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54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The erratic Queensryche release pattern continues..., July 28, 2003
Revolution Calling, a boxed set containing all the remastered Queensryche albums on EMI, suffers from the same problem as on the Greatest Hits CD. There's a degree of thoughtlessness here that's disheartening, suggesting that the band had limited involvement in the project.I was standing in the aisle of the record store not sure whether I should go the full monty with the boxed set or just buy several of the remastered CDs. The question becomes: Is it worth it to get all seven records again? Depends on where you're coming from. The music itself, if you like this kind of music, is heaven sent. There's a reason this band achieved such exalted status within the very discriminating progressive-rock community. But with a package like this, the original materials aren't the attraction -- it's the bonus materials. Running down the CDs: 1. The Queensryche EP is pretty valuable, as the re-release includes nine live tracks to flesh out the length of the CD (the old CD issue of this EP only included "The Prophecy"). 2. The Warning was my least favourite of the old Queensryche albums, but there are decent live versions of "The Lady Wore Black" and "Take Hold of the Flame". But another live version of "The Prophecy" looks like plain packaging laziness. 3. Rage for Order is a great one -- the band's first great album, given the presence of "I Dream in Infrared", "The Killing Words", "The Whisper", "Walk in the Shadows" and the celestial "I Will Remember" (hinting at "Silent Lucidity" four years later). The bonus tracks include the even more beautiful acoustic mix of "I Dream in Infrared" which had been a B-side to "Best I Can" in 1991, a ho-hum remix of "Gonna Get Close to You", and two live tracks from Rage for Order. Rage for Order's sound quality was a major weakness in its previous CD incarnation, but I can't say I hear an improvement in this remaster; the sound problem probably comes of the dated recording and mixing techniques on the original tapes. 4. Operation: Mindcrime is the band's signature album, but there are only two bonus tracks. "The Mission" is tremendous, but is it worth buying this record again? It's possible that the length of the original album (15 tracks) made it hard to fit more bonus materials onto a re-released CD, but it's still disappointing. 5. Empire was pretty damn good sounding in its original CD form; engineers reportedly use it to check their studio sound systems. The bonus materials, however, do justify buying the album anew: The remaster includes "Last Time in Paris", an atypically brash, silly hard rocker that the band cooked up for -- gasp! -- the soundtrack of The Adventures of Ford Fairlane. And "Scarborough Fair", which fans may remember from the band's superlative MTV Unplugged performance, fits guitarist Chris DeGarmo's acoustic virtuosity very well. 6. Promised Land includes "Real World" from the Last Action Hero soundtrack, but then the CD includes another live version. Highly unnecessary. The two other live tracks included are pretty dull. 7. Hear in the Now Frontier -- practically everybody's least favourite record by this band -- makes up for the original album's weakness by including three songs from MTV Unplugged: "Silent Lucidity", "The Killing Words", and "I Will Remember". I had these on bootleg CD already, but the sound quality on this remaster definitely justifies the release. It would have been even better if the whole Unplugged session had been released as a live record, but no matter -- any way to hear that transcendental DeGarmo-Wilton acoustic interplay and Scott Rockenfield's nuanced drumming in the Unplugged setting is worth it. That adds up to about four good discs out of seven. I personally think that it probably *would* have been better to buy the individual records, especially since -- as another reviewer pointed out -- these CDs come with absolutely no liner notes or cases. Even the original artwork and photographs are omitted except for the cover -- unforgivable. The only thing in this box you can't get from the individual CDs is the "Promised Land" interactive game. I haven't played it, but it doesn't look like anything to write home about judging from the manual. My verdict? Buy just the CDs you like the best, with the best bonus tracks, and save a couple of dollars. I would pick Rage for Order for the acoustic "Infrared", Empire for "Scarborough Fair" and "Last Time in Paris", and Hear in the Now Frontier for the Unplugged tracks. I'm a completist -- I have the entire catalogue in its early CD forms -- but this boxed set just doesn't offer enough, especially if you own all the albums already.
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