Queen Albums

Thanks for the welcome. yeah, I'm in the US.
What i am looking for is Queen albums that are the way they were meant to be.
No edits, no bonus tracks.
Just how the albums were truly meant to be.
Anyone know if Hollywood records altered the US versions of the Queen DVDs?

If you want them the way they were meant to be, get the original vinyls :-)

Ok I meant the CD's
I want the perfect Queen CD's
No bonus tracks or edits :)
or as close to perfect as possible

As for the DVDs, they seem to be exactly the same.. in fact, I've been told that a single disc can actually do both PAL and NTSC and it's only a matter of telling the disc what to do. So they may in fact be the exact same discs :)

If you want the purest, best sounding Queen albums as originally intended, then the card sleeves are definitely for you..

I would still suggest the 'Crown Jewels' as a cheap way to get the first 8 studio albums then. They are 24 bit remasters and haven't been messed with by Hollywood in any way. The only difference is, these new Japanese ones coming soon have improved artwork. For the price of one of those, you can own the first 8.. and the artwork on Crown Jewels is not *that* bad for the price.

Forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean by "card sleeves"?

Card sleeves/paper sleeves, whatever they want to call them.. it means the discs come in minature cardboard reproductions of their original albums, as opposed to jewel cases with inserts.

So you get these neat little miniature albums, with the CDs in a sleeve where the record would have been.

For example, A Night At The Opera has a gatefold which has lyrics printed inside, and an embossed crest on the front. Now, some have complained that stuff becomes illegible when reduced to this size.. they can't read the lyrics for example, and that's one reason why they're redoing the sleeves.

For The Crown Jewels, a booklet is included which collects all of the lyrics and sleeve notes. I believe the Japanese versions which sold individually, each came with an insert for the lyrics and notes.

Another complaint was that a couple of the covers weren't exactly like the originals. "News of the World" has a border around the artwork which I guess wasn't there before (big deal!) and 'The Game' has a different band pic on the front which is a bit fuzzy.. and their excuse was a bit lame too.. something about the original photography being lost.. when they've been printing the original just fine on regular CDs of roughly the same size all these years.. but anyway, there you have it :)

Vinyl-sleeves in cd format. Cardboard sleeves with the original vinyl artwork on it, resized to cd-size (13 cm width & 13 cm height approx). They look great and you get some cool extra's such as the Jazz Bicycle Race poster and stuff.

The Crown Jewels is definitely a recommendation - especially at the price Disney is offering it at these days @ ebay. I paid around 120 euros for it 2 years ago and even thát was worth it IMO. Really classy looking boxset IMO.

Is this about music, or about miniturized "artwork"?

I'll save my money for something more than recycled goods which have nothing more than an incremental increase in sound quality.

Fair enough Bullwinkle. But you should seriously consider purchasing the remasters of The Works -to- Innuendo. When digital recording began with the works, it was still inferior and the resulting masters were not great. Right up to Inneundo.
But the worst ones were AKOM and Miracle albums, as the digital technology was even more present. Therefore, if you only buy 1 remaster, at least make it The Miracle. That's the one that most find strange sounding and that's part of the reason.

Peace,
Adam.

Sorry Adam, I can't get excited about these. Besides I listen to music almost entirely in my car.

I suppose I must be tonedeaf as I feel the Miracle (even in its present "inferior?" state although I see nothing really wrong with it) is my favorite Queen album released after 1976 (aDatR).

Thanks for the info. Are the other Queen albums not included in the Crown jewels set in card sleeve format?

Yes, unfortunately that's all we got here were the first 8 studio albums. For Flash Gordon through Made In Heaven, you'll have to go with the Japanese issues if you want them all in this format.

Personally I hear nothing wrong with the newer album masters, and I do tend to be a bit picky. Adam must be even pickier. LOL

Me? picky? No, no. It's a real error of the Miracle album. Bad digital errors exist through the recordings. Bad D/A converters used that also made the sound a bit brittle and cold.
Some QZ'ers know about my passion on this one. I've been talking about it for ages. Anyway, since Justin has done these remasters, he will have put them through better equipment that will have set things back on their proper course.

Of all the remasters, this is the ONLY album that suffered this badly. A major and annoying error. Compare the GVH2 mixes to the album cuts. Then try and audition the 2001 J master with the 1994 master.

However, if it hasn't been fixed, I will be disappointed. But it should be.

Peace,
Adam.

I'll try to listen carefully and compare 3 versions (Capitol, Hollywood & GVHII).

You probably have much better listening equipment and I'm certainly not doubting what you say :)

I'll tell you one album that sounds a little off to me.. Greatest Hits II. A very flat, compressed sound. I've had both the original Holland-made version and now the Gold Collection (Hollywood's copy) and they're both the same. In fact, I've been wondering if Hits 1 & 2 were remastered for The Platinum Collection, as that would be the only incentive for me to purchase it :)

Perhaps... I have the Platinum Collection, and GHII seems to have the fullest sound out of all three...