A triple album re-release from Swedish stoner legends Dozer is nothing to sniff at, with those same first three having proved to be an inspiration for so many other bands that came later. However, with no brand new material on there, is it worth the investment? That’s what it’s time to find out, from the position of someone who owns the original releases.
The answer to the above question is a slightly awkward one. Can anything ever be justified as worth the cost, if you already own the originals? The production, with the modern productions values we have compared to then – especially valid when you realise that first album ‘In The Tail Of A Comet’ was made on a budget of around $500 – is a lot better and you can almost feel the hit on the symbols with every smash on the drums. It is, in fact, easy to compare the different sound qualities when demo track ‘Southern Star’, which was not on the original release, is included to hear the stark contrast with the remastered versions.
While the budget for the second album ‘Madre De Dios’ was higher, there is still a noticeable difference between the original CD and this remastered version with there being a much higher clarity of sound in these new masterings, as you would expect. This same theme continues through into the final of the three, ‘Call It Conspiracy’ as we had with the earlier, even though both the budget and production were higher for this final of the three, with the jump in technology being simple too vast to not make a real difference in the overall feel, let alone the sound.
So it’s time to answer the earlier question, is a remastered re-release worth the cost? In the main, I would have to say yes. It would have been nice to have a couple more demos and/or B-sides included and I pick no bones about that, but the sheer difference in the quality of what you hear and the amount of extra things you pick up on with it makes it something that I, as an audiophile, believe to be of value to my collection, even taking into my account my preference for a more low-fi, raw sound generally. The three albums were released separately in this re-release phase and each is worth the reinvestment.
‘In The Tail Of A Comet’, ‘Madre De Dios’ and ‘Call It Conspiracy’are all out now. You can get your copies HERE.
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