The KISS Remasters from 1997-1998

I too prefer the KISS remasters.

I have not found them harsh at all and they sound great at loud levels.

 

It is the same as the original vinyl (the one with the blue cover and glowing eyes).
The 85 re-issue used a different track order and featured remixed versions of 'Creatures of the Night', 'I Still Love You' and 'I Love it Loud'.
The remastered version sounds louder and brought back the original fade out/in of 'I Love it Loud' and the drum sound is much stronger on all tracks.

Rock76

 

Also Music Fromn The Elder remaster is the original mix and track order (US Polygram ordered a eremix and reshuffling of the tracks). The remaster makes it a better listen as the story makes more sense.

 

The change to the original mix on The Elder also makes the original American CD a collector's item, as it retains the running order and mix of the original American LP. Fortunately, I read about the changes on KISS Asylum. Typically, I'd take a batch of the discs to trade in a few days prior to the release of the current batch of remasters. I held on to my original Elder.

 

I've yet to hear a good sounding version of "Hotter than Hell".
I think that the original CDs of "Dressed to Kill" and "Love Gun" sound very good.
Probably because they were originally well recorded.
The remasters of "Alive" and "Destroyer" are the best sounding versions.
The box set sounds horrible, does anyone hear know the story why?

Joe L.

 

I kept The Elder as well because of the running order of the songs and also because it was the first CD I bought ever.

 

I kept the original Creatures and Elder and CD's as well.

Creatures was the 1st CD in a batch of 3 that I bought back in Feb 1989.

Hotter Than Hell vinyl sounds just like the remaster. The mix is just bad and I guess the LA studio they were at - they couldn't get a good mix no matter how hard they tried.

 

The remaster is about as good as it's ever gonna get sound-wise. I think in this case, a hi-rez version would detract from the sound and further show up the sonic deficiencies. How ironic!

I don't even know if a remix would help, because I don't think it was well recorded in the first place. The remixed tracks that appear on Double Platinum don't sound radically different.

As for the box set, I thought it was just me, but it doesn't sound as good as the remasters. You'd think they could improve it, but apparently Joseph Palmaccio did it right when he did his remastering in 1997.