A Few Words About A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Chuck Pennington]

I read somewhere a while back that the remix was made using the mixes of the songs from the soundtrack album master. That would explain a lot, as it is typical for a soundtrack release to be mixed differently than the actual film. It still doesn't explain how sloppily it was all done, or why the original mix has disappeared and never appeared on ANY DVD or Blu-Ray release. I have seen some TV broadcasts using the original mix, but owing to the (lack of) quality of the broadcasts, the fidelity left much to be desired.

 

[Tucker J]

The top end (treble) seems to be rolled off on the remix.You can hardly hear the drums.
The worse parts of the remix to me are summer nights with that cheesy bass drum just after the line "did she put up a fight",the added drum in Hopelessly Devoted to You,which should just be a rim shot on the snare drum,the sound effects in Greased Lightning,the Rydell dance is just all over the place.Infact there's just too many to mention.Apart from all the mistakes the songs have a puny,compressed quality to them.

 

[MatthewA]

I agree with all the criticisms of the remix, but how could they use the album masters when they shorten many of the songs, removing intros in many cases? And the album has different vocal passages in some places (especially on Greased Lightning).

If Paramount seems to want to bury the original mix, there is a third option: throw out the 1998 garbage remix and go back and re-remix it correctly.

 

[BillyFeldman]

Exactly - it's absolutely not the album masters and where Mr. Pennington might have read that or even if he read that is the question. The video presentation on Blu-Ray is, for the most part, quite good. The remix is unnecessary and bad and there is no scenario ever where the original mix should not be included - studios, please do not rewrite history.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

Well, excuse me... I do remember reading an interview with the director in which he briefly talked about the remix done for the 1998 theatrical reissue. I'm currently searching for the interview to see if it is still available someone online.

How anyone can claim the video on the Blu-Ray is "quite good" I can't grasp. There is NO grain and NO fine detail, period. Color is fine, as is contrast, but all of the processing has left a waxen image that no longer looks like film. Add to that a horrible remix and you have a Blu-Ray worth skipping until the next re-release - which is inevitably coming. All of the people praising the Blu-Ray release will be the same ones knocking it when an improved version appears.

It's too bad all I can post for comparison is a compressed version of the original soundtrack via YouTube to compare to the remix. I created my own uncompressed PCM version of the original mix from an earlier video release with the remix on a separate audio track. Switching back and forth between the two shows up just how haphazardly the results are from the remix.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

From what I remember from the Kleiser interview, it was stated he wanted the sound on the film to be more modern and more like the soundtrack album. If I can find that interview, I'll post portions of it.

Can anyone come up with a plausible reason why Travolta's line "It's electrifyin'!" is suddenly repeated in the center channel where it does not belong during an instrumental bridge that is only in the film and not on the soundtrack release? That's the real question, and might explain a bit more about why there are so many changes on the remix, which is more of a "reimagining" that a remix as so many things are changed - all the added reverb, a chorus where there wasn't one before, enhanced sound effects, etc.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Chuck, I did indicate I was playing devil's advocate. I've heard much worse mixes than this.

 

[litemakr]

VH1 HD is showing the movie right now with the original soundtrack. This is the first time I have heard the original mix used on a broadcast in years. Unfortunately, VH1 HD doesn't seem to be real HD. The movie is being shown full screen and is most definitely an older transfer. The sound was in stereo at first, then seemed to switch to mono after a commercial break. Weird. Regardless, it is nice to hear the original soundtrack.

 

[Dave H]

I finally got around to watching Grease tonight. Overall, I thought it looked pretty good. It does look very slightly digital at times as there is some EE and I think there might have been some light DNR. Clearly, some of the softer shots were due to the photography but there is barely any film grain present which makes me wonder if there was some light filtering. However, I didn't see what I would call a "waxy" look. As far as the audio controversy of the remix, it does seem to sound different and it's too bad the original isn't present.