Lou needs a lesson from Bowie when it comes to remasters!

[MJG196]

OK, I am not sure if this forum is strictly for VU, but I am going to put this out there anyway. As a VU fan, I have been lucky enough to get my hands on some GREAT remastering jobs: Peel Slowly box set, Quine Tapes, VU & Nico 2CD job, Fully Loaded. As a Lou fan, however, I have been greatly disappointed.

First, there was Take No Prisoners...with only beefed up artwork and liner notes. Then, there was Transformer w/ 2 bonus tracks. Dont forget about American Poet, with liner notes written by Chunk from The Goonies. The Bataclan reissue is a complete disgrace. Sure, the packaging is beyond criticism, but the actual product was a piece of crap. My bootleg version has perfect sound and pitch...and they couldn't do that on the "official" release?

Lou needs to take a look at what Bowie has done with Ziggy Stardust, Alladin Sane, and others. Give us 2 CD's and give us QUALITY! We will pay for it! There are so mant fantastic remastering jobs out there: Television being one of the best from the past year...if Lou is such an audiophile and perfectionist, why cant he take care of business when it comes to his own history?[/img]

[hobokenlad]

While I agree in general that the Lou Reed solo LP/CD reissues could be improved upon, holding up the recent David Bowie remasters for praise doesn't wash with me. The ones I've heard IMHO are, sound quality-wise, shrill and unlistenable. Absolutely no dynamics; just loud, random noises. The bonus tracks are nice, but if they're in shiite sound quality, what's the point? Of course, as Dennis Miller used to say, that's just my opinion; I could be wrong.

That said, when are we getting a good version of the first solo LP? Every LP/CD release has featured bogus sound. I believe the LP was recorded without Dolby, but mastered (LP and CD) with Dolby, effectively cutting out some the mid-range and high end. The entire story was recapped in the Reed 3-CD box set from a few years ago.

[Mark]

I actually really like the sound of the recentish (slipcase) version of the Lou Reed debut. It's certainly way better than the way the two tracks from that album sound on the '70s RCA 'Best Of Lou Reed' (the only other place I've heard them). The album itself isn't terribly well mixed/produced, but I guess that can't be helped!

[borntooyoung]

my only hope is that one day somebody might find the berlin 2LP and release it. may lou reed live, but if he's keeping it back may he go to hell!

martin

[Berlin 2LP?]

I didnt know there was such a thing! I found an 8-track cassette of Berlin and the entire "Berlin" track was there. With the organ interlude, I think it is more potent than the versions available in the current formats. I always wondered why the Remaster was issued with the first track incomplete.

[lostblues]

a two-record set of berlin tracks would be a dream! But I also haven´t ever heard of this. Except for the missing coda for the "berlin" track which is only available on the 8-track!

[borntooyoung]

i once read (can't remember where though), that berlin would've been a 2lp but the company turned it down because it was too depressing. so they shortened it to fit onto one.

[MJG196]

I read that in Victor Bockris's bio.

[Homme Fatale]

OK, I am not sure if this forum is strictly for VU, but I am going to put this out there anyway.

This forum is for all things VU, check out the logo - solo albums in there!

And as for your post, I couldn't agree more. Live bonus tracks, studio out takes - stuff to make the remasters worth picking them up. Bring it!

[replacement]

I agree that Reed should reissue two-disc anniversary editions like Bowie has with his key albums, assuming there are worthy goodies to put on a second disc (I hope there are), but I hope the albums don't get mastered the way Bowie's CD's are.

Reed has often worked closely with Bob Ludwig as mastering engineer, and Bob has done a great job, IMO. The box set was very, VERY well done, even an early CD like "Mistrial" (not too fans of that out there, I know), even holds up because it was done right the first time. Ludwig may have convinced Lou or maybe they were already seeing eye to eye, but Ludwig is no fan of the atrocious compression that most remasters are using nowadays to slam the levels, i.e. making everything loud but having to squeeze, smoosh, and squash out the dynamics in order to accomodate the signal; hence, many later CD's mastered by Ludwig will proudly proclaim the dynamics being intact and to turn it up (Set The Twilight Reeling).

Bowie's latest Virgin's sounds like they were squeezed with some bad EQ to pump up both ends, plus the unfortunate use of NoNoise (even if you hate tape hiss that much, there isn't that much on those albums to begin with to warrant it). The Rykodiscs had some pretty bad EQ to thin out and brighten the sound, especially boosting the upper frequencies and shaving the bass. The old, sloppy RCA CD's came from tape copies, not the original masters, and are all over the map in terms of sound.

Anyway, just my 2 cents...