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Impressions of a Stormbringer
Finally the remastered Stormbringer arrives. A few Day One observations…
The 2LP is of course gorgeous with the colours brought out much better on the lavish gatefold sleeve which feels terribly luxurious. A really nice move. Thank you!
Sadly the fascinating rehearsal photos from Clearwell Castle are actually smaller on the vinyl bags than in the CD booklet. Check out the Blackmore and Lord stares. Also the revised and simplified Mk 3 logo on the front doesn’t fit the artwork as well as the original version which had more colour. Nit picks – discuss!
The vinyl remains unplayed yet, but the CD bonus tracks are an instrumental take of High Ball Shooter (previously available on the Listen Learn Read On box set?) and four new remixes by Glenn Hughes:
Ritchie’s solo in Holy Man sounds strangely subdued (Glenn will join Roger on Blackmore’s blacklist of disrespectful remixers!). You Can’t Do It Right features a crunchier bass and a more commanding opening synthesizer fill. Coverdale’s vocals are louder and come from a different vocal take altogether. Lord’s synth solo in the middle is louder (and excellently so!). There is an extra organ solo towards the fadeout and some weird guitar sounds that are more aimless dooddling than an actual solo.
Again, the guitar solo over fade-out of Love Don’t Mean A Thing sounds distant, while Hold On also features different and more raw vocal takes altogether from both Glenn and Coverdale. These are very nice and add a new freshness. Jon’s electric piano solo is also slightly louder – thank you!
Overall the remixes are mainly of interest in the vocal department. Glenn Hughes has brought out the vocals more (both his own and Coverdale’s), but at the expense of some of the other instruments. The choice of tracks to remix is both weird and highly predictable as they seem to be Glenn’s personal favourites.
They are not at all representative of the album, and allowing Glenn to remix just those four tracks gives the remastered album an uneven feel – and in choice and execution they perfectly illustrate the issues that originally made Ritchie pack his bags!
It’s unfortunate that not more unreleased historical material could be included. Coverdale nixed an early and very different take of Soldier of Fortune (shame!) so we are left to feast on Glenn Hughes’ questionable remixes and the quad mixes on disc two.
Anyway, the original album of course sounds wonderful, so the bonus stuff shouldn’t scare you away. 🙂
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
ritchie’s solo subdued ???
March 1st, 2009 at 19:03I received my LP edition last week, which since then sits heavily on my turntable. Much more weight AND incredibly better sound than my niceprice edition which I bought sometime in 1992 for about 3 Euros and which has always annoyed me with its crappy, muddy sound (apparently an especially bad pressing, for it sounded much worse than the niceprice editions of the MK II LPs that I had bought a couple of years earlier).
I haven’t listened to the remixed bonus tracks, but I must say that the remasters on LP 1 are already surprisingly good. They deliver the 20% of sound that my older version falls short of an enjoyable listening.
Now one doesn’t helplessly wonder anymore “What on earth made them do this?”, but can actually understand what’s going on in the songs and relate to the ideas behind the music. The music is much more involving than on my old edition, and the individual performances – which are in parts stunning – can be appreciated much better.
Of course that improvement in sound doesn’t change the songwriting, it doesn’t make Stormbringer my favourite Purple album. But as far as listening pleasure is concerned, Stormbringer is now promoted from the third last rank (just ahead of “Deep Purple” and “Slaves & Masters”)to the position in front of the 3 reunion LPs with Blackmore, which also suffer from fabulously atrocius sound.
Which makes one yearn for the day when finally the rest of the releases between 1976 and 1993 are remastered. Does anyone know if there are any plans in that direction?
March 1st, 2009 at 19:08BTW: Why the hill does this Remasters process take so long??? Hughes finished his job back in 2006 after all.
Can someone report on what happens to be the most important factor here please… the 5.1 Quadro!
Guess I’ll be hearing for myself in a few days.
March 1st, 2009 at 19:23I’d like to hear what I actually call a “subdued vocal” on the original Quadro mix of “Holy Man” as it almost sounds to me already like Glenn must have brought himself up in that mix this time, and Ritchie down, and I hope he didn’t do that with Ritchie solo on that mix! According to what Rasmus reports here, although he didn’t say if that was from the 5.1 version found on this release. My feeling is that all it needed was Glenn’s vocals brought up, because when listening to the Quadro, which I have on the Pirate DTS 5.1 CD from Quad reel, it strangley features a very subdued vocal mix on “Holy Man.” And it detracts from what is otherwise a sensational audio outcome.
All my comments above deal with Glenn Hughes’ remixes.
March 1st, 2009 at 20:45RE: the original album of course sounds wonderful.
Really?! In this day and age of HARD COMPRESSION, I wasn’t expecting “wonderful” at all. Well let’s hope my ears hear what your ears here. :}
My copy should arrive any day.
March 1st, 2009 at 20:48Rasmus wrote: Also the revised and simplified Mk 3 logo on the front doesn’t fit the artwork as well as the original version which had more colour. Nit picks – discuss!
Why is it necessary to mess with the original artwork on these remasters? The cover to In Rock was sharpened up a bit, so that was ok. Fireball and Machine Head were left alone, but Who Do We Think We Are! was trashed! Now the cover to Stormbringer has been tampered with too? Why? It’s one thing to clean something up or use a better quality print, but why tamper with a bit of history? Personal opinions need to be left out of the equation when dealing with re-issues. Who cares if the person in charge of the remaster artwork never liked the original cover or thought they could improve on it? Their job shouldn’t be to fix what they didn’t like, it should be to present the best version of the original release possible. What’s next, dropping songs they don’t like from the albums? I think someone with a little more credibility needs to have the final say regarding the artwork on these things. If whoever did this to the remastered album covers doesn’t like wine, will they replace the wine glass on Come Taste The Band with a beer mug?
March 1st, 2009 at 22:34I second that,well spoken metaljim!
March 1st, 2009 at 22:44I prefer a 1.75 liter Whiskey Bottle full of my favorite Whiskey.
It’s about the MUSIC!!!!
If the Re Masters are nothing different, who cares about the Package? Anyone can remaster these albums on their own, to their own liking on their own. Just buy a descent equalizer, plug it into your system and you can do it 1,000,000,000 different ways. Just adjust the midrange, Bass, Treble, and you can bring up the vocals, or guitar or whatever…..It’s All Bullshit. What makes these ‘Anniversary Editions’ worth a shit is the ‘Unreleased Bonus Tracks’. There are none on this…..Again. BULLSHIT!!!!!
‘Come Tast the Band’ already has it’s ‘unreleased studio sessions’ released. I doubt there are more. If not, there is no point there either. If there is no ‘New Unreleased never heard recordings’, please don’t put out a ‘Remix’ for any others. It’s BS and a true Rip Off….
Cheers
March 1st, 2009 at 23:22Yes Tracy, it’s all about the music, and what you’re proposing for a remastering process is at best pointless, at worst destructive.
Please have a look here:
March 1st, 2009 at 23:52http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remaster#Remastering
I’m waiting for mine to appear. Hope Brazilian customs won’t cut a pound of my flesh for it. But I was far more optimistic about the product before reading the review. As soon as I have listened to it I’ll get back here to post my opinion about it.
Rasmus, what’s the backstory with the tapes? Was there something entirely different in them, other than Coverdale’s take on Soldier of Fortune? It would be really interesting to read about the saga of the Burn and Stormbringer tapes, from the moment they disappeared to the point when part of them made it to the remasters.
March 2nd, 2009 at 00:13About compression.
March 2nd, 2009 at 00:26I have Stormbringer on vinyl, so the compression has its limits. It sounds better than my old copy, and it sounds good, compressed or not.
With my new turntable, I find that most LPs sound better than CDs (more natural) – for that reason I also ordered the Live in London on vinyl when it came out. Sadly, on that one, I couldn’t hear an improvement to the CD.
my dad had stormbringer on quadraphonic (8-track) it had a joystick on the reciever and u could put it in one corner and hear jon lord (only) playing synthesizer “he thinks” the riff to stormbringer note 4 note … he thought it sounded so wierd
i think thats awesome !
March 2nd, 2009 at 00:46What I’m talking about is not the CD portion, but the DVD. There is no other way to listen to that, then of course on a DVD player.
March 2nd, 2009 at 00:47The rest is of little to no interest to me, I want the hi-fi version, and it’s nothing new really, just re-encoded for 5.1 players as far as I know, as no one has reported whether or not it plays in 5.1 or 4.0
If it plays in 5.1 it will likely be even better than I expected, and if that version is remastered or remixed at all here, which I’m not sure it is, it should be a cosmic improvement all the more!(should be, I didn’t say will be… I’ll have to see for myself, as I like quality sound)
Isn’t it something that some people just don’t get when it comes to posting a comment.I can’t wait to hear the remasters.
March 2nd, 2009 at 01:37I heard the original title was “Provider of Inclimate Weather” but I could be wrong.
March 2nd, 2009 at 01:45the original title was SILENCE.
March 2nd, 2009 at 02:14Of course it´s about the music first and foremost,but I still agree with metaljim about the cover!
I also agree with Tracy `bout bonus tracks! That to me is the major reason to indulge in reissues and remastered versions,like the icing on the cake! I find it hard to believe, there´s no material from those sessions collecting dust somewhere out there????
No matter what…I´m buying it first thing tomorrow,after all it´s one of my favourite albums! Can´t help the feeling of a job only half done, Glenn….Maybe you could have done better??? ROCK ON!!
March 2nd, 2009 at 03:27It’s maybe impossible and unimportant to expect some bonus tracks from Stormbringer, because as we all know, the session and production of this album at the time were nothing to say but bad. Even if there’s bonus track there, I’m scared that there was no guitar there or it would just one or two funk song sung by Glenn himself with his trademark horrible screaming. About cover? NO comment, not important at all.
I don’t care about this remastered album. Now I’m waiting for Come Taste The Band remastered, as we know there’s much songs or tracks left at the session (Maybe soome from Days May Come session), and much important the session and the production did well enough. Also the musicianship. Really looking for tasting it.
March 2nd, 2009 at 06:26Unfortunatly; I live in the States; and these idiots have no clue when it will be issued here….You Brits are lucky!! Enjoy it! I wish I could hear it; Stormbringer was my fave DP album in the 70’s!
March 2nd, 2009 at 09:07I have a few things to say regarding the album, once again i say that it is a shame that the original beautiful cover was tampered with. I also have to say i am dissapointed that the album remixes sound more like Gelnn Hughes’ funk record. I was hoping for more Blackmore material. Of course Jon’s solos are wonderful and always waiting to hear more. But something just tells me that Glenn had a say in this project as the description says, they sound more like his personal favorites, and more incorporate elements that caused Ritchie to pack his bags and construct Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. Oh well nontheless, the original recording is fantastic. Lets see what others have to say, No???
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:22Well it was never my favourite album so I approached it cautiously yesterday. Who actually looks at the cover really these days. Maybe it’s sad the original (US or rest of the world?) logo isn’t there – but it’s a minor issue. It’s all about the music surely.
March 2nd, 2009 at 16:34The remasters come through clear as a bell and have a far crisper sound than the originals (though the difference is obviously less than “In Rock”)
Onto the remixes – whilst I’m sure that the guitars have been mixed down a tad too much, Paicey has been toned down too and Coverdale, Hughes and Lord are brought very much to the front of the mix.
As for getting more Ritchie on this I’m not sure how – he wasn’t exactly forthcoming with vituoso solos at the time was he?
The remixes will never replace the original versions but I do like Hughes’ take on it. They are certainly the most radical reworkings of any song since “Machine Head”.
So a giant thumbs up overall from me – now for Come Taste The Band.
have the multitracks been found yet??
just a final word.. whilst I was never a fan of this album (though I did tape this and Fireball for a friend 20 years ago and he never looked back..)I have found a new respect for this album that I always considered best swept under the carpet….
March 2nd, 2009 at 16:36“Swept under the carpet”??
The majority of this album had a “soully, smooth” approach to quote Ritchie, but it was a very worthwhile experiment and even on tracks Blackmore didn’t like, he played great – beating alot of the Motownish-type guitarists at their own game (Love Don’t Mean A Thing is a prime example.)
It also contains two of his most rip-snortin’, dextrous and heavily-constructed solos ever, namely on the title-track and Lady Double Dealer.
Holy Man and Gypsy are excellent songs in every way.
Paice’s drumming is never less than superb, Jon is a little more in the background on this album but his contributions are vital, and the vocals are strong.
STORMBRINGER has had too much of a bad rap – it was a hard-rock take on 70’s funk music and did it very, very well.
Btw, Blackmore would have left anyway, don’t blame it on this album.
March 2nd, 2009 at 18:08He was getting itchy feet, wanted new blood and a new approach, and was ready to be THE BOSS with no-questions-asked. It was sad but inevitable at the time. He’s a very complex psychological character, not exactly the most charming and warm guy on the planet, and for all his foibles ya gotta love him.
If this album isn’t available in America, maybe some of our British friends could buy some, put them on Ebay, and make a little money too.
I’d rather stick needles in my eyes than listen to it ever again, but I’d like to help my fellow Purple fans here.
March 2nd, 2009 at 18:46Rasmus Heide says:
“Yes Tracy, it’s all about the music, and what you’re proposing for a remastering process is at best pointless, at worst destructive.”
Rasmus, sorry you didn’t get my point…..must be something in THS Water. My point was how Pointless yet another Copy of the Same Album is. I have all of my Purple Albums in every concept I could find them in. European Imports, Japanese Pressings, US Pressings, Audiophile Pressings, etc. Plus CD. The variations of sound quality only can be detected so much and it is the individual’s ear that hears certain notes and frequencies. Therefore, I wasn’t eluding to a permanent compression mix as a Remaster. I was just stating that if you love music as much as I do, you surely have purchased some good audio equipment to play it on. Part of that audio equipment should be a good Equalizer. If you have a good equalizer, you can adjust the sound exactly the way You like it, and I guarantee, if you put on your old vinyl Stormbringer Album and adjust the lower end, mid and high frequencies, you can create the same Mix as this so called Remaster. You can then have that same fun with all your records. The human ear is only capable of detecting certain frequency ranges and quality. So, again, as far as I’m concerned, without Bonus material, it’s still a Rip Off. Unfortunately, I will be purchasing it, because I am an avid Purple Collector, and the Record Company knows the market, and again is taking advantage. Just my opinion.
All I can say is that it all sounds good when pushed through my ProLogic soundsystem, with 2 Altec Voice of the Theater mains and 2 Yamaha Subs and my Altec Center Channel and 2 JBL Rears………plus mixing it the way I like it with my ADC Equalizer……..
“STOOOOOOORRRRRMMM-BRRRRRIIIIIINNNGGGGEEEERRRR!!!!!!”
Cheers
March 2nd, 2009 at 18:48Tracy, you don’t mix music with an equalizer.
Fiddling with EQ in your living room can radically alter the sound of music, but it can never provide you with anything that wasn’t there to boost or diminish in the first place.
For this you need the original master tapes which invariably contain more sound detail than any retail copy regardless of medium. Which is exactly why these remasters are not pointless.
The new Stormbringer provides everyone with a pristine copy of the quad mix that has been difficult to find in good condition for 35 years. It also provides you with Glenn Hughes’ remixes, which – although they might illustrate perfectly the issues that pulled Mk 3 apart – still offer a fresh and valid look at (some of!) the material.
In fact, apart from Roger Glover’s indescribably rewarding remixes of Machine Head, Glenn’s new mixes might be the freshest approach we’ve seen in remixed Purple on the remasters.
Lastly, the new Stormbringer provides you with a detailed account of the story behind the album, which in itself is almost worth the price of admission alone. Very few artists see their remasters treated with such attention to historical detail as Deep Purple.
Fingers crossed Glover & co. come up with equally good stuff for the reunion remasters/remixes. 🙂
March 2nd, 2009 at 19:09i have the new remastered version and the japanese SHM(super high material)CD version as well. the japanese version is much better. you can hear everything more separate. anyone else heard it?
March 2nd, 2009 at 19:21RE: Fingers crossed Glover & co. come up with equally good stuff for the reunion remasters/remixes.
+1
March 2nd, 2009 at 20:14The Japanese did it again!
And Japanezen has almost become into a regular word over here……
March 2nd, 2009 at 20:32Rasmus Heide says:
“Tracy, you don’t mix music with an equalizer.”
As I stated, I will be sucked into buying this mainly because I am an avid collector. I will add it to the 12 other versions of Stormbringer that I have, but as I also stated, a good equalizer can bring out most of the sound that this remix will. The sound is already there, the equalizer just heightens or diminishes whichever frequency you wish to meddle with. My 20 Band ADC Equalizer brings out whichever aspect of the music I wish. Is it as efficient as playing with the Masters? Obviously not, but to most Human Ears the difference is negligible and if you have blown your ears out at as many concerts and playing in bands as I have, you really understand just how little you can hear those miniscule differences.
Sounds good for a Sales Pitch though, and if the money from these sales goes to my favorite band……I’m sold. I’ve bought every Remaster thus far, I surely ain’t stoppin’ now.
Look, I’m in support of them ‘Remastering’ all of their catalogue, but for Me it is more about something extra and unheard, along with the SAME OLD ALBUM in new packaging with a different mix. Remix, Remaster, REPEAT……
I still prefer my ‘Virgin Vinyl Jap Pressings’ over any of these. I can fiddle with the MIX myself. Plus, sorry to say, I don’t look forward to Hughes bringing out his Funk even more to the forefront of the sound….It’s what I disliked most of all back then……….with my Equalizer, I can almost remove him and bring out Ritchie and Lord…..
Cheers
March 2nd, 2009 at 21:32Tracy!
How dare you FUNK with G.O.D.´S (Glenn On Demand) work??Lol!!! ROCK ON!
March 2nd, 2009 at 21:49Tracy, Rasmus has it right. If the recording, the mix or the pressing (or what ever they now call it when they put the pits into a cd) is poorly done in the first place you are not going to fix it by using your equalizer. You might be to make up for some deficiencies in your audio equipment or in your room acoustics with it but not the defiency of the orginal recording. The recording method, the original mastering, the playback medium and the pressing are all keys. For me, the audio equipment should not detract or add to the music as the artist has presented it. I will pay the extra bucks for an audiophile recording if it will give a better reproduction of the sound. My preamp does not even have tone control, which is okay for me since I do not need it in my home set up. I get the right tonality by matching my speakers to the electronics, by proper positioning of the speakers and by adjusting the room acoustics by adjusting furniture or adding/removing wall hangings.
March 3rd, 2009 at 00:18Ah yes…..Here I Go Again, All Funked Up and no place to go………
Cheers
March 3rd, 2009 at 02:24I love it. 35th Anniversary Edition. I was married in 1974 and still am between Burn and Stormbringer! Burn the better album. Come Taste The Band, much better than Stormbringer. I have pre-ordered it, just to add to my collection. Dissapointed that no bonus tracks on it. Come on, give us fans what we want. Not a Hughes re-master. We want to hear the man in black. Us fans are the re-master buyers. We want unreleased music. CTTB re-master better have unrealeased material not heard before. We should boycot these releases with no new material.
March 3rd, 2009 at 04:34OK, it’s finally released. Now when we can expect CTTB to get same treatment?
March 3rd, 2009 at 16:00j’ai reçu aujourd’hui le vinyl et le cd/dvd.
March 3rd, 2009 at 17:40L’ensemble est super. Le vinyl est bien présenté et le son est bien meilleur que celui de 1974 (j’aurai aimé un livret supplémentaire comme dans le vinyl “Live Encounters…). Le cd/dvd est parfait surtout le son du dvd et surtout bien meilleur que celui de Burn.
# 28
March 3rd, 2009 at 21:20How strange, here in belgium same story!
Cheers with Vieux 😉
Re: The cover. The image you see at the top of this blog post is a cardboard sleeve wrapped around the jewel case. The booklet cover has had no major alterations done to it.
March 3rd, 2009 at 21:42# 13
March 3rd, 2009 at 22:11Crimson Ghost,
I just listened to the quad-mix on my 5.1-system
and found it incredibly good. If you liked the SACD
or Audio-DVD surround-mixes of MH, then let me tell you,
this here comes close. For example Jon’s parallel riffing of the Stormbringer-Intro is in the right rear
speaker alone, I never have seemed to notice him playing that before.
Ritchies picking-style playing in the intro of
LDMAT is audible alone front left, with overdubbing sounds rear left, which gives it a lot more depth etc etc.
I love it all !
It can’t possibly be worse than Glover’s bass-soaked remixes. But then again, Glenn likes to hear himself play, too!
March 4th, 2009 at 01:15All hype and no new material. They have been teasing us for a few years on a new Stormbringer. New cover, so what. New music is what we want. Disapointing at the least. Like Tracy said, it’s all about the music. Who cares about new liner notes and new artwork. When will the people in charge of these stop doing it for the mighty dollar.
March 4th, 2009 at 04:38Well, some of us certainly enjoy the extensive liner notes in these releases. Yes, we have heard the music before but now we get to enjoy some of the history behind it too. And how could you add new material if there isn’t any available?
March 4th, 2009 at 08:38I agree that these re-releases are a bit unsatisfactory. To me, the 1988 CD is completely fine, and I have a Japanese vinyl pressing too, which sounds great. As Mr. Heyder says, if you want an improvement on that you could always get an equaliser or even some cheap software like Sony Sound Forge or Wave Pad.
Personally I’m not interested in hearing more ‘remasters’ of existing two-track masters that I already own and am happy with, especially with today’s questionable mastering practices of ‘hot’cutting which exaggerates volume, and can rob the recordings of fine details.
However…complete remixed albums can be interesting, e.g. the recent Genesis catalogue – for this project producer Nick Davis made new mixes from the multi-track masters, and sent CDR copies to each of the band member for their approval before commiting to a final mix. The resulting albums are a very good listen if you are a Genesis fan, and a more accessible one if you’re not!
March 4th, 2009 at 11:43Hello !
Stormbringer is not my favourite album but the remixed tracks are great !
Maybe I’m wrong but I thought there was an instrumental title called Grabsplatter on one of the Stormbringer singles b-sides… I think about an instrumental track on the In Rock anniversary ed. with a different name.
Does anyone know about a Come Taste the Band reissued project ?
I thaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnkkkkkkkk you !
March 4th, 2009 at 13:22Svante Axbacke is spot on regarding the lack of unissued tracks.
Problem was, by the time 16 track came along, most of the studio time would be spent overdubbing on the final basic tracks. It also meant more time had to be spent on mixing so given the amount of time DP would had had to record this album, it would had meant very little left over. Given Blackmore’s feelings about the material, he was hardly bursting to try out different solos so there’s not even alternate solos to choose from. He may had been more muted on this album but by God there’s still some terrific playing from him.
It didn’t help that by then, they had ditched making singles so there was no need for any quickie tracks or offcuts. Coverdale used his veto to not include the one alternate version we know of, so what else could they do? So, there is no use in griping over material that simply wasn’t even recorded! At best, I would guess all there is on the multi-tracks apart from the completed tracks are basic rhythm tracks, some of which probably break down. Coverdale and Hughes would not had been singing on those, so they’d be barely interesting to listen to… I trust Simon Robinson’s judgement and if there WAS anything remotely interesting on these tapes, he would had tried to ensure we heard them. Credit to Glenn Hughes that he did utilise some alternate vocal tracks in his remixes.
Ah yes… Glenn’s remixes. No surprise these appear to be bass heavy. I’m certain had Ian Paice mixed it, he would focus more on the drums and so on… It is inevitable! Reminds me of King Crimson… if John Wetton was mixing, his vocals and bass would dominate. Bill Bruford once did a mix of a live tape that angered Robert Fripp since Bruford of course had the main focus on his drums. Remember the tale of “In Rock” being mixed, with every member pushing themselves up in the mix?
I also get the feeling that mark 3 were not prone to jamming in the studio like mark 2 frequently did hence there being no jammed tracks or daft little throwaways. “Stormbringer” was Coverdale and Hughes big moment to showcase their songs and I’d bet those songs were pretty much fully written and developed by the time they got into the studio.
A shame… but it’s simply the way it is. I know I will still enjoy this remaster anyway when I buy it, and I ALWAYS enjoy reading the booklets since they always put things into perspective and give great insight.
Roll on the CTTB remaster!
March 4th, 2009 at 15:10@39
Thanks, but I expected greatness there… wanting to hear from people who have never heard the Quadro and now have experienced something of the sensational audio variety for once in their lives.
March 4th, 2009 at 15:55And I was wondering also if there is any remastering evidence coming through in the overal 5.1 sound, could be an improvement, could be a curse.
Svante Axbacke says:
“Well, some of us certainly enjoy the extensive liner notes in these releases. Yes, we have heard the music before but now we get to enjoy some of the history behind it too. And how could you add new material if there isn’t any available?”
More Liner notes? More History? That’s what books are for. Purple should publish a book of history. Repackaging albums and selling them due to a ‘few more words’ is still in my opinion a huge Rip Off. Again, will I buy it? Yes, I am one of the sheep in the flock that buys all things Purple. But if it wasn’t offered, I wouldn’t be inclined to spend the greenbacks now would I. That is the target of these -Redos.
Hell, how about they release Re-Masters from each album, remixed by each player in that MK. There are 5 members of Purple on each record with different ears. OH BOY, we could get 5 different versions of the SAME RECORD.
Or, you can just adjust YOUR FRIGGIN’ EQUALIZER!!!!!!
Come on…..there had to be something from the Stormbringer sessions they could have included. You can’t tell me that at some point a tape machine wasn’t rolling. It’s truly unheard of…..
Sorry about being so cynical, but ENOUGH is ENOUGH!!!!
Long Live New Material from Purple……..
Cheers
March 4th, 2009 at 21:10I don´t understand why so much complaining. I doubt that the old cd editions can match the new remasters, that is obvious. About glenn remixing as he likes…well what the hell do you want? At least someone inside the band does the work, and not allowing any other guy to do it is great. The same thing could be said about glover´s mk2 albums remixes!
March 4th, 2009 at 21:59yes I do complain about coverdale nixing alterbnate vocals.
Untill now, we have been denied to hear glover´s strange kind of woman rehearsal take, JOn Lord´s aoutakes from WDWTWA and the burn rehearsals too. That is what fans want and cant understand why keeping them outside the remasters
Agree completely with Soulmover. I think the new release is great, the songs absolutely sparkle and no longer sound muffled. Shame on Mr Coverdale for nixing the track, although you can’t blame him. Stormbringer eclipses everything he’s done recently.
I’d like to give my thanks to Glenn Hughes – nobody else could be arsed to do it, it seems. Blackmore can hardly complain about any of the remixes if he doesn’t want to get involved.
March 4th, 2009 at 22:26I’m looking forward to receiving mine soon. However, things seem to have changed a bit since I first place my order many, many moons ago; specifically, the bonus material.
The album has been digitally remastered before by Metal Blade Records, which is what I own, so I’m not sure how different the regular tracks will sound compared to that. However, when I ordered this item, bonuses included not only the remixed tracks and the instrumental run-through of “Highball Shooter”, but it was supposed to have an alternate version of “Soldier of Fortune” and the forward audio of Coverdale’s backward swearing heard at the beginning of the title track. These things seem to have disappeared in the interim and I’m deeply disappointed about that.
Why are the artists objecting to the inclusion of these bits and bobs on an (ostensibly) 30th Anniversary release which is largely targeted at fans and collectors? I just don’t get it.
I also join the ranks of those who dislike the replacement of the original Deep Purple logo on the cover. Don’t muck with the original artwork!
That said, even if I had known about these changes ahead of time I would still have ordered a copy. I want to show my support for the band and the anniversary releases. Still, I have to admit to being a tad disappointed.
Cheers!
Brent
March 5th, 2009 at 16:16The remastered tracks are too bright in my opinion, but I am a sound engineer and I may be in the minority in this opinion. It sounds to me like when they did the mastering, they were hyping the sound (speciflicly the top end, they should have also helped the bottom) to make it sound like a pop record with todays sound. I prefer to hear the record in a more natural state to hear what the instruments really sounded like.
If you buy this, do it for the quad mixes or the remixes. The remixes do have some merit, sonicly speaking they are impressive.
March 6th, 2009 at 14:16I just got my copy yesterday and I’ll comment after listening to it.
Cheers, Brent!
March 6th, 2009 at 16:14Got my copy today.It’s a crisp,clean remaster. Hughes’ remixes are a touch vocal heavy,but not unpleasant.The Highball Shooter instrumental is cool.I can’t comment on the “point this,point that” remixes because I(gasp !!)only have 2 speakers !! LOL
The packaging is well done;the new artwork/logo is only on the slipcase
and the booklet is informative.It’s print is easy to read,which was not the case with the Burn remaster.
For those who lament a lack of North American release,why wait for it??
March 6th, 2009 at 21:07I ordered my copy from cdWow in the UK.It arrived at my door in 9 days,shipped from Hong Kong for only 18 dollars Canadian.It’s a safe bet that a domestic copy ( if it ever becomes available) will cost more than that.
The 5.1 mix does apparently have a thicker sound altogether.
March 9th, 2009 at 05:54I’m gong to have to completely disect the entire thing, all formats.
But I do like the sound so far, very clean but… biting as well.
Well, not 5.1 but apparently 4.1
I played on the computer set up first and didn’t have things set properly. Then I played it in the living room. It’s really just the quadro, with likely simulated sub woofer. But it does sound fat.
About the cover, it’s just a slip case, and at least they used the tour T-shirt and program logo… it’s not as new as it looks.
(cardboard slip cases I don’t even like because they get knackered after very little handling)
Otherwise, the Hughes mixes are just okay with me, kind of weird, but I would rather he had tackled the Quadro to bring his voice up in ‘Holy Man’ but you can’t have everything.
March 9th, 2009 at 18:40I just got mine yesterday. I’ve not had time to listen to it yet, but I was pleased to see the altered logo on only the cardboard slipcase. Inside, the original artwork and logo remain intact!
I’m curious about the remastered sound and especially curious about the 5.1 quad mixes. I’m still disappointed, though, by the bonuses that Coverdale apparently shot down.
Cheers to Crimson Ghost and Cheers to the Hub, who just reached 10,000 members! ROCK ON!
Brent
March 10th, 2009 at 16:20Look again Brent. That is not the original logo.
March 10th, 2009 at 20:30I was just mentioning myself that at least the slip case art is faithful to one of the 1975 tour logos. Just an added touch, nothing too wrong with it, but to those who haven’t seen that brief logo before, I can see the irritation.(kind of like how it irritates me that Purple would approve of using the Stormbringer lettering style back drop at shows a few years back… some things just go like that)
Cheers Brent, and Rasmus!
March 10th, 2009 at 23:33Regarding the booklet: The individual pictures and the group shot in which Glenn and Jon are holding magazines are not, as stated publicity shots for the album but pictures made for the German monthly Musik Express.
March 11th, 2009 at 14:05Also: the booklet states that Yugoslavia where the 1975 spring tour started was behind the Iron Country. It was not: while in fact it was a communist country, it was not member of the Soviet dominated alliances such as the Comecon and the Warsaw Pact, which the term referred to.
Excuse me Iron Courtain of course
March 11th, 2009 at 14:06Come Taste the Band has unreleased material. Coverdale stated in an 1980 interview that he had rehearsal tapes of it, where Bolin plays much better than on the actual album. These have not been issued yet.
March 12th, 2009 at 16:19have you a link for that interview?
March 13th, 2009 at 03:17Unfortunately not. But I still remember his words. They were the following.
March 13th, 2009 at 09:31“I still have the rehearsal tapes of Come Taste the Band. He (TB) is amazing. On the actual album he is still great, but not as good.”
Bearing in mind that Coverdale vetoed the inclusion of the unreleased Soldier of Fortune version I can imagine that he does not want those tapes to surface either.
@ 61, 63
I do remember those words by DC too but always thought the closet was cleaned with those Days may come and go editions?
March 13th, 2009 at 21:15How do you know he is not talking about teh Days may come material?
March 14th, 2009 at 02:52The Days May Come Material were not rehearsals for Come Taste the Band, but the jamming tapes of the new line up made, and forgotten, and much later than 1980 found by California based sound engineer Robert Simon. Coverdale’s tapes were not included on Days May Come.
March 14th, 2009 at 11:07I have mixed feeling about all the Deep Purple remasters. They sound ok, but are messed up with two many and strangely chosen bonustracks, changed artwork, released over too long time wich makes them not a serie wich looks and are made in the same way.
April 15th, 2009 at 23:24Instead they should have been released in the same way as the first three albums, with the exeption of the strangely made front covers. I know it won’t happen but I rather have them all remade, released like the Pink Floyd remaster but with bunustracks (chosen with more care, like on the first four, better handeled by EMI themselves, without bandmembders involved).
I think the Fireball and Stormbringer reissues are the best ones yet. I really Hughes’ remixes. Brings out a good flavor for those tracks.
June 5th, 2009 at 23:58well,
first of all the pcm stereo track on the dvd is not 24bit 48khz but only 16bit!!!
Then the japanese shm-cd version is louder than the 35th anniversary edition
but the dynamic impact is more strong on the shm version.Let’s say it’s a little bit
in your face kind of sound but to me it sounds more full on all the frequency range.
Also the stereo image on the shm version is better.
The 35th versions is maybe too hyped on the high frequency range.
I know i’m talking from my point of view(former mastering engineer) but
i can say the 35th anniversary edition sounds like an almost flat transfer from
the master tapes..levels are around -14/-15 db rms so not so hot.
The shm is around -12/-10 db rms.
that’s all
June 17th, 2009 at 00:03Let’s face it. Stormbringer was and is THE best Purple LP to date. Like it or not, Blackmore: the guy can funk!. I wish MK III would have lasted 20 or more years. I could be listening to that groove for ages to come! Thanks God we still have Glenn Hughes. He is the real incarnation of MK III.
July 3rd, 2009 at 19:43I think I have “Grabsplatter” on an old Purple compilation, a 2-LP thing called, I forget, “The Collection”? Maybe? Is that song on any CD?
January 5th, 2010 at 04:33Just been reading the comments and I must say Tracy Heyder, do you actually read the comments made about what is a remastering process? Because you don’t seem to get it at all do you?
January 6th, 2010 at 14:05I have bought many cds a few times over and there are immense differences when there has been a decent remastering with more modern equipment. Have a listen to some of Frank Zappa’s catalogue to tell the difference between albums when he remastered them (or remixed them), or just get hold of the Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland album and compare the first cd issue with the last. The Beatles are another case in point.
I have ‘Grabsplatter’ on a vinyl B-side somewhere and remember it was a bit of an instrumental ‘I’m Alone’. Am I right?
May 21st, 2011 at 18:27As president of Dutch Deep Purple Fanclub I received a proof pressing with white label and was informed some weeks before that the title would indeed be Silence. In my honest opinion this was told to impress fans and press at the release of the final product which turned out to be a real Stormbringer …
July 10th, 2013 at 19:25I need to talk to bart hekkelman about some pictures he took from a rainbow show on 1982. could you please tell him to contact me? dp586@hotmail.com
February 28th, 2015 at 11:35Well, the cd sounds great & the remixed songs are a good addition but I was disappointed with the dvd-a disc. The surround mix sux. I have a LOT of dvd-a, sacd & blu ray audio discs & most are excellent sounding but Stormbringer sounds like crap. Am I expecting too much? Is there some known deficiency in this version!? I was expecting a big fat crystal clear sound such as with the Doobie Bros. Captain & Me or Hotel California or Machine Head. What happened?
May 16th, 2018 at 08:22I know I am years late to this Stormbringer 35th anniversary reissue two cd version. I am wondering why no one has mentioned that the quadraphonic version of Stormbringer is missing the first twenty seconds and starts only when the vocals come in.
December 30th, 2018 at 05:33I’ve had the 35 anniversary edition since it came out in 2009. Informative sleeve notes.Great to have the G.H remixes,and to hear R.B’s solo on the instrumental of ‘Highball Shooter’.It would have been great if that solo had been officially added to the original track,albeit after the fact,in a different place. I hope D.C ( “butterflies a flying from “) can be persuaded to authorise the earlier version of ‘Soldier…’ for a potential 50th anniversary edition. I have always felt the rockier tracks production wise were generally ‘flat’. The other material sounded fine. As WDWTWA didn’t get a 50th anniversary remix/remaster,it’s probable that we will have to be content with earlier anniversary editions of ‘Burn’ & ‘Stormbringer’?
January 12th, 2024 at 16:22Don’t get me started on how lovelessly the whole DP back catalog has been treated over the decades – nearly every obscure third rate band has seen better. Bands with much less a sales status than Purple have by now had several upgrades of state of the art remastering and remixing for their past work while we’re still stuck with an In Rock remix & remaster that will be 30 (!) years old next year (and which in its extreme harshness did the original no favors).
I thought the Stormbringer and Come Taste The Band anniversary releases were among the best DP reissues (add Machine Head as well), but they are all a little long in the tooth by now and current remastering and remixing style favors a warmer, more organic sound that would benefit a lot of them.
January 12th, 2024 at 17:44