The Hero vs. The Hero (October 1980... Revisited)

I really love some of the bonus tracks of the recent Deluxe Editions, but my favorite one by far is the new The Hero mix (October 1980... Revisited).

Basically it's just a slightly extended version of The Hero minus the Battle Theme bit at the start. But the sound mix has improved so drastically that it sounds like a completely different take. Every instrument is so much more powerful and natural, especially the drums. Just compare the two versions (play loud with headphones), somehow Mack managed to remove all live from the drums in the original!

I keep wondering how cool it would be if they would remix the whole catalogue like this. There are whole albums on which the old sound mix leaves a lot to be desired in terms of balance and power of the instruments. This new mix of The Hero really demonstrates what today's engineering tools can do to optimize the recordings.

I'm all for a remix of Queen II. After hearing the remix of Pearl Jam's 10 which brought that record out of the mud, QII could use a good hosing off.

Well Mack did have a unique talent for making drums sound like damp sacks of shit being slapped with a spatula.

But not always.  Dragon Attack might be the best-sounding track in the entire Queen catalogue.  It's rich, raw and edgy all at once.  Hasn't aged in the slightest.

The exception that proves the rule.

A pretty big exception, as The Game does sound great overall.  But you're certainly right about the next three records.

To this day, Mack thinks Hot Space was ahead of its time and is proud of it.  I hope he doesn't wonder why he hasn't worked much in the last 25 years..

Is this really the original recording? Or was it (as stated) a case of revisiting the song and recording a brand new version of it?

Strangely enough the end credits of Flash Gordon DOES feature a different take of the song.
Why they did not include this in the 2011 release is beyond me.

(although the revisited version is best of the three)

I've tried to spot differences between the different versions of The Hero (album, movie, Revisited), but they all sound like the same take if you ignore the different cuts and mix quality. The Revisited version is the complete uncut version of The Hero without the Battle Theme at the front and the explosion at the end.

And I agree that Mack did a much better mixing job on The Game, but even so I think that album could sound a lot better too if it would get the remix treatment like The Hero.

[QUOTE]

[b]Future Manager wrote: [/b] I've tried to spot differences between the different versions of The Hero (album, movie, Revisited), but they all sound like the same take if you ignore the different cuts and mix quality. The Revisited version is the complete uncut version of The Hero without the Battle Theme at the front and the explosion at the end. [/QUOTE]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I've just been doing some A-B testing in Adobe Audition and I have to agree with Future Manager.
This does sound like the complete uncut version of the original album take.

The 2011 version does however have the vocals double-tracked, the original has not.
Must have been another vocal take which blended quite well with the original one.

I just spent the last 5 minutes rolling on the floor laughing at Typhoons comment. Bloody good job!

[QUOTE]

[b]The Real Wizard wrote: [/b] A pretty big exception, as The Game does sound great overall.  But you're certainly right about the next three records.

[/QUOTE]
But let's be fair about it, that wasn't so much incompetence as going with the trends of the early to mid 1980s, which wasn't usually much good as far as sound quality was concerned.

The notes in the CD say it was exactly as on the mastertape with the fades up especially for this release - including the 2nd vocal, which I guess was the vocal on the film version. There's only one 'The Hero', and we now have 3 version of it.

So it's basically a 2011 remix. Interesting to read that the IGSM bonus track on the Innuendo 2nd disc is actually contempory to the album, not a 2011 mix made for the reissue. Give it a bit more worth somehow.

P.S. I like Mack's sound - if you like The Game, check out Sparks 'Whomp The Sucker' don by the same team at the same time. Sonically similar.