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I just caught this on Amazon, in a review for the new Pearl Jam best-of:

However, the sound alone is amazingly clean and fresh on the Ten recordings. I can't wait until Ten is released as a 'Deluxe Edition' or released cleaned up and remixed.

Exactly how does something get "cleaned up" anyway? And especially something from 1991, when "remastered" CDs were already in full swing?

Should we expect "remastered" Clay Aiken and Avril Lavigne in 10 years? "Just listen to how much better this sounds with new technology! It's 512 bit remastered!"

I never found "Ten" to be a particularly horrible sounding recording.

I'm guessing the person meant the disc wasn't balls to the wall volume so that we can really enjoy it.

Then, there's also the thrill of hearing irrevelant demos that the band didn't really want you to hear and of course the addition of "Yellow Ledbetter," which is probably the most easily attainable b-side ever.

Hey, I want remastered William Hung in ten years. Better yet, maybe put a deluxe edition while the clock is still at 14 minutes. Besides, I heard the original was way too compressed.

The deal with "Ten" as I understand it is that the band never liked the slick Rick Parashar production. (Parashar is the guy the labels deploy to produce rock acts they are grooming for arena glory. Interestingly, bands rarely use him more than once. A brother of a friend of a friend was in a band Parashar produced the debut album for, and the process was very... efficient. And lucrative for Parashar.)

So the "Ten" tracks on the best-of were remixed by Brendan O'Brien to sound more like the rest of the Pearl Jam catalog (less polished). A full remixed reissue of "Ten" is something a lot of PJ fans would like to see. It doesn't have anything to do with sound quality, it's more about the production and mix.

Ryan

Interesting how not all of the Ten tracks were remixed, though.

nt

I also love the Albini sound. They "dirty" sounds what a band like Nirvana needed. I agree about Nevermind sounding to much like Heavy Metal. If you get a change listen to the Sub-Pop version of In Bloom. It is so much better than tghe Nevermind version.

Rspaight wrote:The deal with "Ten" as I understand it is that the band never liked the slick Rick Parashar production.

Ess Ay Cee Dee wrote:(Cobain)...complained loudly that Andy Wallace's remixes made everything sound like Motley Crue.

I don't recall hearing these complaints until after these bands became big stars--which was almost completely due to the phenomenal success of these "slick" albums.

It seems that when bands are unknown and hungry, they don't protest too much (if at all) when a label proposes to "groom them for arena glory." And when it came time to mix Nevermind, didn't Cobain specifically request Andy Wallace--who in turn delivered exactly what was expected of him?

I don't recall hearing these complaints until after these bands became big stars--which was almost completely due to the phenomenal success of these "slick" albums.

True. But Pearl Jam stopped having big hits after a couple of albums, and seem to prefer it that way. I would imagine Nirvana would have followed a similar path given a chance. Unlike, say, U2, they don't seem to get off on the huge sales numbers. On the third hand, it was the success of the commercial records that gave them the independence to do what they wanted.

It seems that when bands are unknown and hungry, they don't protest too much (if at all) when a label proposes to "groom them for arena glory."

Once you get fed into that machine, you lose control very quickly.

"Sign here. Here's your producer, Rick Parashar. He'll make your songs into hits. Want some coke? Here's a big advance to buy more coke. Give Rick $500,000 of that while you're at it. He's gotta eat, too. You and Rick are going to camp out in Tahoe for a month to record. Take another couple hundred thousand out of that advance for studio time. Want some heroin? Oh, we need another hundred grand to shoot a video. You still have some of that advance left, right? We're going to get you the opening slot on the Creed tour. They want $250,000 for that. The album? Oh, we'll release that any day now. Time's not right. What? Out of money already? Damn, you're doing a lot of coke. Well, if you sign over the publishing, I'll give you another advance. No problem. Here to help. Bad news. The Creed deal fell through. Yeah, we're going to dump the album on the market in February. You don't want to get lost in the Christmas rush. Sorry guys, the album tanked and your songwriter's in rehab for a year. See ya. Money? You're kidding, right? That dog of a record will never make back your advance, and you signed over the royalties to me, anyway. You might want to slow down on the coke. That shit's expensive."

Ryan

nt

Rspaight wrote:The deal with "Ten" as I understand it is that the band never liked the slick Rick Parashar production. (Parashar is the guy the labels deploy to produce rock acts they are grooming for arena glory. Interestingly, bands rarely use him more than once. A brother of a friend of a friend was in a band Parashar produced the debut album for, and the process was very... efficient. And lucrative for Parashar.)

So the "Ten" tracks on the best-of were remixed by Brendan O'Brien to sound more like the rest of the Pearl Jam catalog (less polished). A full remixed reissue of "Ten" is something a lot of PJ fans would like to see. It doesn't have anything to do with sound quality, it's more about the production and mix.

Ryan

I never knew this. Thanks.

Ess Ay Cee Dee wrote:Ten years down the road, a lot of people seem to forget that "In Utero" was not a huge commercial success until after Cobain's suicide. It didn't sell nearly as many copies as the previous album and had practically disappeared from the charts by April '94.

As always, death = $$$$$ or a chance to check out that recording you missed out on the first time around. But in most cases its all about the Benjamins.

And by the way, anyone checking out the Nirvana box that comes out today?

If anyone else here likes that Abini sound, find yourself a bootleg copy of Cheap Trick's "In Color" produced by Albini. Fantastic stuff.

nt

nt

Ess Ay Cee Dee wrote:

David wrote:If anyone else here likes that Abini sound, find yourself a bootleg copy of Cheap Trick's "In Color" produced by Albini. Fantastic stuff.

When was this re-recorded?

I think it was 1997 or so...