Not a good remaster
David Gasten | Denver CO USA | 01/11/2008
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Two Steps From the Move (1983)--the fifth and last studio album by the original incarnation of Hanoi Rocks.
To be frank, I'm really glad "Two Steps From the Move" was the last Hanoi Rocks album of the eighties, because you can tell that they were going in the directon of sounding like Faster Pussycat at best and Firehouse at worst--if you don't believe that, listen to Michael Monroe's solo material that followed this, or else the Jerusalem Slim album. Jerusalem Slim literally sounds like Faster Pussycat with David Johansen on vocals, which might sound like a marriage made in heaven for our glam metal friends, but it doesn't do anything for me. Anyway, "Two Steps from the Move" is produced by Bob Ezrin, who in slicking up the band's sound leaves them not buzzsaw-sounding enough for the hair metal fans and not rough enough for the raw rock and roll fans, so nobody's happy. It's just an album of great songs with their gonads detached, unfortunately.
And BGO's treatment of the album does it one worse. A friend of mine who had the original listened to it and was REALLY disgusted with the sound. He said his original Columbia CD sounds far better, and I wouldn't be surprised that that is the case. To make matters worse--and take note here--ALL of the bonus tracks on this edition of the album come directly from the "All Those Wasted Years" live album. The first time I heard these tracks, I hadn't heard "Wasted Years" yet and almost snoozed right through them. When I got the Uzi Suicide version of "Wasted Years", I thought the album rocked, and was only able at that time to go back and appreciate the songs that are here, even though they are the exact same versions. Why? I realize now that it's because the mastering sound here is light and trebly. It's pretty sad when a couple of circa 1989/1990 CD's out-perform a new "remaster".
The only thing that leave us with are the liner notes, which are OK but certainly nothing revelatory when you have "The First Hanoi Rocks Website" at your disposal here on the web.
All that to say that I cannot recommend this "remaster" at all. I've heard that BGO has a knack for jacking up their reissues of albums, which is why I chose to buy original Capitol versions of the Tubes albums "The Completion Backward Principle" and "Outside/Inside" instead of buying the BGO versions of those releases. And had I known what I know now, I would not have lined BGO's pockets to the tune of $17 US for this poor excuse for a "remaster" either. There's no doubt that I'll be avoiding BGO releases from now on.
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Track Listings (18) - Disc #1