(THE CLASH AND PUNK) ORIGINAL VINYL VS REMASTERED REISSUES

  ORIGINAL VINYL VS REMASTERED REISSUES

I’ve read many reviews extolling the virtues of “remastered reissues”, and their superiority, often to the original vinyl release. For me, I have to say, it’s a myth. There just ain’t anything wrong with the original vinyl. I have yet to hear a “remastered re-issue” that sounds superior, to my ears.

I recently read a review of a new Clash compilation – “Hits Back”. The reviewer’s opinion was that it shed a fresh new light on The Clash’s back catalogue. It prompted me to think I might get a copy of Hits Back, to hear these songs myself, in a new light. I was also prompted to give my Clash records a spin.

The reviewer recounted playing “Hits Back”, and being blown away by how it sounded. They also said they went to a shop that specialises in vinyl, and hearing “The story of The Clash” (which has a track list very similar to “Hits Back”) in the shop’s vastly superior sound system, didn’t stand up to “Hits Back” soundwise.

I played “The story of The Clash” album on vinyl. Sounded pretty fricken good to me.  Played The Clash first album on vinyl. Sounded pretty fricken good.  And I thought to myself, I could save the $20 I would have spent on
“Hits Back”, and buy some more vinyl.

The reviewer – now, the person knows their shit, and is on the money 99.9% of the time, and I have absolutely no interest in starting any kind of cyber war – but they’re a bit anti vinyl. Here’s a snippet of what they said in the review;

“You see, I know that some of you just love that crazy vinyl sound. It is so warm, so scratchy, so dusty, so coated in the turntable rumble of motors spinning and diamonds gouging away at your precious wobbly discs. It’s just so authentic. Pumped through the AM band and spewed out of transistor radios, we actually did hear music differently and our attempts to recreate these sounds created punk rock”.

We I don’t know about you, but I can’t hear the turntable rumble of motors when I play a record. And whilst I don’t have a top shelf sound system, it’s not some shitty old setup, but it is geared for playing vinyl. But I do love that (crazy?) vinyl sound.

Now, production on The Clash’s back catalogue increased exponentially with each record, you might say. The first album, while not being a benchmark of production qualities, isn’t some lo-fi distorted mono recording is it? Three cases in point; (depending on whether you have the UK or US version, of which I have both). “Clash City Rockers” is pretty shit, production-wise, and you’d have to change the entire sound of the song if you were going to beef it up, and it just wouldn’t be the same song. “White Riot” is a subject in point during the review of “Hits Back”;

“The bass is largely the central instrument even in the punkier first album songs (re-listen to White Riot and try to work out why you couldn’t play it in straight chords. It may be all hands on board for the intro but it backs off into sparse lead lines when the vocals come in and the bass is doing all the work). Perhaps this is why the remastering of this album has proved so successful. Paul Simonon’s playing skips and bounces. It damn near pirouettes”.

I dunno. The bass has always been pretty central and clear to me, on White Riot. And it sounds pretty bouncy. The diamonds haven’t gouged away the clarity thereof, either. And particularly on “Police and Thieves” the production is slightly better; the bass drives the song, the drums propel it, and Strummer’s guitar is through one speaker, complimenting Jones’ on the other.

The whole debate gets a bit arbitrary, really.

The question could be whether the person has actually listened to their vinyl recently, or do they have a system that can play vinyl properly, or do they have idealised notions of what the record sounded like, or is their stereo designed to play CD’s over vinyl, or do they actually like CD’s better, and so on.

The remastered reissues I’ve bought, just haven’t enhanced the sound of the album. “Your funeral my trial” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is a vinyl favourite of mine, even having to change the record every two songs. (That’s where it works though, it gives the sound a unique dynamic – it’s a 45 rpm, and 45’s are cued louder and mastered to vinyl differently.) The reissue was (apparently) remastered, but I played the vinyl and CD back to back a few times, and couldn’t detect any difference in sound, and still reckoned the vinyl to sound better. The CD version of “Songs the Lord taught us” by the Cramps, I have to say (sorry Lux and Ivy) actually sounds worse, too clinical and cleaned up. The vinyl version sounds way better; there’s more distortion, reverb, and bottom end in there.

 I got a “deluxe reissue remastered for vinyl” of The Damned’s “Black album”. I shelled out for that one after buying an album by the Supersuckers (Get it Together) on the label that put it out. The Supersuckers album sounded amazing, primo, superb, the sound on that vinyl record was just amazing, there is so much life and energy captured in those grooves. Again, I listened to the original Black album, and the remastered album back to back, and couldn’t see how it had improved.

I’ve had a copy of the Saints “I’m Stranded on CD for ages. It’s been reissued on vinyl, but I found an original copy at a garage sale for $1. Although it’s not the greatest copy, it’s a little worn, the cover is slightly tatty, and so y’know, if I was to put it on ebay, it wouldn’t really fetch much in that condition, but I was still very happy with that score. And I maintain it sounds more lively than the CD, even with the little pops and scratches in there. I put it on the turntable, smiled and thought to myself  ”Now that’s the shit”............. Then there’s the ones that sound good either way; “Feel the Darkness” by Poison Idea sounds pretty much the same on vinyl or CD.

CD’s have their merits of course, as I’m sure many remastered reissues do.  This isn’t so much the question of ”do CD’s sound better than vinyl”, it’s just in my experience and opinion, reissues rarely sound better. I can’t answer whether CD’s sound better than vinyl; I’m biased towards vinyl, obviously. And instead of getting an ipod and downloading all my music onto it, I still seek out vinyl, old and new. It’s a personal thing. If you’re into vinyl, you like and understand it.  It doesn’t mean it’s the domain of crusty old audiophiles, even though I myself may be getting  Old, Loud, and Grotty. 

THE BOYS NEXT DOOR

The Lost & Brave Exhibitions

of the Boys Next Door 1977-1979

 

This has been in circulation since 2009 or 2010, and judging by the amount of shops and dealers carrying copies, there are a LOT of them or it has been repressed several times. I passed on this one a few times and recently picked up a copy.

Whilst I was aware this was a bootleg, I thought though perhaps it was semi-official, and that all the songs were demo versions. WRONG. This record is bootlegged up the arse. The main attraction here is the inclusion of the unreleased demos of “Sex Crimes” (which is the better of these two) and “Enemy of the State” which open the record. To my knowledge they’re unreleased anyway. These two songs are at least worthy for the rarity factor, and that that they show the Boys next Door at their fastest and rawest. These two sound like they’re sourced from a tape. “These boots are made for walking”, (credited here as “Boots”), Masturbation Generation”, and “Boy Hero” are from the Lethal Weapons compilation record from 1978. These 3 songs have the best audio quality on the record, although they still sound like they were sourced from a CD or tape.  “These Boots” and “Boy Hero” were released as a single in their own right, and this 7” (which comes in a plain chequered sleeve) commands high prices on auction sites by virtue of being Nick Cave’s first recorded release. “Scatterbrain” was a rare giveaway single from 1979, and although is technically a Boys Next Door release, has been featured on previous Birthday Party compilations, where it probably sits better sound-wise.

Side Two is the entire first side of the original Boys Next Door LP “Door Door”, and as I say, I thought they were demos, they’re not, they’re ripped from a CD or somesuch, so there’s nothing new there, and the audio quality is shit.  As an overall collection of songs though, this is not a bad album, so it’s shame about the quality

Package wise this is pretty crappy, but pretty average as far as bootlegs go. The cover looks like it was supposed to be screen printed originally, although it’s just someone’s “arty” (ha ha) interpretive drawing of the band (sans Rowland S Howard, even though he is credited on nthe front). There are different pressings; this is a blue cover, there is one in red which has red coloured vinyl (and costs slightly more), but there is nothing on the cover to indicate this. Some earlier pressings have an index label on the record, but this is a generic bootleg that just has a plain blue label, and you need to look at the etching on the run out groove to see which is side A, and which is side B...... The vinyl quality itself is pretty shit as well. This one came warped to buggery, there is a fucking great warp on the outer edge, so much that the needle has to be given a bit more weight to play the thing.

If your’e a big fan of Nick Cave/Boys Next Door/ Birthday Party, there is perhaps some worth for the first two songs for their collectability and rarity.

 

DEAD MAN'S SHADOW - The 4 P's

DEAD MAN’S SHADOW

THE 4P’s (1997 Reissue)

Dead Man’s Shadow are one of the more obscure and overlooked bands of the UK 82 genre. Lacking the profile of a band such as The Exploited, or the Oi! credentials of The Business, they tend to be a little more forgotten. I wasn’t aware of their existence, and only discovered them recently when investigating some other UK82 bands. I checked out some of their stuff on youtube, prompting me to look out for their album the 4P’s on vinyl. A bit of a search led me to two choices for a similar price; the original or the reissue. I opted for the reissue, which is still available, new, from a variety of sources.

Starting out in 1980, the three piece Dead Man’s Shadow put out a slew of singles, including a split with the better known outfit Action Pact before putting out the 4P’ s (Pride Pacifism Passion Perserverence) in 1983.

The 4P’s opens with the punchy and melodic Neighbours which sets the trend for the rest of the album. Without the political bludgeoning of Discharge or The Exploited, they still get their point across, as with the second song When our blood is spilled. Other highlights on side one are the impassioned Needles and Greed.   

Side two opens with the choppy We can do it together, a plea for unity. Danger UXB and OHMS keep the pace up. For my money Perfect World is a killer track on this LP, with its suspense-laden opening, and melodic and powerful chorus riff.  The album closes with Anthem “DMS will play...........”

Musically, DMS straddle the line a bit between a 70’s and 80’s band, with the emphasis on the latter. You could almost say in a way they’re The Clash of the UK82 bands (There are some musical, lyrical and vocal similarities). They do have a more angular and jagged sound than their contemporaries, as well.

Package wise, this is very average, unfortunately. Italian reissue label Get Back (I’m unsure if the label is still going) has reissued a lot of UK82 stuff and that’s great. But with this, as most of their reissues, there’s nothing to rave about.  The legitimacy of Get Back’s reissues remains dubious. There are no lyrics or inner sleeve, no extra tracks, no remastering, and the vinyl is standard. Sound-wise it’s merely OK; the audio quality is questionable. The production is clean, but not polished. The sleeve itself replicates the original artwork. (Some of the label’s reissues feature inferior quality artwork). If you get the CD version however, you get the singles and EP’s as a bonus, and a booklet.  Still, if you want the vinyl, that’s how it is. I’d say search out the original. Captain Oi! has also reissued this on CD, and you’d be better guaranteed of it’s legitimacy with them.

OUTSIDERS CODE - EXILED FROM BIRTH

OUTSIDERS CODE

EXILED FROM BIRTH

(Black Vinyl - Coloured vinyl is available)

 

Abrasive, nihilistic, and heavy hardcore from Australia with one foot planted firmly in old school HC, and the other in the new school metalcore side of things. Exiled from Birth is unrelenting in its delivery yet infused with enough tempo variations and melodic sensibility to keep things interesting.

A point of reference soundwise is Madball, but they retain an individual identity and Australian flavour especially with lyrics referencing convict roots “Live with guilt/forefathers crimes/we’ve come so far/we bear the mark of antisocial crimes/OUTSIDERS FOR LIFE”.  There’s ten tracks on this record, and they all vary slightly in their character, all the while angry and pissed off.

Package wise this is pretty good. Great cover art front and back, nice thick cardboard. There’s a big fold out lyric insert similar to ones that came with some of the old school straightedge records like Judge or Youth of Today. Top notch production courtesy of Zeuss (who’s worked with Madball, Agnostic Front, and Hatebreed amongst many others). All the elements are clear in the mix – vocals, bass, guitar and drums are all there without competing with each other, and the sound gets a little more drive by virtue of being a 45rpm, the cuing is louder, giving the vinyl an extra lift. It’s also one of those “mystery records” where the speed and the playing sides aren’t indicated on the record.

Download code included. 

Oi! THIS IS STREETPUNK VOLUME THREE

Oi! THIS IS STREETPUNK VOLUME THREE

Compilation, black vinyl

(Obviously) the third instalment in this excellent showcase of current oi!/streetpunk bands from around the world. Although  I’m more up to speed with getting this one, it’s been out for a while. I get’em when I get ‘em.

It’s good to see Garry Bushel’s THE GONADS leading the charge here in typical (lowbrow) style with “Go Motherfucker”, a bass driven oi! singalong number. Great to see these oldies still kicking, as they did on the original 80’s Oi! comps like Oi! Chartbusters.

Thing with compilations is that you get introduced to bands that you may not otherwise heard. With volume three there’s quite a few bands I’m unfamiliar with,  including EPIC PROBLEM and their pop-punk styled “Not dead Yet”. DIRTY FILTHY MUGS are up next, with a slightly faster number “Drinks on me” that also has a pop punk flavour . CRASHED OUT deliver a bit more of an oi!/punk sound with   “Get a Life”. RUNNIN’ RIOT are more straightup punk with “End of the line”. CUSTOM FIT close side one with the female fronted vocals of” Love Hate”, which has a kind of oi!-garage rock sound, which sounds  fresh and unique. 

Side two is perhaps the stronger side overall, and opens up with BAD CO. PROJECT and their punk singalonger “Mission Mohawk”. The first of two Australian bands RAZORCUT are up next with the flat out Oi! of “Combative Attitude” which is a stand out track here. BONECRUSHER have kind of a MISFITS/hardcore sound going on with the rousing “Fight for freedom”. THE SHAME get us back to more of a punk/oi! Sound with “Daytime drinking” for you to singalong next time you skive off work and have a couple of beers. The other  Australian band STRANGLEHOLD is next and I always enjoy their buzzsaw guitars and razor throated female vocals, and  they don’t disappoint with “Trouble” which is one of the stronger songs on this comp, and is also one of the better sounding songs here production wise.  Maintaining the pace are TWOPOINTEIGHT and their melodic punk “Cannibal”. Closing side two is STRONGBOW  with the buzzy and melodic “Almost gone”.   

Another great compilation in this series. Vol 1 had 11 songs, Vol 2 had 12, and with Vol 3 it’s gone up to 13. Maybe Vol 4 will have 14!

Package wise this is slightly disappointing in that it’s again minus a back cover, and there’s no info on the bands, and just a front cover thingy. There’s not even a plastic or paper inner sleeve for the record itself. But hey, ya get what ya get, and ya should know what ya get when it’s the third volume, right? The front is a collage identical to the first two. And there’s a badge included with this one! This one is black vinyl (not sure how many or if any were pressed on coloured vinyl). Overall the sound is good and pretty lively but some cuts are a bit patchier than others, which wasn’t apparent on the other volumes, but all in all a good slab of vinyl. Again, download code for those  interested.

VINYL OBSCURITY OF THE MONTH

 

 

THE CHEATING HEARTS

SELF TITLED (2006)

This was one of those records you pick up on the way; it looks interesting, and it satiates the need for the vinyl junkie to get a fix. I got it a market stall for a pretty reasonable price, which always adds to the appeal.

I had absolutely no inkling what the band or record was like – apart from the dealer’s note on the price sticker; “red wax  - ltd 200 copies - crushing garage”. Enough to prompt me to shell out.   I also had no idea when it was released, since he was carrying quite a few copies, and it was new. I assumed it was a new (ish) release. Turns out it was released circa 2006, so I’m way behind the times with this one. No matter. I get ‘em when I get ‘em. Other than that, I was only able to surmise it was released by an Italian label.

I also guessed it was perhaps another garage duo thing going by the cover which has a picture of a couple on the front - the girl is holding the guy’s heart she’s ripped out , and may or may not be going to have a bite. Turns out it’s actually a French  band, and there’s three of ‘em,  two guitars, and drums.

The first song “Miss Bad News”  took me by a bit by surprise, with its plodding riff and distorted vocals; I had to play around with the speeds and at first I thought it was supposed to be a 45RPM. Once I got my head around that and put it back to 33 and gave it another go, I realised it sounded not half bad, and once it got into the next song, it got a bit more momentum and kind of went from second gear into fourth and kept going.  There’s a pretty good garage-punk thing going on throughout here, and it rocks pretty fricken good. It’s mainly sung in  English (though the vocals are distorted, which actually works ok)

 Out of the first side, the pick is probably”Guess I’m fallin’ in love”.  Side one closes with the quieter, melancholy  “Semblant de Rien”.

It’s back into gear on side two with “My baby she’s a Heart Attack”, and again the pace keeps going,   closing with a raucous live cut, ”I won’t crack”

Package wise this is pretty good; simple and effective.  I like the red and white cover, and matching red vinyl. There’s a nice little insert with some pics and flyers etc on one side. There’s a blurb from the band on the other side. Here’s an excerpt ; “ We wanted to be the Heartbreakers so bad at one point, I think we believed we were” . There’s multiple references to drugs and a couple of garage acts.  The production details, credits etc are written in French so I couldn’t decipher that, except that it was recorded in 2003. The production on this record works pretty well I reckon, the two guitars play off each other, and get a left and right channel each, so the stereo separation is great (one guitar on one speaker, one on the other). The drums are also up enough on the mix that they’re audible enough to drive everything along. The vinyl gets a great, full, warm sound and vinyl is probably the best way to hear this kind of stuff.

Apparently there are many related bands to the Cheating Hearts, and this was one of the more obscure bands of ringleader and garage troubadour Choyce. 

Garage rock doesn’t always tick the boxes for me, but when it works, it works, and this has become a bit of a staple on the playlist since I got it a while ago. I have no idea if or what kind of CD distribution this had, this record is one of 200, and as I said it sounds great on vinyl but  once again, you can download it if you want to.

(JOHNNY THUNDERS AND) THE HEARTBREAKERS ORIGINAL MIX vs THE LOST ’77 MIXES - CHINESE ROCKS/BORN TO LOSE 7”

JOHNNY THUNDERS AND) THE HEARTBREAKERS

ORIGINAL MIX vs THE LOST ’77 MIXES - CHINESE ROCKS/BORN TO LOSE 7”

(Johnny Thunders and) the Heartbreakers Chinese Rocks/Born to lose 7”  has been rereleased by Jungle records recently.  The LAMF album has also recently been given the “definitive deluxe reissue” treatment (albeit on CD).

The original mixes are infamously and notoriously sludgy. It’s the stuff of legend, and countless opinions. It also caused the demise of the band. Several  remixed reissues surfaced later; including one by Johnny himself in 1984 that still failed to deliver the goods. ‘L.A.M.F. The lost ’77 mixes’ surfaced in 1994, the supposed “final selection”, which involved innumerable ears sifting through countless mixes; 300 odd mixes were shortlisted to 50, then culled again for the album. Finally, the expanded definitive deluxe reissue appeared  a while ago, in a 4 CD (CD’s ferchrissakes) box set with ‘LAMF - the lost ’77 mixes’, ‘ L.A.M.F. – the Track LP restored’, ‘L.A.M.F. – the demo sessions’, and L.A.M.F. – the alternative mixes’.  The Chinese Rocks 7” is/was available in a variety of coloured vinyl as a separate entity. The reissue is the cover as shown in the picture (credited to Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers. The original '77 7 inch record has no band title on the front, and credits the Heartbreakers on the back) 

So, without going through the entire LAMF album, here’s my two cents worth on just a couple of the available versions; Chinese Rocks/Born to lose  – the original mixes vs ‘the lost ’77 mixes’.  

I put my original 1977 7” on Track Records up against the versions on ‘the lost ’77 mixes’ and listened to them both back to back several times.  

For my money, these ears favour the original versions. The original versions have a certain appeal for sure. The original 7” still sounds OK, I reckon. It’s heavier, and has more bottom end. Johnny’s little solo twirls fill in nicely on the right channel on the speakers. Naturally, it’s more ah, sludgy, and therein lies its appeal, I say.  The Heartbreakers (as they were, at the time, without “the Johnny Thunders and” prefix) in all their foggy  drug fuckedness. The essence of the Heartbreakers  is captured here in a way, gloriously unpolished, as it was recorded. Sure, the vocals are a bit lost in the there, but it rocks Like A Mother Fucker (pun intended), and it’s dirty and raw, just as the band probably were. You get more of the feel of them hangin’ out for a fix with this version of Chinese Rocks. Same with Born to lose, it having more of a gritty sensibility on the original muddy mix .

Not that there’s anything wrong with the versions on ‘the lost ’77 mixes’. They’re  a  bit punchier, cleaner, and clearer. Most people favour them, and prefer the mud washed off. The liner notes on ‘the lost ’77 mixes’ reference cassette tapes of the album at the time, and say the cassette version  sounds as if it had a shower, shave, coffee, and a cigarette compared to the sludgy vinyl version. I’ll reverse that analogy and apply it again in comparing ‘the lost ’77 mixes’ to the original versions. While it may be good to hear the refreshed versions that have had a shower, shave, coffee, and a cigarette, the version that is dirty, strung out, had a few drinks, and smoking a cigarette also has its merits.

So. You could trawl the net for an original 1977 7” or a new coloured vinyl version, should you choose. Long live Johnny’s legacy.