Sports [Expanded Edition] [Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Huey Lewis & the News | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 29, 1999)
• Original Release Date: 1989
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B00000JCFP
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,123 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #97 in Music > Music Deals > Box Sets at 30% Off

Editorial Reviews

His #1 1983 smash with the huge hits I Want a New Drug; Heart and Soul; The Heart of Rock 'n' Roll; If This Is It , and Walking on a Thin Line . And then there's the bonus material: live versions of the first two hits listed above and session takes of the last three-all circa 1984-1985! 14 tracks total.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars for a great album; one star for a POOR re-master., April 18, 2005

By 

Freline "80's Music Man" (United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sports [Expanded Edition] (Audio CD)

This is one of my all-time favorite albums; it certainly brings back lots of memories of 1984, though I did not actually own a copy until 2003. It is the hit singles that I remember hearing on the radio throughout 1984.

My favorite track would have to be "The Heart of Rock and Roll," followed closely by "I Want a New Drug" and "If This is It," which, coincidentally, were the three biggest singles.

However, this "re-mastered" edition, which was released in 1999, is very, very poor. I purchased this edition in the summer of 2003, at which time I was taking an internship in audio engineering. This "24-bit re-master" is an engineer's worst nightmare. The engineer who re-mastered this disc has taken some pretty tasteless liberties with the bass and treble.

On most of the tracks, there is too much low end bass, which makes them sound muddy and overbearing. There is also a lack of treble (high-end), making this an extremely poorly-balanced re-master. The best example of this is track #4, "I Want a New Drug." The bass drum pounds and pounds away, ready to break my car stereo speakers at any given moment. The high-end is not as airy or clear as it sounds on the old CD edition. And the following track, "Walking On a Thin Line," opens with a synthesizer bass line that is excessively overbearing.

At first, I thought that this was intentional, but after downloading mp3s of each track, presumably ripped from the original CD release, I can safely say that this release was severely botched up. The mp3s, particularly "I Want a New Drug," sound much more balanced out and tighter.

Again, a great album, but a very poor re-master. To think that this edition was intended to replace the original CD release is unthinkable.

Also, Chrysalis/Capitol Records missed an opportunity to include the extended 12" remix of "I Want a New Drug," as well as the very rare 12" remix of the first single, "Heart and Soul." I would have listened to those more than once, which is more than I can say for the existing bonus tracks, which consist of alternate session takes for "The Heart of Rock and Roll" and "Walking on a Thin Line," respectively, as well as live, concert versions of "If This is It," "Heart and Soul," and "I Want a New Drug."


UPDATE: I managed to locate a copy of the original CD edition, which sounds a heck of a lot tighter, crisper, and better balanced than this atrocity of a re-master.

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Huey Lewis, August 12, 2004

By 

Pat Bateman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sports [Expanded Edition] (Audio CD)

Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83,I think they really came into their own, commercial and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humour.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A five star album turned into a two star piece of rubbish!, April 19, 2008

By 

Aaron K (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sports [Expanded Edition] (Audio CD)

At least one other reviewer hit the nail right on the head with his "two star" review of SPORTS (Remastered/Expanded Edition). If you can imagine taking your 5-band EQ and turning the treble end all the way down and the bass end all the way up, that's what you're getting on this CD. To quote Huey, "sometimes bad is bad," but this is one case where bad is pure garbage.

I just put my original vinyl copy of Sports on the turntable, and it sounds fantastic! If you need this on CD, look for the earlier edition.