Welch and Before Era Re-masters
 

Anyone know what the chances of these really getting remastered? Anyone have inside info. These are my fav albums Bare Trees/FGames, Mystery/Heroes/Penguin/Kiln/Then etc.

Thanks,
:woohoo:

Well, David McLees at Rhino, who's in charge of these remasters has promised that the entire Warners/Reprise catalogue will be remastered. I assume that would mean from Then Play On up to maybe Behind The Mask. I HOPE this happens, but I'll believe it when I have them in my hands. I, too am really looking forward to the Bob Welch era albums, even more so than the Rumours line-up albums. When Bob Welch did his Q & A here, he didn't sound very confident that it would happen though.

I'd also love to see something similar to the Madison Blues box set, maybe a mix of studio outtakes & live tracks all from the Bob Welch years(1971-1974). :)

Yeah I have that box set. I think one is in order for the Welch era! I would love to hear Bare Trees outtakes etc. And some more live stuff from that time as well!

Dream on right!

Yeah, macfan is right, David McLees told me when I spoke to him that they do intend to do all of the WB/Reprise FM titles. He said they'd "start w/the BN era ones" so I guess from that we can assume "Mirage", TITN etc. will be next. I too, will "believe it when I see it", but I'm hopeful due to Rhino having remastered back catalog by bands/artists that had their ups and downs, commerically and otherwise, yet they still remastered ALL of them, yes, even the least popular ones, so here's hoping it won't be too long. :)

John

Villavic
 

Unfortunately Mr. Money always is the main factor for decisions. And considering the average low sales that those old albums had, I'm not sure if the record company would be interested. But I'd love to listen a remastered Bare Trees anyway.

And I agree that Mirage and TITN could come first. I'd love to have a TITN with unissued songs and the You&I part.1

I would MUCH rathe rhave Future Games, Bare Trees, Then Play On and Mystery to ME remastered then Mirage and Tango in the Night. But you're all probably righ that those 2 would most likely be next.
I really hate it when people on the board post "are they going to re releaes Mirage and TITN" like they're the only 2 other albums out there Fleetwood Mac did. I believe they made the right choice in doing "THE BIG 3" first since they really are the best albums, but now instead of going forward they should go backwards to the other best albums.

Reviving this old thread. Anyone hear any news about when or if remastered CDs of the pre-'75 albums will appear? The sound quality on some of the original CD releases is so poor.

I was really excited about those first re-releases, but I later found the "bonus material" actually kind of redundant & boring. :shrug: (which is kind of how I find that incarnation anyway)

I'm hoping for better things from the earlier albums.

Yep, the most popular incarnation is my least favorite, too. ZZZzzz...
I sure hope the older material gets remastered, in my lifetime.

Popularity & goofy fans breed contempt. When I listen to ANY incarnation of Fleetwood Mac, I clear my mind of all knowledge of sales & popularity & following. All of that is utterly extraneous to any analysis or consideration of the aesthetic value of any of these incarnations.
I do, too. The "Heroes" CD & tape sound so crappy. A remaster with modern technology is just what the doctor ordered. I want me a "Heroes" with crystal clarity.

But the extras won't be anything to write home about. Mark my words.

For the most part, I'm just SICK of hearing those same old warhorse songs. And that's MY fault, for loving them so, once upon a time. And they still play all of the warhorse songs live, which makes me have very little interest in seeing them live now. If they'd done half the material off of SYW, I'd have had much more respect for the current incarnation. BUT, they're still milking Bessy......and Bessy's gettin' old! Cream? No, that's soured..... :lol:

I only had "Bare Trees" as mp3s,
so I bought the German edition on cd,
which is the only edition, I guess.
I really love that album, but the sound is not too good.
This needs a remaster - it sounds like they used 4th generation tapes.
The bass sounds lika a slack rubberband...
I read here somewhere that the original mix
was destroyed at an airport, can anyone fill me in?

Yes, at JFK in NY when they went through security the masters went through the X-Ray machine. I can't remember from the way Mick worded it in his book if it just ruined the mix and they had to remix the masters or if it ruined the master completely and they had to then use a (mixed) copy as their master? Not that we should go by much of what Mick says in his book anyways but... I guess that would make sense if your version sounds like it's lost some generations.

John

The American release, published by Reprise, is pretty decent in terms of sound quality. What really needs a remaster is Then Play On, which absolutely loaded with tape hiss, even more than what you'd expect from an album made in 1969.

I barely remember posting this...

And still we have no re masters...

I'd take the whole catalogue remastered over Sheryl Crow any day of the week...

I mean if they can remaster Perfect's stuff why not the band's greatest period of 1969-1974... Imagine hearing The City in pristine condition.... hmm hmm hmm...

Thanks for the info, John!

American cds on Reprise from the 80s usually hade better sound than their European counterparts - Jimi Hendrix "Smash Hits", for example.

And I agree that "Then play on" is a prime
candidate for a remaster...now!

Bob Welch has commented on his website that there is very little chance these albums will get remastered. His old message board was eaten alive by spammers so the old threads have been deleted, but I'm sure I remember reading a comment like that. Of course, that's only his opinion, but he thinks the time to have done this remastering was quite a few years ago. He thinks that the CD is dead as a medium of distribution of music. I don't agree with him but I see his point. If somebody wants to go ask him about it over on his website you'll get a reply, and it might be interesting to hear what he has to say.

Oh and by the way, I'm glad to see I'm not the only person here who enjoys the post-Green, pre-Buckingham/Nicks era the most.