Led Zeppelin reissues - what went wrong?

Nothing went wrong and the reissues were all perfect.

 

They got all the albums repressed on vinyl in excellent editions. Yes there's probably some original pressings that are better, but for most it's a challenge to find them in good shape and reasonably priced. I've gotten most of the reissues on vinyl for $10 and the 3LP graffiti and coda for $15. Yeah there's a little disappointment at the bonus discs but on cd they price them at Two discs for $13 or so. Mission accomplished

 

Can you please direct me to these "fantastic" Hendrix reissues?

 

I think most people probably don't have the original UK or US lp pressings to compare to or even the original CD pressings. Whatever lp's I did have from the mid to late 70's eventually were replaced by CD's. For me, the page re-issues (especially I, II, HOH, Presence) blew away the Ludwig remasters from 94 I previously had. The page reissues are keepers. No need for me to look any further.

 

Nah I'm small time (over 300 lps, only here is that amature hour) but I tend to get one version of an album and I'm happy with it. I do research before I buy (hence how I ended up here with you fine people) and the only time I buy the same title again is if our copy is beaten up and clicky/staticky/skips we get a better one if we really like it (such as our old worn Beatles LPs going side by side with new reissues.)

 

Fair enough!

 

The Zep reissue LPs were digitally processed and sourced. Beatles mono reissues and APO Beach Boys reissues are AAA. Not sure if you'll get a consensus on the Hendrix* or Stones mono reissues besting the originals, but for the price you sure do get a lot of bang for your buck.

* For me the Bernie Grundman mono Hendrix reissues are fantastic, but I've never heard an original Track or Barclay LP. Again, a lot of bang for your buck.

 

Since the cd age and one copy of III back in the early 90's, all I've ever had is the Complete Studio Recordings box (Marino) so I am extremely in the positive camp regarding the Davis/Page remasters, on cd anyway. No ball dropping that I can hear .....especially from Plant...

 

Surely not the AYE reissue? It's as thin as can be. Grundman ABAL is great, though.

 

I think a lot of people are missing some perspective here, which is understandable given that this forum caters to the 1% of people who are really passionate about sound quality. Most of these reissues do not best a first pressing from an artist's home country. Sometimes a few do, but those are clearly the exceptions and not the rule. However, what the good/very good but not great/amazing reissues offer are clean copies that the every day collector can add to their collection without too much hassle or expense, and they will sound very good for the money. Yes, you may get better sound quality tracking down a first home country pressing of whatever album you're talking about, but there's a lot of expense, time, and risk involved, given that unless you're able to hear the copy in advance, it could turn out to be bad. Whereas lots of people who have pressing/packaging issues with the reissues can just exchange them at Amazon or their local store.

 

Well, those deluxe editions sure are purty. The presentation is beautiful. The only ones I purchased were 3 and Presence. They seemed to have an over all positive review. I am pleased with them. I do not think any of them rival the best UK or US originals. Nor do I think that the other groups you mention have had the best earlier pressings bested by new reissues.

What I do think is that the Zeps (save for HOTH) do a respectable job in allowing others to enjoy having the albums on new pressings that are well done. Certainly not brickwalled or botched up for the great majority of those mentioned in the first post.

If folks dont want to bother hunting down clean originals or the best earlier pressings trying to find the correct matrices and condition, then these reissues have served their purpose.

Thats a good thing in my book. But the best originals and earlier pressings are still the "ones" in my opinion.

 

To quote Robert Plant at the end of "The Ocean": Oh, so good!

 

The only one that I don't like is zep II all the other LPs are great from the recent reissues.

 

The two things that went "wrong" in my view:

1. The reissued Vinyl used digital files. I remember that this was a huge disappointment to fans when announced. I don't remember the reason for this, considering that the Classics were cut be Bernie Grundman from the original master tapes, as I recall.
2. Dearth of quality unheard studio material in the deluxe editions.

But they look very nice, and if the prices drop, I would like to pick up all of the "super deluxe" versions some day.

 

According to most of the polls I have seen here most people prefer the 2014 masterings in general above most! At least in the more general overview "which releases do you like more" types

The sound quality of the reissues are great, probably the clearest and beset sound you can get from these tapes. Some of the companion material left a little to be desired but I am happy to have bought every one of these remasters nonetheless

 

Well said, I would say I'm satisfied to extremely satisfied with most reissues/new vinyl I buy outside of warps/manufacturing defects. Me and the Mrs. ungraded to a decent system (Klipsch RM-160 speakers and a Denon dp-300f table with and Onkyo reciever). I was blown away by vinyl's sound before on our budget system but now I'm through the roof with how our collection sounds. We listen to LPs for the whole experience and while there is a flat one here and there (sometimes originals!) we are rarely let down by a new purchase. Not to mention that there is a great amount of classic titles that are readily available that are quite hard to find otherwise (I've never seen used Black Sabbath titles, for one)

 

I've got the LZ4 reissue but have never had an older copy on vinyl. It sounded fine, but I last played it when first getting back into vinyl and have yet to listen to it with my new & far better cart, which I must do.

However, I still haven't got access to an older version for comparison. I do have original versions of Song Remains The Same & Coda and they sound amazing. So is my reissue of IV good or comparable to original versions or should I sell and look for an original?

 

These reissues got a lot of praise and comparatively very little criticism on this forum when released. I've got Houses of the Holy and have heard the debut a couple of times and have UK originals of both. I prefer the Houses reissue and I couldn't make my mind up on the debut. It sounded very good but also very different to the UK original. I returned it due to a pressing fault and just got a refund.

 

I can only speak for myself, but I had originally bought the first three vinyl first and got rid of them within the first week. Compared to my original Canadian pressings, they were: bright, cold (glassy), and lifeless (as in sterile). Even my Diament cd's sounded better, and they don't even compare to my 70's pressings.

 

If I'm not mistaken, Grundman was the cutting engineer for the Pink Floyd reissues, not the mastering engineer.

 

Insanity is repeating the same actions and expecting different results. Buying re-issues falls into that category unless there are other features like additional material. Even then you usually just find out why it was on the cutting room floor.

The re-issues of most of what has been discussed here (Zep, Floyd, Beatles stereo) don't beat clean originals imo. In some cases there are differences, but improvements? These tapes don't get better and that is on the rare occasion they go back to them. Also, the originals were cut at a time when quality was a consideration.

The main purpose I can see (when they don't screw them up) is to provide the opportunity for decent copies if you haven't got, or can't afford originals.

 

I enjoy the 2014 HD downloads a whole lot. A bit louder than other remasterings but they sound really clean to my ears. I have not so pristine original US pressings of 1-5 that sound pretty murky so I'm at a disadvantage comparing a nice clean original pressing to these remastered.

If I feel the need to listen to the original mastering on an all analog vinyl I have that option but I rarely do. The 24-96 digital is all I listen to these days. Love the extras for each of the albums too.

 

The problem with polls on this Forum is that clean original UK Zep vinyl is really hard to find. US vinyl is more plentiful but finding a clean first press is still "needle in a haystack" territory. US pressings were generally played (a lot) on less than ideal equipment, and were pressed and repressed in huge quantities for years. Well, except for Coda.

 

No "Fire":


Seriously, imagine this track cleaned up and properly mixed and mastered? Short, but fascinating.

 

I can't complain. My RL LZII is slightly better, but it's also noisier.

These new disks sound damn good to me.

The bonus disks are pretty much a complete waste after 1 spin, and of course I got suckered into the "super deluxe" boxes of the entire catalog. My BDG (Big Dumb Guy) gene struck again.

Oh-- but the box construction is shoddy on the super deluxe. The corners rip out just in normal usage.