I've finally upgraded to The Platinum Collection after 8 years with The Gold Collection, hehe.
I asked once before whether they had remastered Hits II for the set. Well I've answered my own question finally. Indeed, at least the Hollywood version is. Here are my notes:
-Longer playing time:
Original time: 75:59
New time: 76:28
-No longer a 1 second gap before AKOM
-Clearer sound, and amplified (though not as high as vol. III based on visual analysis)
-Four tracks which faded out early on the original version have been replaced with their full album versions:
*01 A Kind Of Magic 4:24 (was 4:20)
*03 Radio Ga Ga 5:47 (was 5:42)
*06 Innuendo 6:31 (was 6:26)
*11 The Miracle 5:01 (was 4:54)
Now I'm about to experience Hits III for the first time. Wish me luck ;)
Well, better late than never! ;-)
I think you would enjoy the Korean version (2 gold CD) set as well, though I'm not sure about total running time. I've got both UK and USA versions of the Platinum Collection and much prefer the UK version soundwise. I wish they could have released it on vinyl though!
Well this is a vast improvement over the original and Gold versions of Hits II. They had a very flat, compressed sound to me. So I'm happy :)
I'm glad they left the actual edited tracks alone.. even Under Pressure. It wouldn't have felt the same if they'd changed it *that* much. Hits II was the first import CD I ever bought. It felt so special to have something not even released here. LOL.