Metallica 2015 Remasters of Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning*

It was an interview done after or before their 'Day on the Green' concert. Just like all things, I bet the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Dave probably over-blows and overestimates his importance and contributions to early Metallica and Lars probably underrepresents it.

Also, from all the interviews I've heard and seen, the members of Metallica have never outright talked down towards, talked s*** about, or were petty about Dave. They usually discuss the situation in a more or less professional manner. Whereas with Dave, it seems to have been the opposite a lot of the time, with him being petty and talking s*** about them and directly insulting them, especially Lars. Plus, without them kicking Dave out, we wouldn't have Megadeth!

 

I don't think Cliff is on record as saying anything about Dave, and I doubt Kirk ever said much. But James and Lars generally gave the impression that Dave had zero impact on their music. So maybe they said that in a professional way but it still was both cheap and untrue. No doubt Dave overestimates his importance (some of the things he says are mind boggling) to thrash metal in general but for James and Lars to suggest that Mustaine was on the same level of musical importance as Ron McGovney may not seem personal, I can see Dave taking it that way.

Dave is a lunatic but full marks to him for surviving being written out of history and then forming the beast that is Megadeth.

 

I agree it could easily be taken personally. My point was that they never blatantly talked s***. Also, Cliff in an interview when asked why Dave wasn't on the back of KEA said something along the lines of "you don't put pictures of people who aren't in your band [on the album]"

 

I still can`t see why they can`t come to an agreement and put out the No Life Demos.There can`t be anything to lose by reissuing some demos.I`m sure we`re not the only people interested.
I`ve really been getting into most of these early live shows.The live vinyl sounds really nice for official boots.The vinyl sounds better than cds wich are a little too compressed( to me anyway).The music is so much fun I`ve still been playing the cds nonstop.

 

Just got done watching the live dvd from the Ride box and talk about a band out for the jugular! The metal hammer festival is totally badass and despite difficulties with the mix at times it sounds really good. And the Day on the Green songs are on fire! Most importantly the aggression and passion of the performances come across loud and clear! What a treat to see so much Cliff footage too, simply awesome!

 

And the Cliff footage is so up close and in his face! It is fantastic!

 

Alright my KEA set arrived today and of course the first thing I did was play the vinyl. My initial impression is 2004 box set version is superior. That being said this version is excellent and if the 2008 version is as bad as everyone says it is. This one is the version that a lot of fans have been waiting for. The only downside for me as far as my 2004 set goes is that there's a skip at the beginning of Seek and Metal Militia. That could be due to poor handling on my part as it was one of my early vinyl purchases.

 

I went back to the local Newbury Comics tonight (30% off because they are moving). I couldn't help myself and bought KeA. I'll clean it this weekend and give it a spin. I have an original Megaforce as well, can't wait to compare.

 

Does anyone actually know that the vinyl was cut from the same digital masters as the CDs, or is there only speculation?

 

Rampant speculation! No-one has posted anything on this thread that confirms.

 

No confirmation, but what we know so far is 1) There was no AAA touting, so it's a good assumption these were digitally source. 2) Howie's name was also in the credits for the vinyl, which indicates Chris cut the vinyl from a mastering by Howie. The real question would then be if Howie sent Chris a different digital mastering or the same source as the digital releases.

I checked out the 2016 RTL vinyl clip posted here and compared it to the CD. It's tough to tell much from such a short clip, but from the looks of it, I think the compression used was the same. So it's possibly down to whether the vinyl source files were as limited as the digital releases or not. That's a much tougher call to make, though, and I'd need to see at least a full track to make a good guess.

 

It is all speculation but I would be shocked if it was anything but the same master used for all the digital versions.

 

My boxes arrived yesterday morning. Initial impressions....
Well made and top quality
RTL DVD is simply amazing.
The live CD's brought me back to the late 80's in high school when we watched CLIFF 'EM ALL each and every week. while sipping on Foster's Lager.
Have not yet spun the LP's.

I wish that JITF and CD were not pic discs and they included a WHIPLASH.
The NLTL demo would have been nice as a 10".
Have not watched the first DVD yet but based on this thread I wish the Dave stuff was on it.
The Metal Massacre stuff, McGovney, Mustaine SHOULD have been included.

Overall, I am impressed and recommend these to everyone that is a fan of old Metallica. I cannot wait for Puppets. I hope we get "Cliff's Last Gig", doubtful but we can dream. That is where I get off unless JUSTICE has Newstead's bass turned up or there is some Cliff material/input apart from "To Live Is To Die".

 

Wait until you listen to the vinyl! Sounds amazing! I'm listening to the Castle Donnington CD right now and it is incredible!

 

Interesting post from Ron McGovney on his Facebook after randomly receiving the KEA box in his mail:

"Got this box set in the mail yesterday. I am not sure why. No note. No generic head shot of the band with "To ( fill in name ) Best wishes, Metallica.". Maybe it's because all the songs on this album were written in my garage and I was there. The No Life Til Leather project has been shelved, so this is as close as I can get, I suppose. If anyone says that I had nothing to do with these songs, and I was lucky to ever be in the band, you can **** off. You weren't there. I wonder if Dave got one."

Ron McGovney - Got this box set in the mail yesterday. I... | Facebook »

 

"Good Lord, they're like 10."

So says the girlfriend as we're watching the live DVD with the Kill 'Em All set. I've pretty much had enough time to dig through the box to give it a proper write up. I've listened to all the vinyl and most of the CDs. Though I've only sampled the main album on CD. My only comparison on vinyl is the one from the 2004 Rhino set. In in earlier post I said that that one is the superior one. I stand by that statement. The new one is way too quiet whereas the Rhino one is a shake the floors, wake the neighbors kick a$$ piece of wax. That's not to say that I don't like the new one, it just lacks the oomph that the 2004 version does. I haven't heard the 2008 version which most everyone says is crap. The CD is mastered loud, but the little I've heard it's not unlistenable. The live shows are slightly above bootleg quality and the Lars interview is interesting, but honestly is practically unlistenable. Oh and that Jump In The Fire picture disc does sound great.

I like the DVD a lot, but honestly I feel they didn't need to include the first 2 songs (with no audio) , but I guess there might be some super hardcore fans out there who want as much Metallica footage as possible. Even it means no audio. The book is wonderful. It never seizes to amaze me how young they were. Packaging is also top notch. This is a set that's made for the fans. Overall I am very happy with it. I've ordered the Ride The Lightning set and will definitely be ordering the Master of Puppets set.

Final score

Album 10/10
Presentation/ Packaging 10/10
Sound 9/10 (main album, vinyl)

 

Just got a PM from the moderator over at the Metallica.com Boards.

The digital download versions of the band's entire catalog that are now being sold in the Met Store (which includes hi-res and lossless options) are the MFiT versions.

Store - Metallica »


That means that the awesome sounding fixed MFiT remaster of DM is now available in lossless, and even hi-res.

It could be an expensive day for me.

 

If anyone buys MOP, could you please past a short clip? I remember thinking the MFIT version sounded like it was sourced from the old Elektra CD with track lengths all being too close to be different digital masters. If this HD download is truly 96khz audio and not upsampled, then I was either wrong or they are offering a different remaster now vs the one I grabbed from iTunes a while ago.

 

What do you mean by "fixed remaster of DM?"

Not as loud/brick-walled?

 

Are the CD remasters of the albums worth picking up if you already have the previous Elektra releases?

 

Bass is more prominent. NO audible clipping or distortion. Basically, how it should have sounded from the beginning.

It's still compressed, but not as excessively as the original retail was.

 

My understanding is that the MFiT versions were based on the Blackened versions, which were carbon copies of the old Elektra masters. Obviously, KEA and RTL are now the new remasters. And as discussed, DM was remastered and fixed. But the rest should be the Elektra masters modified to meet the MFiT standards. That is, until each album's respective remaster comes out, at which point the digital downloads will be replaced with the new remasters.

 

That was my understanding as well, but now I'm wondering how they can offer a 96/24 version of MOP since those old transfers were at CD resolution.

 

Maybe they somehow got the original masters that the CDs were based on? I dunno. But in order to get the MFiT sticker, the masters the label/band sends to Apple have to be in hi-res. So they've apparently had hi-res versions for a while.

Personally, for MOP I'll just wait 'til fall when the new remaster comes out.

 

Is this different from the hi-res that came with the Metallica Pono player?