Hi there, I was wondering that the version of It's A Hard Life included on the new remasters is very patched up, it's for sure the second night (remember that on the first one Freddie messed up the lyrics) but if you listen to it very carefully the ending of the song (before the "in a world that's filled with sorrow..." part) Freddie plays the wrong keys on the piano, but here we have an almost clean version of that, very close to the record version, so what do you think of it?
cmsdrums · Member since
I've listened to some of the CDs since receiving them - initial comments are;
The Miracle - some tracks sounds better; Rain Must Fall and My Baby Does Me for example, have more depth, the percussion really comes across and they sound fuller.
By contrast however, the heavier tracks such as Khashoggi's Ship and Was It Worth It seem to lose a fair bit of 'oomph' and clairty from the drums compared to the 98 Japanese remaster. The drums (particularly the snare and kick) seems to really disappear into the mix once everything is going more full on, as if they have too much going on within certain frequencies and so it's all battling for the bandwith there. Very disappointing. Kick drum on I Want It All sounds nicer though!
The Works - the drum sound on this album is pretty poor 9to my taste anyway) but again this remaster sounds worse than the 98 version. The snare has been dulled right down, and the kick drum again disappears more than before.
It's a Hard Life live - Vocals sound good, great to hear guitar finally on recordings from that era, but what have they done to the drums?!!? WAY too much reverb on the snare and toms, all sounding far too distant and unclear. The electronic drums still sound appalling, albeit in a completely different way!
I haven't listened to AKOM or MIH yet, but the Works, Innuendo and The Miracle really seem to me to be fairly bland, and seem to not have that clarity, polish and shine of the earlier ones, and are overall surprisingly 'duller' audiowise as a rule.
I suppose the early albums were alwasy going to be the ones to most benefit from the new mastering processes, as the later ones were recorded in the time of more decent gear anyway, but this last batch really does disappoint me.
philip storey · Member since
After buying the first two batch's of remasters and the Deep Cuts CD'S i have ran out of spare cash and lost interest in the last Remasters.I never thought that this would happen but to be honest there is so little new stuff ,remixes and the like that at £12 a throw it just is not value,plus like the rest of you i have two,three,sometimes four copies of the CD'S already.Think i will hold on to my spade dosh for some of the Pink Floyd Remasters which look pretty good.A whole 2nd disc of live stuff on DSOTM adds value to the purchase.Shame,but i am sure i am not alone in feeling like this.
TyphoonTip · Member since
Did someone say loss of detail?
Rick · Member since
Strange, IMHO tracks like Khashoggi's Ship and Was It All Worth It sound incredible now. Especially the former. Makes me appreciate the track even more.
atom murray · Member since
The Miracle 2011 remaster is a big improvement on previous versions. I bought the original CD on the day of release back in 1989. It sounded sterile. DDD (ahem!) The Miracle and Innuendo was not part of the 1993/94 Digital Series.
So apart from Japanese editions, I'm pretty sure, this is the first time proper remaster in these territories. The drums are the most noticeable standout. They are much more bouncy and life-like. This is a great improvement. The vocals are better and the bass is big and fat. I can even hear more of the synth basses too. Details are there like never before. The only thing I always felt was funny with this album was even though the singles were great, the songs never got the live treatment for obvious reasons. So it's a one dimensional Queen album in that sense. It's Queen having a night in, writing good songs, having a jam but never leaving the house sadly. The Miracle is a better and more complete album than A Kind of Magic in many ways and leads us to the majestic swan song, Innuendo. By the way I just bought 'Complete Works' by Georg Purvis and I just can't put it down it's so good. Well, I do put it down, and that's only to stick on another Queen album.
