Born to Run 30th Anniversary edition

I am waiting with eager anticipation. One of the greatest rock albums ever made and I really look forward to hearing the remastering. Unfortunately, it is not released here until Dec 5th.

Let's hope Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River are up next.

Completely agree with both of you. The remastered BTR is definitely better than the original. The box set includes a documentary DVD on the making of BTR (which includes three songs from a '73 concert), as well as the '75 concert DVD from London. The documentary was good, and really drove home for me the relentless pursuit of perfection that Bruce went through in making the album. The '75 concert DVD, while perhaps not the best visually, is loads of fun and is a great performance. Heartily recommended for Bruce fans.

Darkness - which in my opinion is right up there with BTR and is woefully under-rated by most - is deserving of similar treatment in three years (hopefully after another studio album and full band tour!).

Mike

Just got the new box set from my friendly South American river. Looks and sounds damned fine to me.

I love the River, but the original vinyl that I bought when it was released never sounded that good and the CD which I bought thereafter always seemed to have a rather thin sound.

I'm a bit puzzled by the "remastered remasters" phenomenon. Has the black art of remastering really improved that much since the gold remastering? Where are the improvements to be heard? I have some Rory Gallagher remasters and I prefer the bog standard "Castle" versions which were the first CD release (albeit this is rarely the case).

quote:

Originally posted by TomK:
Anybody else bought it? I've not had much time to compare it with the original CD

The original 80's Cd was dreadful. I've bought one of the John Mellencamp remasterd series and it's very good compared with a 90's original of same. Modern remasterings in most cases sound better today than 10 years ago. It's also true for the Rhino 'Yes' reissues.

Watch out for dual layer CD/SACD discs, which seem to be getting more prolific.

They sound bloody awful on a Naim CD player; presumably as Naim players are optimised for 'Red Book' CD replay?

John.

If only this was available with the concert part on audio CD rather than DVD... I find music DVDs rather tedious and would rather just listen to the music.

S

quote:

Originally posted by J.N.:
Watch out for dual layer CD/SACD discs, which seem to be getting more prolific.

They sound bloody awful on a Naim CD player; presumably as Naim players are optimised for 'Red Book' CD replay?

John.

Interesting - I bought Satanic Majesty's Request by the Stones and it is my one and only dual SACD/CD and it sounds dire on the CDX2. I thought I'd just bought a duff Stones' album but my distant memory of the vinyl was that it was far better than the version I have.

Sorry for going off thread.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Bull:
... I find music DVDs rather tedious and would rather just listen to the music.

S

I don't find DVD tedious as long as it is the actual concert footage, but agree with the listening part and have transferred many DVD (that I own) soundtracks (edited as appropriate) to my Yamaha Hard Drive and then burned cd copies of the DVD soundtracks to use at work or if I am not in the mood for video (or to play in the CD3).

Not a big BS fan and don't have the new discs but if I get them I will keep you in mind

Jeff A

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Bull:
If only this was available with the concert part on audio CD rather than DVD... I find music DVDs rather tedious and would rather just listen to the music.

S

Agree entirely. I've watched it once and probably won't do again for a while. The first thing I usually do when I buy an in concert DVD is rip the audio using DVD Audio Ripper and then listen to CD I create from that. The music companies are not surprisingly wise to that though and the DVD and corresponding CD if there is one are seldom the same so if you're a completist you buy both. The recent Cream set is a good example. And I'm sure they'll play stuff on the American leg they didn't do in London, with another DVD to follow etc. And sadly mugs like me will buy it.

What could be better than the 200gm LP available from November 30?

quote:

What could be better than the 200gm LP available from November 30?

Anyone got a vinyl video player?

Steve Bull you can always turn the pictures off. No loss as the DVD is sort off free.

Howard

My DVD player is a long way from the hifi. The music sounds better ripped to CD and played on the CDX2.

quote:

Originally posted by Sloop John B:
I'm a bit puzzled by the "remastered remasters" phenomenon. Has the black art of remastering really improved that much since the gold remastering? Where are the improvements to be heard?

The new remasters, IMHO, often have a bigger sound, more volume, crisper sounding instruments/voice, better separation, in sum, more of that original oomph, if you'll excuse this highly technical term !

Edouard S.

In my experience, the remastered "albums" usually sound better, in some cases hugely better, although it can seem like the record companies keep selling the same thing, and we keep buying them as well!

Not only is Born to Run a great album, but having a full 1975 concert film of Bruce and his young band is a real boon. Now that so many of the much beloved albums from that era are hitting major anniversaries, there are some other similar projects I also like.

Patti Smith's "Horses" was released in 1975, so to celebrate that great debut, Arista has released a Legacy Edition, titled "Horses/Horses", which juxtaposes a fully remastered version of the album as it was released then, adding in a bonus track of the her band covering the Who's "My Generation", which was only released as a B side of single, and they have full concert from London this year, with Patti's current band reprising all of Horses, with Tom Verlaine sitting in. I prefer her later work, but it was an astonishing debut, it this is a nice way to revisit it. For New Yorker's, she will be replaying Horses later this month at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Another great archival release that is sort of available is from 1969, taped at the tiny Fillmore Auditorium in San Fransisco, where the Dead played a four night weekend with the purpose of recording their first live album, which, of course, became "Live Dead". The full bore ten disc set has already sold out of the whole print run of 10,000 they offered to their fans, but Rhino records has also released a three CD set of the "best of the Fillmore West" for those less obsessive. Any way you listen to it, these are amoung the band's finest, most exploratory performances, and they really fully capture the sixties Dead, when Pig Pen was still a force of nature, and Garcia, Lesh, Weir and the two drummers could summon up the Hindu Dance God's on a good night.

Good listening!

Well I finally have my hands on this.

The documentary that comes with the disc - Wings for Wheels, the making of Born to Run - is wonderful. It gives so much insight into the making of the CD, the perfectionism, Bruce himself - fascinating.

As for the live show, it is an outstanding live performance - not the best camera work in the world but it really shows what a great live band they were all these years ago. At the time, no-one knew all these songs, so it is odd to hear without the audience participation that Bruce commands today.

As for the remastered CD, well it is maybe a little better sounding but I don't hear loads of difference.

The DVD's make this package a real treasure and worth the price of admission alone.

Teenage tramps in skin tight pants do the E-Street dance.


Brings back memories of sexier days. I love it and hate it at the same time.

So is the conclusion that the audio CD is better than previous masterings? I have the US gold disc "collectors' edition" (which I bought in NYC six or seven years ago), which sounds pretty damn good to me. In fact, I'm listening to it now, and it is indeed a perfect slice of rock history. So should I be reaching into my pocket yet again?

Graham

quote:

Originally posted by bdnyc:

Patti Smith's "Horses" was released in 1975, so to celebrate that great debut, Arista has released a Legacy Edition, titled "Horses/Horses", which juxtaposes a fully remastered version of the album as it was released then, adding in a bonus track of the her band covering the Who's "My Generation", which was only released as a B side of single, and they have full concert from London this year, with Patti's current band reprising all of Horses, with Tom Verlaine sitting in.

They should have included 'Piss Factory' and 'Hey Joe', or did they? And what about finally giving 'Teenage Perversity and Ships in the Night' a proper release? That album (officially a bootleg) is Patti at her very best IMHO.

Horses is one of my most treasured Rock albums, up there with 'Marquee Moon' and some others. It really changed my life.

Sorry for going off topic. BTR is Bruce's best effort I think, shame about Mr. Clemons' too long saxophone solos (although I recall that I sort of liked those in 75). Shame on me!

Willem

quote:

Originally posted by graham55:
So is the conclusion that the audio CD is better than previous masterings? I have the US gold disc "collectors' edition" (which I bought in NYC six or seven years ago), which sounds pretty damn good to me. In fact, I'm listening to it now, and it is indeed a perfect slice of rock history. So should I be reaching into my pocket yet again?

Graham

I've also got the gold disc and the new one sounds more impressive in places - bigger, more detail in part but I haven't yet decided whether it's actually better. But regard this as a bonus. The real gem is the live DVD which I've now ripped to CD. I'd say it's the best live Springsteen stuff I've heard.

quote:

Originally posted by willem:
BTR is Bruce's best effort I think, shame about Mr. Clemons' too long saxophone solos (although I recall that I sort of liked those in 75). Shame on me!

Willem

Sorry - can't let this one slip by. Different strokes for different folks and all that, but I love the Big Man's sax solos. The sax piece in Jungleland takes that song from "good" to "great." I could listen to Clarence all day.

Mike

So what's new, the Classic Records' lp has been out for years and this uses the same mastering.

quote:

Originally posted by count.d:
So what's new, the Classic Records' lp has been out for years and this uses the same mastering.

This CD sounds different from any verion of Born to Run I've heard. I'd have thought it unlikely that the same remaster would be used for CD as LP.