Excellent-sounding remasters

[nwilhelmy]

Tears For Fears- "Head Over Heels/Broken" off of the 1999 remaster of Songs From the Big Chair:
TFF producer Chris Hughes "meticulously supervised" the remastering of these albums (according to Wikipedia). The quality is noticeably improved from the originals/subsequent comp albums.

[nwilhelmy]

David Bowie- "Fashion," off of the 1999 remaster of Scary Monsters:

[nwilhelmy]

Can- "Spoon," off of the 2008 remaster of Ege Bamyasi:

[nwilhelmy]

Brian Eno- "Third Uncle" off of the 2004 remaster of Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy):

[nwilhelmy]

Magazine- "Philadelphia" off of the 2007 remaster of The Correct Use of Soap:

[jNive]

Also, do all of these remasters sound as good or better than the originals, aside from retaining musical dynamics - if so, then nicely done

[nwilhelmy]

Dead Can Dance 2008 Remasters- These absolutely sound better than the originals, especially the first three albums. The hiss from the old releases is gone, and there are details in their albums that I had never heard before (and I've listened to each one of their albums about a hundred times each all through college).

The Smiths- The Sound of The Smiths 2008 comp- There's an improvement on a few of the tracks, but it's pretty slight. Unless you're a real audiophile or a Smiths completest (like me), you can probably skip it and wait for the proper albums to get the same treatment.

The Cure Remasters- These sound really great, especially the albums like Pornography and Head on the Door. The first couple sound better, but it's a bit harder to appreciate it since the songs on there are a bit more punk-influenced, so there's not a whole lot of range to begin with. I probably should have chosen a better song to demonstrate with.

The Jesus & Mary Chain 2006 Remasters- These sound amazing. I didn't expect Psychocandy to sound that much better, because the album is sort of meant to sound murky (every song is covered with a wall of guitar feedback), but I was pleasantly surprised.

XTC Remasters- No contest. The albums sound like a layer of grime was polished off, especially the older recordings.

Echo & The Bunnymen 2004 Remasters- Slight improvement, but nothing to write home about. Ocean Rain is probably the most dynamic, with all of its orchestral backings. Keep in mind, I'm talking about the remaster from 2004, not the anniversary edition that was recently released.

U2 2007-8 Remasters- The Joshua Tree is a mild improvement, but the Boy, October, and War reissues are top-notch. The Edge hit one out of the park with these, and hopefully their next album gets the same treatment.

Tears for Fears 1999 Remasters- Hands down, these sound amazing. If you listen to the old releases or Shout: The Best of Tears for Fears, you'll be missing a lot of audio detail.

David Bowie 1999 Remasters- I personally never heard the original releases, but a few friends of mine have told me that there's an improvement. I have no complaints about these.

The Can 2004 Remasters- All of the hiss from the original CDs is gone, and the clarity is amazing.

Brian Eno 2004 Remasters- I think I remember reading that no digital compression was used for these remasters, but I don't know for sure. I never owned the original CD releases, so I can't compare the two.

Magazine 2007 Remasters- The improvement is minimal. I've read Amazon.com reviews that say they sound better, but I really can't hear the difference. The bonus material on these, however, is quite good.

[trevaaar]

I know many have been saying to beware of new remastered releases of back catalog, but there are still some that sound really good. You guys can list some that you think sound good. Here's mine:

AC/DC 2003 Remasters
Megadeth 2004 Remasters

The Megadeths aren't remasters, they're remixes. And while I definitely think they improve on some things (drum sound on SFSGSW for example), they are pretty compressed. Interestingly MFSL put out a gold CD version of Countdown To Extinction with the remixed sound but an uncompressed mastering.

[angelusredrove]

Actually the MFSL is just as compressed as the other 2004 release
It's a DR8 compared to the original's DR11

[trevaaar]

From what I can tell, the original mix is far more dynamic than the remix. MFSL's release is the remix with no more compression (it's a big block, but with a small amount of headroom) and the regular release is the remix plus a limiter. Either way the original's better and changing an iconic album's sound like that is something Mustaine should not be proud of.