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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | "David Bash" <bashpop@earthlink.net> |
| Subject | Re: Wackers and Roxy re-releases on CD are out and getting reviews... |
| Date | Mon, 17 Oct 2005 19:08:15 -0700 |
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I just got the three Wackers reissues in today's mail. Fine albums they
are, but I've gotta say that the mastering on "Hot Wacks" and "Shredder" are
thinner than Twiggy after a 30 day hunger strike! I don't have the original
LPs at my disposal so I can't do a direct comparison; Jaimie, Bob, any
insights there?
For me, the primary ingredients I look for in a reissue, other than the
quality of the music, are the following (in order):
1. Sound Quality
2. Bonus tracks (are there any? which ones? how many? how many previously
unreleased?)
3. Liner Notes (how well-written? how extensive? how informative?)
4. Song annotations
5. Photos (how many? how good? how rare?)
6. Cover art (is it true to the original? Is it clean?)
7. General booklet (or inner cover) presentation
God Bless Collector's Choice for reissuing a lot of fine music that no other
label will bother to do, but sometimes they have some egregrious
shortcomings/errors. Another example can be found on the Cowsills "We Can
Fly" reissue. The track listing on the back cover is almost 100% in the
incorrect order, and it's even missing one song! Furthermore, the one track
they did get in the correct order, the title track, is listed as the "mono
album version", which in fact it is not; it's 100% true stereo.
I realize that these guys are on a tight budget and that they reissue a lot
of stuff; again, I have to praise them for reissuing so many fine albums,
but geez, stuff like that is just reprehensible.
David
(N.P. The A-Sides "Hello, Hello. Good garage/psych/indie-rock from
Philadelphia).
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