I have a question here:
I had a few of the 1996 Journey remasters from Legacy but never got the 2006 updates w/ bonus tracks (I never had the Time 3 box set so these are bonus tracks to me).
I see most of these at Wal Mart for $5 but not all of them.
My queries:
I remember Captured being the same-just a reissue of the 96 remaster
I believe Infinity and Evolution had no bonus cuts
Departure had 2 b-sides as bonus and was newly remastered
Escape had 4-one b-side and 3 live cuts
Frontiers had 4 bonus and I believe this was one given a new remaster?
Raised On Radio had 2 bonus-both live cuts from the MTV videos
Trial By Fire had one bonus

Is this right? And, were Departure and Frontiers really newly remastered in 2006 and were any others? Since I need to upgrade and only had a few of the 96 remasters, at $5 this is easy to do. They also had the stand-alone Live In Houston 1981 CD for $5 as well.

You are correct as far as the bonus tracks go. My discs are packed away, but I'm pretty sure they all use the 1996 remasters.

OK-having never picked these up (aside from just a few in 1996), I bought Infinity (still hate the awful distorted drum sound on this one, but it is a good remaster and the album is still great), Evolution (one of their best), Escape and Frontiers which is what they had and they were all $5.
Frontiers IS newly remastered from 2006 by David Donnelly not Bob Ludwig and Departure (don't have that yet) also was a new 2006 remaster.
Odd they did a few new ones. I believe Captured which I have from 1996 is the same-the packaging may not be. I also have to get Raised On Radio (not a favorite of mine) and Trial By Fire (or this one), but both have some great songs. I can easily get these cheap online.
I am surprised that 2 of these were newly remastered. I guess Dream, After Dream will never get a US remaster-although I still have my Half-Speed LP master.
P.S.
I never noticed the horribly disturbing affinity for showing his bulge, but Gregg Rollie's photos on Infinity and Evolution are hideous!

This thread inspired me to round out my Journey collection.

This thread inspired me to dig out my white trousers and shove a cucumber down my undies.

And decide that I'll stick with my 1996 remasters. I never thought there was a worthwhile album after Escape anyway. The Greatest Hits has got Separate Ways, Faithfully, Be Good To Yourself, Ask The Lonely etc, and that'll do me just fine.

Dream after Dream is a great underrated album.

one of the remasters erroneously put a gap between "lovin, touchin, squeezin" and "city of the angels" that just sounded terrible. it was actually a topic for the old watchdog column in ICE.

i do not know if they ever repaired this or not.

You mean you don't turn Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin' off with a minute to go anyway?

All together now -

la la la la la
la la la click.......

Renny,

The gap is still there on the 2006 CD.

One of CDs big bungles.

seriously. i can't believe they never fixed that!

if i recall correctly the old watchdog column reported that they knew they fucked up and that it was going to fixed and replaced, like the steely dan "rikki" error. then i just forgot about it until now.

I love the ending (especially live). The harmonies are to die for.

Nope they never fixed that gap.
I ditched the '96 remasters for originals either European pressed or the Japanese ones for Europe of Frontiers and Raised on Radio that do actually sound better with more dynamics.
The Mastersounds gold cd of Infinity is smashing.

I couldn't agree more.

Mmmm. I'm new here, but I've very quickly realised two things -

(1) You guys really do buy everything

(2) Yes, it must just be me that thinks Infinity is a great steaming pile of doggy do, and the only good tracks on it are both on Greatest Hits.

I...Wha?.?...But...Ugh...nevermind.

Actually while I like Journey quite a bit, I'm down to 4 titles & I suspect they're all I'll ever need:

Captured (2006 remaster)
Dream After Dream
Escape (expanded)
Greatest Hits

I used to own the box, but I sold it a few years ago.

Unfortunately, this response is coming way too late to the party, but.....................

I own an official factory pressed cdr advance of the most recent 16 track remastered Journey Greatest Hits. It is official, not downloaded. I apparently never paid much attention to it before, but i played it the other day, & as far as the sound quality goes,.................. IT SOUNDS LIKE POOP. Bright to the point where the cymbals on Don't Stop Belivevin' were terribly distorted. I was not able to listen to the entire cd, as the sound q was so unpleasant. This was in my car, but that system does NOT lean bright.

I am now in the market for either the original 15 track cd or possibly Essential depending on it's mastering.

I've become a classic Journey fan over the years. I have all the remasters that were sold in the digipacks. I used to like Foreigner more, but that since has been reversed...and I don't know why.

OK, I got my curiosity up. So I got a copy of the 1988 GH, the 2006 GH & the 2001 Essential 2 disc.

As it's late night & i don't want to wake up the neighbors, this is just a quicky comparison on a pc. I will spend a bit more time on it tomorrow on my main system & write more.

I used Wheel In the sky for the comparison. While none of the 3 sound all that good, here's my sound quality ranking as played on my pc from best to worst:

1. 1988
2. 2006
3. 2001

The '88's a bit distorted & a bit light on detail but by far the least bright & quietest of the 3, & for 1988 it doesn't sound at all muddy & at least on this system it's by far the most musical.

The 2006 retains the distortion & adds a significant amount of brightness & it's way louder. This is the version that I was unable to listen to all the way through in my car because the sound was so unpleasant & fatiguing.

On my pc the 2001 sounds even louder & brighter than the 2006, but also cleaner. I am curious to hear this one on my main system, i may prefer it over the 2006 there.

The whole thing sucks no matter how you look at it, as we currently have the technology to make cd's sound 99% as good as records with no ticks & pops, inner groove distortion, etc; but these bastard mastering engineers have to destroy our music with the loudness wars.

I have noticed that sealed, the '88 is listed at $100 on Amazon. I think I now know why (though there ain't no way in hell I'd pay it!)! Does anyone own the SACD to add to the shoot out?

Will try to post more tomorrow.

Geff:
My wife bought the 1988 version for $1 a few weeks ago at a yard sale and it's going for $3 on Amazon used. You looked at some moron selling it new for $100-just one of those crackpots who never sell anything. The disc has no value whatsoever.
The 1988 release does sound just fine though.
But as for "Wheel In The Sky", the whole Infinity album sounds like shit. I cannot believe how bad and distorted the drums were-and that's in the original mix. I now have the 2006 remaster and it still sounds like crap, but better to me, but IMO nothing will fix how bad it originally sounded.

I did the same comparison on my main system tonight, & discovered 2 things:

1. IP, I agree 100%, all 3 versions of Wheel sounded like poop. I need to do this again with a different song!

2. IMO, this is a great example of why the system one listens with makes such a difference (see Jim M's much maligned what's in your system thread): On my main system, I would rank the 3 versions of Wheel in this order from best to worst:

1. 2001
2. 1988
3. 2006

#'s1 & 3 flipped from what I heard on my computer!

Again, I need to check a different song because Wheel at best sounded dreadful in all 3 versions on 3 of my systems.