(You probably need to be a Rory fan to wade through all this :lol: - apologies to everyone else)
I only found out about these the other day.
I've ranted on here before about the original "remasters" - many albums remixed, some, for me, disastrously. Original artwork binned and cr@p put on them instead. Basically, you couldn't get the stuff that Rory produced himself anymore.
Well, it seems someone might have listened to old farts like me complaining about stuff like this. Over the course of the last year or so, the entire catalogue has been gone over. Remastered from the original 1/4" stereo mixes, original artwork restored, cheap price, initial runs in digipacks, blah, blah...
I took a punt last week and ordered:
Against the Grain (1999 version lost vocals and other stuff in the remixing)
Calling Card
Photo Finish (1999 version was actually advertised as a remix "like wot Rory would have wanted")
Top Priority
Stagestruck
Jinx (1999 version completely cr@pped on this - remix included "hidden" instruments playing out of time, and the album was resequenced in what they thought was a better running order)
Well, the new ones arrived today...
And I am in heaven!! :lol:
We've got the old artwork back. And someone with taste has managed, inside the packages, to include some of the 1999 photographs as well.
You would not believe how much happier I feel holding a Top Priority, Stagestruck, Jinx, and Against The Grain that actually look like Top Priority, Stagestruck, Jinx, and Against The Grain...
And that's before listening to anything.
I've listened to some now. And oh... words are not enough! (But he'll try anyway... :lol:)
I'm saving Jinx for later (and I have the hammer ready for the old one), but I've done three so far -
Top Priority
This was Rory's favourite album, apparently. It was definitely my favourite Rory studio album back in the 80s - I played it to death.
The 1999 reissue lost the beautiful album cover (b&w pic on a white cover with black and red writing). And that was my main argument with it. I couldn't really tell what had happened to the music in this case. It certainly wasn't as different as Photo Finish's remix had been.
BUT - I've not really been able to listen to or enjoy the album like I always used to....
So, this new one - I was in tears, literally, listening to it. This is the album I played over and over and over again, and still could.
I ended up doing a little comparison of the two CDs. 1999's is a little louder. But the big difference is how they tried to make everything "bigger" (more modern?) in the mix. Bigger drums, more bass, bigger guitars...
And in the process they lost the thing Rory had created. A maybe slightly flatter, but much more punchy and rocking beast, one that really makes you smile.
I have Top Priority back again, one that I want to listen to.
Stagestruck
I first saw him on the huge non-stop world-wide tour that followed Top Priority (I didn't get that album until after this one, though). This live album was recorded on that tour. The last shows taped for it were recorded two months before I saw him. And this album came out a month or two after I saw him...
So this is Andrew's "Rory Gallagher fanboy" album.
It was very "basic" sound-wise, but the band on it is SO tight, and it is what the band sounded like live in 1980.
SO, what did they do in 1999? They lost ALL the gorgeous artwork and put a bunch of photos from the wrong periods on it (this is a bit fanboy from me, but hey, this album was Andrew's MOST PRIZED POSSESSION in it's original form). They also tried to remedy the lack of bottom-end in the mastering process - something it does kind of need, but it changed it a bit.
And they added two bonus tracks... but they put them in the MIDDLE!!
Two things wrong with this - first, they sound so completely different than the rest of the album. They actually sound like a later Rory (except they can't be, because Ted McKenna is still drumming on them) - out of breath, not able to hold the notes. And the band doesn't sound like it's "locked in together" so much as the original material. Second, aggravated by the first, they are slower numbers and don't seem to fit between Moonchild and Follow Me. Well, that's because he didn't play them then!! He used them as breathers after the first two songs in the set - hit em hard, then slow it up slightly. In fact, you can even hear him introducing the band, they've left that in!
OK, what's 2013's version like?
Artwork - oh bliss, the cover I used clutch to my bosom is back. In fact all the pictures from the original are back, plus some new ones sourced from fans on the internet.
Mixing/Mastering - the 1999 version wasn't remixed, neither is this, but unless my memory deceives me it's mastering is much more faithful to the original. They're not trying to fix the bottom-end anymore. You can hear everything in this punchy wall of fiery three-piece rocking. Years ago I lent the 1999 version to some young guy at work, he said "oh he's a bit like Randy Rhoads, but not as good..." Not anymore! He's back to being like Rory Gallagher removing the top end of your hearing for a week again!
Bonus tracks - sadly, they're still in the middle. And sadly they're still "weak" and out of tune in places. But they are vastly improved by the addition of another bonus - Hellcat - in front of them. I've seen people on the web, who I thought were bigger anoraks than me, going "where's this one come from?". Well, I've got the free single that came with the original album - it's on there. It sounds like it's from the same gigs as the rest of the album. It fits real nice, and it seems to lessen the shock of going into the messy versions of Bad Penny and Keychain. But still, when the original "side two opener" of Follow Me kicks off, you're left wondering whether Rory really would have allowed those versions of Bad Penny and Keychain out with this album. Why didn't they put them at the end??
The extra tracks aside, this album is back in the shape I grew up with. Makes me pick up my strat and start miming in the living room like I did in those bedsits 33 years ago.
Photo Finish
This is the album before Top Priority. This is the one where he ditched the first version (and the band he'd used for 5 albums in the mid 70s) to make a harder, grittier, album. One that sat with the punk thing that was coming out and that he admired for living up to the spirit of rock and roll...
It's also the album that Ted McKenna (ex Sensational Alex Harvey Band) started his stint as Rory's drummer. He had very little notice and learning time, and during set-up at the studio, no-one knew what the band sounded like live. And they didn't put much effort into a drum sound. They found that on Top Priority. But on these sessions, he sounds like he's got a kit made of cardboard boxes and tupperware.
When Rory was alive, and the catalogue was moving to CD, he held this one back because he wanted to fix it. When he died, there were copious notes he'd made on how to remix it. So with the 1999 stuff, and this was one of the early ones that got done, they remixed it according to his notes.
It's one of the first 1999 lot that I bought. And I appreciated most of what they'd done. They'd messed up a few things - some of the guitar parts sounded unbelievably different. But over all, it seemed like "better".
Years on now, with the 2013 version ringing in my ears, I am SO glad I've got the original mix back. OK, it does sound a bit boxier in places... but what it also sounds is "professional". It sounds like it was mixed by someone with artistic taste and attention to detail, who understood the material and the artiste's vision. The songs come through a lot better.
I applaud what they were trying to do in 1999, but they failed. Rory, who made the original mixes, would have said "that's not it, let's try again". At least, I imagine he would...
SO, Rory's stuff has been fixed. You can get what he originally released again.
BUT! The market place (Play, Amazon, ebay, etc) is VERY confused now. I've just ordered the remaining albums with fingers-crossed. I suspect that some won't be digipacks. And two of them, from last year's batch, I've had to order "used". I've managed to find everything for approx £5 each - which is what was intended. You can also find some of last year's batch for eighty-odd quid!!! (And when you dig, you discover some of these expensive ones are the hated 1999 stuff...) *sigh*
OK, back to the sofa (and, for me, the 80s), with a nice coffee, some roll-ups, and the rest of the albums I have at the moment :D :D :D :D :D
