i'm planning to buy... a queen cd from abroad. the remastered ones cost a lot more, and there are ones that aren't remastered, and they're cheaper. will there be a big difference if i bought the cheaper one? or does the remastered one just sound better, and that's the only difference?
sorry. i really have to know. i've been DYING to get my hands on queen cd's. :)
Would you happen to have a link to the cheaper ones you're looking at?
Really anything that you're seeing brand new now is probably a new enough version that it will sound decent.
The 1994 UK remasters are said to sound very good and are even prefered by some here. Anything showing a release date after that from the UK is going to be from those masters, I believe. They just get re-issued occasionally.
The 1991 Hollywood Records editions from the US are very nice for the most part. There are a couple of them which don't sound too great.. 'The Game' is a bad one in my opinion and I can't remember the other at the moment, lol. But some of those do have nice bonus tracks (not the remixes, but b-sides and 12" mixes)
The really expensive ones you might find, from 2001 and 2004 in Japan are also mostly good and the 2004 editions are in card sleeves/paper jackets reproducing the original LP art beautifully.
Avoid anything from 1998. There are some Japan/UK/U.S. "remasters" which were released in card sleeves also, which were abandoned after the first 8 albums because they sounded shitty. Too much noise reduction made them dull.
oh! thanks a lot! i was planning to get queen II from tower records... it's the one that is cheaper than the remastered ones.
here's the link: link
:D
thanks again for the help! :D
Yes, that's one of the Hollywood versions and I think it's a good one. I think it sounds quite nice and you also get a b-side bonus track that's hard to find otherwise.
I've made you a little sampler of the first 9 albums from Hollywood Records. There's about 30 seconds from each album so you can hear how the quality is: link
And a flac version which is even better for checking quality: link
(The samples are:)
1. Queen - "Son And Daughter"
2. Queen II - "White Queen"
3. Sheer Heart Attack - "Tenement Funster"
4. A Night At The Opera - "The Prophet's Song"
5. A Day At The Races - "Long Away"
6. News Of The World - "Spread Your Wings"
7. Jazz - "Leaving Home Ain't Easy"
8. Live Killers - "Don't Stop Me Now"
9. The Game - "Another One Bites The Dust"
Bubbles! wrote:
The 1994 UK remasters are said to sound very good and are even prefered by some here. Anything showing a release date after that from the UK is going to be from those masters, I believe. They just get re-issued occasionally.
Avoid anything from 1998. There are some Japan/UK/U.S. "remasters" which were released in card sleeves also, which were abandoned after the first 8 albums because they sounded shitty. Too much noise reduction made them dull.
I've got Queen II, Jazz and Hot Space as UK 1994 remasters and News Of The World and Queen in the 'shitty' Japan remasters and believe me, Bubbles is right, the UK ones sound way better, the Japan remastered Queen sounds almost distorted in a way, whereas Queen II sounds so crisp so learn from my mistakes and get the better quality ones if the price range isn't too big.
oh. okay! thanks a lot for the help you guys!
thanks for the samplers as well! :) now i know what's in store for me... :)
thanks for the warnings as well. :)