They're regular CDs, remastered in 2001 but packaged in 2004 in miniature replicas of vinyl album jackets and sleeves. Beautifully reproduced, even the tiniest lyrics can be read. It was done once before in 1998 for the first 8 albums but those versions are very bad quality compared to these.
I don't know how limited they are.. still easily available..
There were two sets of miniatures, one in a black box and one in a white box if I'm correct. The first one had the 1998 LP sleeves of Q1-ANATO, the 2nd had ADATR-TG. They were only available in the UK as far as I know.
Pim Derks wrote: They were only available in the UK as far as I know.
Uh, yeah. And Japan, and the U.S., where they were in a box called The Crown Jewels.
Here's the Japan versions: link (they aren't as nice as they look)
But anyway, avoid anything dated 1998.. those are horrible both in packaging and sound quality. If you're interested in these, get the 2004 versions. They are faithful to the original UK albums including posters and printed inner sleeves where needed. And they all include large foldout lyric sheets in addition to the sleeves. I have the 15 studio albums, but two versions of the Made in heaven cover are available (I chose the orangish one) and the live albums are available now also. I'm hoping they'll do the compilations as well :)
What do you all think of the remastering on "The Crown Jewels? I thought that it was amazing and have used that as the source for measuring all other things that since before 1998 remastering wasn't as good up to that point for anyone. So these minatures were remastered how many other times after 1998? Again in 2001 AND 2004? ...and were they limited edtions or not?
At first I thought the 'Crown Jewels' sounded alright, but then I started hearing from multiple sources that some sort of noise reduction processing was used which wasn't right for all of the recordings, and as I listened again I realized the sound was very dull.
And I think the sound quality combined with the poor packaging is why they decided to start over from the beginning in 2004.
But the 2004 card sleeve miniatures use the 2001 remasters, so they weren't done again in 2004, only the packaging was new.
In a nutshell, the few among us here who compared various remasters came to conclusions which I agree with, and they are:
1. That the pre-1984 albums which were analog masters for the most part sound better in these 2001 remasters. One glaring exception is the first album, which sounds worse. My own opinion is that the 1991 Hollywood Records version sounds best for that one.
2. The early digital albums The Works, AKOM, The Miracle have equalization adjustments that seem to remove some of the midrange. They sound nice and loud and extra bassy and clear at first, but the vocals and guitar don't sound quite right. Then 'Innuendo' sounds really bad, much like Queen 1 does.. and Made In Heaven isn't really any different other than they reduced the volume. I don't know about the live albums as I was away when they came out and didn't buy them myself.
So it's a mixture of good and bad. I doubt that there's one whole series of CD masters that sound perfect for every album. The main appeal of these 2004 card sleeves is that you can get the whole collection of 15 studio albums and 3 live albums if you want, and if you like the idea of miniature reproductions of the original vinyl albums, the packaging will impress you. It's nice quality.
Again, they are still easy to find so I don't believe there is any 'limited edition' status on them. I haven't heard the term used anywhere related to them.
Thanks for the information! So how long do you think that it will take to put the entire studio (15 l.p.s) into 5.1? Do you think that they will do this? In my opinion that is the direction that the music industry is going to move in especially with the dual discs coming out that Sony Music are doing now. I am crazy excited about all of that!
Jeffrey Todd wrote:
One glaring exception is the first album, which sounds worse. My own opinion is that the 1991 Hollywood Records version sounds best for that one.
I have to disagree with you there - the best sounding version of Queen is a mint condition 1973 pressing on a decent stereo with a dogs bollocks stylus. Vinyl rules!
Pim Derks wrote: They were only available in the UK as far as I know.
...cut... If you're interested in these, get the 2004 versions. They are faithful to the original UK albums including posters and printed inner sleeves where needed. ...cut...
Well, actually they aren't so faithfull. I decided to get me one for my collection, and after a long thinking I decided to get the Innuendo instead of ANATO, because Innuendo have few songs that are different on vinyl, but...
Allthough the cover looks like a LP (track order, and note that some songs are edited for vinyl versions), the actual CD is same as standard CD version.
Yes, but I meant the packaging was faithful compared to the 1998 versions.
Indeed, all of the jackets list only the vinyl contents but the CDs contain the full CD versions.. for example, AKOM and The Miracle include the bonus tracks.
LOL. Anything else I can clarify? :)
