in 1999).

*However, Greatest Hits III should eventually be given its own analaysis, as it features not just Queen tracks, but solo recordings and new recordings and remixes. I'll make that a future post.

Let's take a look at Hot Space, while we're on the subject of "Under Pressure":

01) Staying Power (2009 SC)
02) Dancer (1991 HR)
03) Back Chat (1991 HR)
04) Body Language (2009 SC)
05) Action This Day (1991 HR)
06) Put Out The Fire (2009 SC)
07) Life Is Real (2009 SC)
08) Calling All Girls (2009 SC)
09) Las Palabras De Amar (2009 SC)
10) Cool Cat (2009 SC)
11) Under Pressure (2009 SC)
bonus track
12) Soul Brother (2009 SC)

And keeping with two albums per post, here's A Night At The Opera:

01) Death On Two Legs (2008 SC)
02) Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon (2005 30th Anniversary Remaster)
03) I'm In Love With My Car (2005 AR)
04) You're My Best Friend (2008 SC)
05) '39 (2008 SC)
06) Sweet Lady (2005 AR)
07) Seaside Rendezvous (2005 AR)
08) The Prophet's Song (2005 AR)
09) Love Of My Life (2005 AR)
10) Good Company (2005 AR)
11) Bohemian Rhapsody (2008 SC)
12) God Save The Queen (2005 AR)

Here you'll see it came down to a mix of two different remasters, with the Singles Collections proving (for me) to be the better ones to use where applicable. Incidently, the 30th Anniversary ANATO was remastered by our pal Bob Ludwig, who also did the Absolute Greatest collection.

Okay, here's the vinyl version. I know it sounds bad because, clearly, it's a very used vinyl, but you can't hear the weird change in the drum section as it happens in the CD rip.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ztz0ydzmzme

I checked the 1994 remaster version during the weekend as well, and it did have the same glitch as the Hollywood release, so I don't really know if the problem is just that my ears are trying to find what there should be instead of what was released, or that all the remasters are shite. Of course, it might be that I'm going slightly mad.

Hmm, the last cymbal crash on the HR remaster sounds more pronounced and "sharper," than the vinyl version.I think this is what you're hearing as a "glitch," because in that moment it sort of overpowers the guitar. This could be the result of:

a) the difference between a 1973 analogue source (vinyl) and a 1991 digital source (CD)
b) the "improvement" of the 1991 remaster over the original 1973 album master
or
c) the cymbal was always loud and got lost in the "less-clear" 1973 master.

I guess it comes down to asthetics, similar to the Vinyl over CD War still raging. Here, we have a difference, but it's hard to determine what it is a result of. I don't think its "glitch" the way the 1991 HR "Crazy Little Thing" has a brief "sticky" bit at the beginning of the track or Queen Rocks' glitch in "FBG".

Just to make sure: I was talking about the ca. 4 seconds that starts at the beginning of the last 4 16th notes to snare or one of the toms that Roger plays, up to ca. 1 second after the last crash cymbal hit. Not the last hit itself.

Anyway. To the other remasters I have no clear preference, except that any remaster that I've heard has been better than the original vinyl and CD release. Can't be bothered to buy everything more than once. I just like the Hollywood remasters more because of the occasional extra b-side bonus. =P

In that case, I still can't hear what you're hearing. Brian bends his note over the cymbal crash and it carries for a few seconds. It's the way he plays, not a glitch. If that's not what you're talking about, then I can't offer any more thoughts. It's either all in your head or beyond my ear to hear it.

Sorry.

Again, it's not Brian. It's the drum track that's bad. Anyway, I've sent the two clips to our touring mixer to get a properly analyzed comment, should be in my mail tomorrow.

edit: I just checked the version on Spotify. Sounds better there.

The drums? The drums stop at the first cymbal crash. There's no percussion after the second cymbal crash. In your clip, in the 1991 HR remaster I can actually make out the drums better in the build up to the cymbals. Again, nothing, to my ear, sounds off, delayed, glitchy or anything out of the ordinary.

For the record, I'm a profession theatre tech (anong other things), with years of experience mixing sound, balancing and equalizing musicians and singers. My ear may not be that of an orchestra conductor, but it's pretty reliable.

Let me know what your tour audio guy thinks.

Pittrek - email me at jsilvey@renn.com and i can send you the images...

I can't believe it took me this long to understand the value of liner notes, that they can be used for things other than lyrics and listing who's in the band...crazy! One of these days, possibly to sum up this thread, I'll put a list together of who mastered/remastered what, when and where.

Anyhoo, here's some Queen and Solo mastering facts to add to the pile:

1988 - Kevin Metcalf did the Original Album Master for Barcelona
1992 - Eddy Schreyer Remastered Barcelona for Hollywood Records (US) & Polydor (UK), and likely their 1992 Barcelona-related re-issue singles (can anyone take a look at one of the singles and see?)
1992 - Eddy Schreyer Digitally Mastered The Great Pretender (US) & The Freddie Mercury Album (UK)
1992 - Kevin Metcalf did the Original Album Master of Back To The Light
1999 - Kevin Metcalf Masters Queen+ Greatest Hits III*
2000 - Peter Mew Digitally Remasters everything on the FM Solo Collection boxed set EXCEPT for Barcelona and The Great Pretender, which use the 1992 Eddy Schreyer Re/Masters  

* Does this mean Greatest Hits III contains new (at the time) remasters of all the tracks? Or did Meltcalf take previous masters and balance them together? He received the same credit on Queen Rocks and we know those use the 1994 Digital Master Series remasters from the UK.

Interestingly, The Very Best Of Freddie Mercury (2006) contains the oddest remaster credits of all:

Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19 Digitally remastered by Peter Mew at Abbey Road Studios, London
Tracks 7, 8, 9, 11, 14, 16 Digitally remastered by Eddie Schreyer at Future Disc Systems, Hollywood.

Reading ALL the fine print (man, my eyes hurt now), it seems to be that these tracks use the 1992/2000 remasters which appear on the FM Solo Collection, with two exceptions:

Track 17: "Love Kills (Star Rider Remix)" = Original 2006 Master
Track 20: "Guide Me Home (Thierry Lang)" = Original 2000 Master (not that we care, it's a cover version)

However...

Here's the first oddity: Peter Mew gets the Remaster credit for the NEW 2006 Remix in the list, but not in the fine print. I have the CD single with this track, but it contains NO production credits for this track (and plenty for the other remixes). Did Peter Mew do the Star Rider Remix then? If so, cool.

Here's the second oddity: Peter Mew gets the Remaster credit for Track 10 "Time," but the fine print specifically states its Production year as 1986 and does NOT list it as a remaster. Every other track says: Track (#) Digital remaster Produced (year) Original Sound Recording owned by...etc etc. For example:

(for "In My Defence")
Track 1 Digital remaster, Produced 2000, Original sound recording owned by Dave Clark Productions Ltd.

(for "Time)
Track 10, Produced 1986, Original sound recording owned by Dave Clark Productions Ltd.

Every other track has "Digital Remaster" in front of the production year AND a production year of either 1992 or 2000 except the new remix, which is 2006 and THIS track.

Odd.

Okay, this post went on much longer than I intended.

LIVE KILLERS:

Having (had) the original CD release, The HR release and the Japanese remaster, I can quite happily say that in this instance the Jap remaster is by far the superior sound. The HR version is flat and lifeless in comparison and the less said about the original 80's release the better!

Okay, that's Live Killers brought into the mix. I can neither agree, nor disagree, BW, as I only have the 1991 HR remaster. I thought it sounded okay, but it was never my favourite live album, even though there are some great tracks on it. 

The Singles Collection offers us just one alternative remaster: "Now I'm Here"

This is the only Live Single Version which is identical to the version which appears on the album. Since the concert was taken for different sources, as it appears on Live Killers, this song fades in at the beginning and fades out at the end. The other Live Single Versions/Edits which appear on Singles Collection (and their original singles) had fade ins and outs applied to them.

So, if there are no objections, there's Live Killers taken care of.