My Bloody Valentine

[METALMAN]

I've noticed that the remastered versions of their two albums and a collection of their EPs have been released at a reasonable price. Is anybody getting them?

I've been toying with the idea. My Bloody Valentine should be right up my street. I like noise. I like layers of screaming guitars. In fact, it was through this sense of obligation that I bought and listened to Isn't Anything. But I didn't really enjoy it. It sounded like a washing machine on spin cycle falling down a fire escape. This isn't a good thing.

But that was five years ago. Worth another try?

[SRN]

From what I've heard, the remastered versions clear up a lot of stuff and makes both albums much better listening experiences. One can argue what it was supposed to sound like in the first place, but yeah. I haven't yet listened to either "Isn't Anything" or "Loveless" but I've heard through the hipster-vine that the general perception is that both are a vast improvement in remastered versions compared to the originals.

[Skummy]

Listen to "Loveless" - it's the most accessible album they've done. Mostly because it's by far the best.

They're fucking bollocks live, though. And I have (probably permanent) damage to one ear because Kevin Shields is a prick.

[Crybaby Bunting]

I got both Loveless and the EPs CDs

The EPs one is a really easy way of collecting loads of their early material (still missing a few excellent EPs, but that might come later) and the 'You Made Me Realise' EP is fantastic.

I can't really notice much difference between the two CD versions* and my original version of Loveless, probably because I downloaded the vinyl rip which featured the album mastered properly

Long story short I've been wanting a copy of Loveless for ages but it's been out of print and the original CDs were pretty shittily mastered so this is probably the best way of getting a definitive version.

*yeah, the remasters includes a remaster from the original CD version (which is just fiddling about with the EQ) and a remaster from the original tapes (which could fix the album to quality of the vinyl LP)

[Skummy]

I didn't bother picking up the Loveless remaster, just the other two. Is there a massive difference between the new master and the original CD release? Enough to justify buying the new version?

[Crybaby Bunting]

Not really to be honest, it's nowhere as huge a difference as the Pearl Jam Ten remasters which turned a cheaply produced early 90s album into one that sounds glorious.

At the end of the day it's a very loud album featuring a lot of distortion and attempting to 'clean' distortion is pretty redundant to be honest. It was recorded well over a long period of time so the only problem with the original CD was that it was mixed a little too loud... but that's pretty much the entire point of the album

EDIT: also, according to what.cd, they messed up the CDs in pressing so the remastered from tape version was actually the remastered from CD version and vice versa.

Which is a pretty good way of trolling the FLAC fanbase when they honestly can't tell the difference between them