Does anyone have the Unforgettable Fire gold remaster?

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Argh! I didn't realize this existed until I read about it earlier when I was looking for something about Mobile Fidelity. :huh:

Anyone have it, is it worth it? It's one of my favorite albums, in my top 2, and after reading this review I feel like I'm missing something.

It is *not* cheap, cheaper than the JT remaster though.
 
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Yes, my girlfriend gave it to me for Christmas one year. It was a great surprise. It is worth the price:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_2/102-8442526-8547319?v=glance&s=music

You can really hear the difference in these recordings and UF is such a studio album with all kinds of sounds it really benifits from the original masters series.

I also have the War remastered CD as well. I had the JT, but I let a buddy borrow and lost contact with him... :mad:
 
I have all three Mobile Fidelity gold discs. War, The Unforgettable Fire, and the Joshua Tree. Basically, I got tired of waiting for reprinted and remastered pre-90's U2 cds to come out so I bought these. The sound is F'in fantastic! Really excellent quality. I was lucky and purchased these sometime before the company went broke and the prices skyrocketed. And being deaf and noticing the improved sound quality, imagine what normal ears could pick up. :yes:
 
I don't own any of the gold discs, but I've heard such great things.

As for an official remastering of U2's entire '80s catalog done by Island: What's taking so long? All six studio albums need it badly...very badly. Tack on some bonus tracks and it'd be so great.
 
I've never heard any of the gold remasters, although, oddly enough, I was just thinking about getting the Unforgettable Fire yesterday.

How are they different?
 
I have all three gold cd's.

To the one who asked how all they differ from the originals, they are remastered from the original master tapes by an audiophile label called Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs. Their objective was to make the album sound more faithful to the master tape. Believe it or not, the sound quality you get on CD is a much more compressed and lesser quality version of the master tape. MFSL tried their best to make it sound better.

As for the Unforgettable Fire gold cd, it isn't any better than the original cd to be honest with you. Perhaps the master tapes were bad to begin with, or the mastering done by the U2 techs in the original cd was as good as it could get already. So in short, you're not missing anything.

For the War cd, you get a few bonus seconds in the song "Seconds" (or was it Surrender?), I'm not sure. And the sound quality is an improvement over the original non-gold CD.

However, it is really with the gold Joshua Tree cd where the sound really shines. It is a totally new listening experience all together, the drums sound more natural, there is more air around the instruments, and the bass is not muddy or boomy. The vocals are more solid and less grainy compared to the original.

To discern these differences you need to have a decent playback rig. Playing it in your car stereo, or computer speakers, or discman headphones, or your boombox, or anything Bose won't make you notice these minute yet vital nuances and improvements. I highly recommend the Johsua Tree gold remaster but not the Unforgettable Fire. You aren't missing anything with the Unforgettable Fire gold cd.

Cheers,

J
 
Roland, if I send you some CD-Rs, could you burn me copies of the 3 cds? I've been looking for the 3 cds but Mobile Fidelity doesn't manufacture it anymore... and they're way too expensive right now!!!! Would you? You can contact me at aivan@aivan.net...
Thanx...
 
I have Queen's "A Night At The Opera" in the gold remaster, and it definitely is an improvement, but only with the right equipment. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is quite impressive. I got it as a gift about ten years ago...I wish I had the Joshua Tree one to go with it....
 
Rastat said:
Roland, if I send you some CD-Rs, could you burn me copies of the 3 cds? I've been looking for the 3 cds but Mobile Fidelity doesn't manufacture it anymore... and they're way too expensive right now!!!! Would you? You can contact me at aivan@aivan.net...
Thanx...

I am really sorry man, but I don't have a burner. (I must be the last guy in the world without a burner :( ) Try posting in the "All I Want Is U2" section. I am sure someone there could help you out. Or keep posting here and maybe someone can help.
 
I don't think so... on CD-Rs the material of the cd doesn't have to do with audio quality as much as with durability... Digital audio is just bits and bytes, so information is the same. Only if you want your data (audio, software, etc...) last during 50 years, then use Gold CD-Rs... other way, with normal CD-Rs, they will last 25 years... also, manufactured cds last 75 years... (made of platinum, you know...)
 
Yep. The Joshua Tree cd sounds as if you were listening from another room compared to the vinyl version.
I think a remaster series is more than necessary, but...
 
Rastat said:
Roland, if I send you some CD-Rs, could you burn me copies of the 3 cds? I've been looking for the 3 cds but Mobile Fidelity doesn't manufacture it anymore... and they're way too expensive right now!!!! Would you?

As much as I have sympathy for your position, Rastat, what you're requesting here amounts to nothing but piracy. These are commercially released albums, which shouldn't be copied by anyone. Would you like someone to copy the rest of U2's back-catalogue for you while they're at it?

I understand the problem of the Mobile Fidelity discs being out of print and almost impossible to find now - but, if you missed out, it's nothing but a hard-luck story.

I suggest you find someone selling the original MFSL discs on eBay, and be prepared to pay what they're now worth.
 
Ok Ballymun, I shouldn't have request the copies... I'm moving to the "All I Want Is U2" forum...

Somehow I feel it's NOT the same copying these out-of-catalogue cds than copying the rest of the U2 catalogue (which I own in its entirety - original), but I understand your point of view...

I don't feel as if I was damaging U2 or Mobile Fidelity by requesting something completely out of print, and right now only a collector's item, but...
 
And... what the ****... I WON'T give up to speculation... I'm just looking for a CD-R trade... I want to LISTEN to it, not selling it for money... or OWNING a collector's item... it's about the music, not the money...

So, if anyone can help me, you can contact me at aivan@aivan.net...

Thank you...
 
Rastat said:
I'm just looking for a CD-R trade... I want to LISTEN to it, not selling it for money... or OWNING a collector's item... it's about the music, not the money...

Oh, hey! That's okay then!! Great! Yeah, I'll just waltz on in to my local record shop tomorrow and ask them to copy all my favourite CDs for me. I'm SUURRE they won't have a problem with that... as long as I tell them that it's just about the MUSIC, and I just want to LISTEN to them. It's not about the money, not AT ALL!

Rastat, what you said in your last post is just about the most stupid thing I've ever read on these forums. Sorry, but I think you need a reality check.
 
First off, this amounts to blatant piracy in the full view of all the members of this forum to offer CD-Rs of the gold version of the album. It is an insult to U2 and their fans to be openly discussing piracy of their material.

Second, the gold CD is not out of print yet. You can find them is some specialty shops, and even online. Go to http://www.amusicdirect.com/ and you won't have trouble finding the UF Gold CD.

Third, just for the sake of argument and assuming that piracy is actually tolerated by U2 and Interference.com, you don't need gold cd-r's. The sound quality of the UF MFSL cd doesn't stem from the CD being gold in color (the gold is just to distinguish it from the regular pressings). The sound quality stems from the remastering of the original master tapes to optimize its sound for the CD format. So in theory, if you burn a CD-R of the MFSL gold cd to a regular CD-R, the sound quality should be identical. BUt again, I don't think we should resort to piracy when the CD can be found for sale online.

If amusicdirect.com is too pricey for you, you can always try eBay. Also, the CD booklet of the MFSL cd's are much better than the regular CD's.

Cheers,

J
 
jick said:
the gold CD is not out of print yet.

Yes, it is. Being "out-of-print" means that it's no longer being pressed/produced/manufactured. Sure, it might still be available in small quantities in some hard-to-find record shops, or online... but it's still "out-of-print". :)
 
Jick:

Thanks for the link. I see there are available cds of The Unforgettable Fire, but none of the rest. Nice to see they're still on print. I'll keep trying...

And my apologies if anyone here was offended by my request. That was not my intention.

And Ballymun, what you said in your last post is just about the most demagogic argument I've ever read on these forums. Sorry, but I think you REALLY need a reality check.
 
jick said:
First off, this amounts to blatant piracy in the full view of all the members of this forum to offer CD-Rs of the gold version of the album. It is an insult to U2 and their fans to be openly discussing piracy of their material.


Where did you see anyone in here offering them?!

They are not impossible to find or I wouldn't have been asking if I should buy them. Amazon has them all available from invidiuals, that's where I got the JT one. The used ones are the only ones even close to affordable but I didn't mind. :shrug:
 
Rastat said:
And my apologies if anyone here was offended by my request. That was not my intention.

No offence taken here buddy. :) However, I did find it a little ironic that you were so keen on sound quality and yet wanted a cd-r copy. I don't care what people say of replicating sound quality on cd-rs. If you want something to sound good, you BUY the closest source possible to the master tape. But hey, that's me. It is a reason why I have never been in a rush to get a burner.
 
Roland:

Regarding sound quality, as I said before, a digital copy (if done the right way) has to be perfect despite the quality of the cd. It's supposed to be a CLONE of the original source. Of course, if the CD-Rs are of low quality, they will last less time and have more chances of having an error in the process of writing... but using quality CDRs you have exact copies of the original.

It's useful to backup your cds, this way you don't have to buy another copy if your original gets damaged by use (and YES, it's LEGAL to have a copy of your own cds) or you listen to them at different places and you don't want to carry your only copy around...
 
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