The Velvet Forum

simonm wrote:Personally I'm over these 45th anniv releases. Will they do it all over again for the 50th anniversaries?
I remember the 5/70 recording to be pretty dull, undistinguished apart from the long tremolo Train Round The Bend + Oh Sweet Nuthin, which I'm not a massive fan of.
I like Fully Loaded a lot but thee is some filler on there for sure.

I just want Lou Reed Live remastered! For Chrissake, give us the remasters Lou said he had nearly completed just before he died!

All the remasters Lou worked on are available in HD downloads on the usual sites -- HD Tracks, Pono, etc. These include all the RCA and Sire studio albums including much of the live material, but not Lou Reed Live. No physical product yet unfortunately.

There's a Lou Reed "Rca / Arista Albums Collection" showing with a release date of August 28, 2015 up on Amazon. No other details yet.

I do not care for the remasters found on HDtracks, except for the last batch 1989-2000. Those were done well and is the best I've heard Ecstasy sound (although Paranoia is missing the horns, weird).

The 70s & 80s albums were mastered way too loud and brick walled as well as having EQ which is too dull and bassy. I don't know if it's ever been actually confirmed that these are the ones Lou did or just assumed (it's probably a good assumption), but I don't like them. The only one which I find better than previous CD versions is 'Rock and Roll Heart' but that's because of how bad the CDs sound. There's a Japanese pressing I haven't heard, though, which might be better ('The Bells' Japanese is my favorite, so it may very well be best if I ever get to hear it).

Was there ever a proper release of Lou's first album? I'm sure I could look it up, but wasn't it recorded without Dolby and mastered with the Dolby filter on or something like that? I'd thought the only "correct" release of songs from that album were the handful on the Lou box.

rnranimal wrote:I do not care for the remasters found on HDtracks, except for the last batch 1989-2000. Those were done well and is the best I've heard Ecstasy sound (although Paranoia is missing the horns, weird).

The 70s & 80s albums were mastered way too loud and brick walled as well as having EQ which is too dull and bassy. I don't know if it's ever been actually confirmed that these are the ones Lou did or just assumed (it's probably a good assumption), but I don't like them. The only one which I find better than previous CD versions is 'Rock and Roll Heart' but that's because of how bad the CDs sound. There's a Japanese pressing I haven't heard, though, which might be better ('The Bells' Japanese is my favorite, so it may very well be best if I ever get to hear it).

I basically agree but have a more mixed view (ear) of the RCA and Arista remasters. They certainly are processed, unlike the Sire material which is left dynamic. I can only surmise that Lou felt the recording technology then was not up to snuff and wanted (or agreed to) a different sound. I think Street Hassle sounds better, along with Rock & Roll Heart. The rest sound... different. They are also all available on iTunes for much less money.

hkmartin wrote:Was there ever a proper release of Lou's first album? I'm sure I could look it up, but wasn't it recorded without Dolby and mastered with the Dolby filter on or something like that? I'd thought the only "correct" release of songs from that album were the handful on the Lou box.

No, there has never been a proper release. The box tracks just had EQ applied in an attempt to improve the issue, but it wasn't actually corrected. My understanding is that for a proper correction, the album would need to be remixed (as Dolby was switched on during mixing, but the multis were not recorded with Dolby). Dolby can not actually be reversed. I really wish it would be remixed, but I think it's highly unlikely now.

It would almost be an insult to the VU legacy if a record company who gave a damn about the music was handling them.

DavidH wrote:It would almost be an insult to the VU legacy if a record company who gave a damn about the music was handling them.

+1

As for solo Lou remasters, in the months before his death, Lou mentioned that his entire discography was getting the full remaster treatment. I can't remember where I read/saw that, but I remember being super excited about it and talking to bleach about it.

TeddyB wrote:All the remasters Lou worked on are available in HD downloads on the usual sites -- HD Tracks, Pono, etc. These include all the RCA and Sire studio albums including much of the live material, but not Lou Reed Live. No physical product yet unfortunately.

Pono? You're fuckin' kidding me... What a joke. Pono Player review: A tall, refreshing drink of snake oil

"You know how every once in a while you buy the $40 bottle of wine instead of the $8 one, thinking you're gonna have a special dinner or something?"..."And you get home, and you make the salmon or the pasta or whatever and you light the candles? And you pour the wine, swirl it like they do in Sideways so that it looks like you know what you're doing... you bring it to your lips and after smelling it?it smells like wine?you have a sip? And it's like? yeah, I guess this tastes good or something, but really it just tastes like wine?"

"The Pono Player is kinda like that, but for music."

But I digress...

Not in physical format?! Bummer, man. How on earth can LRL not be remastered?! RNRA and LRL need to be remastered and reissued as a 2CD set. I remember Lou declining that back when RNRA was up for a remaster.