Where the reissues miss the mark
#1
Posted 30 January 2012 - 06:58 AM
For me, I loved them, I just think the DVD's left something to be desired. I know these were about the music, and we have a DVD of the music videos.... But i guess i just would've liked to have seen a more complete package of the era. This will be more important for the future releases, I think. But I definitely think the DVD should've included all the music videos from the era. I wouldn't mind seeing some television performances and the like, although I know licensing for those things can be difficult.
#2
Posted 30 January 2012 - 07:25 AM
The new mixes are excellent, they gave new life to the albums and still keep original feeling and spirit. However, I thought the second discs are a waste of space, for both SD and Gish.
A lot of repeated songs and alternate versions of songs that had already been released or were known to the fans. For Gish, for example, a disc containing songs from the pre-gish (rematered/remixed), never released physically before, would be much better (Honey Spyder is a great example). For Siamese Dream, songs like STP and USA are also worthwhile.
Those repeated songs or alternate versions that add little to the disk is legal, however, could be released aside, as part of the SPRC, for example.
I have both Gish and SD (originals), I won't buy a new album if it's like that. I will keep my originals and download what I think add something new to me.
#3
Posted 30 January 2012 - 08:03 AM
I think it's just the hardest of hardcore fans that would complain about the bonus discs. There were a lot of song versions that I never heard before and I believe that previously released songs were cleaned up quite a bit?
As for the DVD - I am sure there were a lot of rights/legal issues involved. I think the main goal behind these reissues was to deliver a quality product, but at an affordable price. I know that I would have thought twice about purchasing the reissues if they were selling at $120 each (like other bands have been doing). If you do feel like watching the official music videos by era, they are sorted that way on the "Greatest Hits" DVD.
My only complaint is the size of the previously unreleased pictures in the booklet (lol). I am not sure if they were printed at 300 dpi which is usually the bare minimum for printing pictures. I suppose a more intricate booklet would have increased the costs though.
#4
Posted 30 January 2012 - 08:10 AM
#5
Posted 30 January 2012 - 08:30 AM
I think the bonus CDs are a great listen. Billy wanted them to tell the story of that era and to hint at the overall feeling behind it, and I think they're remarkably successful in that sense. They should be treated in a somewhat impressionistic vein.
Overall, these were outstanding packages, and the physical packaging is really top-notch as well, it's worth noting. The vinyl and 24-bits sound amazing. Really a waste of time to criticize these things, imo.
#6
Posted 30 January 2012 - 08:32 AM
#7
Posted 30 January 2012 - 08:49 AM
werideatdusk, on 30 January 2012 - 08:30 AM, said:
i think the energy was perfetc for the others, but rocket had the worst vocals ive heard from billy....well ever, ive heard drunk singers sound better than him in that performance, and energy cant save a bad performance, just look at senses fail, most energy youl see live but it cant save the awful vocals
#8
Posted 30 January 2012 - 09:05 AM
orchidaii, on 30 January 2012 - 08:03 AM, said:
I think it's just the hardest of hardcore fans that would complain about the bonus discs. There were a lot of song versions that I never heard before and I believe that previously released songs were cleaned up quite a bit?
As for the DVD - I am sure there were a lot of rights/legal issues involved. I think the main goal behind these reissues was to deliver a quality product, but at an affordable price. I know that I would have thought twice about purchasing the reissues if they were selling at $120 each (like other bands have been doing). If you do feel like watching the official music videos by era, they are sorted that way on the "Greatest Hits" DVD.
My only complaint is the size of the previously unreleased pictures in the booklet (lol). I am not sure if they were printed at 300 dpi which is usually the bare minimum for printing pictures. I suppose a more intricate booklet would have increased the costs though.
Minimum is 150
#9
Posted 30 January 2012 - 09:21 AM
#10
Posted 30 January 2012 - 10:47 AM
I just listed to Adore for the first time in a while, man that is a sad record. Haunted. Especially after listening to Teargarden pretty heavily lately!!!
#11
Posted 30 January 2012 - 01:16 PM
Another way that it would have worked well is if there was a CD/DVD package that maybe cost a few bucks more, but then you get a redeem code to download all of the songs in 24bit and possibly get a few more exclusive tracks that are not included in the other versions.
#12
Posted 30 January 2012 - 02:12 PM
i know billy said he would release the bonus material on vinyl in the future but come on
#13
Posted 30 January 2012 - 02:18 PM
#14
Posted 30 January 2012 - 02:21 PM
But I still love the deluxe editions. The DVDs, bonus CDs, liner notes and photos make them worthwhile. Even if the bonus CDs have lots of stuff I've heard, I have the physical copies now, as well as lots of stuff I haven't heard. The DVDs are fun. Billy's vocals on the Siamese Dream DVD are pretty horrible, but it's still fun to watch as it was a cute performance.
So, yeah. I'm not disappointed at all. I love these things and I can't wait for more.
#15
Posted 30 January 2012 - 03:18 PM
Cundinama, on 30 January 2012 - 02:12 PM, said:
i know billy said he would release the bonus material on vinyl in the future but come on
But let's be honest with ourselves here: how often are you or anyone else (for the most part) going to sit around and listen to a handful of demos on vinyl? The fact that it would cost more for them to press it, in addition to the fact that fewer people would have bought it due to its inevitably higher price just makes the argument silly.
#16
Posted 30 January 2012 - 03:57 PM
#17
Posted 30 January 2012 - 04:07 PM
RottingApples, on 30 January 2012 - 03:18 PM, said:
um what makes you think i would buy demos on vinyl and not listen to them?
#18
Posted 30 January 2012 - 04:24 PM
Cundinama, on 30 January 2012 - 04:07 PM, said:
But how often are you or other people going to? Enough to make pressing those extra LPs and charging the extra cash to cover costs worth it? I agree, it sounds nice, but there's so much else that could be done re-issue wise than taking a handful of demos we've already got on CD and in high quality digital form. It just seems redundant for them to go through that extra work, and charge that extra cash.
#19
Posted 30 January 2012 - 04:27 PM
#20
Posted 30 January 2012 - 04:53 PM
Cundinama, on 30 January 2012 - 04:27 PM, said:
I don't see how. If there aren't many who would, then what makes it worth the effort of producing it? Just because a few fans would listen to it once or twice (or regularly) does not mean it was a bad decision for them to have not bothered with them. Where you originally said they "should have" included it, I disagree, in the idea that there would not be enough demand to make it a financially wise decision. And even those who might want it on vinyl probably won't listen to it that often (because who sits around and regularly listens to demos on vinyl), so what makes the purchase truly worthwhile to those who even bought it? A slightly larger packaging in your collection? The fact that you and a handful of others disagree does not yield enough demand to make it a worthwhile venture. So no, I don't think my assumption is asinine because I have a hard time believing most Pumpkins fans would want to dole out twice the price of the vinyl to have the demos on vinyl, especially when they've already got them on CD and/or digitally, and its highly unlikely that they'll listen to the demos on vinyl more than once or twice even if they did bother shelling out the extra cash.
This post has been edited by RottingApples: 30 January 2012 - 04:57 PM
#21
Posted 30 January 2012 - 05:01 PM
i wouldnt have minded if billy had released the bonus material separately on vinyl when the reissues were released back in november. i just dont like that he's putting them aside for a later release. that is all
#22
Posted 31 January 2012 - 08:23 AM
In a total tangent, I was just remembering that there will be reissues of MSOTS, TFE, and Zeitgeist coming in 2013 or '14... Billy has been receptive to fans' complaints about the sound on MSOTS and Zeit and I would not be surprised if a remix is done and not a simple remaster (I think he mentioned that that will probably happen with the Machinas as well).
I'm sure the MSOTS reissue will be killer with all the Djali stuff and maybe recordings of the earlier Zwan songs. TFE - finally get a studio Bit 4/5 and all that stuff? And Zeit - maybe we'll get that studio run through of Gossamer, finally? And to hear "United States" on heavyweight vinyl has been a great hope of mine for some time.
Exciting stuff.
Oh, and why aren't the bonus concert DVDs being issued in VHS? I like that warm analog quality!
#23
Posted 01 February 2012 - 03:14 AM
werideatdusk, on 30 January 2012 - 02:18 PM, said:
This :cheers:/>
Considering i owned this both these albums already on Cd and vinyl - i do feel a bit ridiculous purchasing them both again in the deluce sets and also got Siamese dream again on vinyl. I would love to have the 24 bit version of both - but fuck me, i'm not buying the same album 5 times for ANYONE.
A audiophile vinyl with a 24bit download of the album and a standard quality version on the bonus disc for $40 would get my buy in. If i am going to buy into these re-issues again - i want it to be a complete "one stop" alternative. Fuck cd - people are giving the god damn things away these days ( just like they did with vinyl 20 years ago ), release it digital and on vinyl where the true music lovers heart it. CD is a middle format now - it hasn't the warmth and emotion of vinyl - and it hasn't got the detail and fineness of the 24 bit. It pissed me off i had to buy the vinyl and the deluxe cd copy just to get my hands on all the content.
Bonus = digital.
Album = Digital & vinyl
The rest is pointless material shit the world doesn't need more of
werideatdusk, on 31 January 2012 - 08:23 AM, said:
I think most people accept that is stupid. But a vinyl with a digital download of the bonus stuff is ideal. Sell that at $35 and bang, you got me. Have a "bolt on" option of paying another $5-$10 for the 24bit download of the album only -BANG! you got me again. You just talked me into spending $45 for 1 vinyl and a bunch of files on my computer that, if i looked REAL hard for on the internet, i KNOW i can get for free.
#24
Posted 01 February 2012 - 03:54 AM
#25
Posted 02 February 2012 - 04:52 AM
werideatdusk, on 30 January 2012 - 02:18 PM, said:
It's funny that we now have vinyl being done for albums that were made using digital tools. Sure, I can understand vinyl as essential for analog aficionados, but at some point it only becomes more and more of a novelty. Sure, tapes of bands from the 50s-70s were primarily done purely via tape. Lots of landmark albums in there. But the reality is that the original Pumpkins albums were mixed and mastered using boatloads of digital tools, then and now. Not to mention that Billy's guitar sound was processed through several digital racks anyway, and going through several stages of A/D-D/A conversion, per his live rig at the time. So, even if the Pumpkins records had been recorded and mixed 100% completely in analog, all of those guitar parts would still have had digital heavy amounts of digital conversion in the signal chain, even back then. It's funny when you see so many bands (and some producers) pushing for analog these days, and then you notice that the same band's pedalboards are loaded with digital pedals.
So to make vinyl reissues for these albums (or any other album from the 90s) starts getting into a thing of making high-quality vinyl for the sake of cashing in on the fad, rather than actually doing the sound any real justice, or staying true to its supposed roots. Siamese Dream was ultimately recorded to tape because that's the medium that was still the standard back then for archiving. But many of the sounds on that tape had already been subjected to all sorts of digital processing, especially from all of the mixing that Alan Moulder did. So, any perceived "warmth" retained by putting out SD on vinyl is moot. People will still like vinyl because they want to like vinyl, not because there's an improvement in sound for these types of albums.
As for the reissues, I think that a problem is that the Pumpkins were quick to cash in on the b-side market when they released Pisces and TAFH back in the day. So, the reason why demos from Gish, SD, and MCIS aren't as interesting is because there were REAL b-sides that the band had already officially released. It's weird seeing a "reissue" of a collection of B-sides. They would have done the Gish, SD, and MCIS reissues so much better by putting the B-sides released on those collections back into the original album sets that they came from. That would've done the original albums so much more justice, because the listener could easily hear just how good those B-sides really were next to the albums that they were left off of.
I think that the DVDs are fine. The Metro 1993 DVD is an underrated jewel, which I think gets missed in today's immediate gratification world. It's included as a bonus, but it could've easily been released as a standalone release, if the audio was mixed a little better. The video for that show had only ever existed in fragments, so after all these years many collectors finally got to see it complete. I would've preferred to see a live album as well, with more studio footage, a documentary on the album's legacy, or a collection of live cuts from the era (not like Vieuphoria, but specific to the album eras). Live versions of the B-sides from various shows would've been a plus. Ultimately, my only complaint with the reissues isn't that they didn't go as far as they could've.
#26
Posted 02 February 2012 - 01:44 PM
#27
Posted 02 February 2012 - 02:53 PM
#28
Posted 02 February 2012 - 03:38 PM
werideatdusk, on 02 February 2012 - 01:44 PM, said:
I know what you mean, because most of us grew up with some form of physical media. The recent generations haven't, so they likely won't have any of the nostalgia or connection to having physical media for music. Just as they'll probably never have a connection to cassettes or VHS tapes. But that's not a bad thing. Tape has a shelf-life, just as vinyl does. Nothing is forever. Everything requires some form of deliberate preservation. You could leave a stack of records in a timecapsule, and you'd still need a record player to get the sound out 100 years from now. Just as you'd need a computer to get the sound out of hard drive. You still require something to get the music out of something else. And, of course, there was that time in history when there was no such thing as recorded sound. You either heard music from an orchestra or group of musicians in person, or you played an instrument yourself.
As for the sound attributes of analog, oftentimes what people are describing as "warmth" is actually the inherent limitation of the actual media. With tape, the compression and saturation of frequencies that people find so pleasing is actually an example of the limitation in the capability of the media, and is technically a flaw. A flaw which you could even duplicate digitally, but why would anyone bother to do that? With vinyl, any benefits you get also come at the price of surface noise, eventual wear-out, low-end rumble, and short running times per side. These are all reasons why classical fans embraced the digital format so quickly, because it allowed them for the first time to hear some of the longer works of music completely interrupted, with no added noise or compromise in sound. You get to hear all of the dynamics (loud/quiet) of an orchestra, and there are no unnecessary artifacts to the sound.
Ultimately, there is also a huge psychological factor in there too. People have been told to automatically assume that analog is better, and so if a vinyl album comes even close to fulfilling that description (or actually does sound better), then it's easy for people to think that it must be because of the medium. So, people invest in nice turntables and are getting great results. However, they rarely stop to upgrade their CD player, their speakers or PC when listening to music in digital formats. And, it's not as if the vinyl is going to sound bad. It will still sound like the album. So, what actually does change is that with vinyl the listener is focusing on the sound more than they normally would if they were justing pushing play on an ipod. They had to clean the record, put it on the turntable, and then deliberately sit there and listen to it (there's no such thing as going for a walk and listening to an lp at the same time). Whereas with an ipod, you can walk around, go for a run, listen in your car, etc. Lots of distractions there. With vinyl, you're sitting down and paying so much attention to the act of listening, you're going to hear things you never heard before anyway. Next thing you know, people are actually enjoying things like the surface noise, etc because there's something fun about the retro aspect of it. Much like seeing an old movie in Technicolor and liking the look of the picture, because it's so much different than what we have now.
#29
Posted 16 February 2012 - 12:08 PM
Loved Siamese Dream, thought the DVD sounded amazing. Have still yet to pick up Gish though I have heard many of the bonus tracks. (I came across the Gish demos by a bizarre accident on a disc a friend gave me waaay befoe this release.)
I agree Adore is going to be interesting...wonder what they would use for the DVD...hopefully not the Olympia, Dublin performance.
If they re-release Mellon Collie hopefully it would be with a third audio disc with alternate vocals of stuff like zero (or perhaps the first two discs could follow the sequence of vinyl).
no complaints, i think all re-issues should be like the first two!
#33
Posted 16 February 2012 - 11:54 PM
frednirv632, on 16 February 2012 - 09:54 PM, said:
Them too. The Gish era had so much left over still, like Daughter, other demos, outtakes, and yet they fill space with stuff like Starla (2011 mix). I'm fine with the Drown (Alt. Solo) version, as the last half of it's totally different. Also, note how Siamese Dream has no updated mixes to fill space. (Except Pissant maybe).
#34
Posted 17 February 2012 - 01:31 AM
ButterflyBullets, on 16 February 2012 - 11:54 PM, said:
any unreleased mellon collie stuff is going to be good. alternate vocal takes and all.
#35
Posted 17 February 2012 - 04:02 AM
judgemathis, on 17 February 2012 - 01:31 AM, said:
At this point is there really anything from the Mellon Collie Era that hasn't been heard in one way shape or form? There was a bootleg floating around if I recall called Mellon Collie Disk 3, there was also one or two that where "demos" for Mellon Collie, and lastly there was the Aeroplane....singles collection...I would imagine that most of everything then has been put out although some of it may not be "official". I guess what I am asking then ~ b/c I have no clue, is there really anything that is "known" to exist but it hasn't been heard / found before?
#36
Posted 17 February 2012 - 05:19 AM
#37
Posted 17 February 2012 - 07:03 AM
#38
Posted 17 February 2012 - 09:26 AM
redsox, on 17 February 2012 - 04:02 AM, said:
There is known unreleased material, though to what extent we aren't sure. In terms of demo/ rehearsal material there are hundreds, if not thousands of hours as most rehearsals during the MCIS era were recorded. Of course, there will undoubtedly be more solo Billy acoustic material like what appeared on the Tonight Tonight single (Towers of Rabble demo has been confirmed), and possibly studio versions of completely unheard songs (Speed, Elsie, I Feel Love, Receive My Signal, Dick or Peter, Magna Mellow), as well as alternate versions of known tracks like Jupiter's Lament and Ugly. So yes, I'm hoping the MCIS reissue will be more than just 2012 mixes of Aeroplane tracks, or alt vocal takes of Bullet and Zero. There should be enough completely unknown material, high-quality material to fill up at least one or two discs. And of course, cleaned up versions of the demos we have already (Autumn Nocturne, Methusela, Wishing You Were) would be more than welcome as well...
#40
Posted 17 February 2012 - 09:56 AM
#41
Posted 17 February 2012 - 10:23 AM
RottingApples, on 17 February 2012 - 09:26 AM, said:
(Speed, Elsie, I Feel Love, Receive My Signal, Dick or Peter :rofl:/> , Magna Mellow)
I'm curious about all these songs and what they sound like
What if he doesn't put em all on the reissues? Maybe he can upload them to SPRC? SOON at that.
#42
Posted 17 February 2012 - 12:08 PM
#43
Posted 17 February 2012 - 12:33 PM
frednirv632, on 17 February 2012 - 09:56 AM, said:
As do I, sir. I'm very interested in hearing the alternate takes of Ugly, as 4 significantly different versions were attempted for it. The holy grail for me will always be a completed take of "Speed", but all those other tracks, whether demos or polished takes, really are exciting. Another I really look forward to is "I Feel Love", which was apparently recorded in the Australia sessions in 1996 when they tracked Aeroplane Flies High, Transformer, and The Last Song. And Fernando, I genuinely hope it does turn into 2 discs for MCIS as I'm confident there's enough content to make it worthwhile. Of all the reissues, this is arguably the one with the highest potential demand, and I could see him getting away with making it larger than all the others. A 5 disc box would be a dream come true.
ShamanO, on 17 February 2012 - 10:23 AM, said:
Either way would be fine by me. As long as they come out I'll be happy.
#44
Posted 24 March 2012 - 01:40 PM

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