Potential Buyers Beware!
08/16/2003
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Watch out for this one, friends: The mastering on the "Boogie With Canned Heat" album is horrendous! The self-titled debut album sounds just as good as you'd expect; good wide stereo and all--but something went terribly wrong with the follow-up. "Boogie" is, unquestionably, one of the greatest blues/boogie/rock albums of all time, and I've waited many years to get a good copy of the complete album on cd. On this release, however, not only is the sound quality not quite up to the standard worthy of the moniker "remastered," but the stereo separation is so poor that had I not been listening with headphones, I'd have thought the album was in straight mono--and frankly, it might as well be. To add insult to injury, the classic closer (and one of Heat's signature tracks), "Fried Hockey Boogie" is edited down from its 11-minutes-+ complete version to under eight minutes!
In a nutshell, then: Properly recorded & mastered, this cd would easily rank 5 stars--but the inexplicable butchering of the "Boogie" album knocks it a full 3 stars down the ladder where I'm concerned. This is the kind of review I hoped I'd never have to write, but I thought I'd pass it along so you have an idea what you're getting if you decide to buy."
Great Blues & Boogie--But Buyer, "Heeeeeed My Warning!"
08/06/2003
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I've waited a good long while for these two albums--but particularly "Boogie With Canned Heat"--to come out, properly remastered, on cd, so you can imagine how eager I was to get this release when I saw it. Well, the first album sounds fine enough, but as I listened to "Boogie," my enjoyment slowly turned to fury: The mastering on this, Heat's second and best album, is horrendous! The stereo separation is so poor that had I not been listening with headphones, I'd have thought it was straight mono--and it might just as well be. For Bgo to claim this stuff was remastered is utterly preposterous: If anyone tries to tell me the "Boogie" album was mastered from a first-generation recording (or anything remotely close), I'll punch 'em in the nose. Believe me, people, it's that bad. This great band--and this great album--deserve a much more respectful, professional treatment. By the same token, for a $19 cd, we Heat fans deserve a lot better than this. Finally, to pour a few more grains of salt into the wounds, the album's classic closer, "Fried Hockey Boogie," is edited down from its 11-minutes-plus form we know and love to under eight minutes (Sunflower's guitar solo is slashed into less than half, and there are several chops in the Bear's rapping.) I've bought other cds on the Bgo label in the past and gotten pretty much what I expected, but after hearing this one, I don't suppose I'll buy another one on the label unless I've had an opportunity to hear it first. In summation: If you love this music (as do I) but don't care how it sounds, go ahead and put your money down. If, on the other hand, you're looking for a Good master of the "Boogie" album, you ain't gonna get it here. I'm sorry to burst the bubble of any of you who were, as was I, eager to get that album on cd sounding as it deserves to--but that's what this forum is about, and I wanted you to beware of what you'd be in for. Hopefully, prayerfully, someone else will get it right someday soon."
What were you expecting...
James D. Morrow | Omaha,NE USA | 10/12/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"As owner of both a high end system and a reasonable set of ears, I have to take exception to the reviewer who was so steamed that he submitted the same review twice under different names. I owned both of these albums when they came out and they both sound better here. Granted, my stereo in 1968 wasn't much but you'd think from the review that you were getting some awful sounding facsimile of the original. Both CD's have been remastered but the job is just so-so. More money probably would have bought better remastering but considering that the Heat aren't going to sell many discs, this is probably the best that you're gonna get if you want both LP's without spending an arm and a leg. Yes, they do chop off over three minutes of "Fried Hockey Boogie" which is, I guess, depending on your POV, a shame. I have to say it didn't cause me to lose any sleep because I always liked the rest of the album more than that one song and it wouldn't fit on one CD. Yeah, they probably could have cut a track from the 1st album but then somebody would give it one star because they took off their favorite track. BTW this disc is 78+ minutes long. If you must have the full-length "FHB" there is a dandy 'best of' that has been nicely remastered but you'll miss well over half of the songs on "Boogie With" and 80% of the songs on "Canned Heat" so there you go. There is an out of print import of "Boogie With" that has the full "FHB" but the remastering isn't much different from this one. If your memories must be stored under glass and relived down to the exact same incense you used to cover that other smell, then you might want to shell out the big bucks for the seperate releases (about $50.) Otherwise this one is more than OK."
Track Listings (21) - Disc #1