When it comes to metal, whether it be heavy, hard, or hairy, the one thing that really hurts my feelings is a poorly mastered recording. While I admit I possess very little knowledge on the subject of mastering (however informative this link should prove) it would seem that time and inevitable technological developments have redefined what a properly mastered record should sound like, nevermind that my reckoning of a ill-mastered metal record has everything to do with volume control. Putting on an exemplary recording like Judas Priest's Screaming For Vengeance only to discover the maximum volume setting worthy of a dental visit is an insult to the ear and the slap to the id; "why can't I make this any louder", you lament. I feel your pain, people. I too am screaming for vengeance!
Which is why I am particularly stoked about the upcoming September third celebratory reissue of Judas Priest's Screaming For Vengeance - the 30th Anniversary Special Edition, containing not only the remastered original album plus six bonus tracks, but also a live DVD from the 1983 US festival show filmed in San Bernadino, CA on May 29, 1983.I know, you're probably thinking, Priest has already seen to the digital remastering of most of their catalog in 2001, no? Sound hounds and intense listens have generated a clash of opinions concerning just how beneficial the overall remaster treatment was. While I don't pretend that my ears are trained to recognize minutiae apparent in the thankfully LOUD 2001 Priest remasters, my favorite complaint directed at the "creepy, crawly knob-twiddling" Jon Astley inflicted upon the reissue of British Steel compares the end result to "Edith Bunker being gang raped by a swarm of castrated locusts" -- an observation that potentially bodes ill for any serious audiophile.
I have been waiting for this week to arrive for a long time. The long awaited box sets by The Smiths have finally arrived. There are a lot of Smiths fans out there who have been counting down the days for these box sets to arrive. We all probably have about 4 or 5 all time favorite bands. Those bands that we love more than anything else. We collect everything we can by them. We have probably owned their albums on cassette, CD and LP. We have listened to their albums over and over again. We have watched the videos over and over again. We have read all we could about them. We have spent hours reading magazines and books about them. We then later spent years looking for articles and blogs on them online. Or spent hours and hours on message boards or chat rooms. We have seen them live in concert as much as we could afford to. Assuming the band actually
toured when we could see them. These bands are usually the bands that you were really obsessed with in your late teens and early 20s. At least that is how it was for me. The bands that you discovered in junior high that you then became obsessed with in high school and college. The bands that your older siblings or cousins got you into. The bands that your friends that were cooler than you found out about first. The bands that you can't imagine your life without. They are the soundtrack to our lives. We listened to them in our bedrooms late at night by ourselves. We later listened to them late at night with our best friends and girlfriends and boyfriends. We listened to them in the car with our parents and later with our friends. We listened to them on our first dates. We put their songs on compilations and mix tapes. We danced to their songs in our bedrooms by ourselves and later at clubs and parties and at friends houses. These are the bands that helped to create our favorite moments from our past. The songs that helped us to remember those memories.
