A good example of a BAD remastered classic is Ozzy Osbourne Diary of a Madman. This is a classic album not just for the great music/song but its the second album Randy Rhoads have played in. The remastered version had rerecorded drums and bass tracks from different musicians and it does not sound like the original pressing. Now, that is pretty disrespectful to Randy IMHO. Thank god, I still have the original Diary of a Madman record and the first pressing of the CD when it was first made available in the 80s.

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I like the remasters, cleaning up what they can.

Although I am one of the biggest ZZ Top fanzz in the world, in 1987, when Warner Brothers released "Six Pack", somebody (the band, the label, or Bill Ham--nobody's fessin' up) remastered all the old albums. The way the "Six Pack" booklet reads, they did this in order to make the recordings suitable for digital medium. In actuality, what they did was make all the old albums sound like "Eliminator" (1983) and "Afterburner" (1985). They added a LOT of digital reverb to the vocals and drums, and significantly changed the guitar tones as well. Some of the lyrics were changed from the original albums, too. The whole project made the albums sound like they had been recorded in the early to mid-eighties.

From a marketing standpoint, it made sense to do this, because the boyzz had developed a huge group of new fans that thought the band had begun with the release of "Eliminator" (1983); these new fans weren't all aware of the band's history in the preceding 13 years. From an artistic standpoint, the results are mixed. The songs sound ok to pretty good; but compared to the original mastering, they just aren't "right".

The result of all this is that the albums "ZZ Top's First Album" (1971), "Rio Grande Mud" (1972), "Tejas" (1976) and "El Loco" (1981) can only be attained on CD with the "Six Pack" re-mastering treatment. The 1992 "ZZ Top's Greatest Hits" and 1994 "One Foot In the Blues" Warner Brothers compilations uses only the "Six Pack"-treated versions of those songs as well.

"Deguello" (1979) escaped this fate due to a legal problem with the estate of Elmore James; (in 1985, the estate had put out an injunction that removed any recording of any Elmore James song from distribution; on Deguello, the boyzz had recorded a version of "Dust My Broom". Therefore, when they did the dirty deed to the "Six Pack", Deguello was not included, and you can get it on CD with original-style mastering).

You can get SOME of the songs (but not all) on CD with original mastering by buying "Chrome, Smoke and Bar-B-Q", "Rancho Texicano" or the old "Best of ZZ Top" (1977), as well as the "Tres Hombres" and "Fandango!" CD remasters from a few years ago. My hope is that they will, one day in the near future, release last four afflicted albums on CD with both original mastering and original-style covers.

All and all, the Six Pack is a pretty cool thing to have, if you're a ZZ Top collector and fan. The little booklet is a pretty good time capsule of the band in 1987, and it has some cool artwork, stories, and pictures. The mixes aren't entirely crappy, just different. It's kind of like when you go to your favorite mom-and-pop restaurant and find out that mom has died; the recipes might be the same, but it just ain't "right".

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Yeah... to rephrase...

As long as its just some EQ and Level Boost I'm all for it. I love my Maiden Remastered CDs as well as the Floyd and Rush ones i have...

I doubt those bands would re-track the past.