Worst-Mastered Great Albums

[herodotus]

Kyuss - Blues for a red sun

Damn, I love this album but it sounds like f**king shite to me..the bottom end is just this huge bloated smear like a giant bloodclot from a chick's period ..

Interesting analogy.

But yeah, the production on that album defines 'muddy'.

Although I think Josh actually likes that sort of thing. The high end on many of his projects (Kyuss, QOTSA, EODM) often seems too attenuated to me.

"Feel good hit of the summer" being an exception.

[Hovmod]

The original CD master of Bitches Brew is pretty infamous. Thankfully it only took them 10 years to put out a proper one.
The second (I think) printing of Spiritualized's Lazer Guided Melodies has a *skip* on one track. I don't know if they ever fixed that; they might still be printing them that way.
I guess I don't love to much music that's really terribly mixed/mastered. Or maybe I don't hate many mixes of music I love. Or something.

Yeah I find Spiritualized really painful to listen to. But I can hear that somewhere down there there is something good...

[Reverse Engineer]

The most recent Mars Volta album really suffers from the 'squash it flat and turn it up' mastering mentality.

Good music though.

I know what you mean about the mastering on that, i still haven't been able to get through the whole thing yet before my ears get really tired and scream for some Sade

[intel]

Samhain - Initium is one of the worst sounding cds that I own, but man do I love that album....

Exile and Pure by Gary Numan suffered some serious vocal production issues that make them virtually unlistenable.

[donkey tugger]

What is 'worst'?

Are we talking open toed sandal resistor monthly 192 bit dither audiphile wanker's bad? If thats the case then probably only Kenny G and wee Phil Collins gets away unscathed.

Personally, I like a bit of muck, shite and imperfection.

[emdot_ambient]

You guys will probably kill me but I think the worst mastered great album was . . .

Mike Oldfield's original Tubular Bells.

I used to think it was amazing, and most of the music still is . . . but the recording is utter crap!

[herodotus]

What is 'worst'?

Are we talking open toed sandal resistor monthly 192 bit dither audiphile wanker's bad? If thats the case then probably only Kenny G and wee Phil Collins gets away unscathed.

The wee tory baldy progger again??

This obsession is starting to become unhealthy.


(btw, my room mates and I used to use that 'in the air tonight' album as our 'asshole detector': We would leave it on the living room coffee table, and every time someone said "Oh Cool, I love that album" we would know never again to invite them over.)

[jeffn1]

I am surprised no one mentioned Rush's Vapor Trails. Maybe your not to hot on the album, regardless of the production.

jeffn1

[donkey tugger]

What is 'worst'?

Are we talking open toed sandal resistor monthly 192 bit dither audiphile wanker's bad? If thats the case then probably only Kenny G and wee Phil Collins gets away unscathed.

The wee tory baldy progger again??

This obsession is starting to become unhealthy.


(btw, my room mates and I used to use that 'in the air tonight' album as our 'asshole detector': We would leave it on the living room coffee table, and every time someone said "Oh Cool, I love that album" we would know never again to invite them over.)

(btw, my room mates and I used to use that 'in the air tonight' album as our 'asshole detector': We would leave it on the living room coffee table, and every time someone said "Oh Cool, I love that album" we would know never again to invite them over.)



I always prefered against the odds meself.....

[t-willy]

lates

t-willy

[MickGael]

The original CD master of Bitches Brew is pretty infamous. Thankfully it only took them 10 years to put out a proper one.

***Hey, I'm still waiting for the Beatles stuff remastered at 24-bits and - hello! - the early stuff in stereo!

[geoffrey]

Great album, horrible recording: Maggot Brain by the Funkadelics

[adamatic]

***Hey, I'm still waiting for the Beatles stuff remastered at 24-bits and - hello! - the early stuff in stereo!

the early stuff should stay the way it was recorded and meant to be listened, glorious mono.

[Peel]

Yeah I find Spiritualized really painful to listen to. But I can hear that somewhere down there there is something good...

Well for the record (not that anyone cares), LGM is probably in my top 5 albums of all time and I love the sound of the first three Spiritualized albums. I just thought that was a pretty bad mistake to get through.
Maybe the "painfulness" for you comes from the style of music as well as the engineering side. Certainly the mixing/mastering of LGM doesn't display the sort of craftsmanship heard on most peoples' top reference CDs, but I often find those "best-produced" albums a little grating. (example from the other thread: http://www.johnvestman.com/commercial_cds.htm.) Sure, I'm awed by the craftsmanship involved but they're so conspicuously squeeky-perfect that they generally give me the same feeling I get when I see that sort of "nice" art favoured by suburban soccer moms. Sort of the thing Martha Stewart would be doing if she were a mastering engineer. If these albums were girls, they'd be wearing tiaras.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not into sloppiness or lo-fi aesthetic just for the hell of it; it just seems that this particular style of "perfection" puts a cap on the character possible in a recording.

[thehumanPlugin]

Great album, horrible recording: Maggot Brain by the Funkadelics

I think the lofi quality is half of what makes it good. I couldn't imagine this album recorded well. A clean maggot brain?