DCC Archive Island Remasters: Free

A Mew... (sorry, couldn't resist) ... a new Island remaster series hit the stores here in Europe: the individual Free albums with bonus tracks. And - you name it - at least "Fire And Water" has been remastered by Peter Mew @ Abbey Road. Has anybody compared it to the former incarnation of the album? Ear bleeding? Breath of death? I never had the LP, but "All Right Now" was one of the very first singles I had back in 1970. I was astonished to hear that the single mix (added as a bonus track) sounded sooo different (i.e. muffled) from the LP version (lots of boom, be it better or worse). The new remastered album tracks sound more like the - at least in my opinion - screwed remixes by Bob Clearmountain from '91 - minus the horrible artificial ambience.
What do you think?
Best
Thomas

 

Breath of death??? Ha ha ha! Don't fear the reaper?!

Actually I own all the Island Frees from last year, and although the S/T has quite a few dropouts in "I'll Be Creepin'", I think it's on the master.

Those CDs don't sound BAD at all, but hey, how do the new ones sound in general??


Heh heh. Breath of DEATH! HA! HA!

 

Hi Sckott
These new remasters sound more modern to me than they should - considering their recording date (1970). As I tried to say in the earlier post, I was surprised how direct sounding (hey, it's not that easy to describe) they are. Lots of upper bass, just like early 80's disco recordings, I presume (disco boom-boom, if you know what I mean; my Apogees simply do not love that kind of sound...).
The sonic characters of the album version and the single version of "All Right Now" are so different from each other, as if they have to be from different sessions. By the way: there is also the first recorded version and a BBC live version of that song on the disc.
Again: I never heard the LP or the former CD version, so can't compare these with this new one.
By the way: "Breath of death" was only meant as the opposite to Steve's "Breath of life", which often seem to be missing on remastering jobs by Astley or Mew...
Tubes rule!
Thomas

 

You got Apogees? Cool.

Ok, well your report seems pretty spot on. Yes, "All Right Now" was released as different versions, as I think the Island single was wikkid different than on the LP, but i'm not sure of the distinction. I have the sampler for the Polygram "Anthology" sets, and the song, I swear, was the Island single, not from "Fire And Water" on Island or A&M.

Yes, I got the "Death Breath" thing about the Anti-Hoffman. I'm still laughing. HA! Skulls and crossbones, smelly stench of someone's home studio, cold feeling in the room, as a DAT gets reworked. Satan laughing, dogs barking, black cat bone, Peter Mew with a rotating head...

And the image of Steve on the couch with a very perplexed look saying "What the hell?"

 

Island (UK) released "limited edition" vinyl versions of 'Fire and Water', 'Tea for the Tillerman' and two other LPs in the early 1990's. What was special about these releases was the packaging was the same as the original releases. I purchased them from MusicDirect around 1993 for $15 each. I don't know if these are the versions being referred to as the early releases noted above.

As far as I can recall there was no special care in the remastering of the sound, although the vinyl was claimed to be quieter.

If the new pressings are reasonably priced, I may spend the buck take a listen.

On a slightly different note, I am not too impressed with the Universal (Germany) remasterings notably 'Mona Bone Jakon': it sounds a bit harsher than the original UK Island version that I have. Does anyone have any opinions of other the Universal (Germany) releases?

 

I have the newer "Tea For Tillerman" Island 25th anniversary LP. Bought it spaking new. It's a great pressing, but no, it's not mindblowing. It was nice to get an Island of that album on clean vinyl.

Now, I have to replace my A&M "Firecat", which sounds great, but a little too toppy. Vinyl=patience=someday.