Howdy! What's the worst mastered cd you ever heard? My two "Favorites" are: 1 John Fogerty - John Fogerty. 2.Rickie Lee Jones - Flying Cowboys. Any other suggestions?
I come back to that horrific Shangri-Las comp on the Euro Tring label — tape defects on almost every song, nth generation sound on the songs without defects.
Very true, but the cd mastering adds an horrific ear bleeding dimension to the album, i couldn't bear listening to it.
I know 99% of you won't know this band, but a few of the 80's rockers in the house just might... BRIGHTON ROCK - YOUNG, WILD & FREE on WEA Records Canada (1986). Oh my God, what a terrible production / mastering job. Too bad, because the band and songs are great.
Mastered or Re-mastered? i.e. bad from the get-go, or ruined by modern mastering? My vote goes to Gin Blossoms "New Miserable Experience" Deluxe Edition by Erik Labson. Worst mastering from the get-go is Metallica's St. Anger. That bugger is really compresssed!!
Kelly Groucutt - Kelly (solo album from the bass player of ELO). Sounds distorted because of clipping and badly EQ'd. A mess.
I haven't heard that one, but there is "The Kids Are Alright" reissue and Roger Daltrey's "Daltrey" album (have to put on the EQ for that one then it's not too bad) I keep reading that Rush's "Vapor Trails" is pretty bad. . .
Worst cd The cd sounds harsh and metallic and yes it is mastered too low but that's not the main problem with it.
Resurrecting King Crimson from another thread... The first Definitive Edition mastering of King Crimson's "Islands" was done in 1989. At that stage, EG could only find a damaged "master" tape that had lots of loud crackling defects throughout (in particular) the first track (Formantera Lady"). The magic of science COMPETELY ERASED these sounds. Unfortunately there were some side effects - the sound had degenerated to sounding like a bad Dolby B cassette copy of a copy with misaligned heads all along the way AND with bass distortion - but NO HISS OR CRACKLES (or top end for that matter). It was so bad they must have received several complaints as the CD was re-remastered with the loud crackling noises left in and this one sounded MUCH better (until the real master tape was found for the 30th Anniversary Series).
When Eric Anderson's master tapes to "Stages" were lost, all they had was a cassette copy. Columbia Records would not put it out form that source and it was only released many years later as the "Lost Album, Stages" after the master tapes were located in an unmarked box. Richard.
I'm tempted to vote for Rush's 'Vapor Trails' but my heart tells me to go with the first CD edition of The Fall's 'Fall In A Hole' - mastered from a damaged LP so bad that it actually SKIPS!!! It's since been remastered properly from the original tape (and adding a ton of bonus material, just to make the repurchase more palatable) but I'm still shocked that anyone could have released this in the first place (especially seeing as how it came out on the band' own label). Someone must have been listening; when the record starts to skip, they pushed the stylus over manually with their finger.
Lifes Rich Pageant R.E.M. This was an early CD purchase. I didn't have the vinyl, only the cassette. It sounded like the bass was missing. I don't know if it was ever re-mastered but it sure was disappointing. It says it was mastered by Bob Ludwig, who I know is highly respected. I'll have to listen to it again to find if it still sounds as bad.
i think the REM: Lifes Rich Pageant CD sounds a bit off as well, but i remember the cassette version sounding GREAT in my car. go figure.
You can add any of the original Tull cds. The first one I bought sounded so bad I returned it to CC. I didn't buy another Tull cds until Mofi came out with some. Beatles 1 has to be one of the worst of all time.
I think the original A Passion Play sounded really good. I ditched it for the MoFi, but it was still a good one.
