Standing On The Edge [Cardboard Sleeve (Mini Lp)] [Blu-spec CD2] [Limited Release]

Cheap Trick's "Standing on The Edge" always held a soft spot for me even though it was never one of there more popular albums. While some of the sound on this album was a bit questionable due to the mix drowning out the basic instruments, I always thought the basic songs on the album were good. Still hoping a new mixed version of this album comes along eventually but for now this BLU-SPEC version will have to do. Found the sound on this CD much better than the original and you can hear bits that come out to enhance the songs that were never realized before. Not sure if this is due to a new mix or if the new technology is fully responsible for the new sounds that you can pick up. Some of the new sounds are subtle so you do have to pay attention but if you are a big CT fan then you will enjoy hearing an album from the 80's with something new to offer. This CD does not remix the original sound but more of a added layer to each track which can offer some new elements to songs - one thing I noticed was that some bass was more pronounced in some parts of songs which was noticeable from the the original CD which had it more buried in the mix. Found some parts of tracks really popped with sound like the guitar part at the beginning of Tonight It's You - the new tech used for this CD does offer some nice sound enhancements lost on the original CD - which was partly due to the record companies not caring about quality in the early years of CD. The packaging is a big plus too since it replicates the original Album artwork. Nice to see some of the artwork you may have forgot about due to listening to the album on CD or now digital. The bonus tracks are nice but can be found on other sources such as the box set or the epic archives. If you do not own them on other sources then it is certainly an extra reason to buy this CD as it is an added bonus. Overall worth a purchase if you are big CT fan and a fan of this era of the band and looking for some new elements to enhance your experience to this album - just don't expect it to fix any issue with the original mix.

I have A/B'd all of these reissues for both sound quality and track listings and against both American and prior Japanese re-issues. I will agree that in most cases the sound quality is significantly cleaner but are not necessarily more sonic when it comes to volume. This is likely related to what the source was for DSD mastering. My guess is, other CDs. That said, if you are looking to replace what you already own, each release of the set is well worth it but may be missing some tracks or may have been moved. Each disc attempts to provide you will all tracks from that era and likely considers disc space in doing so. They do pretty much eliminate the need to own the 4CD rarities box from years ago, as all are duplicated within these re-issues, yet some tracks are still missing. All replicate the original LP packages as closely as possible, right down to the inner sleeves but cheap out with black and white booklets. The negatives do not outweigh the positives, these are truly near-perfect versions. In the case of STANDING ON THE EDGE, all of the additional tracks from the 4CD rarities set are here however are labeled differently in some cases, yet the same audio content.