INXS Remasters - May 2011

[Andee1970]

http://theseconddisc.com/2011/05/10/inx ... /#comments

[moni]

You can buy the 10 disc box set here http://store.universal-music.co.uk/rest ... 527707808/ At £5 a disc that is good value just a shame that there are no extras though[:(]

[bruiser]

a new greatest hits? JESUS CHRIST! WHY?!!

how about a 12" collection? there are plenty not available!

[AlwaysSaturday]

The CD's are available separately for order on Ideal Copy. I just ordered Shabooh Shoobah, The Swing, and Listen Like Thieves. I have to say that I'm more pumped about this than I have been about a music purchase in quite a while. I hope the remastered sound is up to par.

[moni]

They are all on Play individually at £4.99 each. I just ordered 6[:D] and as you mentioned AlwaysSaturday in your last post i hope to hell these have been remastered properly.

[jacko]

I've bought a few of these and all i can say is that they are louder. I'm not a Tech person, so i will wait until someone else on this board checks them out properly.

[moni]

[quote][i]Originally posted by jacko[/i]
<br>I've bought a few of these and all i can say is that they are louder. I'm not a Tech person, so i will wait until someone else on this board checks them out properly.
[/quote]
I bought six of them and i agree they do just seem louder and not really properly remastered. I say i bought six but i'm still waiting on The Swing to be in stock the one i was looking forward to getting the most[:(]

[AlwaysSaturday]

My copies of Shabooh Shoobah, The Swing, and Listen Like Thieves arrived in the mail yesterday.

I agree that the music is louder, but not necessarily remastered. The CDs sound good for my purposes, though (driving to and from work on a busy highway and blasting the music in my truck). I'm enjoying immersing myself in my favorite three INXS albums again.

I can't say anything bad about the sound itself, but there does seem to be a long pause between a handful of songs, as if someone put these together on Nero and left a 2-second gap between the tracks.

[Finnatic]

Anyone else tired of feeling played by INXS? Their label has been brutal in recycling their music over the past few years, not to mention the endless video compilations. Why not let some curator who loves the band's music put together an authoritative remasters series? It worked for Depeche Mode and The Cure, and to a certain extent, sorta kinda for New Order. U2's reissues have been exemplary. Duran Duran's have been (insert your opinion here). The fans deserve better. Let's face it, their MTV generation fans aren't getting any younger. The whole of their catalog has so much beautiful and imaginative music that should be properly assembled along with the amazing visuals associated with INXS.

[crystal]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Finnatic[/i]
<br>The whole of their catalog has so much beautiful and imaginative music that should be properly assembled along with the amazing visuals associated with INXS.
[/quote]

totally true + a shame the catalogue is handled in such a lacklustre way... the first 2 albums were nicely done, just lacking a bit of videomaterial - there should be lots of stuff at least for the following albums in the vault (Countdown appearances, livestuff, ... you name it). Really sad, especially considering the fact that INXS sold tons of albums + therefore there is a market out there.
A nice example is also the recently rereleased Icehouse/Flowers debut album, enjoyed that very much!

[Bellenger1981]

I got my box set earlier in the week. I tested these remasters out in my car last night. I'm disappointed. I've said this before, and I'll say it again ... I actually like compressed (brickwalled) remasters. However, there comes a time when it goes too far (i.e. 'So80s' series), and it sounds awful and too loud. Now while the INXS remasters do not push the same limits that the 'So80s' series does they are still very loud. The real problem, however, is that many, if not most, of the tracks have a very harsh, brittle sound. The mastering engineer, Giovanni Scatola, brought the highs up too much, making them sound like my speakers are going to crack. On the other hand, I like that the bass has been cranked up quite a bit, giving the tracks a nice boost. However, I'm not sure what kind of compression was used, but it doesn't work here. It almost sounds like "radio" compression was used because the songs sound more like they come from the radio than an original CD sound. The dynamics of most of the tracks are gone. It's like I'm listening to a shrill wall of sound on many tracks. I like loud mastering, but not when the highs are shrill and the audio sounds like it has been lifted from the radio. The music doesn't sound natural. Some songs benefit slightly from this (i.e. "Don't Change"), but others sound horrible ("New Sensation" is screeching!) It's a shame that these remasters weren't given to someone else. I'm really not sure what the mastering engineer was going for here, unless he was just doing what the record label ordered. (The Echo & The Bunnymen best of from a few years back was remastered by the same person, but it sounds good, in my opinion). I feel like the songs have lost their original sound. Sad, considering I am owning many of these albums in my collection for the first time.

[moni]

I feel they were just rushed to get them back out to the public domain and at cheap prices. No effort has been put into them at all hell they even used the same booklets as the originals with a couple of extra lines added. People could get a program like audio cleaning lab or similar and use the original cds and could make a better job of it probably.

[korova1]

Just listened to my old Polydor version of "The Swing" and I must say the original is much much much better sounding then the remaster. In fact I always thought this version was superior to the US ATCO version as well. I haven't made it to Shabooh yet. I only purchased those two as remasters. We shall see. Anybody else try these out for size?