The Essential Clash

Just what the name says.
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MK
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The Essential Clash

Postby MK » Sun Jun 12, 2005 8:50 pm

First off, does anyone have the old Clash CD's, anyone with "Train In Vain"? Can you compare it to the remaster? There's one (and only one) guy that claims the remaster used 'phase inversion' to process "Train In Vain" in order to artificially 'widen' the soundstage, and as a result, the piano has been 'phased' out of existance. Well, I can still hear the piano fine, even if it's low in the mix, and it sounds the same on THE ESSENTIAL CLASH (more on that later) which was credited to Vic Anesini, not the other guys who handled the individual remaster. So, if anyone can do a quick comparison, I'd like to know if this bullshit (which I think it is).

Anyway, I borrowed the Essential Clash, I have a faint memory of some saying it's a lot better than the remasters. So far, it isn't. It sounds very similar.

I can't do any comparisons on the COMBAT ROCK singles because they used the Glyn Johns crappy album mixes, not Mick Jones's mixes which were used for THE STORY OF THE CLASH, which is what I have in terms of those singles.

Comparing "White Riot," "White Man...," "Train In Vain," and several others so far, I have to say the mastering is nearly identical. Looking at the waveforms, they look very similar. Sometimes the levels are different with one a touch quieter, but otherwise they sound almost identical. Anesini could've taken digital clones and MAYBE tweaked the levels.

Anyway, it's still the best comp on the Clash, it's got everything you need from the second album, "This Is England" (BTW, Anesini mastered the CUT THE CRAP CD, which was never reissued. I haven't compared it to this one though), but don't buy this just for sound quality, because it ain't that different.
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Postby RDK » Mon Jun 13, 2005 1:28 pm

How does the Clash on Broadway comp compare? I think it's the only Clash that I have on CD.
ray

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Postby MK » Mon Jun 13, 2005 3:35 pm

Sorry, don't have it. From what I hear, it's a good compilation, in terms of content and sound. Did Anesini do it? I heard the box set used the original masters, and I doubt Anesini would mess it up.

Comparing Anesini's 1993 mastering of "This Is England" to the ESSENTIAL CLASH mastering, it looks like he added a little bit limiting, but not a big difference overall.

Look at the other tracks, it looks like he merely adjusted the output levels. Usually he makes them a touch louder, some tracks are pretty much the same, and a few like "Police On My Back" are actually a backed down a touch (not more dynamic, just quieter).
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Alexander Keith
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Postby Alexander Keith » Tue Jun 14, 2005 10:47 pm

The original box set was done by Vic Aneseni but it has since been remastered by someone else (Ray Staff and Bob Whitney).

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Postby MK » Wed Jun 15, 2005 1:46 am

The remasters for "Singles" and "The Story of The Clash Vol. 1" seem to use clones of the individual remasters, so I'm guessing it's the same case with the remastered "Broadway" box set.

I thought Anesini did a good job with "Cut The Crap," so I doubt there's a need to upgrade on the original box set. To be honest, I think a little bit of limiting was used on the Clash remasters (look at the waveforms, they're not squashed but most of the peaks max out). Nothing terribly noticeable.
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Postby MK » Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:31 pm

I've been buying up old Clash CD's because after buying the old box set from 1991, it's clear the remasters suck.

It's all a little confusing, but it breaks down like this:

The old CD's are all right, but some of them don't sound like the original master tapes. This is especially true of the U.S. version of The Clash. The master for the LP released in 1979 consists of dubs, which makes sense because it's really a compilation of sorts. This same tape or an nth generation copy of it was used for the CD.

In 1991, Epic/Sony releases the Broadway box set. Vic Anesini has completely remastered everything, and he did a FANTASTIC job. It sounds like he used better sources. Comparisons to the London Calling CD and the U.S. The Clash CD's in-print at the time bear this out. I'm guessing he used the original master tapes because...

...in 1999 when the remasters were getting ready for launch, a few interviews taken during that time suggest that all the Clash master tapes were stored in the U.S. Long story short though, they did a shitty job remastering the albums. Everything's VERY compressed, and I'm no fan of the EQ. The same remasters are unveiled months later in the U.S. in 2000. Even worse, the Broadway box set also gets updated with the same shitty mastering. When The Essential Clash is later released, Vic Anesini's name is on the credits, but it's obvious he used the crappy mastering from the new remasters - I don't think he even touched the original masters, I'm thinking he did the sequencing (i.e. create the master for the pressing plants) and nothing more.

So get the originals.

There's one problem: you can't quite make a complete version of The Clash (the original U.K. version from 1977) out of the earlier CD's available in the U.S.

I used the original Broadway box set and The Story of the Clash, Vol. 1, but I've still got two tracks missing: "Remote Control" and the original LP version of "White Riot."

I can get "Remote Control" from the U.S. CD, but that's clearly less than ideal.

To my understanding, there's a non-remastered European CD of the original U.K. version of The Clash. Does ANYBODY have this?? If so, it may be the best place for "Remote Control" and the LP version of "White Riot."
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Postby Beatlesfan03 » Thu Jun 26, 2008 10:40 pm

What about the London Calling deluxe edition from a couple years back? Does the album disc in that set just use a clone of the remaster?

IMHO, I always thought the original London Calling disc sucked. There were a lot of dropouts on it if I recall correctly. The remaster sounds fine to me from that aspect, but it could be better and a tad less compressed.
Craig

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Postby MK » Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:08 pm

Beatlesfan03 wrote:What about the London Calling deluxe edition from a couple years back? Does the album disc in that set just use a clone of the remaster?

IMHO, I always thought the original London Calling disc sucked. There were a lot of dropouts on it if I recall correctly. The remaster sounds fine to me from that aspect, but it could be better and a tad less compressed.


Rob LoVerde said the album was not remastered for the deluxe edition. Whether it's a clone or not isn't too important, if the mastering style is generally the same as the 1999 remaster, then I wouldn't bother.

Did you hate the original disc mostly for the drop-outs? I didn't listen to every minute of it, but I know it's not the best mastering. In quick comparisons with the original 1991 pressing of the box set mastered by Anesini, the overlapping tracks were inferior, but generally in the same ball park. That is, the EQ was similar but when you crank it up, there definitely was a touch more hiss and a touch less clarity, like it came from a copy.

Having said that, I vastly preferred it to the remaster. I would burn a CD-R using the tracks on the 1991 pressing of On Broadway and fill out the rest with the original CD. You're only talking about a handful of tracks so chances are the ones you'd take from the original CD won't have many drop-outs, if any.

I was okay with the remaster but after hearing On Broadway, I'm not going to bother with it anymore. It's so obvious they squashed it and god knows what.
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Postby Beatlesfan03 » Sat Jun 28, 2008 3:19 pm

MK wrote:
Beatlesfan03 wrote:What about the London Calling deluxe edition from a couple years back? Does the album disc in that set just use a clone of the remaster?

IMHO, I always thought the original London Calling disc sucked. There were a lot of dropouts on it if I recall correctly. The remaster sounds fine to me from that aspect, but it could be better and a tad less compressed.


Rob LoVerde said the album was not remastered for the deluxe edition. Whether it's a clone or not isn't too important, if the mastering style is generally the same as the 1999 remaster, then I wouldn't bother.


Good to know. I figured that there might have been a slight chance it was a different remastering. They had Marino remaster Jeff Buckley's Grace for the Deluxe Edition which was ridiculous since the original CD sounds phenomenal but I guess it had to be updated for the times.

My friend has the LC Deluxe and said the bonuses are worth the price of admission.

MK wrote:Did you hate the original disc mostly for the drop-outs? I didn't listen to every minute of it, but I know it's not the best mastering. In quick comparisons with the original 1991 pressing of the box set mastered by Anesini, the overlapping tracks were inferior, but generally in the same ball park. That is, the EQ was similar but when you crank it up, there definitely was a touch more hiss and a touch less clarity, like it came from a copy.


It's an odd thing, when I listen to something intently and something sticks it out, it seems to stick with me whenever I listen to the disc again whether I am listening closely or not. That said, I just remember being frustrated when listening to London Calling on CD so much that I just defaulted to LP whenever I wanted to listen to the record.

I'd love to hear an original UK CD of LC to see if it has the same problems.

MK wrote:I was okay with the remaster but after hearing On Broadway, I'm not going to bother with it anymore. It's so obvious they squashed it and god knows what.


I'll have to keep my eyes out for an original On Broadway which seem to be out there quite often and can be had for a fairly cheap price.
Craig

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Postby RDK » Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:04 pm

How can one tell the difference between the "new" and "old" On Broadway boxes? I think I bought the set from the BMG club, but dont recall which version it is.
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Postby MK » Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:21 pm

There's basically two masterings and three editions.

The original edition is an old school box set: long box dimensions in terms of length and width, it's an actual box with three separate jewel cases for each disc.

The next two editions sprung out of the 1999/2000 remasters. One's a shrunken-down version, with space-saving jewel case dimensions in terms of length and width.

The other remastered edition has long box dimensions in terms of width and height, BUT I've never seen it, and I THINK it's a thin, folding clam-style set with digipack disc holders (i.e. NO jewel cases).
"When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war." – Dwight D. Eisenhower



"Neither slave nor tyrant." - Basque motto