Doors remasters (1 Viewer)

[Sean Patrick]

i never even knew that the Doors catalogue had been remastered and reissued, but I always thought these cd's (the old ones) sounded superior to most cd's of recordings from that era. I usually snatch up reissues whenever they are remastered, but since these have no bonus tracks and i love the sound of the originals, can anyone who has heard these comment on their quality? thanks!
PS - other recent remasters have sounded almost identical (to my ears) to the original cd's, like The Clash remasters and some of the Cheap Trick remasters. The Trick cd's had great bonus tracks though.

 

[Matt Birchall]

I've got the (very nice) box set, and I'm very happy with it. I wish I could directly compare the new remasters to the old releases for you, but since I sold/gave away my old discs when I got the box, I can't compare them. Like you, I don't remember ever thinking the old releases were that poor of sound quality.
One of the coolest things about the remasters, is that they've un-edited two tracks from "The Doors": Break on Through and The End. So now, instead of "She get! She get! She get!" during Break on Through, we can hear the "She gets high! She gets high! She gets high!" and of course you can hear all of the "fuck me, baby"s in The End.
And yeah, it's true there are no bonus tracks included on the albums, but the "Essential Rarities" disc is available in the box set, and it includes a few demos, b-sides, and live tracks, and has a few gems. It's also available separately if you don't feel like springing for the box.
You might pick up the first album, at least for the unedited versions of Break on Through and The End. You could also compare the sound of the new one to the old CD--if you hear that big of a difference, you could always pick up the other albums at your leisure.
-mwb-

 

[Alex Shk]

Well, I never owned the original CD's - but I did have the old 2 disc "Best of the Doors" retrospective from those same old masterings, and the current remasters are one of those rare exceptions where the new discs are obviously superior to the old ones.
Now - when I play the old discs in the car, or on the portable - I notice little or no difference. However, on the "big rig" the old discs sounded thin with digital artifacts in the upper registers from the noise reduction used. Additionally, they had little or no bottom. The new versions sound rich and warm - much less noise reduction was used so the high end shimmers instead of grates. The bottom end is restored. The vocals are warm and human.
One of the better remastering jobs - IMHO.
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