Remastered albums?

[Mr. Shankly]

Ok, I admit I've bought into the whole remastering craze and often find myself buying the newest version of a classic album on CD and selling back my old one. What I've found though is that remastering is a very hit and miss kind of thing. The reason I bring this up is, as you might have heard, the Beatles catalog has finally been remastered for CD and will be for sale Sept. 9th, and I for one am excited. But I've found that some remastering jobs are good (Dylan, Elvis Costello) and sometimes it's disappointing (Uncle Tupelo's Anodyne, The Doors first album).

So I guess this topic is for people who still buy and listen to CD's and aren't necessarily vinyl purists, (although that raises another interesting question with the whole new and improved sound of vinyl craze). What do you think about remastered albums? Do you rebuy albums once they've been remastered? Is it worth it? Do they really sound better or are the instruments just louder? Is remastering another record industry scam? Which remastered albums sound really good and which one's don't cut the mustard? Discuss.

[RFNAPLES]

You are right, remastered albums are a mixed bag. On the whole, they are generally sonically improved over the originals and often include bonus tracks and new liner notes.
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[telefunker]

well, i'm a fan of remastering in any uptempo or densely textured track.. on a dance record or out-and-out rock n roll record, volume and clarity are so important, clarity in particular when dealing with something very dense

the main, or at least the most prominent result of remastering is an increase in overall volume, which is so important because todays tracks are all hard-limited to -.1db (only 0.1 decibes below distortion, clicking and popping) as it has been scientifically proven that louder sounds better to the human ear! play the same record louder and it comes to life.. so remastered versions often have that 'presence' that the original version was lacking

there are some instances and whole genres where it probably has no business being used so liberally.. ambient, classical etc.. anything where there's great dynamic variability or where warm or subtlety is intented.. the trouble is, the record industry is so caught up in this loudness war and todays kids are so used to dynamic flat-lining that nothing in the charts ever dips below the red.. even the quiet bits in songs, if you actually check the volume, are no longer really quiet at all..

but yeah, it is generally a good thing i think!
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