disc review: x japan | "blue blood (special edition)" & "jealousy (special edition)" (2007)
Monday, February 19, 2007
X Japan [site]
Blue Blood (special edition) [site]
& Jealousy (special edition) [site]
02.2007 | ¥3,360
Are they worth it? Two ancient albums, remastered with the latest digital magic, plus instrumental/karaoke versions of every song on a second disc?
They are not.
The remastering is mildly noticeable but not an improvement; it's a bit like hitting the "surround sound" button on an old boom box.
On Jealousy, the source material (especially Hide's attackless, Fendery guitar tone on Jealousy) is just unsalvageable, I guess. All the instruments are blended together into a melange of sloped distortion. Detectable differences are limited to things like the prickliness of the cymbals and the individualized voices audible in the "Desperate Angel" intro-chorus. There's precious little crispness or definition where it counts.
Blue Blood has never sounded good, and this Special Olympics Edition carries on that bold tradition. Everything seems to low AND to loud at the same time.
Yoshiki & Hide
And I say this as a major fan: I wouldn't be here if these songs didn't exist. These are the tracks that GOT me into j-rock and j-metal and visual kei in the first place. X Japan @ the Tokyo Dome, 12/30/96, was my first japanese concert.
It took a couple spins to let the sounds on these CDs sink in again. After a while you get used to the horrible sound and can appreciate the songs, but I still prefer the 1992 and 1996 Tokyo Dome 2CD live albums far more. They're clearer and livelier and the best bet for newcomers trying to plumb X Japan's legend.
The instrumental bonus discs add little. Handy for karaoke, if you're feeling nuts enough to try and belt out some primetime Toshi. But mostly, they're collector's nuggets, you'll tell yourself you're gonna analyze them to hear/learn the guitars better, but really, you never really will.
And yes, the artwork still SUCKS! Blue Blood's cover especially is an embarrassment to metal.
Recommended tracks:
On Jealousy, "Silent Jealousy" is the one everyone likes to recommend, but I think "Miscast" is balls-out awesome (and, criminally, never got recorded onto a live CD).
Blue Blood has "Week End" (my favorite X song, but the version on Live Live Live is far better) and also "Kurenai," and let's not forget the overplayed-yet-lovable, somewhat artless, fastfastfast heavyheavyheavy "X" and "Orgasm." But they're ALL much better on Live Live Live.
I'm gonna go wash my ears out with some Live Live Live now, I guess!
rating: :|
Posts
11 comments:
I think the raw early production sound fits the albums. Blue Blood was our dishwashing album at my old place of work. If we needed to get through a ton of dishes really fast, we'd put on Blue Blood and just go wild.
I almost prefer the old mid-80's version of X, "We are X". It's a completely different song, but great all the same.
I don't know Silv, maybe the raw production fitted the 80's but now it sounds sooooo dated. I have bootlegs from that era that sound better than the studio version.
I'm starting to think that Yoshiki had nothing to do with the remasters because they sound exactly as the original. However, the songs are awesome so I don't complain that much, but Rose of Pain deserved a much better production.
And yes the live version of Week End rules, that one with the piano interlude almost beats Kurenai as my favorite song.
R.
"Blue Blood has never sounded good, and this Special Olympics Edition carries on that bold tradition. Everything seems to low AND to loud at the same time."
I always had that impression, but I though it was my mp3 files...
i listened to the original CDs for three or four years before mp3 started gaining ground (lol i remember encoding mp3s at 1.1x -- so a sixy minute album took ~only~ 55 minutes to rip -- on an old Win98 233mhz box, ahhh the good ol' days) and it's def. NOT the MP3s fault that their studio albums sound like mush.
"Kurenai" was my first X Japan song that introduced me to J-Rock, and will alwasy remain my fav <3 I would *like* to love it live, but the sound quality of the mp3s I have are so terrible, you can barely hear Pata when they extend the song a bit when they play live. And you just...can't hear anything!
I like "Orgasm" live on the Budokan Live DVD, not the 15mins+ boring monster from the Dahlia Tour Final (albeit in better sound quality).
Guitar solos galore! Crazy drumwork. Sandy vocals. I love "Blue Blood"! Eventhough it's dated, I still like it raw.
I remember running into a girl at the D'espairs Ray show who had the X tattooed between her thumb and forefinger on one hand, and the kurenai kanji on the other. It was amazing.
I still don't get why they re-did blue blood and jealousy instead of blue blood and vanishing vision, must be something to do with vanishing vision being under extacsy records
LOL
I wanted to write something here, but I always feel like wasting my time on here.
Yeah, these were a pretty big letdown. Although, I built them up to be something I knew they would never be. There are a couple parts that sound good, though.
Crows, I thought the 2000 press of VV was remastered... Although, if it was done like these too, there's no wonder no one realized.
The creepy thing about X Japan for me is that I have the band's entire studio album discography sitting in my CD rack, and I cannot for the life of me remember when or how I obtained and purchased those CD's. It's as if they were always there. Great albums, though.
I think the original mastering of Blue Blood is better than the newer one. I just think the original sounds how it should sound, and it should be left alone at that. It suits the music/time/etc and gives it character. The new masters just don't do anything that is an improvement... Which is lame.
Too much of the "modern" sound revolves around making the tracks hot and sterile anyhow, so I'm happy they at least didn't get that extreme of a treatment.
Blue Blood has to have some of the worst production ive ever heard. And it is also very inconsistant. The albums starts of with virtually no high end at all and the guitars are mixed way to low. So i have taken it upon myself to rip my 1989 Blue Blood CD and remix it myself to what i think is a lot better than both the '89 and '07 version...here is a sample
http://www.sendspace.com/file/nyv05t
Some feedback would be appreciated...good or bad...
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