Replacements - Original Album Series

Which mastering do we get?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Al...=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1348590422&sr=1-3

 

It appears to be a Rhino release, so it's almost certainly the most recent (2008) Rhino remasters... though it appears they've deleted the bonus tracks, which is too bad as there's some amazing stuff in there.

 

Is it worth to buy it?

 

IMO No.

 

Because of the mastering?

 

Because of the lack of bonus material.

 

Pick up the Kevin Gray mastered vinyl reissue of Don't Tell a Soul instead. The opening chords of Talent Show absolutely shimmer.

 

Nothing wrong with the Rhino remastering. For the earlier albums it's the best mastering available. For the later (Sire/WB) albums I prefer the original CDs, but the remasters are fine too. This looks like a fairly cheap way to get their best albums quickly, but really if you like the band you're going to end up wanting everything they did... the bonus material is essential stuff. It makes more sense to pay a bit more and get the versions with the bonus tracks.

 

Dont need bonus tracks at all.....

 

What's your situation? Unfamiliar with the band and wanting to check out their best albums? Already a fan but don't have their stuff on CD? Or looking to upgrade from the old CDs to the remasters? It seems like people either LOVE the band or don't like them at all... I rarely come across casual Replacements fans. And if you love the band or wind up loving them, you're going to want the bonus tracks eventually, as there's some essential stuff on there.

 

I love the band, but like the albums the way that they were released and the way I remember them from when I first heard them. I'm less and less interested in bonus tracks from any artist, really. 99% of the time, there's a reason that the bonus tracks didn't make the cut originally.

 

I love the Replacements, but the bonus tracks of nearly any release (including the mats) or of a very casual interest to me.

 

The Replacements are like Dylan in the sense that their outtakes are sometimes better than the stuff that did make the album. Also, not all the bonus tracks are album outtakes. In many cases they consist of stuff that dates from abortive sessions between albums, stuff that was shelved not because of quality but because they started over. There's also some Westerberg demos of tracks that the band never recorded, and one Westerberg-only b-side that's among his best songs ever. There's some exceptionally good material among the Mats' bonus tracks... I'd include Nowhere is My Home and If Only You Were Lonely among the top ten Replacements songs ever.

At any rate, if someone really doesn't want the bonus tracks, it is better to seek out the old original CDs in the case of Tim and Pleased to Meet Me. The mastering is slightly better on the old CDs, and the remasters each have some mastering errors (a count-in is omitted from Left of the Dial on Tim, while the beginning of Nevermind is clipped and Can't Hardly Wait has a glitch on PTMM).

 

Why deprive yourself the option of having the bonus tracks? If you want to hear the album "as is", hit "stop" on the player before the bonus tracks come on!

 

Or grab that cheap box plus the all for nothing comp for some extra great sounding goodness

 

If Only You Were Lonely. This shoulda made it to Sorry Ma! and is one bonus track that is essential for certain!

 

Usually bonus tracks are pretty hit and miss, but there are some pretty legendary performances on the bonus tracks on the Mats remasters...the first demo that they gave to Peter Jesperson, the You're Getting Married demo, the ventilator shaft version of Can't Hardly Wait, etc. Not everything is golden, but the bonus tracks fill in a lot of pieces to of the Mats story.

 

Just my opinion but All for Nothing was terrible. Loud loud loud and not in a good way. It was so bad that I threw it away.

 

I agree with this is most cases. I would make an exception for a few artists: Dylan, Van Morrison and, in this case, The Replacements - some of the bonus cuts are very good, arguably better.

 

Anybody?

 

I am not seeing a lot of other collections there. The one that you link to seems essential for an overview of their "work". I agree that having bonus songs on a CD is nice as long as the original song order was left in tact. Some people might feel that remasters are better because they sound more clean or have better bandwidth and dynamics, etc while others might find that they change the original vibe of the stuff they love. So there is unlikely one clear answer or choice there.

Being a college kid and post college kid from that era, I have all of those titles on Lp, plus their other cool release "Stink". I think that I stopped buying their stuff after "Pleased to Meet Me", which may be their last great Lp. I believe that I also have that one on CD but I have not really sat down to compare them, i just don't do that - life is too short. In general, I prefer the Lp sound to the CD sound of any release, at least those before 1990. I know that I continuously upgraded my CD playback system from about 1986 when I got my first player until perhaps 1996 when I had a $6k digital front end and that was just to equal the sound of the Rega Planar 3 turntable that I still use today. It is possible to get better digital gear today but I am not sure that it is possible to get better sounding tracks of The Replacements, simply because their recording sessions were not, ummm, very well organized. They always came across as very casual and carefree for their better part and then drunk and disorderly for their more usual live performances, in which the venue typically sounds like someone's basement or garage to me - maybe a local bar. No matter what you choose, just relax, listen, and don't take them seriously. It's a nice slice of the rough edges of Americana.
-Bill

 

Which mastering do we get with this Replacements box set, the original or the remastered? One review at UK Amazon says its the old, original mastering. Which mastering sounds best for these CD's?

 

Reply: It says "Rhino 2012" so I guess it's the remaster.

 

As I noted earlier, the fact that this box set is on Rhino, and features albums from both phases of their career (Twintone and Sire) makes it almost certain that it features the most recent (2007) Rhino remastering. Earlier masterings were on completely different labels and it's veru inlikely they'd be packaged together.

As to which masterings sound the best... the earlier Twintone albums (everything up through Let it Be) have been mastered three times. The original mastering is thin-sounding. The 2002 remaster is extremely compressed. To me, the 2007 remasters are tonally the best for these albums.

For the later Sire albums, I would say the original Sire CDs are the best, though the 2007 remasters are all right too.

It should be noted that several of the 2007 remasters (Hootenanny, Let it Be, Tim, and Pleased to Meet Me) unfortunately have editing or mastering errors on several tracks.

 

Thanks, czeskleba, I want and prefer the 2007 Rhino remasters and hope they are contained in this box. I have read your marvelous reviews of the Rhino remasters, and others' too, and this is what I want.