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Caveat indeed
Edel will be re-releasing Rapture of the Deep, Now What?! and Live Tapes as a 3CD box set on June 26. This box contains no new material, so perhaps the only redeeming feature is price: under 19 Euros. Yep, you’ll be able to pick up 3 albums on the cheap if you happen to have been in a coma for the last 10 years.
Thanks to Lutz Reinert for the heads up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Great, another truly essential DP release… :-/ Roll on the new album!
June 16th, 2015 at 08:37…or if you are a completeist and have to have every release in every format available, lol.
June 16th, 2015 at 15:14Rapture needed a remastering, not a re-release I couldnt believe how horrible that album sounded I wondered if anyone in the band listened to the final mix I cannot believe that they did and approved of it. I hope this Edel release is in fact a remastering.
June 16th, 2015 at 19:33Re Rapture/Remastering. “how horrible an album sounded” is probably more a function of the actual sounds recorded, or the mixing stage, rather than any mastering dynamics. It’s all very subjective but it sounds like you are confusing remixing and remastering.
June 16th, 2015 at 20:12Next up is the 3CD box set of Bananas, Rapture and Now What?! with no extra features.
June 16th, 2015 at 20:25absurd !
June 16th, 2015 at 23:57No more rehashes. NEW MUSIC!
June 17th, 2015 at 00:30As the comments roll out, first someone thinks DP is releasing this, then someone gets it half right by knowing Edel is releasing it, but expects way too much. Perhaps if they’d checked with the band to realize they would likely be up for a re-mixing by the current producer of course(^^^wanna tell me who else would be doing that?), but you see where the project would start to become laborious and expensive… drop it all and just deal with it. You sure beat the anti-multi-format jab, though, that much is solid anyway. What’s up with that, @people do whatever the hell they want, and a lot of people do this type of collecting, which sure as hell beats whining about the music you’re probably not even buying in the first place. Who needs to support artists by buying three versions when they have crap YouTube as their stereo?! 😀
June 17th, 2015 at 04:38I’m afraid this release of ROTD isn’t remastered/remixed. It’s a regural dreadfully soudning version.
June 17th, 2015 at 07:22I agree. It is the worse sounding DP album. If it is re-mastered I might get it otherwise I’ll pass.
June 17th, 2015 at 12:14Rapture is my least favorite of all DP albums, there’s a few good tunes, but overall there isn’t much there for me. I agree with Joey, I disliked the mix too. I thought the band was finally done when it came out. Now What?! was a great turn around for them. I can’t wait to see them in July.
June 17th, 2015 at 14:00Just to clarify, without a good mix, mastering is useless. And mastering regulations is one reason why.
June 17th, 2015 at 18:06@ 3 amen to that
I thought that album needs a a remaster/remix.The reason that I don’t go to that album anymore is cause of that.
June 17th, 2015 at 22:57Yes Joey,
June 18th, 2015 at 08:57exactly the same to Bananas. That sounds horrible too.
fortunately ,they got rid of michael bradford production… welcome Mr. Ezrin !
June 18th, 2015 at 20:28I don’t think that remixes/remasters of Bananas or Rapture will change the quality of the music. I wouldn’t go that far to talk of a horrible sound when listening to those albums. Yes, they both could sound better but would I buy a remixed/remastered reissue – no, because the difference in sound quality wouldn’t justify to spend more money. I understand that the early albums needed some polishing because they’ve been recorded under, let’s say, “different” circumstances – and the results were not always pleasing. Sometimes I thought that the original release sounded better and we didn’t even start to compare the sound of good old vinyl to CD format. To be honest with you, I was already happy with Purple’s records before they got remixed/remastered and I think that it’s a waste of time that could be used to create something new as well as it’s just an excuse to sell more records and stay in people’s minds if nothing else of importance is going on. Yeah, sometimes I thought it would be nice to have more brilliance here and there. But after all who cares … A little dirt is what makes good rock ‘n roll, doesn’t it?! Isn’t it strange to want less character where character is key and makes it real?!
June 18th, 2015 at 21:59ROTD and Bananas would not benefit much from a re-master, they are to poorly produced, I have heard better sounding demo’s from local bands recorded in makeshift studio’s 🙁 They do however have some good songs and great playing/singing. If the multi tracks were sent to a decent producer, I am sure he could improve these albums greatly 🙂
June 19th, 2015 at 05:42@ 15
I d love Ezrin to get his hands on those,and remix em again!
June 19th, 2015 at 16:22al, Peter and Errol…I agree!!!
June 19th, 2015 at 23:53People are slating ROTD so I’ll defend it. I personally think it’s a decent effort. The best Morse era album in my opinion is Purpendicular which to me is at times as good anything Mk2 recorded but ROTD has a couple of highlights too. As for comments on the production. Have you people heard Abandon? It’s a massive disappointment. Muddy production that makes the songs sound like they were recorded in a cement mixer. Every so often I listen to all Purple’s studio albums one at a time and that’s the only one I consider it a chore to do so. As for this release I see no point in buying it but it may be ideal for people who talk about DP in the past tense.
June 20th, 2015 at 09:03@4 Let me clarify myself Rapture needs a remixing and a remastering!!!! The levels need to be seriously remixed and as far as the remastering goes?! The sound needs to be greatly enhanced!!!! It is dull and flat sounding!!!! Satisfied??? I have done some studio recording back in the 70s and early 80s
June 20th, 2015 at 12:45Grrrr !!
June 20th, 2015 at 14:44Another blatant cash grab from Edel!! The ‘hook” this time being The Live Tapes.
I didn’t buy the ?! Gold Edition and I won’t buy this.
Best to worst production of Morse era DP: (my list, your may vary):
June 20th, 2015 at 17:31Purpendicular
Now What?!
Abandon
Bananas
And a distant last,
ROTD
Larry, you are NOT Gregory House
June 21st, 2015 at 18:19Whats with all this ROTD hate?!? ROTD is easily one of their best albums musically. Just incredible the music they produced. Yeah the mixing or whatever isn’t crystal clear, but the music is just amazing! Don’t listen to em Deep Purple! Probably my fave album along with Purpendicular and Now What?!, and Bananas, and Abandon!
June 21st, 2015 at 20:40Jesse @ 25- no one ‘hates’ ROTD, some people don’t like it for various reasons. it is not ‘hate’. Cheers.
June 22nd, 2015 at 05:24@Jesse I absolutely agree with you. ROTD and Abandon need more love. Rotd is my favorite Morse era album by a large margin. Quite some classics in there. Also, Abandon translated amazingly on stage. The 98-99 tour was magic. Any Fule and Watching the Sky could get the crowd going big time. And Fingers had a brilliant improvised intro from Morse.
June 23rd, 2015 at 08:45I disagree about Bradford … some of the music was quite good. Some of it was not. My faves from the Bradford era include Girls Like That, Sun Goes Down, Rapture of the Deep, Pictures of Innocence, Never a Word, Bananas, Money Talks, Things I Never Said, Wrong Man (is ok) … some of the others, like Razzle Dazzle, are not my cup of tea. While I like the musical production of Now What with Ezrin, and it sounds better than Rapture, Bananas didn’t have such a bad production sound. While the songs are very good and well produced on Now What, they have more Deep than Purple sound. What I’m actually saying is, Now What, Vincent Price, and a few other songs have a rock n’ roll quality to them on Now What, but the rest of the songs have a bit of an epic sound to them. A Simple Song has a long guitar intro, Uncommon Man has a long guitar intro … the songs on Now What are going back to the 70s epic jam sound … but it takes away from the rock n’ roll from my opinion … one thing about Blackmore, he could do an epic 70s song one minute and then a nice rock n’ roll tune the next minute. Ezrin is a great producer, but he seems to be almost the exact opposite of what Bradford did. Not saying that is bad, but I think Bradford actually brought some good ideas to the table. I hope Ezrin rocks up the next Purple album a bit, if possible.
June 23rd, 2015 at 13:232 new releases live version
June 24th, 2015 at 15:36http://www.metalhammer.it/note.aspx/44749/deep-purple-due-nuovi-live-album-in-arrivo/
Ok, rotd may not sound perfect, but, AT LEAST, it STILL has some dynamics. Now What has no dynamics at all, and unless you hear it at a very low volume, it’s a complete mess. Paicey’s drums are somewhere down there, confused and almost inaudible, not to mention the cymblas! Just as an example. Rock music is not made for easy & cheap mp3 listening. Anybody remembers? EVERYTHING LOUDER THAN ANYTHING ELSE !!! So, please, try and listen to it on a real, powerful stereo, and you guys will understand what I’m talking about.
June 29th, 2015 at 15:41If you wanna have a good example of a real , rocking, dynamic sound, go get a Perfect Strangers cd, but make sure it was the original first print, or anyway before 1998-2000! As Jon opens Knocking, you have to go up with the volume, then you turn it a little down when the drums come. It may be annoying, but thats how music is and should ever be, dynamic. And then, go to A Gypsy’s Kiss, turn the volume to 12 and listen to the drums. ‘Nuff said.