Post subject: [2019-11-22] Iron Maiden "The Studio Collection" remaster series (BMG)
Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2018 5:59 pm
Man Of Peace
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Blabbermouth explains:
Quote:
IRON MAIDEN's Acclaimed Remasters Get CD Digipak Treatment
BMG will continue its reissues series of the IRON MAIDEN catalog with "The Studio Collection - Remastered", covering the band's sixteen-strong studio albums across their career to date.
Following on from 2014/2017's black vinyl releases and 2015's "Mastered For iTunes" project, "The Studio Collection - Remastered" will be released on the digipak CD format, with the track listing matching the original U.K. releases. The recordings are taken from the same remasters as the 2015 hi-res digital releases. The albums will be released chronologically in batches of four, across a nine-month period superseding the previously available studio catalog and all titles will also be made available on streaming platforms. As a bonus for collectors, one CD from each batch of releases will also be optionally available in a specially artworked box featuring a 1:24 scale figurine and exclusive patch. In the November 16 batch, this will be "The Number Of The Beast".
MAIDEN founding member and bassist Steve Harris says: "We've wanted to revisit these for a long time and I was delighted with the remastering we did in 2015. I thought it was the best that our albums have ever sounded and it was only right that we made them available on CD now too."
First batch: November 16
Iron Maiden / Killers / The Number Of The Beast (option of standard or collectors boxset edition including "The Number Of The Beast" Eddie figurine and patch) / Piece Of Mind
Second batch: February 2019
Powerslave / Somewhere In Time (standard/collectors) / Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son / No Prayer For The Dying
Third batch: April 2019
Fear Of The Dark (standard/collectors) / The X Factor / Virtual XI / Brave New World
Fourth batch: June 2019
Dance Of Death / A Matter Of Life And Death (standard/collectors) / The Final Frontier / The Book Of Souls *
* not remastered but appearing in digipak for the first time
Post subject: [2019-11-22] Iron Maiden "The Studio Collection" remaster series (BMG)
Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2018 8:51 pm
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Agreed on the sound of the last remasters. It wasn't a "brickwall" issue for me at all. It was..... they just sounded like shit. Somewhere In Time was the worst.
Post subject: [2019-11-22] Iron Maiden "The Studio Collection" remaster series (BMG)
Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2018 9:43 pm
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These are supposed to use the same mastering as was done for the digital market a couple years ago. Almost all of them, whether they are iTunes, HDTracks, Onkyo are DR6's/DR7's which is a guarantee that they will be far inferior to the original USA CD issues (at least through The X Factor as CD mastering generally went all to crap after that). And I say that with great confidence because Capitol Records did the best mastering of all the majors on early CD releases, and in particular the first USA issues of Iron Maiden, Killers, The Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind and Powerslave are mind-blowingly good. Those are the versions to seek out. Capitol got those right the first time.
Next, the photos floating around have the original UK track listing for the first three albums. That means Sanctuary is not on Iron Maiden, Twilight Zone is not on Killers and Total Eclipse is not on The Number of the Beast. Total Eclipse was a B-side so it's omission from The Number of the Beast is reasonable IMO for this reissue series (even though it's a really good song). Hard for me to believe they would issue Iron Maiden without Sanctuary and Killers without Twilight Zone in North America, but I would make sure to confirm the track listing before buying them.
I'm not at all surprised by this reissue series as Iron Maiden certainly have earned the reputation for milking the catalog big-time. But I still think this is a stupid way to go about it. They should have done it like Def Leppard, 4 albums at a time in one package that includes a bonus disc or two of material. Without question, all those early B-sides would have made this a very marketable package for the first two box sets (first eight albums), because the B-sides through the first six studio albums were of plus-plus-plus quality. I would have bought each of those. There is probably a pretty good chance that this is the Smallwood/Harris concept for the 2021 reissues of all these albums.
As it stands, I'm not buying any of these with the possible exception of A Matter of Life and Death, only because it would be interesting to hear it mastered on CD (they didn't do any mastering for the original CD version, no kidding). And by the time it comes out, I probably will have lost any moderate interest I had so it's more than likely I'll completely pass.
If the Japanese would do these in mini-LP sleeves I would probably get them as the nostalgia would be too overwhelming. I actually thought long and hard about buying the recent black vinyl releases just to have all the Derek Riggs artwork in the 12x12 format just because his artwork on those early albums is the cream of the crop. Worth spending money on quality Derek Riggs mini-LP sleeves? Yeah, why not?! Spend money on crappy CD remasters...nope, done that enough now where I'm not stupid enough to assume remaster=better because these days remaster generally equals <<<<<<<quality sound. And knowing how good my existing CD copies sound versus what is likely to be a version at DR6/DR7....there isn't a snowball's chance in hell the new remasters will be better than what I already have...especially not for the first five albums.
Post subject: [2019-11-22] Iron Maiden "The Studio Collection" remaster series (BMG)
Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2018 8:07 pm
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I see track listings for these at Amazon USA are missing Sanctuary (from Iron Maiden) and Twilight Zone (from Killers). It's really surprising they left those songs off the North American versions.
Maybe this means a complete singles collection (on CD) is in the works? Yeah, that's a big, big stretch but one can always hope. Even though I have all the B-sides through the first 10 studio albums, a complete singles collection would be a day one buy.
Post subject: [2019-11-22] Iron Maiden "The Studio Collection" remaster series (BMG)
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:13 am
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I have the remastered CDs which form this image with their spines:
Are these the ones that are supposed to be poorly mastered? I always thought they sounded great, but I came to Maiden very late in the game so they were my first exposure to their music.
Post subject: [2019-11-22] Iron Maiden "The Studio Collection" remaster series (BMG)
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:41 am
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richman666 wrote:
I have the remastered CDs which form this image with their spines:
Are these the ones that are supposed to be poorly mastered? I always thought they sounded great, but I came to Maiden very late in the game so they were my first exposure to their music.
If they sound great to you that is all that matters. I only own the original CDs from Japan so I am missing some tracks that were not on the original UK track listings. (S/T and Killers). which I should remedy someday.
Post subject: [2019-11-22] Iron Maiden "The Studio Collection" remaster series (BMG)
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 6:51 am
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richman666 wrote:
I have the remastered CDs which form this image with their spines:
Are these the ones that are supposed to be poorly mastered? I always thought they sounded great, but I came to Maiden very late in the game so they were my first exposure to their music.
They were good for the time, but not anymore. I have all of those remasters except the first two Di'Anno releases. I bought the first round of these new ones including the Di'Anno sets. As I said, I'm hearing things I hadn't before. They just sound damn good and aren't loud.
Pete, get Number and Piece so you can decide if going with the rest is worth it.
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