I just got a copy of Coverup and it sounds like the album is a little bit different from Greatest Tricks.
Right from the bat, the mastering is MUCH better. N.W.O is completely different and honestly much better than the Cleopatra release…
Then comes Stigmata, again not the same at all.
I’m still listening to it folks,
I don’t get it… But I’m enjoying this much more than the Cleopatra shit.
Which one was mixed by Erie. That’s usually the sure sign of quality.
Thought there were both on cleopatra. And what exactly’s different? I haven’t heard undercover yet, but heard greatest tricks.
NOW, you tell me, after I’ve already purchased the inferior one and have no intention of getting the other one.
Not that mastering will help the superfluous and/or unnecessary songs themselves.
I didn’t know that about the mastering. How unexpected.
They each have one exclusive song too. Undercover has a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid,” whereas Greatest Tricks has a bonus remix of “Every Day Is Halloween” by Jürgen Engler (of Die Krupps fame).
NOW, you tell me, after I’ve already purchased the inferior one and have no intention of getting the other one.
I thought I was the only collector still buying this stuff… why do you all let me take the brunt of the australian’s criticisms? Get a brother’s back!
Late,
grmpysmrf
I’m not quite the collector you are - I didn’t buy physical copies of the Al Jourgensen solo material, for example.
And I think I’m over it now, anyway.
All tracks are the same except for NWO, Stigmata and Jesus.
When you say “not the same at all,” do you mean remastered or remixed?
NWO, Stigmata, and Jesus are all different mixes. The whole album seems to be a different master. Makes Greatest Tricks sound like an unfinished version of the album.
I’d listen for myself, but Undercover isn’t available to purchase as downloads. Weird.
^
It used to be, but there were too many lawsuits that it made people’s hard drives smell like poop.
I just want to throw it out there, that Cleopatra’s reputation for mixing and mastering is not the highest. For example, in the instance of most re-issues of old material (such as Chrome, Motorhead, Stooges, etc.), some purchasers have noticed small details like clicks, pops, and lower volume on them.
The reason for most of this is many, and it’s essentially poor quality control. A lot of the material is sourced from old vinyl, or mixed at poor levels from different sources.
Let’s not even get into the misleading information in the liner notes of most of these releases, not to mention awful typos, etc. It’s pretty bad - but sadly, there are other labels just as bad. I think Nettwerk is a good example, too, especially when it came to Skinny Puppy.
Cleopatra is for me a big flashing warning light saying “Do Not Purchase!”. I’ve been burned too many times by seeing something from an artist I dig, only to buy it and (even though I like the material) find out it sounds like utter garbage.
I would warn anyone buying releases on this label to listen (if possible) to the disc first (I’ve not purchased anything in a long time, but some stores used to have listening stations where you could sample the product) before purchasing.
Do people actually still buy shit from Cleopatra??
I thought that rubbish went out of vogue back in 1994.
Shows how much I know.
And now…back to my subway sandwich.
They’re so random now, too. I remember back in my youth they were kind of branded as one of the labels to specialize in gothic and industrial stuff.
Then I started seeing old Motorhead and punk stuff come up (though horrible, horrible recordings).
Last time I checked (when the Ministry stuff was announced) they were shilling crappy live stuff and bathtub demos from Dokken or LA Guns or something.
Actually, Brian Perrera (if he’s always been involved, to this day) has very eclectic taste when it comes to releasing music. One of their first releases were New York Dolls, the Adicts, Hawkwind, and Kraftwerk. True, a lot of the “gothic” and “industrial” stuff was in the beginning, too (Christian Death, Spahn Ranch, etc.) but Brian Perrera, the founder, clearly has interest in those sounds so go figure.
It’s always been that regular, really, it’s just that for every ‘A Gothic-Industrial Tribute To ____’ and ‘insert generic group name here’ overshadowed the cooler collections to Syd Barrett, Nico, Chrome, whatever.
For every good idea, it has a poor execution. The sad part is for all that generic gothic stuff, they probably were really great at packaging, mixing, mastering, you name it. So, it’s kind of embarassing from a musician standpoint.
Idk if this has happened with anyone else besides PIG but they reissued Praise The Lard and combined The Swining and the Red Raw & Sore EP into one album without his permission. They settled it out of court but that’s still fucked up for a label to do that.
Idk if this has happened with anyone else besides PIG but they reissued Praise The Lard and combined The Swining and the Red Raw & Sore EP into one album without his permission. They settled it out of court but that’s still fucked up for a label to do that.
It was just Praise The Lard, which seems like it could possibly be getting a dash of remastering sooner than later, hopefully. If I remember right, Cleopatra bought the “masters” from a guy who didn’t really own them anymore (or something), so they released it with not only the wrong artwork, but also the wrong tracklisting.
Raymond contacted them, but it eventually got worked out, and they came to some sort of agreement and ended up releasing Swining and Red, Raw, and Sore, which was actually legit unlike the other.
Cleopatra always striked me as half assed when I heard about that, then all of the shitty cover albums, and so on. So when I saw that there would be ministry albums on there, or whatever else, I definitely considered it cringe-worthy. I still do.