Rush Grace Under Pressure: Terry Brown Mix

[MRC01]

This remixed album appeared today on Qobuz and other services. I'm surprised that Terry Brown remixed this, since he produced most of Rush's early albums but wasn't originally involved with Grace Under Pressure. They did have a great relationship for several years, Rush used to print punny jokes about him in their album notes, so no doubt there's a backstory there.

If you're a Rush fan and like this album (these two don't necessarily go together), it's worth a listen. I find it quite different from the original, much warmer tonality, a change similar to what Steven Wilson did in his remix of the 5 Yes albums. I find it a welcome change as the original sounded a bit thin, bright and flat to my ears. This one has more depth and better reveals Peart's drum artistry.

 

[MRC01]

PS: on further listen, this version is not as dynamic as the original. It's not completely squashed like so many rock albums are. But it is more compressed than the original. Overall I still prefer it to the original, despite this drawback. But I do wish Terry Brown had used a lighter hand on the compressor.

 

[MRC01]

More observations about this album - some inconsistency in the sonics from track to track. Tracks 1, 2, 4 and 8 sound the best, as described above. In comparison, track 3 has more mid-focused vocals like they're on horn speakers, and the drums are more distant. Track 5 is a darker and veiled. Track is 7 sounds brighter and edgier.

I wonder if this is due to (A) inconsistent quality of the 40+ year old master tapes, (B) intentional differences done for artistic reasons, (C) I'm crazy and this is all in my imagination. I doubt (C) because I went back and forth several times with direct comparisons. But (C) could still be the case. Does anyone else hear these differences?