Just picked this up today and it’s incredible.
I’m not really a fan of remastered records…especially ones I love. Most remasters I find are quite lazy and a cash grab for the most part. This particular one thankfully is not one of them…this is a top quality remastered release and even features an awesome bonus disc with stuff Godflesh fans will LOVE!
I was worried Streetcleaner would lose that magic when I first heard about it getting the remaster treatment. The worry was a little less when I heard Broadrick was taking care of the business. Regardless I still thought Broadrick should’ve just left it alone…thankfully Broadrick did not!
Broadrick has basically done an incredible job with this and it really is a pleasure hearing all the horrifying sounds of Streetcleaner so crystal clear and in your face (and belly courtesy of the bass!).
The magic of the original Streetcleaner record was that it sounded like a recording of a Great White Shark attack underwater…what we have with the remaster is the Great White Shark launching 6 feet out of the water and crushing your seal ass in it’s crushing jaws for all to see and hear in all its glory and horror.
The bass is monumental and the hi-hats are sharp and cutting…the riffs are horrifying. Basically the remaster is a huge success courtesy of Justin’s studio savy and the energy he’s obviously put into the process.
There’s also great liner notes inside the fold out digi-pak and cd 2 is a fantastic bonus.
Below is Justin Broadrick’s lowdown on the tracks for cd 2…
1-5 : ORIGINAL UNRELEASED MIXES - Mastered from cassette! This is the first set of mixes of “side 1” of Streetcleaner. We lived with these mixes for about a week before deciding that we needed to do another set of mixes, mixes that became the completed “side 1”. We weren’t initially happy with these mixes; they just didn’t come out as we imagined they could, for some reasons hard to recall now. Remastered, they actually sound great, making it even harder to remember why we were so unhappy!
6 - 7 : LIVE IN GENEVA 1990 - This was the first performance worldwide of Streetcleaner songs that was recorded with decent equipment just after it’s initial release. Remastered here, they encapsulate the rawness of Godflesh live from this period quite accurately. This was recorded in Geneva, Switzerland @ L’Usine early 1990.
8 - 10 : REHEARSALS - Pre studio recording rehearsal versions of “side 1” Streetcleaner songs. Taken from cassettes and mastered. Extremely raw rehearsal versions, displaying the drama of the Godflesh sound from the period, and experiencing being in the rehearsal space with needless to say, suffocating volume.
11 - 12 : TINY TEARS DEMOS - Again, mastered from cassette. The first demos I recorded for the Tiny Tears EP. Just guitar & drum machine, the demos reveal the genuinely melodic nature of the Tiny Tears tracks, lost in the subsequent recording and mixing of this EP, due to frequency issues of the recording; no matter what we did in the mix, we just couldn’t bring the melodies out. These lost melodies are heard here clearly for the first time, regardless of the fact it was recorded on a two track cassette machine!
If you weren’t sure about picking this remastered version of Streetcleaner up…I’d highly recommend you do so as I’m absolutely stoked with this.
P.S. I just found out in the liner notes that “Streetcleaner” is actually a slang word for an Uzi machine gun…you learn something new every day!