Bad-sounding means unflattering to the content regardless of technical quality, right? That's how I think of it, anyway.
St. Anger is a piece of shit that sounds like a piece of shit, so it's fine. My feelings about
Justice are complicated (first real metal album I ever heard, etc.), but I can't imagine it any other way. The 2018 remaster jacked up the bass EQ, but other aspects suffer and it just sounds off, plus it's bricked (not like
Death Magnetic, but still). However, it turns out the
original 2XLP DMM pressing (who knew?) has just enough Newkid to be perceptible, and sounds fucking awesome otherwise. The definitive version to me.
Ike wrote:This is a really, really GREAT album, so doesn't fit the bill here at all, but the last Pile album sounds super weird to me. All recorded, mixed, and mastered by the same person I see.
I don't have it on vinyl, so maybe that's a better cut?
The digital version is quiet and a little muddy at times. I love the album, though.
Just got the vinyl in the mail, will report back. I haven't loved the sound of their releases since
Dripping, TBH. Too bad, because that one and
Magic Isn't Real sound massive, and IIRC they've been recording at the same place at least until recently.
jakethesnake wrote:Regarding Iggys remix of "Raw Power", I agree that it sounded like shit on the original, digitally distorted and brickwalled CD but the vinyl remaster of said mix from a few years back is quite easily the best version of "Raw Power" I've heard; just goes to show that the issue wasn't really Iggys mix (which brought up some really cool stuff in the mix like the celeste in "Penetration" being more audible for example) but rather the late 90s mastering... Iggy is still to blame though because in the liner-notes, he mentioned that he wanted it to be mastered ultra-loud and distorted
Did not know about this vinyl remaster of the remix; I'll have to track it down. Of the poll options, the original
Raw Power gets my vote.
Steady Diet is my least-favorite Fugazi album sonically for pretty much the reasons FM Get dog costumes described, but it's not
that bad.
Warehouse sounds like ass, but so does
New Day Rising and I fucking love that one. ZZ Top's musical war crimes have a strong case, but I don't love the proper versions of those albums the way I would love
Raw Power if it didn't sound like listening to a transistor radio on coke.
The most aggressively bricked "quiet" album I've ever heard was that one by indie-folk dude José González, like a decade ago. Of no consequence to anyone here, probably, nor to me at this point, but I liked what I heard in a friend's car on the way to Alaska with the windows down and bought myself a copy after we returned. Unlistenable on a hi-fi, I discovered.