The Wonder Years Band • Page 170

No Closer To Heaven is my favorite TWY record and maybe one of the ones I revisit the most.

 

No Closer to Heaven has some of the worst mastering I've ever heard but it's kinda part of the charm at this point. The songs all sound really glued together and I think the overcompression is part of the sound.

 

i love their newest record. old friends like lost teeth, what a jam

 

NCTH some of the vocals sound like theyre coming from a mile away. i have faith theyre going to do some kind of remaster or sm for it this year as an anniversary

 

NCTH is near the bottom of my album rankings and some of that has to do with the production. I'm listening to Sister Cities right now and the mix on that is rough, too. Way more noticeable on high quality headphones. I think it's a much better record than NCTH, though, so it's a little easier to overlook for me.

Thankfully, I think Hum sounds great, and it's my second favorite record of theirs.

 

It's wild to me TWY has such bad album mixes they seem like a band that would really take that to heart

 

I would love to hear a version of The Bluest Things On Earth that doesn't sound muddy

 

Bought the Hopeless variant and Live From New York. Damn pressure of being a completist.

 

It sounds like the microphone was wrapped in tin foil, placed inside of a plastic bag, and then covered with a styrofoam cup.

 

I think it was a deliberate choice for the quiet vocals to be more lo fi. They seemed very keen to be extra quiet and extra loud. Plus they draw inspiration from quiet poorly recorded vocals ie early Mountain Goats.

 

According to someone on Reddit, a NCTH remaster is completed and will be released this year.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheWonderYearsMusic/s/gadDVJR0mQ

 

That will be great. So many great songs on the album that suffer from the awful production.

 

ehh the only thing is if it’s just a remaster, there may not be the kind of changes you’re hoping for. remaster is way more subtle than a redo like TAITA for example…

 

I get what you’re saying, but the remaster of the last Gaslight album was a game changer for me. Completely changed my feelings on the album. If they sounds even remotely better it’ll be nice to have. The version I got on Spotify sounds like dogshit which is a bummer since some of my favorite TWY songs are on the album.

 

i think the gaslight anthem was a remix, not a remaster… they’re different.

remasters tend to be super subtle, remixes are more significant, and then rerecordings are the most different. like incubus’s rerelease of morning view was a rerecord, but with honor’s rerelease of heart means everything was a remix because kurt ballou wasn’t happy with the original mix because he was young in the studio. WH didn’t record any new tracks. does that make sense? i’m not trying to be a jerk here… just sharing the knowledge.

anyways, i’m psyched to hear what comes of it. but if it’s just a remaster, i won’t be that psyched…

 

Ah gotcha. Well I will temper my expectations. I appreciate the clarification!

 

Could be a new mix as well, even if they just called it a remaster in the Q&A. I know Nick said he was working on a new mix at one point, but I’d love to hear what Vince Ratti would do with it after his work on Hum.

I just hope it gets the full box set and tour treatment like the others have.

 

Remasters are often just marketing shorthand for remix AND remaster. I highly doubt NCTH was only remastered because many of the issues are in the mix. Now SC might just need a remaster, the mix is actually okay (I think, without having access to the unmastered songs).

I don't think it makes sense to re-record either album though. The raw tracks are very likely totally fine, given who they worked with.

 

Yeah I think he mentioned it on here (possibly this specific thread) years ago.

Really excited about hearing these songs remastered.

 

Seeing a TWY headline show for the first time ever this week, could not be more excited. I really don't want to spoil the setlist for myself but I do want to recommend some songs to my friend who is coming but hasn't followed the band closely since TGG.
Am I safe to recommend the following from post TGG?

Cardinals
I Don't Like Who I Was Then
Cigarettes and Saints
Sister Cities (song)
Doors I Painted Shut
Wyatt's Song
Oldest Daughter
Cardinals II
Paris Of Nowhere
Low Tide
You're The Reason I Don't Want The World To End
Goddammitall

Any to add?
(I don't mind if you tell me to add any; it's the setlist order that I really don't want spoiled)

 

Raining in Kyoto
Lost it in the Lights

 

Old Friends Like Lost Teeth has to be on there

 

Thanks happy to add those, assumed pretty much all of Hum except Laura.
I'd actually love to hear Raining In Kyoto live, hopefully it pops in a way that it just doesn't on record.

With a focus on TGG, NCTH and Hum plus Kyoto and maybe Goddammitall (and maybe Year of the Vulture??) and fewer songs from Upsides/Suburbia.... the set is gonna be quite heavy. Super excited!

(Oh and Joyce Manor are opening)

 

Dan mentioned in a brief IG Q&A a couple months back that there’s no plans for a NCTH tour but they could conceivably do a few shows if they felt there was significant interest.

Honestly, it seemed like it wasn’t something they’d even considered.

 

A great sounding NCTH could very nearly compete for their best album