If a CD gets remastered, I usually feel an obligation to buy the new "better" version. And there are a bunch of them out now: Kinks, ZZ Top, Blue Oyster Cult, Talking Heads, Rainbow, etc.

Now if they'd just do Prince. His CDs sound like crap.

a new batch of CURE ones are coming out shortly as well. I'll get all those.

Remasters currently with me at work:
Iron Maiden - Killers
Television - Marquee Moon

Yeah, I'm a sucker for them too.
Although I am less likely to buy a remaster if I already own the original and the new version does not have any bonus material. The better sound, in and of itself, is generally not the draw for me.

Of course, faced with buying either the original CD or the remaster of an album I don't own yet, I'll pick the remaster any day, bonus material or no.

It's not the mastering.

Haha. Bastard.

I hate the fact that almost any CD from the '80s/early '90s is mixed much lower than the current ones. Makes for crummy mix CDs.

That's why I record all of mine as analog inputs.

So you can control the levels of each song? What a nightmare. Though I used to do that in my cassette tape days.

iTunes has a feature that supposedly corrects this difference in levels, but I'm not sure it works so great.

louder mastering doesn't mean better mastering, but people shure like making things louder.

That's true, but it's nice to have everything at the same level.

As far as I can tell it just lowers everything to the level of the quietest song. And takes out all the bass.

Yeah, it sucks methinks.

Usually means worse mastering; dynamic range is a thing of the past.

how are the other remasters that they put out?

i am a big cure fan as well - i am just not sure if i want to replace my albums if the remastered ones are truly that superior.

I don't think pushing up the levels affects dynamics in context.

It really sucks, however. I find it's more annoying than not using it. It simply lowers the volume of really dynamic music, which is NOT what is supposed to happen. I have not tried it, but I know I saw people mentioning using mp3gain with much better results.

No but pushing up the levels seems to go hand in hand with equalizing the levels.

Oh, really? I guess I hadn't noticed. You may be right. Hmm.

They are great.. You can really see how the early records needed em....The extra tracks are nothing special as they are really reaching the bottom of the barrel of unreleased material by now....

However, I think it was the Seventeen Seconds remaster that had the 'Carnage Visors' sdtrk as a b-side.....or it might have been 'Faith'?

are they doing the fancy update of Wowee Zowee?

I hope so. I never picked that one up on CD.

Speaking of remasters, I just picked up the most recent reissue of This Heat, and it sounds fantastic. I'm actually hearing things on it that seemed to be just plain absent from the previous version. It seems to even be a slightly different mix on some songs, and I only hear improvements.

Sometimes remasters really do it right, like in this case and with the Can ones from the past two years.

<<I hate the fact that almost any CD from the '80s/early '90s is mixed much lower than the current ones. Makes for crummy mix CDs.>>

I hate the fact that too many CD since are mastered much louder. Makes for crummy everything! Let me control my own volume, thank you very much.

I gotta say those remasters really bring those albums to life. Pornography was always an album I respected but didn't play often. I'm on the fifth spin of that, and the others aren't far behind. I mentioned on the Siouxsie thread that I sometimes worry I'm wasting my money on remasters if the sound isn't significantly improved. I feel like a sucker, drawn like a moth to a flame -- extra liner notes and a louder mix. But The Cure remasters were totally justified.

-- Fastnbulbous , September 1st, 2005

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The original Cure albums sounded horrible and really thin. I knew that Pornography was a great album but the remastered version brings it to life unlike before. If you wait just two weeks (March 28 ) these remasters are all coming out on single disc. I love the extras but you might only want the albums and yes, very worth the money to replace them.

ok you cats sold me...i am going to pick up some cure remasters at lunch today

I hear ya. Most of the newer CDs are compressed so much, it's scary.