When you say it's been remastered, do you actually mean that Stuart Zenders bass has been re-recorded? I truly hope not. I noticed with the High Times album that 2 of the Emergency on Planet earth tunes had been fiddled with. It's the otriginals we love!!

No remastering just means taking the track and making it sound better. The bonus discs are disappointing, there must be a ton of unreleased material from the Space Cowboy era.

woaw... Amazing bonus material.

Awesome! All three of those albums are so quiet in comparison with the rest of my Jamiroquai stuff on iTunes. A remastering is just what they needed to sound as fresh as the rest.

Rarities? None of that stuff is rare. Its all in single releases! COME ON! BTW, "Traveling Without Moving" with 2 lives from the "A Funk Odyssey" era? :S da faq? Disappointing!

What a pity. Most fans already have all those tracks. And it's easy to find either on singles or on bootlegs. There are tons of live versions from the TWM era. And I'm sure there also are tons of unreleased material from the other tours. It's a bit short for me.
And don't talk about remastering. The sound of these albums is already very good. Sure it will be louder but it will lose all its details and its dynamics. Heard about the "loudness war" ?

Well, to beg a Jamiroquai pun, 'blow your mind', was wondering why these, which were originally japanese reissues, had disappeared from online sales outlets at the new year. But damn, great news, but kind of weird it's coming out of 'Sony Music Ireland', nevertheless, I'm totally jakked for these releases. In regards to the 'remastering' debate, I have followed the band and listened to their catalogue for nay of +20 years, only counting their first 2 album releases (EOPE & ROTSC), those two were desperate need of 'remastering'. Not saying the 'sound' wasn't up to par, it's just the equipment they recorded on back then did dull down over the years and was totally in need of some 'digital cleaning up', as mentioned and noted in the last series of remasters for the 2006 'High Times' Singles compilation. In any case, exciting news, just hope the rarities/live material they pick for these reissues are up as awesome as these classic albums will sound after a well done remastering. Cheers!

Sincerely,
~JamiroFan2000~

* after looking at the Sony Ireland site with the tracklistings noted for these reissues, gives a slight look of 'totally guttedness' on his face *

Man...I second that emotion, notably about the amount of extra material MISSING from each of these reissues's eras. Really? None of the following? If you wondering what I'm talking about, here are the extra material that is sorely missing, in no particular order:

When You Gonna Learn (Original Demo)
When You Gonna Learn (JK Mix)
Stillness In Time (Extended UK LP Version)
Too Young To Die (Extended UK LP Version)
Funktion (TWOM UK Bonus Track)
The Kids (Japanese Edit)

But to be honest, they did hit the 'major B-sides' for each era, though the amount of 'live tracks' kind of weights them all down each. But alas, not complaining, just hope they are 'reasonably priced' for import sales to the states, I'm educated guessing, being 2CD Digipacks, maybe somewhere between $35-$40 each. Cheers!

Sincerely,
~JamiroFan2000~

I agree that the bonus material is disappointing. The fact that Funktion isn't on TWM is incredible, particularly as it was on the original CD and tape!

The tracks that I would put forward are the original demos for both WYGL and Space Cowboy - both of which are superb, raw and unlike the finished products.

The extended tracks that Jamirofan mentions are also all excellent. In fact I probably play those more than the originals! So it's a shame they've been overlooked.

Also an original version of Natural Energy must be lying around on the cutting room floor somewhere surely?

DESPITE all that, it's nice to see the Morning Glory instrumental be included and SPACE CLAV.

Milking the cow...

How disappointing.

I’m just pleased something is being released to commemorate the milestone, esp in a physical format given HMVs issues

They said "b-sides", not "super rare unreleased material to please hardcore fans", come on. It's for the general public, who doesn't own every single, promo or bootleg CD. If they decide to put out unreleased material, then good, but no need to whine just because the bonus discs don't have anything new for you guys.

sounded awesome....
unfortunately nothing rare / special about this releases :(
the are like infinite possibilieites..... would buy anything i dont have already as a single or stuff.... was hoping for some early concerts (as dvd) or REALLY rare / unpublished material..... well, i keep on hoping..... 20 years of jamiroquai is a big number, and they have done some awesome gigs // great unreleased (live) material....

I think it's great that they is finally going to be re-mastered and re-released discs in the "digi-pack" format, that is pretty cool, also even though most of us "hard-core" fans have all this stuff, most of the general public does not, and it will finally be "official" and in good quality. I can only say positive things when it comes to anything related to Jamiroquai.

:)

Remember guys, this is only what Sony's offering. I'm wondering if we'll get any 20th anniversary treats from JMQ themselves??!

Remastering is so a marketing term and yes, probably the dynamics on EOPE and ROTSC are lost with this re-release. IMHO these two original albums are the better sounding recordings compared to the others, from the audiophile point of view WITH all the little twists. Here's the dynamic range comparison...

http://tinyurl.com/afbzk9w

Apologies... Missed the chance to comment on the forthcoming album, so am posting here,hope you dont mind!

Only a thought, but I remember the superb artwork that was generated for the "Smile" MP3 release.(Superb song by the way fellas! Keep up the good work!) I was amazed at the artistic talent of the fans!

Could similar be organised for the new forthcoming album? Thus cutting down on sleeve design costs, and an opportunity to market the album in a unique way.

Just wondering about the Sony re-releases being an old cynic.. Is it Sony cashing in, not the band? Would they get any royalties out of this, now they are not linked with Sony?

@ Geuze
Thanks, now I know I'm not the only one who thinks that the oldest albums are the best sounding ones.
The listener are not to blame because they probably don't know what "remastering" really means and think that this is always an improvement. Sometimes it is, but most of the time it isn't.

Jamirofan2000, how can you say that EOPE needs to be remastered ??? The sound is just perfect. This album is one the best production from all the 1990's.
TROTSC is my favorite album, but actually the sound is a little dirty... Maybe it needs to be remastered, but I think it would be denatured with remastering...

All bonus are already known... no surprises... pity...
We would have preferred more unreleased Live... For exemple, I would have accepted the complete show from Paradiso Amsterdam '94. The bootleg is great, but the sound quality is slightly different with the 3 tracks from Light Years maxi-single.

@Jazziroquai Having not had the access to the original UK LP vinyl releases of these 3 jami albums, I missed out on hearing the best quality of them that was available upon their releases. I mostly bought 'second hand' CD releases, ironically they were Aussie album releases, having bought each album about 3 times over during the last decade. But be it my headphones/speakers, I just thought the first 2 albums didn't have the 'crystal clear clarity' of recording quality, I know other fans really appreciate more that shortcoming than a full remastered version, so consider me of the 'minority' whom prefers a remastered version where I can clearly hear all the individual instruments and vocals in the mix. Hope you understand my point of view. BTW, in regards to these reissues, I was wondering over the weekend the following:

- Since RDLS was released in the states, 2 years late, as a vinyl/CD bundle on Record Store Day (April 20th) in 2012, since that holiday is in such close proximity of the UK/Ireland reissue release dates, do any of you think Universal will release these reissues as 'exclusives' on Record Store Day 2013? I mean, they will have a 'one month window' to manufacture enough of these for a possible offering for that holiday.

Cheers!

Sincerely,
JamiroFan2000

Remasters never sound as good as the original and with newer releases the CD rarely sounds as good as the LP. Look up the loudness wars to see why, it is a well documented phenomena and is making new releases nearly un-listenable.

I love remasters! More than anything it'll boost the bass and definition - you really can't complain if it's done well, it simply brings out the best in the music. I'm sure it will be done tastefully. Are they also remastering the live tracks and b sides? A remastered Space Clav would sound so PHAT - I would definitely drop it in a dj set. Tis a shame but predictable there is nothing there that's unheard. The original Synkronized tracks with Zender on bass would be nice haha....David I hope you're well by the way - great dedication that you're still keeping the site going :-)

Digeridont is right. When a label says that they're going to remaster an album, it simply means that they're going to compress the sound in order to make it louder, destroying the integrity of the original work, the dynamic interplay between soft and loud passages, et al.

As for the 'rarities,' color me unimpressed. If they really wanted to generate interest, release all the songs originally completed for Synkronized yet never made it out, such as Midnight Funk. New liner notes? Definitely not worth the asking price.

I'm not dumb enough to pay again for the same material I already own. The novelty factor of the inevitable re-release doesn't work on me. Gee, how foolish the msuic labels must think us to be to repackage the same old material and expect for people to gobble it up. Small wonder album sales are in the tank -- practically everyone currently working in the music industry is complacent, shallow and LAZY.

I see the 'Michael Bully Pulpit' is back, whether to enlighten us or troll us. All of your mentioned qualms have been voiced, and yes, we do know what the word 'remaster' means, even if your delirium tells you otherwise. But being the 20th anniversary of Jamiroquai, segments of their catalogue were a 'digital updating', even if the real 'good' rarities are outside the bounds of 'Sony's copyright' (I.E. The plethora of early Jamiroquai demotapes that Nick Van Gelder gave us glances of on his YouTube). But these reissues were a long time coming...and are reasonably priced. And any real fan will look past the usual 'fast kneeslap responses' that the internet can incline on it's user's opinions, and just support the music they love, having followed from the beginning or are new to them. Cheers!

Sincerely,
JamiroFan2000

If I can get you to play for something you already own, you're a sucker.