Electric Light Orchestra - now's the time to complete your collection of remasters

It depends on the CD--some are better than others and some of them do sound terrific.

If you don't like them, you might not like "Out of the Blue" but, having said that, if you read the thread mentioned earlier you'll get a good sense of how they sound. I personally like the "Out of the Blue" remaster and prefer it to the Gastwirt.

 

I just bought the Essential ELO comp today for about $14. There are a few single edits here: 10538 Overture, Roll Over Beethoven. Mark Wilder is credited with the mastering.

I played the second disc and first, it sounded like NR was applied, but when I played the first disc I heard light hiss. I listened to tracks with quiet intros like Telephone Line. I am thinking he may have just rolled back the high end. IMHO it doesn't sound bright, but I'll let others weigh in. Great track selection, BTW.

 

More notes here. I read mostly positive posts about Mark Wilder's work. I may have been off base by detecting what sounds like NR. The songs on Essential ELO 2 cd set appear to have good dynamics. I can crank it. The songs may have been mastered not bright and maybe that is what I am hearing. This set seems to upgrade the Light Years 2 cd UK comp (not the 16 track import single cd of the same name).

Single edits are as follows: 10538 Overture, Roll Over Beethoven, Can't Get It Out of My Head (timing in booklet is in error), Nightrider, and Shine A Little Love (same edit as Flashback, and All Over the World comp without the intro).

Curious to hear from others on this comp. I am enjoying it!

 

I recently started a new post regarding this ELO ESSENTIAL 2-CD set (2011), before I knew about this thread. I actually picked it up about a week ago, and personally, I do not like the sound quality - the tracks have a heaviness to them, like something (which I can't explain?) was turned up too much (could this be perhaps the NR you thought you heard?). The tracks are not as clear or sharp as on the individual CD reissues, plus they sound louder, maybe not brickwalled, but they are too loud IMO. Just compare the last two tracks at the end of disc 2 - Surrender sounds terrible compared with the version on the 2006 A NEW WORLD RECORD CD and Latitude 88 North is also a bit too deep-sounding compared to the OOTB version.

Mark Wilder is credited with the mastering on this comp, so no wonder why it sounds different from the 2001-2007 reissues. Actually, I am realizing now that the 2005 ALL OVER THE WORLD and 2008 TICKET TO THE MOON comps were the way to go all along. I never realized it at the time they came out, but TICKET already had Surrender and Latitude 88 North on them, and probably uses the '01-'07 remasters...it sounds much clearer and sharper than the 2-CD ESSENTIAL. I never bought those two comps because I already had AFTERGLOW and the STRANGE MAGIC 2-CD set, but I should have picked them up long ago. The 2005 ALL OVER THE WORLD comp came out before the '06+ reissues, but my guess is that it probably sounds better than this 2011 ESSENTIAL set.

 

I didn't notice your first post before, but yes, I am also heaing something similar. I'm not sure if NR was applied, but to me, the tracks on this comp have a heaviness to them, they're not bright at all, as if the brightness was turned way down or something else was turned up too high, to make the tracks sound a bit too deep in general, plus they're a little louder than I would like.

Does anyone know if this ELO ESSENTIAL 2-CD set (2011) is supposed to replace the '05 ALL OVER THE WORLD (Vol.1) and '08 TICKET TO THE MOON (Vol.2) comps?

 

Not sure...you may already know this but I believe Peter Mew is credited with the mastering on the Ticket to the Moon comp. I have Strange Magic, Flashback and the single cd The Light Years which is a Canadian import (not to be confused with the 2 cd set of the same name). That one sounds nice!

 

Thanks, I wasn't sure who mastered the TICKET TO THE MOON comp, I just thought they used the remasters from the '01-'07 reissues? Do you still detect (as I do) a deep and louder sound on the ESSENTIAL 2-CD comp? Which of your comps do you prefer sound-wise?

I still think that the 1995 STRANGE MAGIC 2-CD set is the best sounding ELO comp, IMO...it has a very sharp and clean sound to it - it remains quite a unique ELO comp audio-wise, but the '01-07 individual CD reissues also sound terrific in their own way.

 

Peter Mew may have used the existing Palmaccio masterings. I do find the Essential compressed sounding...JMHO.

I do like the sound quality of the Strange Magic comp. Maybe the source material on some tracks was not the best, but I still enjoy the flow and SQ. My only issue is Twilight. That songs starts the same way it does on the Ticket to the Moon comp: abrupt as it was crossfaded with Prologue. Most comps have the beginning as a fade up (and I believe that is how it is on the single).

 

Interesting, I did not realize that ELO's career had been broken up into various eras like this. Did the Light Years follow their baroque period?

 

Not an era issue with that comps, just another of a lot of comps issued over the years. The Light Years comp came out before their album Balance of Power and has tracks that cover a lot of their albums through Sectret Messages. Here is the back inlay:

 

Erg... So, in my quest to replace my destroyed collection, I went out and bought the Essential ELO, rather than the All Over The World and Ticket To The Moon route, based on the recommendations in this thread. Grrrrrrrrrrr... Oh well, I'll buy those too, then, they're just $5.99 each catching them at the right place right time.

 

Or you could get Flashback, selling used on amazon for $17.49

 

Mastered by Doug Sax and sounds nice!

 

What about the Classic Albums Collection of 11 CD's? I think these are the remasters because they include all the bonus tracks.

http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Albums-Collection-Electric-Orchestra/dp/B005LTDPJI

11 albums for $30, shipped...

 

I like the remaster of Out Of the Blue also. But the Russian (RCA?) is the best I've heard overall.

 

Whoops, I meant the Russian CD (RCA?) pressing. I honestly don't know if it's a bootleg or not. But it has unique peak levels that don't match the Gastwirt or early Japan. It has MUCH more detail than the latest remaster. Will post pics if requested.

 

Are you suggesting FLASHBACK for the content or the sound quality or both? At this point in time, since all of the ELO catalog was beautifully remastered w/bonus tracks, I would recommend those. I don't know if FLASHBACK has the same merit today that it once did, although I do agree, if it can be found for under $20, it's still a tempting purchase, but I would recommend ALL OVER THE WORLD and TICKET TO THE MOON, which has Surrender and Latitude 88 North, plus some ZOOM tracks, and those comps probably sound better than FLASHBACK as well.

I would have bought FLASHBACK in 2000, but at the time, I already had AFTERGLOW and STRANGE MAGIC, so I held off.

 

Both. Flashback sounds spectacular and has tracks that you can not get anywhere else, that can't be said for any of the other compilations.

 

I have no doubt that FLASHBACK is a winner, but there are so many ELO choices today. I guess FB would be the ultimate comp, even though I think of it as a boxed set. It's interesting that AFTERGLOW was replaced twice...first by the 2-CD STRANGE MAGIC (1995) and later again with FLASHBACK.

By the way, do you own any of the 2001-2007 individual CD reissues? How does the audio quality on FLASHBACK compare with the remastered albums? Also, was FB remastered back in 2000, or does it sound similar to the STRANGE MAGIC 2-CD set (1995)?

 

Late bump to this thread.

So should I avoid the Gastwirt mastered Time cd due to the gap before Hold On Tight?

 

Has anyone tried the Blu-Spec CD2 ones with bonus material? Known masterings? Avail at CDJapan: Out of the Blue, New World Record, Discovery, Time.

 

Yes that's right but there is also one that came out in a digipack I think with a nice price sticker on it. The "Millennium Edition' came in a card sleeve which was in a clear plastic slipcase.

 

Same mastering as the regular aluminum CDs.

 

Luckily I picked up all the remasters about 7 years ago. I remember waiting for Out Of The Blue to arrive on release day, as that was the last album they remastered. Love the song "Lattitude 88 North", think it would have been a good fit for the album.

I've seem a complete albums box similar to the one for The Byrds and Harry Nilsson (which I own) and they both have the remasters with bonus tracks. I think the ELO box is around 60 bucks, might be a good way to get all the remasters at once.

I picked up Zoom, Live and Mr. Blue Sky by ELO and Armchair Theatre and Long Wave by Lynne solo when they all came out, wonder if they will go out of print too?