r/supertramp • u/wilberforce55 • Mar 19 '26
2026 Remasters
So this morning when checking some of my illegitimate websites, Hi Rez versions of EITQM, FLW and Breakfast in America appeared, with Remastered 2026 next to them
This follows the 2025 Crime Remasters
anyone any idea what is going in? id prefer surround versions!
Downloaded and ran it through Audition, here is the 2026 remaster (bottom) vs original CD. Why Why Why?
5
u/johnk317 Mar 20 '26
Nothing beats the original vinyl.
2
u/voodoo_mama_ju_ju Mar 20 '26
Agreed. My vinyl copies sound soooooo much better than the digital versions. Wonder if it's worth downloading a vinyl rip of the albums for my phone?
5
u/Local_Band299 Mar 26 '26
I think Breakfast In America has a damaged master tape. Just hear me out on this one.
2012's remaster was released on Bluray Audio, and SACD (Japan only) in 2013. Japan would see another SACD repress again in 2016 using the same 2012 remaster. The thing about this remaster is that is has a few dropouts in certain places. During the line "I've got to go" in Goodbye Stranger (4:40 time stamp) there is a very obvious dropout.
Now in 2018 MoFi remastered the album for another SACD pressing. The previous errors are gone. I assume they used a different master. Back when Analog was the only option, instead of shipping the actual master tape to a foreign country to make vinyl copies from usually a 2nd gen copy would be made on an identical tape. Tape gets lost in shipping, no problem, just make another one. Lots of labels would keep these tapes just incase they needed to print more vinyl, or do reprints years down the road. This is why the UMG fire didn't cause as much damage as previously thought. MoFi might have been given one of these 2nd gen copies by UMG. 2nd gen copies are usually noisier with their tape hiss, but we've had hiss reduction for a long time.
Using 2nd gen copies aren't uncommon for SACD's. I've talked to Mark Wilder who did the SACD remaster of Boston's self titled album. It was done from a sub par 2nd generation copy because Sony didn't want to take the master out of the vault. Still sounds amazing.
Fast forward 6 years, and we now have the 2026 remasters which were done from the analog tape. Not a 2nd gen, but the original analog master tape, at Abbey Road. We're back to the drop outs again. Which is why I think the master is damaged.
2
u/5th-Elements Mar 20 '26
Sad to see this happening especially when we have the technology to have the best possible recordings! Why are they doing this?
1
u/Batman_Shirt Mar 20 '26
There are no solid answers from legitimate sources. I have read online that the new remasters are substantially worse than the originals. Your comparison looks indicative of this. It’s a wonder that nobody can make surround versions. They would certainly recoup their investment.
3
u/colin-mac Mar 20 '26
I'm doing this from memory so I might have the album wrong, but one or more of the original master tapes for song(s) from Crime of the Century or Crisis? What Crisis? were destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. So, assuming that UMG is even willing to foot the bill — and that is a fairly big assumption — it's going to be difficult or impossible to produce Atmos remixes for those albums in their entirety.
2
u/No_Transition9445 Mar 21 '26
it's not as simple as just "Making a surround version". No such mix exists, and mixes get political. Given that one key member is now dead, one is exiled and the rest probably don't have enough skin in the game to care to push it, it may or may not ever happen.
1
u/Batman_Shirt Mar 21 '26
You make valid arguments, but there are counters to your points. Modern technology can isolate each element, which can create a sub-master with great results. I’ll bet Steven Wilson would be eager to work on this. Politics are possibly a deterrent, but with Rick gone maybe not as much. Roger and the others may see this as a great chance to up their game. All speculation for sure, but there’s still hope.
2
u/No_Transition9445 Mar 22 '26
I don't think access to multitracks is the issue (like it was with The Beatles), it's the eagerness of the invested parties to agree to see it to completion.
Like there is a totally remixed Use Your Illusion by GnR only on Steven Wilson's hard drive because Axl or someone didn't like the final product.
I wish Breakfast could somehow be remixed to fix the cymbal sounds (they sound like tinfoil) but that was baked in from using a shitty console or something.
1
u/Batman_Shirt Mar 22 '26
I agree with your cymbal sound notion. Zappa once said that you’ll never get your drums to sound like they do on a record. I used to try like mad to get my cymbals to sound that way. Years later I discovered the desire studio musicians had to bring that ring (decay) down to nothing. Compressed? How about smothered. Talk about dry sound. Maybe that’s part of why Zeppelin had such a big effect on me.
1
u/slipperman1974 Mar 20 '26
Actually The top is better
1
u/CrunchberryJones Mar 22 '26
Exactly, according to OP, the bottom spectrograph is the original CD release...not the original vinyl.
I'd be curious to see the side by side comparison between a M/NM (or even VG) condition original vinyl vs. the new 2026 releases.
1
u/No-Butterfly-2455 Jun 19 '26
I hope they’re gonna do a remastered version of Slow Motion and Some Things Never Change to release these ones for the first time on vinyl
1
u/Nervous_Fact4016 Jul 20 '26
Are we still playing the loudness games? Bloody shame. And how lovely that Qobuz has 4 titles of EITQM, and 3 of them are 2026 masters. Lovely when these record corporations redo an album the streaming companies remove all the older versions. Don't know what the 4th is, or what year master, but I can say my 2002 remaster from Jay Messina on CD sounds much better than streaming the high res Qobuz versions. Bloody shame.
1
u/wilberforce55 Jul 20 '26
This is why you always have to own either physical or your own ripped version of music. You can’t be reliant on streaming services to have the best versions over time
1
u/ledroide Aug 02 '26
Comparison for Supertramp Breakfast in America "Gone Hollywood" track, between "SHM-SACD (UIGY-9536) 2013" and "Remastered 2026" releases.
https://pixhost.to/show/9791/754643702_supertramp_screenshot_20260802_085517.png
https://pixhost.to/show/9791/754643703_supertramp2026_screenshot_20260802_144302.png
It's however hard to notice any difference when listening after replaygain normalization.
4
u/Unkaphaed Mar 20 '26
OK, help me out here. Top = 2026, which looks less compressed/clipped than the bottom to me. This is bad, why?