Classic Masters [Original recording remastered]

Crowded House | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 24, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: EMI Special Products
• ASIN: B00009QGEN
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #241,281 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Something So Strong

2. Weather With You

3. When You Come [Live][#]

4. Don't Dream It's Over

5. Fingers of Love

6. Nails in My Feet

7. Never Be the Same

8. Chocolate Cake

9. It's Only Natural

10. Distant Sun [Remix]

11. Sister Madly [Live][#]

12. Hole in the River

Editorial Reviews

CROWDED HOUSE Classic Masters (2003 US 12-track CD album includes Weather With You Something So Strong and Its Only Natural with a different picture sleeve to UK issue featuring a close-up of the band - still factory sealed from new)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well chosen collection, outstanding digital remastering, September 16, 2003

By 

Daniel Matsumoto (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Classic Masters (Audio CD)

Thoughtful collection of songs, which mostly avoids duplicating tracks from the 1996 retrospective Recurring Dream, The Very Best of Crowded House. Of those 19 selections, only 4 are duplicated here, version to version (the band's most popular tunes "Something So Strong", "Weather With You", "Don't Dream It's Over" and "It's Only Natural" aptly appear on both collections). While Classic Masters features two elusive live tracks, "When You Come" (from Newcastle, Au 3/3/92) and "Sister Madly" (from London, England 11/12/93, edited), the true gold of this release is found is the rich, digital remastering of the band's earlier catalog, particularly the tracks from the first two albums -- Crowded House, Temple of Low Men -- where the improvements are most striking. The depth and full range of frequency finally return to these recordings, a quality sorely missing from many 80s CDs which were poorly mastered to disc in the mid-80s to early '90s. This collection corrects that mistake magnificently. Highlights here include the stirring bass line of "Never Be The Same" (from Temple of Low Men) and the moody Split Enz-inspired instrumentation of "Hole in the River" (from the first album). Sadly, the only pitfall of this collection is technical. Track 10, Distant Sun (remix), has a bad glitch that carelessly causes the line "drawn to the flame" at the end of the second verse to repeat.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars LOUDED UP MASTERING, August 15, 2008

By 

BOB (LOS ANGELES, CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Classic Masters (Audio CD)

It's probably going to be difficult to discourage anyone reading this to purchase another title, due to the low price this disc is being sold at.

However, if you care about audio quality, and you're interested in having some better-sounding Crowded House, look to Recurring Dream and/or Platinum (the two make an excellent CH remastered collection), rather than this disc. Why?

While the two alternates were remastered with the original dynamic range of the recordings intact, this "Classic" disc was not. All the channels on the Classic mastering were max'd out, and the vocals are often buried in the over-amp'd loudness of the instruments.

This "remastering" approach may sound great on an iPod and earbuds, but on a home or car stereo, it very quickly promotes listening fatigue, as the ear is over-powered by the increased volumes.

I agree with the other reviewer that the first three CH CD's were just LP-EQ'd masters transfered to CD, and sounded terrible. However, the Classic mastering job goes clear to the opposite end of the spectrum.

There are few tracks on Classic disc that do not appear on my two suggested alternates. However, those two discs are eminently more listenable than this CD.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great additon to any Crowded House/Finn Collection!, August 2, 2003

By 

Patricia M. Berger (Bethlehem Township, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Classic Masters (Audio CD)

Just bought this last night - what an awesome find! It is worth every single penny alone just to hear a live version of "When You Come"! Neil Finn is THE master of pop music! This album nicely complements ones already existing Crowded House/Neil Finn/Tim Finn collection. "Chocolate Cake" & "Nails in my Feet" are strong fan favorites and are a nice find on a compilation album. I cannot even begin to recommend enough to everyone all Crowded House & Finn endeavors!

(Keep your eyes peeled for the future Finn Brothers album!)