How The West Was Won Remastered Reviews/Thoughts

[paplbojo]

If anyone wants to post a review particularly on the sound it would be very, very welcome (is it noticeably less brickwalled?)! I won't be able to listen to mine until next weekend... damnit. 

I figure this topic belongs in the Reissues section, unless I'm wrong. 

[zeplz71]

The new remaster sounds better to me. Drums are clearer, better eq and can hear the bass better too.

[Your Time is Gonna Come]

Hello Marylou is gone from the WLL medley 

[SteveZ98]

1 hour ago, zeplz71 said:

The new remaster sounds better to me. Drums are clearer, better eq and can hear the bass better too.

Agreed. This is how the first release of HTWWW should have sounded. I still can't believe Jimmy OK'd the brickwalled mess that was the original version. Why go to all the trouble of picking the best performances from the two nights only to have them lose their impact because of the poor mastering?

[tmtomh]

7 hours ago, zeplz71 said:

The new remaster sounds better to me. Drums are clearer, better eq and can hear the bass better too.

Yep, definitely. Slightly more dynamic mastering, overloaded mid-bass nicely cut down, harshness basically gone. A series of small improvements that add up to a noticeably better listening experience, especially over the course of the full 2-1/2 hours.

[John M]

 

[JAP]

47 minutes ago, John M said:

 

This perfectly sums it up. Thanks for posting 

[rebeldhipi]

The new one is better. 

The bass in What Is And What Should Never Be is a delight. Probably always was but the new remaster brings in up nicely.

 

Edited to add:

The booklet is really nice with great pictures i havent seen before.

Hello Marylou is cut and it works. From Lets Have A Party to Going Down Slow flows well.

Edited March 24, 2018 by rebeldhipi

[tmtomh]

8 hours ago, rebeldhipi said:

The new one is better. 

The bass in What Is And What Should Never Be is a delight. Probably always was but the new remaster brings in up nicely.

 

Edited to add:

The booklet is really nice with great pictures i havent seen before.

Hello Marylou is cut and it works. From Lets Have A Party to Going Down Slow flows well.

Agreed on all counts. Would have loved to have Mary Lou again, but I have to admit I can see why Page might have cut it - the song flows more logically without it.

[For My Life]

9 hours ago, tmtomh said:

Agreed on all counts. Would have loved to have Mary Lou again, but I have to admit I can see why Page might have cut it - the song flows more logically without it.

It took me about 60s using Audacity to create Hello Mary Lou as a stand-alone 2min 16sec track using the old 2003 disc, with fade in and fade out etc. I then added it to the end of the 2018 edition of HTWWW as a ‘bonus track’ in my lossless playlist in iTunes. Problem solved...

[reids]

18 hours ago, For My Life said:

It took me about 60s using Audacity to create Hello Mary Lou as a stand-alone 2min 16sec track using the old 2003 disc, with fade in and fade out etc. I then added it to the end of the 2018 edition of HTWWW as a ‘bonus track’ in my lossless playlist in iTunes. Problem solved...

😎🎸👍

nice.

R😎

[tmtomh]

Very cool solution! I created a version of Whole Lotta Love with Mary Lou added back in, splicing Mary Lou from the 2003 DVD-A into the new HD file. Also pretty easy and took just a few minutes.

[gibsonfan159]

People used to make mixtapes. Now we're making our own medleys lol.

[tmtomh]

[blindwillie127]

This new remaster sounds so fucking good its frightening. Feels like your your getting punched in the gut and slapped in the face at the same time. Im cranking the shit out of it on my very powerful old school stereo system and Im getting my fucking face melted. That beautiful syncopated bass line that JPJ is laying down during the solo to OTHAFA with Bonham locked tight on his ass is just unreal magical shit.

God this band was powerful.

 

Edited March 26, 2018 by blindwillie127

[Strider]

Wished they had used this for the cover art instead of the BBC Sessions style clone on HTWWW. Plant in particular looks terrible on the HTWWW cover.

[gibsonfan159]

4 hours ago, Strider said:

. Plant in particular looks terrible on the HTWWW cover.

Have you seen him on the BBC Sessions cover? Looks like he weighs 300 lbs.

[ForEvermore]

On 3/23/2018 at 4:54 PM, zeplz71 said:

The new remaster sounds better to me. Drums are clearer, better eq and can hear the bass better too.

 

On 3/23/2018 at 6:55 PM, SteveZ98 said:

Agreed. This is how the first release of HTWWW should have sounded. I still can't believe Jimmy OK'd the brickwalled mess that was the original version. Why go to all the trouble of picking the best performances from the two nights only to have them lose their impact because of the poor mastering?

 

On 3/24/2018 at 12:55 AM, tmtomh said:

Yep, definitely. Slightly more dynamic mastering, overloaded mid-bass nicely cut down, harshness basically gone. A series of small improvements that add up to a noticeably better listening experience, especially over the course of the full 2-1/2 hours.

 

On 3/24/2018 at 10:18 AM, rebeldhipi said:

The new one is better. 

The bass in What Is And What Should Never Be is a delight. Probably always was but the new remaster brings in up nicely.

 

Edited to add:

The booklet is really nice with great pictures i havent seen before.

Hello Marylou is cut and it works. From Lets Have A Party to Going Down Slow flows well.

 

On 3/24/2018 at 6:35 PM, tmtomh said:

Agreed on all counts. Would have loved to have Mary Lou again, but I have to admit I can see why Page might have cut it - the song flows more logically without it.

I can only agree with all of the above. I'm listening to the new CD version (on the headphones I talked about in another thread  ), and it sounds SOOOO much better than the original version. No overly-compressed wall of sound (in the negative sense) here...

 

12 hours ago, blindwillie127 said:

This new remaster sounds so fucking good its frightening. Feels like your your getting punched in the gut and slapped in the face at the same time. Im cranking the shit out of it on my very powerful old school stereo system and Im getting my fucking face melted. That beautiful syncopated bass line that JPJ is laying down during the solo to OTHAFA with Bonham locked tight on his ass is just unreal magical shit.

God this band was powerful.

I have the feeling I'm going to be gushing like you when my BluRay Audio version arrives later this week - yes, I made up my own "digital boxset" by getting both the CD and the BluRay versions ("thanks", Jimmy...

Did I mention I just got a new 5.1 system last week? Quite a coincidence for that to happen right before the new HTWWW remaster came out... 

[The Rover]

HTWWW 2018 Blu-Ray Headphone Review

My most favorite performance off of HTWWW is "BRING IT ON HOME."
The HOTH songs and the acoustic set are also my favorites.

The Blu-ray gives three listening choices, DTS-HD Master Audio in 5.1 and 2.0, and PCM 2.0. (96kHz/24 bit)

The Pop-up Menu gives you the all the songs and the track you're currently listening to.

The Display function gives you bit rates, and which audio track is playing.

I will say, that I listened in my office, through my Vizio E-Series E291-A1.
I turned OFF the "SRS Tru Volume" and set the SRS Surround Sound to "Standard", and I used the EQ "Flat Respose" Setting.

While listening to this with my Bose Around-Ear headphones on, I preferred the 2.0 signal, which both sounded the same, even though the display showed different bit rates for audio channel choices #2 and #3.

As each song begins, a still picture is displayed for the entirety of the song, and looks to be matched to each song that's playing.

Seeing the image while the song is playing, of course, makes you wish, why didn't they film the concerts, even if with just a single camera, just  capturing the stage, as you might have seen it, looking on from the audience...

I never owned the 2003 edition, so any 2003/2018 comparisons will have to come from someone else.

Edited March 27, 2018 by The Rover

[John M]

20 hours ago, blindwillie127 said:

This new remaster sounds so fucking good its frightening. Feels like your your getting punched in the gut and slapped in the face at the same time. Im cranking the shit out of it on my very powerful old school stereo system and Im getting my fucking face melted. That beautiful syncopated bass line that JPJ is laying down during the solo to OTHAFA with Bonham locked tight on his ass is just unreal magical shit.

God this band was powerful.

 

Great description! 

[Brigante]

Jimmy cuts out Mary Lou and then says that he didn't put Tangerine on the re-issue as he 'didn't want to mess with the album'?!
Me no comprehende... 

[blindwillie127]

So, I just cranked the ever loving shit out of Bring It On Home on the first listen.... I feel like I've been hit by a taser. The unmatched finesse & power of this band is being represented so well on this remaster that its a revelation. 

I gave no fucks about a goddamn HTWWW remaster.....boy, was I wrong

Go Jimmy, go.

[The Rover]

3 hours ago, blindwillie127 said:

So, I just cranked the ever loving shit out of Bring It On Home on the first listen.... I feel like I've been hit by a taser. The unmatched finesse & power of this band is being represented so well on this remaster that its a revelation. 

I gave no fucks about a goddamn HTWWW remaster.....boy, was I wrong

Go Jimmy, go.

Right. Listening to the powerful BIOH from the HTWWW BD took me back to hearing it live, for the first time, to that magical performance on Aug. 22, 1970. By then, the second hand smoke in the TCCC arena had had it's effect on that 14 year old teenager.

[tls]

Just listened to the Blu Ray. One man one guitar. Phenomenal . 

[reids]

4 minutes ago, tls said:

Just listened to the Blu Ray. One man one guitar. Phenomenal . 

Exactly 😎🎸👍

R😀